Hello guys! I’m Kris O Five and today we will see the Mistakes in Hearthstone that cost you games.
In order to climb ranks, the first thing you need to do is to be able to identify these mistakes and reflect on what you could have done better in your games and this article should help you with that.
Let’s start with one of my favorites.
Playing not to lose, instead of playing to win.
This one is really interesting. When you start getting good at the game and you start climbing some ranks, the first thing you start noticing is what you need to do to reduce the chances of losing. That is great and is a real sign of improvement, but as soon as you start hitting the really high ranks, that just won’t cut it anymore. Here, you not only need to minimize the chances of you losing, but you also need to start thinking what you should do to setup lethal next turn or the turn after that. This concept really shines in tempo decks and right now, tempo rogue is a prime example of a deck, where you can train this concept. Sometimes, it’s better to calculate how much damage you will be able to dish out next turn to close the game and only trade with the damage you can spare. There is no real way for me to tell you exactly when you need to be taking this line of play, but if you feel like the game is slipping and your opponent is getting stronger, while your steam is running out, I’d say it’s time to go all in. You can also do this in matchups where you know you are very unfavored, but overall you need to train yourself for these situations.
Another very important aspect of about half your games is how you use the coin.
Going second in a game like Hearthstone is a very big handicap, so that is why we get an extra card and the coin to play with. In most matchups you will still be in a bad spot if you are the one going second, but in some matchups, you will even be favored. In a Token Druid mirror, your chances of winning drop down with almost 15 percent if you are going second. Same thing applies for the tempo rogue matchup but there, the second player is heavily favored because he can use the coin for combos and for a bigger Edwin. Either way, if you play your coin wrong, it wont matter if you are favored with it or not. Usually, you need to gain back your tempo with the coin. Since you are going second, you will need to answer your opponent’s questions. Make sure that you use your coin for huge tempo swings, or so you can curve out nicely. You need to have a good play after you use your coin on turn 1 or 2, because if you just throw a hero power after a coin play, most of the time, that wouldn’t have been an optimal use of it.
Another thing you should watch out for is holding on to the coin for too long. Sure, sometimes you just wont need it, but most of the time that is not the case. If you haven’t used the coin by turn 5 or 6, you probably missed a good opportunity. I’m saying probably, because sometimes, you just wont need to use it, but do check out the replay of that game, and make sure of that. Learning from your mistakes and optimizing your plays game by game is one of the keys to success, so do take the time to do it.
Another big mistake is playing without knowing the meta.
This is not so much as a mistake as it is a big opportunity where you can improve. Knowing the meta, and the decks you are and will be facing is a huge advantage. It will help you pick your deck and your tech choices better and it will help you make your decisions in game as well. It is always nice to know if you need to be holding on to that ooze for a weapon, or if you can play it on curve. Same goes for silences and other tech choices. If you are serious about climbing ranks and getting good at hearthstone, I’d say this is one of the most important aspects of the game you need to be concentrating on. My go to place for meta reports is hsreplay.net, but you can also check out sites like Vicious Syndicate and even Tempostorm, although Tempostorm is not what it used to be nowadays.
The next topic we will talk about kinda builds up on the ones we talked before – Not thinking a few turns ahead.
Having a clear game plan in your head is very important when it comes down to Hearthstone. A lot of the times you will be able to win just by reacting to the board, but you need to have a clear idea of how you want the game to unravel. Sometimes, it would be better to hold onto that minion, so you can maybe setup lethal with it, or so you can combo it somehow with another card in your deck. There are a lot of examples of such cards and plays, like combining a deck hand with a cold blood for a surprise 3 mana mini Leeroy, or to hold on to that Rhino, so you can play it with Dire Frenzy in the same turn.
Overall, you should be thinking of such situations where it would be better to hold on to something just a little bit longer, so you can have better odds when you play it. In other cases, the game will require you to forget your plan and hold on to dear life, throwing everything you got at the opponent, but you have to know when you should and when you should not do that. Another important thing in this regard is what cards you will keep in your mulligan. You have to take everything in consideration there. Don’t forget that with most decks, your mulligan will be different, depending on if you are with or without the coin too. Knowing what you probably are playing against is also a key factor for you to correctly mulligan, so it really comes down to how well you prepared before the actual game.
And the last mistake I’ll talk about in this article is the so called Order.
It is very important to have a good idea in what order you play your cards in all sorts of situations. I occasionally mess up on this one as well, even though I know I shouldn’t. A good practice is to plan out the whole turn in your head, before you start throwing cards on the board. If you know for sure, that you will use a card draw or a discover card, 9 times out of 10 it would be best if you start with that. Gaining all the knowledge you can, as soon as you can really helps, and the card you drew or discovered might end up being game changing or at least turn changing, if you had the mana to use it. Another important order you need to know is that it matters in what order you play your secrets. This one is a bit more complicated and I wont go in to details about it, but for now just make sure you think about the order you play your secrets, especially in wild. If you are a mage, and you play potion of polymorph and mirror entity after that and your opponent plays let’s say Deathwing, you will get a sheep, since the Deathwing will trigger the polymorph first and the mirror entity second… There are a lot more orders you need to think about, like testing for a secret before you throw minions against a hunter for instance, utilizing minion synergies and so on.
Anyway, the mistakes you can make in hearthstone are a lot more than these, so I will probably write a second article on this topic soon. Until then, I hope this helps you make better plays and climb higher in those ranks!
Kris