Brothers, when I was playing some casual mobile games recently, I suddenly discovered that there is something about "Fantasy Garden". At first glance, you may think that this is just a match-3 game about growing flowers and grass, which has nothing to do with playing games. But if you are like me and pay attention to the tactical games of KPL and LPL, and carefully appreciate its core gameplay, you will find that this thing actually hides a lot of competitive logic.
Let's talk about its match-3 mechanism first. On the surface, it is about matching small pieces to arrange flowers, but in fact the number of steps in each level is fixed, and you must complete specific collection goals within a limited number of steps - such as how many pieces of lemonade and how many roses to collect. This is like a local "resource operation". You need to plan the chain reaction of each step in advance, similar to calculating skill CD and troop lines in MOBA games. For example, if you have a bomb prop in your hand, should you use it now to clear it all, or should you save it for a "wild team battle-style" explosion later when a dense area appears? Every choice you make affects the final score.
What's more critical is the level design. Many maps are deliberately filled with obstacles and locked grids, forcing you to use the minimum number of steps to achieve maximum benefits. This is very similar to the changes in the jungle after the version update, which requires you to re-understand the "wild route". For example, which area should be cleared first at the beginning, and which match-4 and match-5 should be synthesized first, are all games. I have even seen some high-level players post videos of playing a level repeatedly and calculating the optimal solution. In the end, they scored hundreds of points more than the "recommended steps" given by the system - isn't this the involution of the speedrun list? It's as exciting as the team fighting for the Storm Dragon King.
In addition, although "Fantasy Garden" currently does not have direct PVP, its activity rankings and weekly challenges actually have "soft competitive" attributes. For example, in limited-time collection activities, everyone competes in the same set of maps to see who can get more stars according to regulations. This is the same logic as competing in KPL to see who can knock down the highland tower first - the competition is about decision-making efficiency and detail processing. And with the version update, the emergence of new props (such as shovels, rockets, rainbow balls) and new obstacles (such as ice cubes, spider webs) will break the old elimination routine just like the new heroes of LOL come online. If old players don't follow the version, they will be beaten by the new mechanism every minute.
Of course, some people say that match-3 doesn't rely on luck? No, real competitive games are always a 50/50 split between luck and strategy. Just like in professional competitions, there are luck rounds for punishment, but if you don't calculate the map resources and timing in advance, you won't be able to get far just by relying on the European Emperor. The synthesis sequence of props in "Fantasy Garden", the allocation of steps, and even when to gamble with "extra steps" are all muscle memories that require long-term practice.
So in my opinion, this game can be used as "competitive training in fragmented time" - suitable for players who don't have time to play long games, but want to maintain a tactical thinking. Moreover, its official event module (although currently small in scale) is already trying to create a "match-3 tournament", which may become a branch of casual e-sports in the future. Anyway, I recently started to study the "optimal solution" of each picture, and I feel it is much more interesting than simply watching the drama. I suggest that brothers who are sensitive to tactical details can give it a try, and then come to the forum to discuss how to play👀