Boosting Brawl

i will copy what we discussed yesterday on KS since i can't post on the comment page:

Q: "what if the defender boost is card but it isn't the right one (so attacker uses punch not boosted, defender uses jump boosted once)?
Boosting happens after cards are revealed right?
can i boost a "losing card" is what i meant! so another example:
attack uses sweep, defender uses parry ... attack wins, can defender boost parry to negate the attack?"

A: "Yes, the defender could boost his/her "losing" card to negate, or even counter attack the opponent."

this opens up new strategies because you could save a brawl card with 3 charges and a ultraneon matching it to unleash a 4 hit counterattack! (actually 2 hits if not cancelled out since 2 are used to bring the odds to you: attacker +1 --> attacker 0 --> defender +1 --> defender +2)

of course we aren't even considering brawl mastery and cancellations

it's better to think, IMO, that a normal attack is value 1 and becomes -1 when cancelled by the proper counter, while the correct defense is 1 and becomes 0 when is wrong. so yah defense has a little edge on this.

in the above scenario let's say that you play punch with mastery bringing your standard attack to 2, i defend with jump on which i have mastery. in this case the mastery of the defender won't count because it wasn't the correct counter... fortunately i have an ultra cosmo and the card i played has 3 charges. i boost it and bring my total to +1 (2 charges are used to even the odds because he had mastery). at this point the attacker if the card allowed it could try either to negate part of the boost (plays 1 natural toxic) bringing the total to 0 and no damage dealt, or he could use rage to boost is punch...

this is how i figured works best with new players (not total noobs on gaming) and they start straight away boosting, cancelling and what not

oh i understand very well!

brawl mastery is indeed how you say but boosting is done after that from what i got...

so yeah in the example above:
- you use punch with 1 slot for boosting on which you have mastery, i used jump on which I have mastery and with 3 slots.
- your attack connects (wrong defense) so you get the added bonus (instead of having +1, you are at +2 because 1 hit for the connecting punch and 1 hit from the mastery)
at this point we can boost:
- i have an ultra cosmo ( up to 3 charges) to boost my jump that has 3 slots so i do that: i first subtract from your damage until i soak up everything (thematically i'm superguarding) and then since i have another charge left i'm boosting MY attack by 1 (theamtically is like you hurt yourself on my heavy guard).
- you have 2 choices before we tally the score:
a) if you have an appropriate neon you can try to cancel my boost (with another ultra) or you could just reduce the amount of charge reducing basically the damage soaked up
- now we can basically play Neon cards cancelling each other until we can or we are satisfied and don't want to waste cards
B) you can instead BOOST yourself with a natural rage reducing the damage to zero and no neon awarded (but again we could still use neon to cancel the boost)

to be clear:
AFTER seeing the results of Brawl cards you can decide to boost
- when you boost or use abilities first you declare that and pay up the amount you need (even going in excess)
-then it's time to play the "cancelling game" using whatever you want
- after all that is done you "score" based on what was cancelled and what remained

in the example above again we are at a point in which i not only soaked up your damage but counterattacked for 1 damage even if i played the "wrong" card.
if you can you would try to cancel my boost by either nullyfing it completely with another ultra neon or by simply reducing the amount of charges
another way would be to BOOST yourself and exceed my superguard.

don't think with numbers just think like we share a power bar that oscillates from one extreme to another based on what we play or boost! when attack connects it goes your way, brawl mastery increases that. boosting can increase it more towards you or i can try to sway that bar other to me giving me the edge!

i hope i was clear now

YES TO BOTH
mastery applies only if attacker connects (defender played wrong card) or the defender succesfully counterattacked (cancelled attack with proper brawl)

You boost after the cards are revealed. We have been discussing the second part to your question. I think Davy is cooking up an answer to end all answers... or at least, I hope so. Stay tuned.

crispy: You can only boost a Brawl after you have revealed the card. It wouldn't be savvy on the attacker or defender to reveal their strategy without knowing whether their attack/defend Brawl has been cancelled or not. Once they know, then both players can get to slamming down N30N to boost up their Brawl cards.

lance: Great work ^ You have a good way of explaining rules, dude!

@robert: Let Rudy and I know if the reference sheet helps you understand the mechanics of Boosting a little better.

it's clear to me that this chart is used for the standard outcoming without considering mastery and bonuses from items BUT it INCLUDES BOOSTING
so i'd say that robert is right on both regards...

Thanks rudy for this! i think it should be put on BGG in the file section (or i can do it if you allow me to)

Davy: after playing many boardgames i'm kinda used to explain every detail with some practical examples: people tend to "get" games easier if you provide them with analogies and whatnot while explaining... rules on booklets though should be always clear and sound with an example of play (like you actually did)