Over the last few weeks of Group Stages and Super Regionals, the Smite community gained a new catchphrase. Caster Anatoliy Alekseyenok repeatedly uttered the words “Force the Issue” while describing a match between Team Allegiance and Luminosity Gaming, and Twitch Chat quickly seized on the repetition. Soon it had spread to Twitter and Reddit, and even the other casters got in on the joke, with Fdot and Adanas chuckling over the phrase in subsequent matches.

Despite “Force the Issue” joining a host of other absurd and easily spammable SPL slogans, this doesn’t mean that it has no meaning, or nothing to teach us about Smite. In fact, knowing what the Issues are (and when to Force them) is a vital part of a balanced Smite player’s toolkit.

The Mechanics of a Metagame

For experienced players, Smite can be played in an almost robotic fashion. One action triggers another, which leads to another. You attack when your opponent’s jump or ultimate is down. You do the Gold Fury when the opposing team rotates to Solo Lane. You hold your CC-immune ultimate during a gank if you know the enemy jungler is waiting to drop a displacement ability on you. Simple facts like these show the flow of the game and who has the advantage. Any player with experience in Conquest can read these clues, and use them to determine when to strike.

Identifying and keeping track of these markers (escapes, relics, ultimates, positioning…) is an essential skill in Smite, but that doesn’t mean it has no relevance at a high level. Pro League teams such as NRG Esports and Soar Gaming thrive on this kind of precise evaluation of the game. A team like NRG doesn’t try to use off-meta team compositions or hyperagressive strategies; instead, they focus on recognizing and exploiting the smallest possible advantages, and using their considerable mechanical skill to grab control of the game and snowball those tiny advantages to victory.

So is this bad?

Knowing how to play in a purely mechanical, advantage-driven style isn’t a bad thing. In fact, if it’s a skill you haven’t mastered yet, you should probably focus on developing your ability to play based on small advantages like cooldowns, relic status, and experience leads.

That being said, however, this skill alone will not carry you to victory. Playing a game in a style like NRG means taking the “sure thing”; only going after objectives and kills that you’re very likely to pick up. If the team you are playing against is equally experienced and coordinated, advantages will come slowly, or not at all. Two teams (or laners) who are purely focused on mechanics are more likely to end in a slow, boring draw rather than a decisive win for either one. Even if this is a style in which you’re comfortable, someday you’ll run into someone who is more skilled than you in your particular position. A purely advantage-driven strategy will leave you no chance for a comeback.

What’s the other option?

As I’ve just established, playing a “safe” game will only take you so far. There are times when you need to dive a tower, even when you’re the same level as your target. There are times when you need to start the Gold Fury, even though the other team is in plain view. There are times when you need to Force the Issue.

As the phrase suggests, the idea of Forcing the Issue is about taking something (the Issue) that wasn’t necessarily going to happen, and making it happen anyway (Forcing it).

Practically speaking, “Forcing the Issue” is just taking an action with a non-guaranteed outcome, with the purpose of changing the pace of the game or gaining a greater advantage. Starting the Fire Giant with four enemy team members down and a Wrath available? That’s not Forcing the Issue, that’s the obvious play. Starting the Fire Giant with even teams, half your ultimates down, and an unknown number of enemy relics up? That’s Forcing the Issue. Any time you’re starting a fight in lane just because you think you can win it, or invading buffs without an invasion composition, you’re Forcing the Issue.

Why does this even matter?

Pushing objectives, starting teamfights, or wandering into the enemy jungle without a clear advantage is dangerous, but that isn't the point. Most teams don’t Force the Issue because they’re reckless or don’t recognize good situations. They do it because, as I said earlier, a purely mechanical game is slow, and relies very heavily on the skill and communication of every player on a team. A team like NRG is almost unstoppable when they’re allowed to play in their chosen style; the way many teams try to beat them is to disregard small factors, and make risky plays with potentially big rewards.

At the end of the day, that’s what Forcing the Issue is all about: High Risk, High Reward. Sometimes, a team needs to make a play that isn’t guaranteed in order to close out a winning match, or redeem a losing one. Is starting the Fire Giant with the enemy team around risky? It certainly is, but if you secure it, you can snowball that into winning the game. If you don’t take it, you have to rely on small mistakes from the other team (or impeccable farming and coordination from your own) to build up enough of a lead to take a free FG. Most teams, including professional ones, are willing to take an occasional chance in order to win.

In fact, most teams, including highly mechanical ones like NRG, have to walk a razor-thin balance between playing for advantage and Forcing the Issue. Play too careful, and you might slow down the game and let your opponents back in; play too fast and risky, and you might end up blowing your lead or nailing your own coffin shut.

Team Eager’s 1-2-2 Meta

No team at Super Regionals demonstrated this delicate balance more than Team Eager and their bizarre, unconventional 1-2-2 meta in the NA Finals. Eager’s Support, Aror, took his chosen god Sylvanus into the middle lane, to put pressure on Snoopy and help TheBest farm. This, combined with djpernicus’s high pressure on solo, allowed Eager to 3-1 a confused and off-balance Soar.

Eager’s positioning allowed them to Force the Issue on the solo side of the map; buff camps that would usually be cleared easily turned into chaotic brawls, the traditional “Solo Island” became the game’s main stage of battle, and Zapman and Metyankey engaged in an eerily quiet farm-off on the far side of the map. This upside-down game style destroyed Soar’s precise laning phases and rotations, and let Eager’s aggressive team composition dominate the invades and early solo-side fights that characterize this strategy.

The important thing to gather from these games is not that Eager is unpredictable, although that’s certainly true. The way they won was by starting fights in places and times where the meta dictates there should be no conflict, and giving Soar no choice but to fight back. In most of these fights, there was no guarantee that Eager would win; they didn’t have an overwhelming gold or level advantage at the start of these games. What they had was readiness to take risks, a high-pressure composition designed to snowball off early success, and the confidence to engage in fights where they had no clear upper hand. Eager was willing to Force the Issue.

So what does all of this mean to you?

However hard you try, you’re not going to be able to strategize like Eager in one of your ranked games. But that doesn’t mean you have to play like a robot, only taking guaranteed fights and objectives. Be ready to take risks or uncertain fights if you stand to gain something major. Be prepared to go “off the script” and take a tower you’re not supposed to take. And don’t be afraid if the enemy calls your bluff and decides to engage when you don’t have an advantage. Sometimes, simply being ready for the fight is all the advantage you need.

Happy Smiting!

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