i actually played the mini game a few weekends ago (and won on my last wound
). the palantir was instrumental to my victory as i managed to get up to it and position myself so that i could always be in contact with it. the palantir is a tool that does not work if you play using statistics etc. - it is a psychological tool. because of this, it works much better when you know your opponent really well - i used it against my brother (ouch). i did actually manage to use it against him, when he was in contact. i told him that i was not using the 3 push move, so he put his defence on all crush, thinking i was gonna go the other way - i didn't, i used 2 push 1 crush - slammed him into a wall and did good damage. similarly it can be used to great effect, but depends on how well you know your opponent. generally, if your opponent is sly, crafty and a good liar it won't work that well for you. if your opponent breaks down in tears when he is asked if he has done his homework and lies about it then it can be used to great effect!