LST is a guideline 2-7 stacking strategy that can efficiently output a B2B T-spin every bag, and last as long as the player wants. The 2w stack, (in this case, the left stack) will always consist of the L, S, and T pieces. Hence the name LST.
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LST is also good to use as a stacking exercise, since it requires you to use your queue very efficiently to sustain it for long. JZT is its mirrored version, a 7-2 stack. You should practice both to reduce any awkwardness.
I recommend reading this guide in chunks, and to practice one concept at a time. Learning all of LST and its nuances is hard to grasp in one session. (Editor note: this advice should be applied to learning anything. "Chunking" is a very potent learning strategy, and giving your brain time to process things is crucial for learning). Another good learning/gaming habits are taking short breaks every 20-25 minutes, and doing replay reviews.
First and foremost, LST is about preventing bad board states altogether, and there's little to no leeway for mistakes or fixing them. This makes LST very very challenging to learn. It requires good stacking fundamentals and being able to visualize 3 pieces at the same time. If you don't have that ability, you can just start doing LST and "grow into it" with practice, but there's no guarantee of success. I also suggest becoming familiar with what T spins are and how to build them.
Follow the tutorial religiously. Don't try T spin overhangs that aren't mentioned, because they'll ruin everything.
By far the simplest way to LST stack. The L and S on the 2w is mirrored on the 7w, like this:
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Thanks to Garbo for the awesome LSJZ replays.
Note that you can place the overhang on either stack. This is in contrast to ST stacking, where the overhang is always forced to be on the 7w.
Here's a map on jstris to instantly jump into practicing LST: https://jstris.jezevec10.com/play/map/79117. It's good to learn how to LST stack from flat top TKI, as that's the opener used in VS Tetris and Ultra. Here's a tool to learn how to LST stack with flat top TKI: https://swng.github.io/cover-visualizer/flattop_lst/. You may also encounter an LST viable board in midgame, pay attention to when you're in a 2-7 or 7-2 board state.
Try not to waste T pieces in the stack. For reasons including: it'll tank your tspin output, it'll change the stack parity. Perfect LST is a good skill to build
Sometimes, when the queue allows it, you can put both L and J overhangs at the same time, and then an S or Z overhang. This makes a fractal, a very useful setup for spiking.
A somewhat common beginner mistake is trying to make a fractal with S/Z on top of L/J, like this:
Unfortunately, you can't build a fractal that way, the only fractal you can make is L/J on top of S/Z.
You can keep adding overhangs to a single side instead of placing the pieces into the stack. It should look like this:
This should give you some flexibility when playing, since you now have one more stacking option to consider. However, don't overdo it; more than 2 prestacked overhangs is too much and is very risky, especially in versus.
If you do LSJZ for long enough, you should notice that you eventually top out. This is because you need to double up. Double ups are something every LST user should master.
A double up is when you place two pieces on the 2w for just one T spin. This makes the LSJZ higher, letting you take more quads, and lowering the whole board. Mathematically, a double up should be performed every 6.67 T spins on average. That should have around 0.857 attack per piece on JStris and Puyo Puyo Tetris.
Two conditions need to be met to double up.
- Is your stack high enough?
- Does the queue allow it?
If either is a "no", your double up will force you to waste a T piece.
With LSJZ, there exist two types of double ups: SS/ZZ, OL/JI. Let's learn more about them.
SS/ZZ is the most commonly used double up. First, make a T spin with L/J pieces. Next, place an S overhang, and then another one on top. After that, you want to pay close attention to the queue. If you want to 100% succeed, you need a solution where you can stack in a way that ends with Z in hold. I also recommend you to prestack an L overhang to maximize your chances.
Afterwards, you need to raise the other side with two Z pieces: one from hold, the other from the queue. Thus, your double up is completed.
Since JZ is just a mirror of LS, you can start doubling up from the ZZ, optionally prestack a J piece, and after the T spin place the SS.
In some cases, you don't need to hold a Z piece, because you have 2 of them in the queue anyway. You may also learn to keep track of the 7 bag system to know if you really need to hold a Z or not.
With this, now you know how to LST stack forever. As long as you double up often enough and don't make mistakes while stacking, you will never top out.
Instead of using two S or two Z pieces, you can use two I pieces instead. Like this:
The first advantage of it is that you can place one i piece before the T spin is executed without it affecting the T slot access. Thus, you don't need to have an I piece in hold, you can simply place it right away, like this:
This makes it more flexible to use than SS or ZZ, with the only caveat being that you can't use vertical I pieces as the overhang.
With the OL double up, one side has an O piece overhang.
After the T spin is executed, the other side gets an O piece as well. Afterwards, place L and J on the O pieces like usual.
The JI and LI double ups are the same shapes as OL and OJ double ups respectively.
It's "one up", not "level up", by the way.
Firstly, before we talk about alternative overhangs, we have to discuss overstacking. Overstacking is what happens when you don't double up enough. Your right side stack becomes higher and higher than your left LSJZ as time passes, and eventually you top out. While overstack isn't usually dangerous in Ultra and Blitz, it is dangerous in VS Tetris because you are vulnerable to spikes. LSJZ pretty much requires you to have some overstack. This is the reason people have to use TKI to open LST; with an empty board you have no overstack to make LSJZ work.
