Mastering the Master’s Path

Master’s Path is the core of Hidden Path Dojo: a Sensei, four Disciples, five movement cards, and just enough room to hang yourself if you don’t respect the system.

Sensei and Shrine: don’t forget either

Every position has two pressure points:

  • Your Sensei

  • Their Shrine

You lose when your Sensei dies or when their Sensei reaches your Shrine. Most disasters come from forgetting one of those for exactly one turn.

On every move, quickly check:

  • “Is my Sensei safe if they use their best card?”

  • “If their Sensei steps forward here, do I still have a clean way to stop a Shrine run later?”

If a capture or flashy tactic fails those tests, it’s probably not worth it.

The real timing of the cards

The most important thing people get wrong: the move you play now becomes their tool later, not immediately.

When you play a card:

  1. It leaves your hand and sits in the middle.

  2. Your opponent takes their turn with their current cards.

  3. Only then does your card enter their hand.

So you’re not just asking “Is this good now?” but:

“Two moves from now, when they finally get this card, will my Sensei be happy I gave it up here?”

You don’t have to calculate everything. Just build the habit of glancing one cycle ahead. That alone cuts out a lot of tragic Sensei deaths.

Disciples, the center, and trades

On the 5×5 board, the center squares do most of the work. Cards feel terrible when all your Disciples are stuck on the edges.

Simple priorities:

  • Develop at least one or two Disciples toward the center early.

  • Be suspicious of trades that drag your Disciple to a corner with no follow-up.

  • Trade enemy Disciples that defend important lanes to their Sensei or Shrine.

  • Keep your own Disciples that guard your Sensei and Shrine.

I don’t think about “material” as points. I think: “Does this exchange make life easier for my Sensei and harder for theirs?” If yes, I take it. If not, I let it go.

How to use Solo Practice

Solo Practice is where you build habits without worrying about another person.

A few focused exercises:

  • Play a game where your only goal is no free Sensei capture, no free Shrine run. Ignore style, just survive.

  • Play a game where you deliberately keep one Disciple back to guard your Shrine and see how that changes things.

  • Play a game where you consciously say, every move, “What happens when this card reaches their hand?”

The AI is good at punishing obvious blunders. Treat that as a diagnostic tool, not an insult.

How to use Training Mode

Training Mode is Solo Practice with a coach standing next to you.

It:

  • Gives you a sense of whether a move tends toward victory or defeat.

  • Lets you undo and try different ideas from the same position.

Best way to use it:

  1. Make the move you’d play in a real game.

  2. Check the feedback.

  3. Undo and try a different move you were considering.

  4. Compare.

  5. Occasionally, try the move you’re afraid of, just to see why it’s bad.

Do this a few times and you’ll start to feel which moves “ring true” even before you see the hint. That intuition is what carries back into normal games.

Reviewing your games (briefly)

After a game that felt important, rewind a few moves and ask:

  • “Where did my Sensei first become genuinely unsafe?”

  • “When did I lose control of the Shrine route?”

  • “Which card did I hand over that came back to bite me two moves later?”

You don’t need a full analysis. If you can spot even one of those turning points, you’ll play the next game differently.


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