Roles in the black team | Mafia Game Academy

The blacks in a trio do not all play the same way. The author of "Mafia in the Style of Zen" systematised five main roles of a black player with a description of tasks and conditions of use, to widen the arsenal of play and the understanding of strategies. He gives them associations from computer games (in brackets below) so that the roles are easier to absorb. The lesson covers each role, then shows how to distribute them and explains how a red should play against them.

The attacker (damage dealer)

The attacker gathers hands against the civilians. Such players are needed when the town does not have enough reds playing against each other. By gathering votes against a particular civilian you save your black from removal in the current round. The author stresses: the attacker's position in the game is much stronger than a passive or defending one (from a civilian's point of view), because it is profitable for the mafia to provoke and strengthen conflicts between players rather than be a party to them.

But there is an important detail. At a table with experienced players you will not be able to sit it out, because good civilians force you to take a position. The author's example: you are mafia on slot no. 5, and after you sit your blacks no. 7 and no. 10. No. 4 spoke quite well, not playing against nos. 1, 2 and 3. If you do not "eat" him for the team 1-2-3-4, then first, you expose yourself: you will have the weakest position of all who have spoken, and with a vote only in the first half of the table you leave the game. Second, you expose the blacks sitting after you: if you do not play against the players before you, then they will play against you and your team. When redness is created in one part of the table, the other part of the table turns black.

The mathematics of a necessary attack

The author formulates the rule of the number four. At a strong table the civilians have many players with clear red lines, and there may be no suspicious ones besides you and your "friends". To win, the blacks need to remove two. If among the civilian town there are not four suspicious players, you must attack; in other cases it is acceptable to sit it out and give a quiet, conflict-free speech. Often the sheriff dies on the first or second night, and even if he manages to make two red checks posthumously, you will be left with exactly two players to remove for the win. If there are three or fewer suspicious players, you must release the brakes and attack for the slightest slip, and in this case it is more effective to play team against team. The magic number four unties your hands regarding the remaining three civilians: you can give them any red colour, the main thing is to kill or buy them afterwards. If you call more than three people civilians, you may find yourself forced to play against your own blacks, which by default you should not do. (More: the lesson "Attack in speech: the rule of four and fifty links".)

The defender (tank)

The defender's task is not to allow his team's player to be removed in the vote. By looking after your black, calling him red and giving suitable arguments, we keep the mafia alive, and by elimination a civilian leaves in the vote. If your black is attacked by a red against whom it is impossible to play at this stage (many have called him a civilian and gathering hands against him is problematic), you declare that you understood the colour of the one you defend better than our red. The defender is obliged to make sure a civilian leaves.

The main skill of the one who closes the round: to understand where and roughly how the votes will lie, and steer the course of the game into the right channel. The duty of saving your black or gathering hands against a civilian lies with the last speaking black player of the current round.

The centre (raid leader)

The main player, whose plan for victory is put into effect. Usually this is the false sheriff or the don. The centre, if he is the false sheriff, gives checks and thereby forms in the town the corresponding layout of the game table. It depends on him whether the bet is placed on team play or on mixed colours. In a perfectly coordinated team all the blacks, depending on the situation, choose a plan and carry it out together, adjusting to the main player. The author notes in a footnote: in an extreme case you can remove your own too, but so that it fits the plan for victory.

The sweet one (assassin)

A member of the mafia who has mixed among the civilians so well that he cannot be found by building teams. In hard situations he is the one who secures the win:

in the critical round, when the known blacks buy a single vote, the sweet one adds the fourth hand and the mafia wins;
when the real sheriff is shot, the blacks separate the teams with the sweet one, and he brings the victory in the final stage of the game.

The role is played very simply: you give the best speeches and voice some suspicions that your black players may be who they are. Know the measure and proceed from the plan for the game: you may voice suspicions, but you should not gather votes.

The sweet one is a trump card for any situation if something goes wrong. A common mistake in playing him: playing against your own false sheriff when he speaks better than the real one. Then you must simply support your player's line and help buy votes. The sweet one in combination with team play or play on mixed colours is the simplest and most proven path to victory. And if the sheriff is dead or will be killed and the whole mafia sits sweetly, no second line of play is needed: the victory is yours anyway. The author jokes in a footnote that this is a support role, but "what the hell kind of separate role is it for something every self-respecting player must do with any card".

