Hi this is guide for 1.8k players that will show you how to secure a advantage in the early game, turning it into a mid game advantage. To me, early game is the early stage of the game, right from the beginning to the time where both players get out their first spears
Bear in mind that I'm not a pro player so my strategies may not be the best out there

Importance of early game
-the starting build order can decide how the early-mid game plays out
-having a good eco advantage (miners & centre tower) can allow you to turn it into a higher archer count in mid game, winning you the game
-your spear timings can decide whether you win or lose the game

Important skills
-choosing to build what (miners/swords/archers)
-microing to keep units alive (especially important for short maps)



Starting game build order
Some BOs focus on getting the centre tower (1.9 miners worth of income) at the start by building army and sacrifice miner production, some choose to forsake the tower, instead focusing on miner economy, while some are in between.
Here are the most common builds
SAS
-Sword archer, followed by sword
-popular on short maps due to short rush distance
-focus on getting centre tower, build miners after the tower is secured
AM--S
-archer miner, followed by sword
-good on long maps
-gives more starting income, and with the chance to compete for tower
MMS
-sacrifice a chance at the tower, instead focus on miner for economy
-spam miners, then get early spear (usually)
-can be easily countered by high leveled players as it follows a fixed BO, but can still be used effectively against normal 1.8k-2k players
AM--M
-i dont know how to do this build can someone enlighten me. Its not so common compared to the rest too

On short maps, SAS is preferred, on long maps AM--S is preferred. MMS can be used effectively on any map

What to do at the start
-first step is to identify his starting build order and react accordingly.
-this is the general guide, can change depending on the length of the map

If you are SAS
-send out your sword first and rush towards centre
-watch the edge of map closely, if you see enemy archer, immediately pull back your sword behind your archer and continue rushing him. If he sees your archer and retreats his archer, means he is going AM-S. Rush his base and try to kill a miner
-but if he attacks you and has the same as you, a sword and archer too, it means he has the same start as you, SAS. attack him. Pull back sword when wounded
-if at the start, he only has a single sword and he runs it all the way back to base with no archer support, means he is going MMS-M-Castle archer. Cancel your second sword if its building and go for miner instead. Attack his base and kill his miners/force him to pull back miners and delay mining time. Castle archer will be up at 0:52 mark, so pull back before then and afterwards capture the centre tower if you haven't.

If you are AM-S
-if you see enemy has lone archer, generally means they have same start as you, AM-S. Go for a second sword. Attack his archer with yours and forward kite to position your archer in the centre to take tower/prevent him from taking tower. Both archers will die. Send out sword to centre to fight his sword. When your sword is near death, pull it back and let the second sword continue the fight. A HUGE mistake many players make is pulling their archer back at the start, afraid to make the trade between archers. This allows the enemy to take the centre tower and have a HUGE economic advantage.
-If enemy has a archer and starts forward kiting you with a sword behind his archer, means they are goning SAS. G kite your archer back immediately, if you are too slow it will die and you lose the game. At the same time, command your sword (using ctrl+2 to select it without having to go back to base to select it" to go forward and protect your archer. G kite back to base and build a second sword. If he pursues, hide your archer at the statue and pull back any miners being hit.
-If enemy has a lone sword with no archer support, menas they are going MMS-M-A. run your archer close to their sword and start forward kiting. Have your sword hold the centre while your archer stands at the second row of gold and keep hitting the miners, forcing them to retreat and delay mining time. Watch out for potential Castle archer at 0:52 and watch the radar below to see when his archer appears. when it appears pull back to centre.

If you are MMS-M
-if you see archer, run back to base. If he doesn't forward kite you, you can stay at the centre for a while more and only run back if he F-kites you.
-if he pursues your sword with only an archer, means he is going AM-S. run back to base to heal and start building a archer. Pull back any miner being shot at once they reach half health. Once your archer comes out you can contest the centre
-If he chases your sword with archer and sword, means he went for SA start. After your 5th miner is built, wait a while for your 2 miners who are already mining (if you pull back too soon, they wont have enough gold to build the to finish mining, then pull everybody back and go for ca. while CA is building, bring your miners forward to prevent delay in mining time, but pull back if he attacks with SAS

Tips
-when you're sending archer out, send it by the bottom of the map where it won't be picked up by the radar
-keep archer alive at all cost. Dead archer at start= instant GG
-when both players are fighting with SAS, he may try to move his sword and archer forward to between your sword and archer, so he can kill your archer who is not protected by your sword. When he does that, you can either g kite all your units back, or pull your archer forward, always keeping your sword between his archer and yours.
-with sas, retreat any swords that have very low hp/pull them back behind your healthier swords/archers. Only let them die you're able to kill theirs in return. On short maps, a 1 sword advantage at the start can easily snowball into a win


Early to Mid Game
-this section will focus on the portion of the game between the start and the time where both players get out their first spear
-balance economy (miner count & tower) and army (swords & archers)
-you have a choice of building army or economy with your gold, so you have to balance both
-A common mistake players make is building too many miners, and not having enough army to prevent enemy from killing miners
-Another is building too much army, and having not enough miners to match the enemy's blossoming economy. This allows them to get out spears much faster and steamroll you in the mid game
-thus it is important to build just enough army such that it is more than them and allows you to secure the centre tower, yet at the same time build miners to match/surpass them so that your first spear will not be too late which can lose you the game.
-what you build depends on the map size and what your opponent does

Short maps
-these are the map sizes:
Castle (very short)
Swamp Lands & Halloween (short)
Desert (short-medium)