Fake Out Strategy and Dreaming In Tag (aka I Can't Believe That Worked)

I'll preface what I am about to write with the acknowledgement that I am too green at SM5 to know any other ways besides what I have learned in my home arena, so my strategy scope (in fairness) is quite limited. However, I am heartened after last night that things about SM5 are finally starting to click in my head, even so much that breaking outside the box not only makes sense, but actually worked last night. In our arena it is fairly well accepted that the resupply break and begin the game in one of two spots...green by the entry door and red by the emergency door. I am pretty sure this is not the norm in other Force centers, but for ours it seems to be pretty much the formula. So, that said, it was cool to try a fake out strategy last night that astoundingly seemed to work (at the very least we ended up with the win). In the final game I played before turning back into a pumpkin (as I have to be a responsible adult and work in the morning) our team agreed to kind of an ass-backwards strategic start. I was playing commander for the second game in a row and rather than charge out as I otherwise would have we decided that the heavy and resupply would NOT go to their expected positions. Instead I went to the green resupply corner while the ammo, medic and heavy went for bases immediately. This accomplished two things...they got their base points out of the way fast and we created a bit of temporary confusion as there was a three-hit (me) in an unexpected location at the start. I'm not saying this was completely original (I have no idea how this would go elsewhere), but it was different than we had tried before and cool to see not only that this worked well enough to garner a win, but also that we were becoming comfortable enough with SM5 to try something new. I'm still completely in water-wing mode with it (and not pretending otherwise), but it was an enjoyable and worthwhile night because it's finally sinking in.

To that same point, I know it all must be gelling because my subconscious is starting to dream in tag. This is not the same as dreaming "about" tag, which I've found happens now and then also. No, this is more like how my mind occasionally lets me dream in sign language instead of speech. Dreaming in tag means my sleep mind has absorbed enough real life strategy that I am actually seeing games play out in logical sequences while I am asleep. That's different than just having a dream where tag is a component. I also think it's a good indicator that the time I've been spending trying to get better must be paying off some because while I used to call SM5 my "necessary evil" and now apparently my subconscious has gotten past that. I also feel much better about this leading into Baltigeddon and I am excited to see what happens in a different setting.

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