The quick T-spin double

            

You can do a T-spin double attack on the 6th or 7th piece with most decks. This does four lines of damage, as much as a Tetris.

Why bother?

• This hard counters the fast all-clear opening, which clears the board on the 10th piece for huge damage. By damaging our opponent before he can all-clear, we entirely prevent this opening from working. I will discuss the fast all-clear in a later post.
• With a second T-spin followup, this soft counters the long combo opener. By putting 9 to 11 lines of damage on their screen quickly, we prevent our opponent from building high enough to create a killer combo. I will discuss the long combo in a later post.
• It's four lines of quick damage, as much as a Tetris, and starts off our back-to-back bonus to boot.

In Tetris vs Tetris, a good proportion of your opening plays should be fast T-spins. Besides the inherent strength of this opening, doing this a good amount will discourage the early all-clear and other openings that a multi-spin-combo opening may not.

How?

1. The Izzy

As a rule of thumb, this can be done with hard drops whenever you get an I in your first couple pieces. More specifically, it can be done whenever the I comes before S and Z. Hence the name, the Izzy.

The core of this is to form the covered hole for the T block using the Z stacked on the I, with the L covering the open side.

We then fill in the empty space on the right. Above is the most common variant, where we use the S and O to fill it in. But what if we need to place the J block before these?

Easy enough. Another very different variant to point out comes if we don't get the Z block till the very end. We can still T-spin on the 6th piece, using the S instead:

Once you do this, you will most likely want to follow up with another T-spin. Typically, one sets up either using the center notch or a notch on the right. Let's look at that first variant again.

   

We've cleared two lines for four damage, and we have a J piece next--remember, we cleared at 6, and used all pieces except the J. We have various options for a T spin, either using the center hole or putting it on the right. Here's a fast one:

With just the S, Z, and O, this gets us our second T-spin on the 11th piece. Now that is FAST. We're not giving the opponent room to breathe here, nor set up a long combo.

Here's a T-spin triple. It's unlikely to come up in an actual game. Note the placement of the J piece inverted and one space to the right--if we had to drop a J before our first T-spin, this is a very fast place to drop it, leading to many possible T-spins.

The reason this is unlikely to come up is the second O piece. Yes, this gives you a T-spin triple on the 15th piece, but only if you got an O at the right time. However, the broad concept of setting up the T-spin hole and filling in the left side can lead to lots of interesting followups.

        

Izzy followups with the inverted J. A T-spin double in 12, and a setup for a two T-spin double combo with possible all-clear.

Unfortunately, this opening seems to be limited to two T-spin doubles if we want to hit within the first 14 pieces here, when we know, since 14 pieces = 56 squares = 5 rows, that we theoretically should be able to get a T-spin double and a T-spin triple (2+3 = 5). The next quick opening setup allows us to get this.

2. The ol' OJ

    

The good ol' OJ. As a rule of thumb, this can be done given OL or OJ in your first few pieces, hence the name, the OJ (or OL). More specifically, observe that in the OL, the L has the J and Z above it, and the O has the Z. So it can be done with hard drops anytime L < J|Z, O < Z. (Notation explanation: the L piece can be dropped before the J or Z piece, etc.)

Notice that unlike the Izzy, I've included both the left and right mirror images here. This is because the Izzy can generally be done in either direction given I < S|Z, but the OL or OJ can typically be done in either the only in the left (OL) or only in the right (OJ) orientation, depending on your deck. The left-hand Izzy is presented above because this variation is slightly faster to place.

How do you follow up the OJ? Let's take a look.

    

The obvious idea for a T-spin double is to use an L to form one around the notch in the center, for example:



Not too bad. This gives us our second T-spin at piece 12, and has some good and obvious followups. But I promised you T-spin triple at piece 14, didn't I? Here we go:


The constraint here is that you need to be able to place the O and Z before the I and S. If you can do that, you get a quick T-spin triple with the end of your second deck, for 4+7 = 11 lines of damage total. That ought to put a long combo builder out of business. Of course, if you can't meet the constraint, you can still get the T-spin triple a bit later, depending on the pieces in your third deck:



Here, I was constrained to place the S and Z first, and so had to leave two squares needed for the triple unfilled. With my J at the beginning of the third deck, I've filled them for the T-spin triple on piece 15. I could've also used an O, Z, or L here. The possibilities abound.

3. The Jay-Z

    

The Jay-Z and its mirror image, the Less. You can do this if you can place the J before the Z, hence, the Jay-Z. Its mirror image can be done if L < S, hence, the LeSs.

This one is a bit weaker in its followups than the above two and is done much more seldom. Many decks which allow the Jay-Z also allow for strong multispin combo openers. It is still a necessary part of your toolkit. Theoretically, in top level play, one would still need to do the Jay-Z sometimes regardless of other possibilities, as one's opponent could theoretically look at your deck, and if he knew you never did the Jay-Z, do a quick all clear.

You might look at the constraint and the picture and go wait! There's another constraint! The L is on top of the I. Nice catch. If one has to place the I late, one can do this variant:



This is only a non-mini T-spin single. It's only two lines of damage in Tetris vs Tetris, but hey, it's still damage, preventing an all-clear, and it is also an excellent setup for followup T-spins. I should also note that in Tetris vs. Puyo, non-mini T-spin singles are actually quite wonderful, as they do barely less damage than T-spin doubles, and preserve more material on your board for doing Tetrises in addition to T-spins.

One of the reasons the Jay-Z is lesser used than the Izzy and the OJ is the weaker followups. Let's go back to the first variant and take a look.

    

We've used all pieces except the S and done a T-spin double on the 6th piece. We now need to place the S as best we can, and get the next T-spin. The inverted triangle on the left is a problem, as there aren't too many ways to fill it--and we don't want to use our T to do it. Let's not use the Z either.



Instead of filling in the left with a Z, we've created a T-spin notch using the I and J. With our S and Z, we complete the right side of the notch. This gives us a second T-spin double on piece 14. Good enough.

There are a couple more related variants. Here's the Hypno, which I so call because a player named Hypnocyl used it against me. I consider it entirely weaker than the Jay-Z, and would not choose to use it:



Here we have the constraint of J < Z, but even more constraints, i.e. J < Z < L, I < S|O. And we hit on the 7th piece instead of the 6th. Blech.

Here's a build related to the Jay-Z, the Justice/Elvis:

    

Instead of the Z on the J, we have the S. The constraint here is J<S, I<Z. From trying to get a word out of JSIZ, I get "Justice". On the right, L<Z, I<S. From ElZIS, well, "Elvis" is way more pronounceable.

I would most likely only use this build if I were constrained to place my J and S first, e.g. with a deck starting T, J, S. But it's nice to have around, just in case.

Conclusion

Between the Izzy, the ol' OJ, and other, less-used variants, one can almost always open with a quick T-spin, usually very fast, with nothing but hard drops other than the T. Using this will start you off with excellent damage, provide for good followups, and counter openings such as the quick all-clear.

In my next post, I'll take a look at the opening we're most strongly countering--the fast all-clear, to be known hereafter as the Ace.