Team play and play on mixed colours

Inexperienced players understand team play as "call all the blacks red", and play on mixed colours as "call them black and vote". Both approaches lead to defeat and are far from reality. In the first case the black team is readable and visible. In the second you can "fly off the table" as a counterweight to the player you played against. Does that lead to victory? More likely no than yes.

The choice of strategy depends on the victory plan and is considered only together with it: you choose two players to raise and a suitable strategy.

Team play

It is played when there is a black sheriff, and the mafia does not kill the real one but removes him in a vote. The bet is on a victory three on three, or two on two if a balance was played. The essence: you do not gather and do not remove blacks. You do everything so that civilians leave. Nobody forbids calling your own blacks, entering them into a kind of remainder in the count of the game. Say you gather votes against reds No. 5 and No. 7 and add your own black No. 9. That gives the black trio: No. 5, No. 7, No. 9. In the critical round the "sweet" vote of No. 9 will be the fourth, if you buy the hand of any civilian. Playing against your own should be done carefully, remembering that the votes must gather for removing a red player.

Play on mixed colours

It is used to separate the teams: by the reds' logic a link of two blacks must look impossible. It is used together with shooting the real sheriff, in which the blacks ask each other for a check. Then the known mafia players are raised, and those who stay alive win the game.

Five ways to separate the teams

Give your own mafioso as a black check.
Remove a mafia player from the table with your own hand.
Gather votes against your own black.
Ask for the mafia to be checked.
Break the table into a player of your team.

In this variant we win two on two or in the guessing round. An unconditional plus: the sheriff cannot find the whole team through checks, which is why this strategy is the most effective. The weakest player can be given the "sheriffdom" and, after his black check is raised at nine, calmly "sold", killing the real leader of the reds at night. If a civilian is raised at nine and the sheriff is killed at night, you can sell even two of your own, snatching a win in the guessing round. ("To sell" means to renounce, sacrifice, give away in a vote to strengthen the position of the other blacks.)

In a game of team against team, mistakes are not forgiven: they directly affect how the civilians perceive the whole trio. With mixed colours it is different: mistakes of individual blacks do not lead to the collapse of the whole team, and a mafioso can get out of the most difficult situations.

A common variant: two blacks spoke terribly, and the sheriff was killed on the first night with one red check. Understanding they will not live, the mafiosi gather votes against each other. After their removal one mafia player is left among five, but in the eyes of the town it is a critical round with two blacks. By the logic of the game at five a black has left, and those who voted for him are red. The mafia in the shadows can build its argument on this and win the game (the technique is called breaking the count of the game).

And yet, with all the advantages of mixed colours, a departed black does not guarantee victory. The civilians' archive has ways of finding blacks by background, speeches and emotions, and one cannot hide from them so easily.

A balanced strategy

With team strategy you have to play against three civilians, although two are enough for victory. The best choice is a combination of team play and mixed colours:

the accent on mixed colours: the objectively reddest mafioso for the town plays mixed colours with two blacks;
the accent on team play: the worst-speaking black plays mixed colours with his mafia.

Light mixed colours always help, even in team play, because they create "sweet" hands that fly where needed at the right moment. The rule of any strategy: your team must not be worked out from its links with each other.

How to choose a strategy for a particular game (the Academy's explanation)

The author stresses that a strategy is chosen together with the victory plan and not separately. For practice it helps to ask yourself five questions on the acquaintance night and in the first round.

Do we have a black sheriff? Team play is played precisely with him. Without a false sheriff the town's count is built on one line, and "separating" the teams loses its support.
Whom are we going to kill on the first night? If the real sheriff was killed, the chances for mixed colours are higher: a check will not be able to break the count.
Which of the blacks speaks best? The best speaker gets the role of the red for the table. The worst speaker becomes a candidate for "selling".
Whom does the table already consider red after round zero? If a black ended up in a red link, it is profitable for him to stay with the town and speak for removing reds. If not, he is suited to mixed colours.
What is our stock of votes in the critical round? If there are few "sweet" hands, mixed colours is more reliable: it creates hands that will fly where needed.

You should play the strategy under which it is clear in which round and in which vote you win. If the answer is "we'll see as we go", it is not a strategy.

What the red sees and how not to become readable (the Academy's explanation)

Both approaches leave traces, and a red can look for them.

A trace of team play. Several players in a row give votes against reds, but almost nobody names blacks. A pair of players never nominated or attacked each other. In the critical round they suddenly "recount" sharply and vote together.

A trace of mixed colours. Players now attack each other hard, now make peace without new information. The departed black gets too red words from his "enemies". The conflict looks louder than its arguments.

What the mafia should do to stay unread:

not play the same scheme two games in a row against the same people;
sometimes break its own strategy when it is too obvious (attack "your own" more weakly than a red);
make sure every attack on one of your own has its own basis in the game, and not only calculation.

What the red should do: compare who votes with whom, and not only who says what. The spread of hands over two or three votes often gives away links more strongly than speeches.

An example of a choice (written for the Academy)

A game for ten. The don and two mafiosi. The sheriff was killed on the first night, the false sheriff revealed himself in round zero with a red check, and the false sheriff has a weak speech. The blacks decide: the false sheriff is weak, he can be "sold", the don is the reddest. The plan is this: the false sheriff plays mixed colours with one mafioso (they attack each other at nine), the don keeps team play against the reds. After the false sheriff is removed at nine, the town sees one black, who left with a red check. In the critical round the don gathers votes against the reds, saying "we have already been wrong once, no need to repeat". Here the strategy matches the victory plan and the role of each player.

Application

Play as a team.
Give up the weak players of your team.
Always have a victory plan.

Questions for self-check

Come up with at least one way to make team play less readable.
Play on mixed colours is built on breaking the count of the game. How else can this count be broken?

Practice

Play out the black roles in threes: one chooses team play, another mixed colours, the third a balanced variant. The others try to work out the trio.

Typical mistakes

Calling all the blacks red.
Voting against your own without explanation.
Choosing a strategy without a plan.

Source of the idea. The chapter "Team play and play on mixed colours" from Dmitry Novik's book "Mafia in the Style of Zen" (2020). The strategy-choice questions, the traces and the example were written for the Academy.