Early Mayor Claim

[Emberguard]

Mayor is a unique role. Only one per game. Anyone claiming Mayor with no counter-claim or counter-reveal semi-confirms them as being town. That is far more important then extra votes. Using the reveal button too soon will get in the way. Those extra votes will be more likely to destroy Town then help Town if you reveal straight away. You need to gather reads. Can't do that effectively if the Mayor has 3 votes.

So to all you vigs out there, please. Stop (deliberately) killing the Mayor N2 for claiming Mayor without a reveal if that's your only reason to kill them. It's far more likely you'll kill two townies in the process then a non-townie due to Mayor being a unique role. Especially when they were never asked to use the reveal button and weren't the lynch candidate. Anyone claimed as Mayor will always resolve itself through PoE (process of elimination) without the need for a vig. If they claimed Mayor without revealing it's so they can get a doctor on them. Can't be healed once revealed. It'd be suicide to use the official reveal any earlier then necessary due to how easy BG's can be eliminated and abysmal play for a vig to shoot a Mayor claim that hasn't been countered or resolved through day play.

[philip1077]

That's bs, if you claim Mayor, reveal, otherwise you are susp af, which means that Vig should be justified to shoot you.

[BlastingOff]

I want to point out a lot of Jesters (and sometimes evils too) claim Mayor and refuse to reveal so they can trigger "reveal or lynch" situations. Most powerful TS roles like Retri won't CC immediately as they need to be off the radar.

[kyuss420]

just reveal and start VFR, push your weight around, use your power

[Anika48024]

Vigis just shouldn't shoot N2 at all to be honest, unless someone is acting like an obvious Jester. I really don't like arrogant Vigis who think they're justified in taking risky and usually disastrous N2 shots at anyone who doesn't have the same playstyle as them. Not wanting to reveal early as Mayor isn't a bad play, it's just a cautious play, and caution is often a good thing in games like ToS. Vigis should focus on scumreading and keeping track of claims rather than getting tunnel vision and focusing only on a single player who's playing "too" boldly or "too" cautiously for their taste.

[MarvelsTheFixer]

This is generally true because claiming a unique role as a non-Townie is extremely difficult to pull off and only worth it in the most specific of circumstances. An early unique claim is unlikely to be evil, unless they seem like an Executioner. Mayor revealing is being used as a crutch a bit too much I think. Besides, an Invest can get almost exactly the same job done the following night.

[BlastingOff]

This is generally true because claiming a unique role as a non-Townie is extremely difficult to pull off and only worth it in the most specific of circumstances. An early unique claim is unlikely to be evil, unless they seem like an Executioner. Mayor revealing is being used as a crutch a bit too much I think. Besides, an Invest can get almost exactly the same job done the following night.

That's not true, there are a lot of evil Vet claims, which is a unique Town role. Someone claiming a Town power role like Mayor and not trying to confirm themselves is a sign of a Jester in most cases, in which case Vigis should shoot them so they can confirm themselves and their existence. If you are gonna claim Mayor, you might as well just reveal so TS is definitely taken and check off RTs.

[MarvelsTheFixer]

Um actually, it is true because claiming Vet is easily proven false and will get you lynched or killed very quickly. Furthermore, most Jesters are not that obvious.
So, again, nobody who knows what they are doing is going to claim Mayor without actually being Mayor.

[ScarfVendetta]

just reveal and start VFR, push your weight around, use your power

I generally find it's better not to reveal super early, provided town is functioning well. Mayor is far more powerful during midgame in my experience, where there is less hay in the haystack of players and you can squeeze roles out of everybody who hasn't contributed yet.

Most of the time, you don't even need a Mayor to start VFR. Whenever I play as Mayor, I tend to watch the chat for a while, encouraging pushes but not revealing myself as Mayor unless I myself am getting pushed. Mayor is a huge target for Mafia, so revealing early means that you're likely to be wiped out earlier than you would've been. And if town thinks it's best to keep a LO or BG on you to keep you safe, then that's diverting protective roles away from the Jailor and other protective roles.

Sure, if the Jailor is dead or the town are fairly passive, it's okay to reveal. Sometimes it's necessary to get an inactive town moving. But if town are in a reasonably strong starting position, revealing for the sake of it doesn't necessarily help. It has a few benefits, such as making sure Investigative roles don't waste their time on you, and it does allow you to start making some pushes earlygame. Earlygame pushes can be useful to confirm RT slots, particularly when there are a lot of TI claims. However, if town is competent, they will usually start VFR on their own, without the need of a Mayor reveal.

A confirmed townie is also more valuable later in the game, as by this point most other suspects have been eliminated and the rolelist can be used to crack down on evils.

Revealing as early as Day 2 certainly isn't the worst strategy, but imo it's not as good as people make it out to be. I'm sure some of you will disagree, so if you have any counter-arguments I'm happy to hear them