The Deck
I choose to play the same Druid rush deck that I ran the week prior in the Hallow’s End tournament but with a few minor changes. I know longer had Deathwing in the deck and instead replaced him with Avatar of the Wild. I had always been skeptical about Avatar of the Wild as it always appeared to be a “win more” card to me, but I wouldn’t really know that for sure until I put it in the deck and playtested it. For more on what exactly a “win more” card is, be sure to stay tuned for one of my upcoming articles.

Round 1 vs. Bill Powers (Horde Holy Paladin)
This was a rematch from the Hallow’s End tournament a week earlier that did not go so well for me. In that game I had a horrible opening hand and a curve that was exactly one turn off from the optimum curve, allowing Bill to effectively shut me down quickly and quietly. This game, however, went quite differently. I opened the game with a stashed Magni turn one, followed a Verdant Boon on turn two. Surge of Power hit the table on turn three and I was breaking through for quite a big of damage. On turn four I played a Fungal Growth and it was rather smooth sailing from there. This was large in part due to the fact Bill never drew into a Holy Wrath, a card which is the absolute bane of my deck. It is essentially a turn six reset button that puts my opponent in the driver seat, and it is extremely hard for my deck to come back from. He never drew one, though, so my army of Treants plus two 5/5 Behemoth tokens were enough to finish Bill off on my turn seven.
1-0

Round 2 vs. Ricky Hahn (Alliance Holy Paladin)
Unfortunately for Ricky, this game went exactly as it did the week before in the Hallow’s End tournament. I mulliganed into an amazing curve that saw me swarm him with Treants far too quicky for him to handle. It didn’t help him that his deck is in a sort of transition period where he is tweaking it a lot, but that is something that will be worked out with time. To put it plainly, I steamrolled Ricky and can’t recall taking any damage on my hero.
2-0

Round 3 vs. Dan Sotelo (Monster Warrior)
This was going to be an exactly match for me for two reasons: first, that I hadn’t played against Dan in a game of World of Warcraft since Origins, and secondly, that this was my first game against a Monster deck. I knew going into the game that it was Murloc build and figured we would be trying to out rush each other. Our first couple of turns saw us both drop a few cheap allies, mine being Treant tokens and his being cheap Murloc allies. On turn three, however, I played a Stevrona to pump my Treants, allowing me to wipe his board of allies while keeping a few of mine alive. From here I was allowed the chance to build up my board a bit because Dan was low on cards in his hand and was unlucky with a few of his quests. He did start to stabilize, however, when he played the Murloc that makes himself an all other Murlocs have Elusive while ready. This meant that I couldn’t suppress his board at all and instead had to go in for the win before he could take board control. I secured the win by dropping a Surge of Power and a Stevrona on the same turn (I was holding both as to not overextend myself) and him with a bunch of 4/4 Treant tokens to end the game.
3-0

Round 4 vs. Joe Yackel (Horde Mage)
I knew this game was going to be a rough one going in as Yackel lent me the cards to build my deck and therefore knew it card for card. Also, I am not terribly familiar with Mages (which is my own fault) so I would have to be on my toes the entire game. It ended up being a very back and forth game with a lot of swings, which was really exciting for me as my deck had been playing pretty straightforward all day and I didn’t get a chance to test my deck against any huge problems.

I opted not to mulligan my hand as it had a really nice curve but was slightly dependent on Yackel not having a turn 1 kill card. I used an Avatar of the Wild on my first turn to get a 1/1 token in hopes of using it to fuel Verdant Boon on my next turn. Unfortunately, Joe had a Scorch in his hand that killed my ally token and slowed me down. Thankfully, though, his first few turns were used to uses quests and draw cards, allowing me to breathe a little bit as I didn’t have to handle any pressure. I used this time to play a Davius on turn three, accelerating my resources. I then played a Starburst and a Bottled Life on turn five, accelerating my resources even more and getting some Treants on the board. Turn six saw me play the Verdant Boon that I had had from my opening hand, plus a Surge of Power, leaving me with five 2/2 Treants on the board.

Despite his large handsize, Yackel didn’t have many ways to deal with these Treants and ended up taking quite a bit of damage on my turn six when I played another Surge of Power. The game changed completely, however, when Yackel played a Mana Shift on his next turn, taking both of my copies of Surge of Power. This is a prime example of why knowing what options your opponent has is of critical importance. Had I been more familiar with the Mage and known that Mana Shift did, it is likely that I would not have played my second Surge of Power. Playing it did give me extra damage that broke through to his hero, but saving it would have been much more beneficial. It is likely that he still would have played the Mana Shift just to take away the one Surge of Power I had as it was his only real option to stay alive. Had I held onto the second one I could have dropped it on my next turn, re-buffed my allies, and have a much tighter control of the game.

