Hello there, people. I have written a larger guide about Ai patterns and manipulations for it, that I have split up into multiple parts, which can be read individually. This should be especially helpful for Beginners and Intermediate players of Story Deck runs. I put this header on top of all them, so feel free to ignore this in case you have already read this.
As a disclaimer: These strats work most of the time, but not all of the time. Sometimes you get weird moments, where the AI doesn‘t follow these rules. 5D‘s especially really likes to do that. But those moments are more on the rare side, so in like 95% of cases these manips should work. Also keep in mind that the AI in the original Legacy of the Duelist works different. Some things still work, but these guides is meant for Link Evolution.
- Positioning of cards
This one can be applied to both monsters and backrow. I will start with the backrow first:
1.1
The way the AI targets set backrow cards with removal is usually from left to right. So if you have a duel with a „Mystical Space Typhoon“ (in following „MST“) in the opponents deck you can do the following: Set a card to the left of whatever backrow you want to keep. The column and type of backrow doesn‘t matter as long as it is more to the left than whatever backrow you are trying to keep. In some situations the AI will flip „MST“ on a face-up card instead. Also instead of just using „MST“, sometimes the AI can wait and use it on the last set card instead, so it‘s important to be aware of these situations existing as well.
There are actually multiple uses for monster positioning in the game:
1.2.
The first one is to protect face-up monsters. There are 2 ways the AI usually attacks face-up monsters. It either attacks from highest to lowest Attack* or it tries to deal the most damage with the attack. The attack pattern depends on the opponent. This one specifically will help you out for the attack pattern from highest to lowest attack. If multiple monsters you control have the same Attack value, the AI will usually attack them from left to right as well. You can use this to your advantage by placing the monster with the more important effect to the right of the monster with a less important effect/normal monster.
Example: You have a „Red-Eyes Black Dragon“ and a „Lord of the Red“ on your field. If you place the „Red-Eyes“ to the left of „Lord of the Red“, the AI will attack „Red-Eyes“ first, which protects your „Lord of the Red“ to give you more destruction effects from it.
*In 5D‘s this also works with Defense points in some cases for whatever reason. I swear, 5D‘s is so weird when it comes to AI patterns.
1.3.
The second one is to protect face-down monsters. Once again the AI usually attacks unknown face-downs from left to right. Unknown face-down monsters are monsters the AI is not aware of what they are, yet. You can use this to your advantage by positioning monsters with higher Defense to the left of lower Defense ones to make the AI potentially lose an attack. Knowing that the AI normally attacks unknown face-downs this way will also help you see, if a monster will survive with Magical Hats or not and plan ahead.
