Chosen over 9G AG, which allows 10G pOMFRET. H6 OVA wins the sim; ADEGR >> ORV, and after OVA, Steven's highest-scoring bingos are 6C/6G FOREMOsT 66. The sim assumes that after AGED, Steven will play 10I FORMaTE, allowing potential OVER- plays at O8--which means that if Steven plays at 7H instead I can expect worse results than the sim suggests. #tacticsmedium
This set in motion a very sad tournament for me with regards with spread. I know there are many more examples of this, where I could have won by so much more in a game that ended up being very tight. EMBODIER seemed totally ridiculous to me, since IMBODIER* was surely invalid. But that is logical. Not NWL-based thinking will not get you far in NWL. #knowledgelarge
2J BLE(A)T is 17 fewer points but reduces the opponent's next turn score by about 6 and increases my next turn score by about 13, apparently. This makes it sim about 2 points better. #strategysad
and how stupid to see CONIINES and know it has an anagram, see this, and not take a bit of time to make sure this was it... I've messed this up before too. I knew the anagram didn't take an S, but this ain't it. Wow. #knowledgeSADDEST
#findinglarge Missing this was frustrating but not surprising. High point tiles in weird locations like this has been a pretty persistent weak spot for me in practice.
So Roman numeral 11 is good and Roman numeral 9 is not, as we already know. This position is deceptively bad because I only have HIT or HILT underneath VOX and neither of those plays keep good leaves. It is nice to be able to fork against Richard just because I need an open board against him, but H7 G(O)THIC cleans up the rack nicely and doesn't give as much back to him even though it scores 5 less. #findingmedium
now worried about ABASIC* smh, the star play is 7G P(R)EED(I)T for 42(!). This hits PRIED 13I with an R, thought it might be worth going for. #knowledgelarge #findinglarge
I didn't see TUR(BI)D, which looks like a better X setup. It's not as clearly an X setup and doesn't open an S hook for him. With ADES I wasn't so concerned but I'm still giving him a couple awesome lanes, and he's taking the spot very often anyways. Even XU/LOT is probably fine here. #findingmedium
14H (S)pELAEAN is 78! Despite AnNEALED being better because of the placement of the N, it was not worth the extra second to replace the two N's once I had laid the play down. #findingmedium
quai etc just seem bad. i don't wanna do that. QUAI only sims so high because my average play next turn does something huge with QUAIS and an SK word -- but she's either going to have the L or take care of that spot in another way, i think? i DO have the last S, but i don't like my chances of using the QUAIS hook at all. -10 #strategylarge ?
this is actually bad because I can no longer Q stick him when he bingos, since 12B and N1 will be open. I should play URI(N)AL 14E instead. That solves all of the problems and should always win, while this does not always win #strategySADDEST
I chickened out of 11H INLIERS and then never saw 14A RESILIN #KNOWLEDGESADDEST oh my god. All I had to do was play a valid word. Like, just a valid word. I before E, bro. I before E.
