In some Puyo matches, all players may get pieces that will get them an All Clear early on. In this case, you or your opponents next chain will send 5 lines of garbage at minimum to the other players. So how do you fight the garbage?
You don't. You build a counter chain instead, and let the garbage fall.
A Counter is a chain that can absorb several lines of garbage and still be set off afterwards. Counters can be any length, but they are usually 6 lines tall. Why? Because the game drops garbage five lines at an time.
There are two main types of counter setups used in matches: the Holy Counter and the Evil Counter.
An Holy Counter is an counter that builds high on the left 2 columns.
An important part of an Holy Counter is to keep the third column low, as building high may cause the player to lose. It is possible to extend a Holy Counter by building a tail on the right three columns.
If the first two Puyos are AA AB, you could build an L shape like so:
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If the starting pair is AA BB or AB AC, you could build an transition such as GTR. But , since this is a counter, you might want to put a focus on height when possible.
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For AA BC, you could place AA in the first two columns, and BC on the second column as shown below. The reason for this specific arrangement is because it can allow the user to build L-shapes.
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The most tricky starting pairs for an Holy Counter are AB CC and AB CD. (An AB CD start happens in the case of an all clear.) You might have to waste Puyo to get a counter built, and you may not be able to build a tail.
In the case of AB CC, you could try to place the first two pieces in the second column like the examples below.
AB CD is even harder, since none of the colors are the same. Your best bet is to place the two pieces in the second column and then try to use at least two of the colors to build an extension.
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Below is an example of an AB CD start. Note that from the first two Puyos, the Blue and Yellow groups were extended, while both the Green and Red Puyo were not.
You might be wondering how to extend your counter after placing your first two pairs down.
One way to extend is by building L-shapes on top of the counter. L-shape is a pattern that can repeat into itself to reach a desired height.
L-shape
You may not always the perfect pieces to continue the L-shape. In that scenario, you could build a 3-1 Stair in the second column instead.
1-3 Stairs
An Evil Counter is an counter that uses the right three columns.
The advantage of an Evil Counter is that you have more space to build the counter itself. The downside is that it is harder to build a tail on the first two columns. (In some cases, players won't build a tail at all.)
If the first two Puyos are AA AB, AA BB/AB AB, or AA BC, you could place the pairs like the example below.
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In the case of an AB AC start or an AB CD start, place one pair in the fourth column, and one pair in the sixth column. For the AB BC start, it is possible to accept another AB or AC piece in the fifth column, creating a group of two B's or C's. As for the AB CD start, it would be possible to get an piece that would "connect" the two pairs together, such as an AD or an BC pair (see below).
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There are two ways to extend a Evil Counter.
The first way is to immediately build column 4 very high. The advantage is that this is a fast way to have a working counter. But this method trades speed for chain length.
The second way is to use the first two pairs as a guide to build a transition. The chain then reverses direction so that the trigger is on the fourth column. The advantage of this is that the chain is longer, and it makes tailing easier. The downsides are that it will not work all the time (AB CD starts), and it takes longer to set up.
The best type of transition that works here is the L-Shaped Zabuton (see below). Many players use this form because it makes tailing easier.
L-shaped Zabuton
The video below is from the Red Bull 5G 2014 Puyo Puyo Tetris Finals. (The game starts at 12:55.)
The tournament finale was a 2v2 where each team has one Puyo player and one Tetris player. Due to the nature of this format, the Puyo player in each team has to defend against constant attacks. As a result, they built counters to deal with the garbage Puyo.