Unfortunately for me, though, I played it as I did and was left with no Surge of Power or allies as he quickly dispatched them with ferocity allies and a Scorch. At this point Yackel was in complete control of the game with board and hand advantage. Luckily for me, though, I drew into a Jessa the Lifebound and a Bottled Life. The Jessa allowed me to stop a hit from Mazukon and put a serious hurt on him while simultaneously giving me three Treants. This, coupled with Bottled Life and a recently drawn Fungal Growth, really got me back into the game as I now had five 1/1 Treants and one 5/5 Behemoth.

From this point forward Joe and I were basically trading blows and trying to get through for as much damage as possible. He had the edge on me, however, as a few of his late game allies had Protector and stopped my small Treants from getting through to the hero. A late game Lordann the Bloodreaver from Yackel really shut me down as he alone could tackle my Behemoth token and live. As hard as I tried I simply couldn’t handle the number of protectors he had, and without any of my own I had no way to stop him from breaking through and winning the game.
3-1

Conclusion
My 3-1 record saw me finish in first place and take down the tournament. This was my first tournament victory in quite a long time and it felt good to get one under my belt. It also was a strong indicator that my deck is working as I want it to and that only a couple more tweaks are necessary. I am definitely going to make some changes to it that I hope I will be able to test out in the tournament this week.

Also, I really have to remember to start reading through all the cards that way I never fall prey to a situation like the one that came up against Yackel. Losing that game was simply due to the fact that I was unprepared to play against a Mage and I had had the knowledge that I have now it is likely I would have come out of that game the winner. I will certainly learn from that mistake and be much more mindful of all cards in the future.

Final Results:
1st – Terence Dorman (myself)
2nd – Dan Sotelo
3rd – Joe Yackel
4th – Adam Teitelbaum
5th – Ricky Han
6th – Bill Powers

Funny Anecdote: As I’m sure most of you know, Horde Paladin decks were wildly successful at the Worlds Tournament, taking quite a few spots in the Top 16 and Top 8 of the World Championships. In our Battleground tournament, held on the same day as Worlds, we had three players playing Paladin decks. Those three players came in the bottom three of our small six person event. To be fair, only one of them was playing a Grand Crusader build, but I still think it is pretty funny that the Paladins were outperformed on the same day they dominated the World Championship.

When I first saw the spoiler for Throne of Tides I quickly decided that I wanted to revisit the Druid. A Horde Druid was the first deck I built in the Worldbreaker block format and I stuck with it for quite a while despite its lackluster performance. My new Druid build, however, saw me switch to the Alliance with a drastic new approach to the class.

The Deck
The urge to build a new Druid deck came after reading the card Wild Mushroom. I knew immediately that it was a gimmick card with the potential to be great, so I decided to build a theme deck around it. The theme, which I affectionately call “Trust the Fungus,” is a build focusing on the two mushroom abilities (Wild Mushroom and Fungal Growth) and a Treant rush.

After a very small playtesting session the day before the tournament I ended up cutting Wild Mushroom in favor of a more defensive (and quick acting) card. I had a feeling this was going to happen as I want the deck to be competitive and Wild Mushroom is simply too gimmicky to survive in that environment. Plus, the deck’s strongest point, the Treant rush, works so fast that it is possible the Wild Mushroom would never fire.

The Tournament
Round 1 vs. Ricky Hahn (Alliance Holy Paladin)
Ricky hadn’t been playing World of Warcraft at all when this tournament was announced so he had to scramble to make his deck legal for the new Core format. Even with his deck in the very early stages of what will hopefully become a powerful Earth Elemental deck, I knew this could be a rough game as Holy Wrath is a very effective turn six reset button against my deck. I knew that I had to rush him as hard as possible before turn six to make sure that the Holy Wrath didn’t end my game.

I had a strong start with a stashed Magni on turn one and a Verdant Boon on turn two. I dropped Surge of Power on turn three and I didn’t look back after that. Turn three saw me break through for eight damage to his hero, and on turn four I dropped a Stevrona Forgemender coupled with a Bottled Life, meaning I had a total of six 3/3 treant tokens in play, four of which attacked that turn.