The decoy

The four previous roles act directly: they save the blacks openly, attack the civilians and go to success in an even formation. The rule of the good speech works on them: the better it is, the greater the influence on the town and the higher the probability that you will be believed. But this is not always so, and the more united the civilians, the harder it is for the mafia team. Then you need to know how to play the decoy. The author lists the reasons:

a) The sheriff visits you on the night of his death. You must gather votes very badly against your mafia, interrupt it, do everything so that in the next round you are not linked into one team. Play mixed colours. You will be removed from the table as a check, but the mafia, thanks to your active actions, will be able to win.

b) Your false sheriff gives you as a checked black. It is played when the false sheriff has every chance to ride over the real one, but the number of suspect candidates the town has is limited. The task: start to drift, give bad speeches, raise the level of aggression to sky-high levels. Play against the reddest players, call them black and write them into one team with your real mafia. Then they will perceive you and the real sheriff in one link, and with that you will sink the leader of the reds. The mafia will win 2 against 2 in the next round or in the guessing round.

c) You cannot possibly sit alive to the end of the game. Besides the usual play on mixed colours you must take a civilian with you to the grave: first a red leaves, then you. The standard phrase before the vote at nine players: "I am not to be voted on, I am the sheriff." Invent a black check to launch the balance. Through the exchange you will bring half the victory to the blacks, and the others will finish the job.

Application

The author formulates six rules of application:

Be flexible.
Attack the civilians.
Defend the blacks.
Give good speeches and be red: this comes first.
If your affairs are bad, burn the bridges with your team.
Choose the best strategy for the situation.

How to distribute the roles (the Academy's recommendations)

Assess the speech of each of the trio: whoever speaks more strongly is closer to the role of centre (or defender if he closes the round).
Decide who "sits" better in the town's eyes: this player is the candidate for the sweet one.
The attacker is whoever is most awkward for the reds in manner of communication.
The defender is the one who closes the round and counts votes well.
The decoy is chosen from those whose card is already under threat.

Roles can change as the game goes: for example, the sweet one becomes the centre if the false sheriff is killed. By planning roles in advance (see the lesson "The don: scripted gestures and managing the team"), the team acts as a single mechanism.

For the red

It is useful for a red to guess the rivals' roles. One who speaks well, attacks nobody but voices cautious suspicions may be the sweet one. One who attacks everyone and gathers hands is the attacker. One who fiercely defends one candidate and counts votes is the defender. Do not take the reddest-looking player for a red: a good sweet one looks exactly like that.

Example (made up for the Academy)

The trio: no. 3 (don and false sheriff, the centre), no. 6 and no. 9. Centre no. 3 gives checks and holds the team play. No. 6 is the attacker, gathering hands against the reds. No. 9 sits quietly, speaks well and sometimes voices cautious doubts about his own: he is the sweet one. In the critical round at seven, no. 9 adds the hand that decides the outcome of the vote.

Self-check questions (from the book)

You killed the real sheriff, and your black gives you as mafia. Give all possible plans for victory.
They wanted to vote you out, but you invented a check or said you would sit it out. Come up with three deceptive phrases for this move. For example: "I am not the sheriff, player no. 4 revealed himself to me under the table with a red check."

Practice

Distribute the roles for a trio from descriptions of three players. Then play three training games, changing the distribution each time, and at the end of each note which role worked better and why.

Typical mistakes

Everyone wants to be the centre.
The attacker is too aggressive and gives away the link.
The sweet one plays against a false sheriff who speaks better than the real one.
The decoy forgets the goal and actually loses.
The defender defends everyone in a row, not only those who need it.

Source of the idea. The section "Attacker, defender, centre, sweet one and decoy" with the continuation "We attack" (the mathematics of a necessary attack) from Dmitry Novik's book "Mafia in the Style of Zen" (2020). The recommendations on distributing roles, the example and the practice were written for the Academy.