The Mid-Age Aggro Blog #1

(You can also comment at the bottom of this post, it will automatically synchronize with the forum thread, and vise versa)

Fenris - Twitter

Full disclosure: I am middle age gamer. I have children and a more than full time job. I have a beautiful wife and many friends.. I also possess a competitive streak about a mile wide. This means I play soccer in an adult league, practice Brazilian Jujitsu, am a semi serious poker player, and recently, I began to play Hearthstone. It would have been much simpler had I developed a meth habit.

Fast forward to the present and I am now consumed with developing my game. Hearthstone is maddening and exhilarating at the same time. There simply aren’t enough hours in my day to grind out matches so I have to be twice as good, twice as clever, and twice as lucky with my RNG to keep pace with my fellow addicts and achieve the Legendary rank. Paraphrasing a bit, but one does not simply walk into Hearthstone Legendary status. So, I study hard, watch streams, and read forums like a junkie flipping couch cushions for spare change.

So why create a weekly blog? I am hoping to pass on some of the lessons I have learned along the way to fellow newer players, how I am trying to overcome real life restrictions on my developing Hearthstone game, and generally conveying an older gamer’s perspective and experience with many different types of competitive endeavors into the CCG world. Failing that, I can at least have a written record for my children on where exactly my life went off the rails, thanks to Blizzard. Again.

The Power of Position

One of the most important lessons I have learned in my years of sports and game playing, especially poker and jujitsu, is positional advantage. This concept is crucial to the long-term success of a player in most games, especially in Hearthstone. Understanding how to gain it, how you can lose it, and more importantly, how to regain the advantage will win you more games and create a solid base in which to play any deck or hero. The three main areas in Hearthstone where positional advantage exists are in the coin flip, board control, and the player’s hand of cards.

The Coin Flip

The decision to go first or second is really the match’s first battle, albeit one out of direct control or influence by either player. There is a statistical advantage to going first that is recognized by Blizzard data mining. Even when factoring in the coin that the second player receives, this advantage still exists. After round one, assuming both play a one-drop, the first player now can decide to hit to the face or trade with the second player. The power of dictating actions versus reacting cannot be overstated. Winning players very rarely are playing defensively but are always seeking to keep the opponent in a constant state of reaction. Some of the ways that player can seize the advantage from the first player is by the mechanisms of taunts, battle cries, spell or buffs, and charges, but this doesn’t completely wipe out the power of going first. Its important to remember that in the case of the coin flip, being first into the fight is an advantage that has to be factored in for both players and maximizing or minimizing that is one of the keys to victory.

Board Control

One of the ways to exploit or diminish the coin flip outcome is by using positional advantage of the board. Player one drops an Argent Squire on turn one. Player two responds with an Elven Archer, popping the bubble. You would think that positional advantage is equal right? Both players have a one-drop that could trade to the graveyard so they must be balanced. Well, that’s incorrect. Player one still has the board control because he dictates, via winning the first coin flip battle, how the events now proceed. If player one decides to hit to the face, the second player’s decision now becomes more complex: if the second player chooses to hit to the face, he or she could be possibly put into a situation where a buff could be applied or a taunt card played by the first player on the next turn that results in a deeper positional disadvantage in a trade. Player two should strongly consider trading out minions on the very likely possibility that the next turn will further increase the positional advantage that already exists for player one. Anticipation of an opponent’s next move has to be a consideration for a successful player, especially for the player who is already in a disadvantageous position. How many times has a seemingly low threat minion been left on the board only to have a buff applied such as Blessing of Kings or Mark of the Wild that now turns it into a serious problem? Worse yet, what happens when the first player clears the board with a Hellfire or Consecrate? I have lost many games by not clearing the board when I had the chance and removing the positional advantage my opponent had over me, instead choosing to smash face. Too much aggression will get a player killed quickly in this game. It’s a delicate balance of when to attack and when to trade with the opponent.

Keeping minions off the board will limit the opponent’s options and reduce the damage that can be done to our hero. Besides learning when to trade, making use of the various effects that cards and minions possess will help maintain the advantage. Using taunts and charges are the most obvious choices to influence positional advantage through board control. A well-timed taunt, especially ones that hit for a respectable amount, can swing the advantage back or increase an already dominant one. Charge cards seize it immediately, allowing the player to not only use it to attack but also as a kind of removal spell. For example, if the first player drops a Knife Juggler on turn two and the second player has nothing on the board to attack with, using the Wolfrider to immediately get rid of the Juggler would be a way to grab back some of the board advantage player one currently has and seeks to extend with the effect on summoning of the Knife Juggler. This same theory applies to cards that have battle cry effects that damage or buffs other cards. Weapons are also very powerful tolls for board control as they allow the player to use their life to trade favorably to maintain or create their positional advantage. Board control is a significant, if not arguably the most important factor, in the outcome of the match and using this type of positional advantage will contribute the most to a player’s winning percentage. When in doubt, clear them out!

Player’s Hand

Understanding positional advantage in the terms of the cards or “hand” is a simple but overlooked concept by newer players. It’s really fun to empty onto the board a ton of one, two, or three-drop minions and attempt to swarm the opponent. The problem becomes two fold: while the player has board control, more than likely his opponent has a board clearing spell sitting in his hand or deck that will eliminate all or the majority of the opposition’s minions. Now, with no cards in hand, the player who had board control now has lost it and is stuck top decking, which is severely limiting of the ability to win the game. While rush down decks is very successful, mistiming of card usage can be self-defeating. The most successful of these decks win because of a careful balance between having legitimate threats on the board to end the game quickly but also to be able to reload from their own hand once their positional advantage is taken away. Card draw is an essential mechanism to a successful deck build that help gain or maintain hand advantage. Simply put, the more cards in hand, the more options to extend or gain positional advantage exist for the player. Without it, a player cannot sustain board control, which without it, in most cases, loses the game in the long run, barring a highly fortunate RNG run. Knowing how many cards to play is just as important as the timing of those cards played. Keeping cards in hand also has an affect on what the opponent will play. If player one suspects there is a possible removal card in player two’s hand, they might decline to play a powerful minion for a turn or two. If player two has no cards in hand, player one will take the chance of a top deck removal and play the potentially game changing card. Sometimes this delay is enough to swing positional advantage all by itself.

Hearthstone, in many ways, is a simple game of action and reaction. Positional advantage is gained or lost by decisions the players make or don’t make. Long-term successful players keep their opponent off balance, portraying strength even when they are weak. They will battle for board control, create card advantage, and use the coin flip result to their advantage. It is important for new players to keep positional advantage in mind during all three phases of the game. Recognizing when to press forward to the face and when to seize board control is often the difference in a match’s result. My theory is when faced with the two options; I will always default to the board control aspect of positional advantage. It has helped me to at least limit the potential for disaster while attempting to wrestle back the initiative. Ignoring positional advantage will ultimately limit a player’s growth in the long term. Crushing your enemies and achieving ladder success becomes much easier by applying the lessons of positional advantage.