incredibly frustrated here. The board isn't close to being contained and now if he gets a bingo I am barely ahead. E7 T(U)RR is winning a sim, isn't that ridiculous. I saw it but thought it took an E. lmao fuck. I can just block the S hook later with a VIVAT play ending in RT. #knowledgemedium I exchanged XTTRT keeping RZ
js: COIN at 7H is kinda sneaky cd: this is it, i finally lose. gg man. i should see 7H COIN, which is clearly much better, but i was starting to have tunnel vision. -11.5 #findinglarge
This endgame was terribly played. I spent way too long looking for bingoes and there were none, which put me on the verge of going OT after this play. EPIGEAn doesn't play, and I failed to spot Row 10 plays, namely 10K GAPE(D). #visionterrible
I have like 0% chance of winning. With L11 SIEGE at least I can prioritize reaching 300 sometime this century. But, like, it's the case S. I'm feeling greedy. Also I forgot to look on that side of the board. #strategysaddest ? #visionsaddest ALSO #knowledgesad for challenging a 3. May or may not have been a "stop closing down the board for the love of god" challenge, but my lips are sealed
There's 5 possible bingos through 14H OM and I just wanna quit. 10H sTONERS is notable #findingsaddest #Knowledgesaddest We out here turning up dumbassery to 100%
Very panicky. I was low on time and did not realize that triple-triples were unlikely with this pool. D1 LATRINE is fine. On the other hand, Moiz was very low on time and making a drawn out endgame will be favorable. #strategysaddest
I thought there was a bingo in here, and there was. LIVERISH is very foreign-looking to me. It would not have saved me, but it's definitely the right play #knowledgelarge
?GSS > ?SSTT and TUFT sets up my S's on a DWS lane, but Quackle prefers FUG, likely because it reduces Carl's scoring potential by not offering a floater. #tacticssmall
the only thing that would make up for the phony 4 would be to extend it to HOKYPOKY (which is obviously why I didn't just insta-challenge, why is that good but not HOKY*)
Quackle much prefers JE(O)N 3I due to defense. Makes sense. (O)BE even does significantly better than my fish. #strategysmall and #knowledgesaddest for last move having scored 42 and not 0.
this isn't going well, but I can't play scared scoring defense. A5 IOLITE is much better balance and gives back way fewer game-losing bingos. #strategysmall
I did see E5 DEXTe(R)S, but the leave is not great. The X isn't worth keeping for long on this board, which is where the duck agrees with me. DGST? is not 6 points better than EGS? which would have happened after doing H5 D(I)X(I)T for 24. #findingmeh
Another pathetic play. I did not know CLADIST, but I'm thankful that no bingoes were missed here. O8 ALCIDS is 41 which is perfectly fine. #findinggross
I'm proud to say that I didn't miss the overlaps for UTOPIAN at N9, I literally did not think of either bingo on my rack whatsoever. Amazing. #findinglarge
CP likes this, saying it wins 95%, but it's surely dependent on full confidence in CASTLINGS. Given that I did not have that confidence, a great option is 11D VOW/VAW, setting up SOZ/SAZ to follow up in the endgame, also winning 95% because the bingos Bradley does get down score so much less. Unfortunately, I burned a huge amount of time grappling with this position and somehow still didn't generate VOW/VAW, leaving me vulnerable to time pressure on my next move. #strategysmall #timelarge
I didn't have much time here and decided I just needed to play fast and I missed K3 (G)OETY. I also wasn't sure of 12H (C)OUTHY. #timesaddest #knowledgesaddest
how does one spot KIbOSH(I)N(G) D7 and miss SINKHOl(E) O1. I sadly thought this was better than KIBOSHING so I played it. It is indeed better but ugh. #findingSADDEST
lots of options here. 2F ILEA, 2H AA, 2G ALA are all nice aggressive plays. They kinda bank on her not having the K, but that's a decent gamble in this position. If I draw the K I get good scores, and she can't score there easily at all. I sorta like ALA best of the three because I also open a lane on the 3 row that I can hit even if she gets a K play, ISATINE and the like. A(J)I is also interesting to go for ELASTAN(E), ELASTAS(E), ALIENAT(E). 26/156 I hit, which is pretty good. I'm inclined to take the other 2 row routes to go for the K, but I'm not sure I win always when I draw the K. I think it realistically is pretty often though, and something like ILEA would be good for that to draw the K the most, but after she blocks the spot I may not draw a good K play at the bottom. Maybe ALA because I can still get YENTA draws at the bottom, bingo draws, K draws and stuff like YIKES. #strategymedium because this play doesn't have a big plan, I don't think I clued into how much trouble I was in. I was more in the mindset that I would necessarily squeak out an endgame, but with big K plays available I can't just make a play like this. same with YEANS, that is findable and could be bad.
Well, this wins every time, as I calculated, but according to Quackle this is the worst play that does. It calls for 12B TOEA, which does look pretty good, keeping two consonants. #strategymedium