A winning playbook is being rerun against a different opponent.

The book's anti-doctrine doctrine, and its answer to everyone who wants Sun Tzu as a checklist. "Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances." Water avoids the high ground and strikes the low; the soldier avoids the strong and strikes the weak, shaping the victory to the foe in front of him. The highest praise in the book goes to "a heaven-born captain": one who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby win. The method is to have no fixed method. A playbook is a record of what worked against someone else.