📜 Mons Academy 🏫
~ 3 White Openings to Get Started ~
Opening #1: The Atlantean
This is a very common type of opening we have come to see in the early meta. It develops your key scoring mons nicely and set ups for a variety of plays moving forward. A Drainer/Angel pair is a very strong tool as a protected Drainer is able to safely hold a position without fearing being immediately taken out by an enemy mon. You can always simply book it if your Angel is fainted. Staying in the center file with this pair keeps them maximally far away from both bombs. Interestingly, G3 is also safe for the Drainer and may be played as well, but E3 is not- as the opponent’s Spirit can pull the bomb closer before picking it up in order to target that square turn 1. fig. 2
The strength of your own Spirit’s positioning is that it targets two close mana¹ simultaneously while also advancing toward the rightside item. In some circumstances, as shown in fig.2, it can also set up for a very early Super Mana grab- provided your opponent doesn’t move close enough toward either bomb on their first turn to target you afterwards. Additionally, it does give you the option to boost your Mystic out of its spawn, but this probably offers only very situational benefits... ¹ A quick note that may seem obvious but: 4/5 of your mana are 4 tiles away from a mana pool at game start, and one is 5 tiles away. This means that if you want to dunk a close mana with only your spirit and mana moves, it would take (optimally) two turns, but a third would be required to score your far mana. The outer mana are faster to go for- especially if you plan on picking up any two-pointers which would negate the need to ever pick up that slower inner mana at all. Opening #2: Boost Fork
The Fork opening is strong opening because it advances toward both items, but also because by developing your attackers you are effectively threatening the overwhelming majority of the board. Any move forward by any of your opponent’s pieces would put them within either your Demon or Mystic’s attack range. You are guaranteed to be able to pick up at least one item on your next turn. If your opponent wants one they may be forced to burn their first turn running to pick it up, and if they don’t do this you can Spirit boost your Mystic in order to pick up both on turn 2. Due to this possibility for quick and assured item grabs as well as many immediate attacks on your opponent’s mons, this opening may be a good fit for someone looking to play aggressively. Opening #3: Potion Rush
If you can’t wait for even turn 2 to pick up an item, it can be a decent strategy to simply grab one on turn 1. All your mons are capable of rushing to the item space immediately, but for all of them it will cost the entirety of your movements. Advancing so far into the board does put that mon at risk from the enemy Mystic so picking up the bomb at this point would be futile, but if your opponent chooses to use three moves and an ability point to faint your mon, you still have that potion and now they only have 2 movements and their mana move to develop their own plans. One of your mons fainting is not the end of the world, especially in this early game or if you were planning to move other piece on your next turn regardless. It is of course possible to pick up the rightside item, but this is probably slightly weaker as, if your opponent then chooses to attack with their Demon, they are now developed two tiles further towards your territory, making them a bit more of a threat than a further back Mystic. An early potion can be a valuable tool- it may seem simplistic, but holding that resource from the very start can provide the threat level and flexibility you need to succeed. This concludes our introduction to openings for white... 
