Learn how to play Rivals by watching top player videos

Due to some business travel, my posting frequency was low in recent weeks. But I'll be back, most importantly for the new Top 50 analyses that I want to deliver every month around the same time (ca. 20th).

Until then, I just wanted to promote some additional great content on Rivals.

To become a better player, there's a number of things you should do:

1. Gather experience. Play, play, play.
2. Watch top player replays directly in the app. See what, and how they play. Learn from it.

There's just one thing better than watching replays: Watching good videos. I emphasize good, because there's also mediocre YouTube content on Rivals out there, where just watching good replays is better. But the good videos are absolutely worth it, especially if they come with analysis  and insightful commentary.

Here is a good example: It's a video from top player 13lade, who is not just known for his skill, but also for commentating on his games in a very insightful manner. If you want to become a better Rivals player, I highly recommend to follow him on YouTube and watch his videos. A great recent example of his videos:

I this match, 13lade meets top plazer Suzaku in a match of the new-ish Fanatic Aggro deck against  the APC/Orca deck. This is an interesting matchup, as it's reasonably balanced but contains a number of exciting asymmetries, e.g::

• Nod wants to clum his units together to make the best of the Fanatic boost. This works best on maps with connected pads and/or a narrow choke point where a lot of the action happens. This map is not particularly bad, nor particularly good for this.
• GDI will want to counter the relatively expensive Fanatics ideally with Drones, but even early-game Rifle against Fanatic can be an interesting matchup.
• Drones force Bikes or Banshees, which are also the counter to APCs, which is why GDI will usually only build APCs in this matchup if they have "too much money", or already a good support setup out (e.g. an uncontested Orca and no enemy Tank).
• Drone / Missile / Orca vs. Fanatic / Bike alone can be an exhilarating frenzy of micro and position swaps, so this matchup tends to be very micro intensive.

If you want to know more about him, read this interview with 13lade.


And on the entertainment front, here's a fun Jade vs Jade video from teRror, who can celebrate his 100th YouTube subscriber! ;)