With TGT out and a new season for climbing, that legend rank you’re looking for may not be that far off. These are the 5 essential skills for both new and old players looking to step their game up this season.

1) Understanding board control: Unlike many card games, board control in Hearthstone is one of, if not the most important elements. To put it simply, board control means having more stuff on board than your opponent at all times. Ways to maintain board control come through card advantage and efficient trading for the most part. Usually when trading is mentioned in card games it refers to a 1 for 1. In Hearthstone, taking advantage of good trades creates small advantages that can snowball into a win. An example of a good trade would be killing their 2/2 with your 2/3 so your's survives or trading a 3/2 with their 4/3.

2) Card advantage: Card advantage is very similar to board control in the sense that it’s an advantage you want to hold over your opponent at all times, and that you obtain it by getting the most value out of your cards. Card advantage is important because every card in your opponents hand is an option. By having more cards and limiting your opponents, you’re limiting their option of coming back into the game and increasing yours of a turn around if you’re losing.

3) Know your deck: Now that you understand the basics and picked up a great deck for climbing (Patron Warrior or Hybrid Hunter come to mind.) you need to understand what makes your deck so strong. A mistake many people make is grabbing a netdeck and playing it without any experience. A lot of the time there are specific reasons for a one of or certain fringe cards in the deck. An example of this would be someone playing Force of Nature by itself in a Druid deck on turn 8 with a Savage Roar in hand, or not saving a spare part for Antonidas in Mech Mage. Also in the category of knowing your deck is literally knowing every card in you deck. Having this knowledge will actually make a huge difference in games by knowing which cards you can draw to pull out a win or combo with as well as knowing which cards you’ve already played.

4) Knowing the meta:Knowing the top decks and what’s being played is very crucial at climbing in higher ranks. The point behind knowing the meta is knowing what the enemy can play against you. With this knowledge it makes it much easier to play around certain cards and scenarios. A smaller point to add to this is that knowing the meta can help you with mulligan-ing against certain classes. An example of this would be before Patron Warrior made its rise to power there weren’t many Handlock decks (its direct counter) so you could infer that the Warlock player was running zoo and mulligan accordingly. The last ways to learn the meta come from watching high ranked streamers, reading about it, or simply climbing on your own.

5) Playing around your opponent: Lastly, we have one of the best ways to pull out wins if done correctly and the easiest way to lose if done otherwise. Playing around your opponent is basically anticipating plays that your opponent can make counter your plays or swing the game in their favor. An easy example of this would be the infamous turn 7 Flamestrike against a board full of minions. Through knowledge gained by learning the meta you can anticipate your opponent thoughts and actions while always being one step ahead.

Usually when I’m about to make a play, I think to myself “ what combo can they have to screw me over?” and if that combo or card is very likely I adjust my actions accordingly to avoid it. Of course there are some things that you can’t play around like a Druid playing Starfire just or fringe decks like Pirate Rogue and mill. For the most part, playing around different cards is just a learning experience that’ll get easier with practice and forethought.

All in all, these skills might take some time to learn and master, but will make you an overall better player in Hearthstone and other card games alike. Good luck in ranked and thanks for reading!

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