Unfortunately for Ricky, his opening hand was absolutely terrible, which allowed my rush to break through so hard. He had no turn one or two play, and his turn three play was to flip a quest. He revealed to me later that, after his mulligan, his hand was two quests and five cards that cost five or more, two of which were Holy Wrath. There really was nothing he could do to prevent the rush and I won the game soundly on turn five.
1-0

Round 2 vs. Adam Teitelbaum (Horde Protection Paladin)
After all the talks leading up to the release of Throne of Tides, I knew in advance that Adam was running a deck built around Grand Crusader. The card is extremely strong in this format and I knew it would put all of his allies just a step ahead of my weeny Treants. My plan for this game was to rush early to build damage, then sit back and hope to swarm him with a late game Boundless Wild that would leave me with distinct board advantage.

Unfortunately for me this did not work out. I knew Adam would be running low cost characters that would be fueled by Grand Crusader, but I did not expect all of them to be protectors. The first four allies he played were all protectors with decent life, meaning my early game consisted of trading Treants for his characters so that he never established board presence. My turns one through three saw me drop Bottled Life, Verdant Boon, and Stevrona Forgemender, which allowed me to clear his board. This came at the cost of my own, however, as he used one of his decent allies to attack into Forgemender, leaving both of us with no characters on the table.

I took this lull in the game as an opportunity to build resource advantage via Starburst and Davius, Hearld of Nature. When he got to six resources, however, I made sure to always leave three open during his turn as I was constantly expecting a Mazu’kon to hit the table and left an Entangling Growth in my hand. I later found out his deck didn’t run Mazu’kon, but the Growth came in handy anyway. He dropped a Corrupted Egg Shell on his turn six, and blew it up on turn seven to get his 8/8 Twilight Dragonkin. It became a 10/10 with the Grand Crusader in play, and became even larger when he played another card that I cannot recall. After all this, however, he was left with no hand and no ready resources, and was very sad when I played the Entangling Growth on his giant Dragon.

On my next turn I played my Boundless Wild for nine 1/1 Treants, giving me twelve on the board in total. He then spent his next turn drawing lots of cards via Elched Dragonblade Girdle (destroying the 10/10) and his quests. I broke through for quite a bit of damage on my next turn thanks to having twelve Treants, but was brought to a halt on Adam’s next turn when he dropped two protectors and a 6/1 ferocity ally that hit me for full, bringing within fatal should Adam get another turn. I happened to draw a Surge of Power on my turn, though, and broke through with ten of the Treants to secure the win.
2-0

Round 3 vs. Joe Demestrio (Horde Hunter)
I knew this was going to be a difficult match going in as the Hunter is an extremely strong deck and Boomer very easily shuts down my early game rush just by being on the table. My plan for this game was to attempt to ease the pain of Boomer in the early game while trying to build my Treant army for a late game push, possibly leading into Deathwing.

This did not work out, however, as my hand post-mulligan saw no plays for turns one, two, or three. I ended up drawing into a Magni and a Verdant Boon, but these were useless as Boomer hit the table as soon as he could. I ended up shifting gears and going for resource acceleration, hoping that it would help me in the later game as long as I could keep his board clear. I did make a play mistake, however, and forgot to use my flip to kill Boomer earlier than I did, which would have allowed me to keep two Treants alive that surely would have helped.

I ended up stabilizing quite a bit and took control of the board. By turn eight I had seven Treants on table while he only had two ranged weapons. I had quite a bit of damage on me, though, so when he dropped Mazu’kon and shot at me with his weapons, it was game over for my Fungus.
2-1

Round 4 vs. Peter Sanzone (Monster Mage)
Between rounds of the tournament Pete explained to me that he had no idea if his deck was going to work and that he hadn’t playtested it at all. I was just happy to see a Mage across the table as it meant I only had to do 25 damage for the win rather than the 28 and 29 damage I had to do in my previous three games.

The downside to this match, though, was that I was completely unprepared for a Monster or a Mage deck. Monsters are still new to the competitive scene and I haven’t really seen what they could do yet, nor do I know their cards all that well. As for Mage decks, I simply have not seen one in quite some time and am not terribly familiar with their cards.

None of this mattered, however, as I completely steamrolled Peter. I drew the strongest start I could with a turn one stashed Magni plus Bottled Life, leaving me with three 1/1 tokens on the end of my first turn. Turn two saw me play Verdant Boon (now six 1/1s) and hitting for 3. Turn three was the clincher with a Surge of Power and a tidal wave swing for 12 damage, putting him at 15 taken on turn 3. He tried to stabilize and drop some allies, but none of it mattered as I put out another Surge of Power on turn four and broke through for the win.

