Straw Man

A "Straw man" argument (also called "setting up a straw man") involves mischaracterizing your opponent's position in order to present a weaker argument than they have actually given, thereby allowing you to defeat it. It usually involves subtle changes to the given facts of the matter, or minor changes to wording that lead to semantic differences in what is said.

Also, "Strawmanning" involves taking a small piece of the case someone has built up that is weaker than their other points and blowing it up. They can then defeat the weaker point and use that as 'proof' that everything that person has said is wrong.

If done skillfully, even the opponent will not realize what has gone wrong with their argument at first. In Mafia, this can give a Scummy player enough momentum to gain an elimination before anyone notices flaws in the new argument. If this is done in the Endgame, it can be a game-winning ploy. Otherwise, it is risky because many players may examine the argument anew during the Night phase, and find the holes in logic.

Example of a straw man argument

• Player 1: I can't possibly be the last scum, because I was away from the site and couldn't have sent in a kill.
• Player 2: So you admit that you were lurking. Die scum!