Azul: is wall denial first-player advantage real

@meeple_mike · 3mo · 1995 views

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.

6 Replies

@cardboard_queen 3mo

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

@newbie_nora 3mo

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

@euro_trash_88 3mo

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

@quietgamer 3mo

summer pavilion fixes some of this imo. different game tho

@deckTeardown 3mo

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

@meeple_mike 3mo

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