A skilled LST user will always have very little overstack, keeping their board very flat. As a result, they have less opportunity to use LSJZ, but a flatter board lets them LST stack while using other pieces instead of JZ to make up for it. It also gives them more freedom when stacking compared to an LSJZ user, which makes fixing mistakes easier. Using alternative overhangs also lets you save I pieces in order to spike or go down.
Every overhang has a height. "Height" of an overhang refers to how much taller it makes the well. From bottom to top, overhang heights 1, 2, 3, and 4.
They're referred to as 1-ups, 2-ups, et cetera. The idea of overhang height is the core of "height difference" - another B2B T spin stacking technique. In LSJZ, L and J are 1-ups, S and Z are 2-ups, OJ and JI are 3-ups, SS, ZZ, II are 4-ups. 5-ups and 6-ups exist as well, but they're never practical.
Every 1-up and 2-up other than JZ requires a follow up, because they don't make the J or Z piece completely. Due to how many variations there is to doing it, some call it "freestyling". 1-ups that use a Z overhang are often called "fake J setups", because they're really just replacing a vertical J overhang with the same overhang built with different pieces.
For example, these two are the same shape that you probably used when solving PCO:
Place an I piece flat without moving it. You'll result in an I 1-up, commonly seen in TKI 3. To make a fake J, fill the 2 grey blocks:
With a single piece, those grey blocks can only be filled these ways:
Note that you need to have something underneath L and Z pieces to make this work. You want to be extra careful with the L pattern, because you also need an L piece on the 2w. The Z pattern uses a Z piece, so having an S overhang is advised.
If you look closely, they're 2-up overhangs, just not used as a T spin overhang. Once you learn more about 2-up overhangs, come back here to be amazed.
After the vertical J, this is the easiest 1-up to learn. It's just a flat L piece. Just like with the I piece, you need a 2-up to make a fake J:
Pretty much the only way to do so is to use a Z 2-up overhang. The same shape is used in the MKO opener.
Placing a Z piece to finish the shape is pretty much the only way to . You can also use a 2nd L piece instead, but it's a rare opportunity because of the 7-bag randomizer :
It is super dangerous, because you'll be using 3 L pieces for a single T spin. You pretty much never need it, but keep it in mind for the rare case that you do.
This is just a J piece, but it's upside down instead of vertical.
Honestly, this is just the I piece 1-up, just built with a J piece instead.
All the patterns are the same, here are they as a refresher:
This one is inherently dangerous, because it's an S overhang for an S/Z T spin. Because of this, it's mainly used as a prestacked overhang, or as an overhang to fix the height difference after executing the S/Z T spin.
It's also a very special 1-up.
Unlike the other overhangs, you need a 1-up instead of a 2-up to make a fake J. Here's how the fake J looks like when finished:
The SL fake J is really not a good board state to be in. And, just like the LL fake J, the SS fake J is rarely used because you need 3 S pieces to make it.
There's more patterns for the 180 J and I piece 1-ups. Those are called "fake S setups". They're called that way because they're alternate builds for the S 1-up shape.
To build a fake S, build a 1-up, and then another 1-up as if you're building an S piece fake J. Like this:
The second 1-up is marked purple. You can only make a fake S with an I or a 180 J 1-up:
Note that you can't really make a fake J from IS and IJ fake S, so avoid them for now until you read on the SO 2-up overhang.
The 180 J 1-up shares all of the above ways to build a fake S, and has one more:
The fake S 1-ups also happen to be all the ways to build 3-wide floating T spins in the game.
The alt 2-up overhangs are ways to build a fake Z overhang. However, just like alt 1-ups, every 2-up requires a follow up, or else the Z shape will be incomplete.
It's called a flat top overhang because the flat top TKI is the same shape, but built with ZJ instead:
To fill the fake Z, you need a 1-up in the correct spot. It's very similar to how you build a fake J from an S 1-up:
The L 2-up can be used not only to make an overhang, but also to fix height difference. Most 2-up alt overhangs cannot do that; they force the overhang to be on the 7-wide stack.
This is one more 1-up. It doesn't occur in LSJZ, because it's only used for the flat top overhang.
The easiest pattern for fake J is with an S piece, like this:
It's not the only one, and I recommend not fixating on it too much.
When you do a 2-up in this spot, the pattern becomes a similar shape to flat L 1-up:
Doing a 1-up in this spot makes a shape similar to 180 J/flat I. Another Z and an I piece are used as an example.
If you place another Z piece like this, it becomes a fake S 1-up:
This overhang can be seen in the Fonzie TKI variation. It's the Z 1-up, except used in a place where a 2-up is required:
This overhang needs an S piece to become a proper 2-up.
However, this is rarely an option due to 7-bag. You can do it sometimes, but it's usually better if you don't, especially so for bag counting. Because of this, a fake S is almost always used instead.
You can also view these follow ups as doing a 180 J/flat I 1-up to turn the setup into a flat top overhang.
Kazu overhang isn't called after the player, but after the opener it's used in, Kazu TKI/Kazu TSD. I could probably name it "S 2-up", but it would create confusion with the S 2-up used in LSJZ.
^ Kazu overhang vs S overhang
Kazu overhang needs a 2-up to be filled.
Any 2-up you already know works:
You can prestack a 1-up overhang and then tuck a Z piece underneath.
The finesse is DAS left, press and hold soft drop, DAS right, clockwise rotation, release soft drop.
It's very useful when following up the MKO opener.
Also, instead of executing the S/Z T spin, you can build an L/J T spin on top, then clear it, and only then tuck the Z piece. This setup is called a "delayed fractal".
