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@meeple_mike 73d ago

Azul: is wall denial first-player advantage real

Played a tournament-ish night at the FLGS and one guy was clearly playing Azul like chess — tracking what I could place, feeding me factories that brick my wall, the whole villain arc.

I’ve always treated Azul as ‘pretty tile sudoku’ but now I’m wondering if first player marker is secretly the strongest piece on the table when players are spiteful enough.

Is wall denial actually optimal or is it just tilting people into mistakes? I don’t want to become That Guy at family game night but I also don’t want to keep losing to That Guy.

We were on base Azul, not Sintra or any of the spinoffs.

1,988 views · 6 replies
Replies (6)
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@cardboard_queen 73d ago

Its real at high level. at kitchen table people dont see lines three turns ahead

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@newbie_nora 73d ago

i still dont get when to take the first player tile vs a fat pile. i always choose shiny pile and eat negatives

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@euro_trash_88 73d ago

First player tile is a trap if you cant use the turn. sometimes -3 floor is correct. painful but correct

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@quietgamer 73d ago

summer pavilion fixes some of this imo. different game tho

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@deckTeardown 73d ago

if someone is denying your wall you deny theirs. azul is petty and beautiful

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@meeple_mike 73d ago

@newbie_nora take 1st player when you have a guaranteed place next round. otherwise ignore the shiny

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