To put it simply, this game was the one in which my deck worked as best as it possibly could.
3-1

Round 5 vs. Bill Powers (Horde Paladin)
Another Paladin! This was getting frustrating. It isn’t so much that the Paladin is a strong build, it is just that Holy Wrath is an easy and immediate answer to my rush that also serve as a reset button.

This game was also plagued with bad drawing on my part. My post-mulligan hand saw me wind up with four copies of Starburt and three quests. To make matters worse, each turn after the first I drew each card a turn after it is optimal to play it. I drew Bottled Life on turn two, Verdant Boon on turn three, and Surge of Power on turn four. Even with this ugly start, however, I was able to break through for quite a bit of damage as Bill spent his early game putting out a weapon and drawing cards.

Everything went to hell on his turn six, though, when he played the Holy Wrath that I had managed to dodge throughout the tournament. He killed seven of my allies, which put seven tokens on his Grim Campfire that he dropped on turn four. Without any equipment destruction in my deck I knew this was the end for me, but I obviously had to go down fighting.

Thankfully, Bill didn’t do too much damage to me over the next two turns and I was able to put out a few Treants here and there and build resources via my excessive number of Starburts. Later on, however, I was put to a decision when I had no allies on the table and the only card in my hand was Deathwing. Having no face up resources and no board presence, I took the gamble and destroyed my entire board to put Deathwing on the table.

This didn’t prove to be enough, though, as Bill simply put out filler cards and token allies to effectively ignore Deathwing’s start of turn trigger. He also played an Egg Shell that he saved to get two 8/8 Dragonkin, which were enough to beat me to death before I had any chance to recover.
3-2

Conclusion
My 3-2 record had me finish in 3rd place, which I am extremely happy with considering it was my first tournament with the Trust the Fungus deck. I obviously wish I had come in first to win that awesome playmat as I didn’t win the door prize either (it went to Ricky). The results of this tournament are as follows:
1st – Joe Demestrio
2nd – Bill Powers
3rd – Terence Dorman (myself)
4th – Adam Teitlbaum
5th – Joseph Yackel
6th – Michael Lloyd
7th – Peter Sanzone
8th – Ricky Hahn
9th – Michael Prunella (Dropped)

I’d also like to give a special shout out to Joe Yackel who lent me the cards I needed to finish out the deck. It was also his idea to put Deathwing in the deck, which was something I hadn’t considered, and I like the idea. I don’t know how long he is going to last in the deck, though, as the deck definitely needs some improvement and Deathwing is currently on my short list of cards that can be cut in favor of more defensive minded cards.

Happy Halloween!

As it is with the release of any new expansion, the metagame shifts to reflect the new options and new deck builds that each of the classes now has available to them. With Throne of Tides we also have the addition of Monster heroes and allies, which have been represented in WoW TCG previously.

With all of this in mind, here is my take on how the metagame will change with the release of Throne of Tides and its later expansions.

Initial Reaction
There is no doubt in my mind that Monster heroes and allies will dominate the metagame with the release of Throne of Tides. The Monsters are not only new and exciting but also add another level to the game hasn’t really existed since the Demon heroes found in Hunt for Illidan were phased out of Core. For starters, Monster heroes effectively add a third faction to the game that neither Horde-specific nor Alliance-specific cards can affect. On top of that, the Monster allies printed with Thrones of Tides appear to be extremely strong in both the limited and constructed formats, and most players will likely be drawn to the allure of these cards.

Similar to the release of Worgen allies in the Worldbreaker expansion, I can see almost every competitive deck built after the release of Tides being filled primarily with Monster allies that will probably be led by a Monster hero. Worgens dominated the metagame immediately after the release of Worldbreaker and I have no doubt that the Monsters will do the same. The only difference I see, however, is that the Monsters are likely to have more staying power than the Worgens. As powerful as the Worgens seemed, their edge in the metagame faltered rather quickly in favor of Dragon based decks. Monsters, on the other hand, do not have any other new race to compete with, and I can see them being extremely strong throughout the entire period before the second set of the block is released.

The Second Set
The second set of the Tides block will likely see the addition of three or four new Monster heroes that will fill in some of the classes missing in Throne of Tides. I have a strong feeling that after the second set hits the shelves, these “missing classes” will see a big spike in play due to their fresh feeling. Whether or not these decks will be any good is undetermined, but I’m sure we’ll see a lot of different deck ideas and new strategies for these classes.

Once the excitement of these new classes wear down, however, I feel that the Horde and Alliance heroes will begin to make their comeback. After a four-five month period of players having to deal with Monsters at every turn, players will start to get fed up and learn how to counter those pesky creatures. As it stands, Monsters do not seem to have any way to deal with themselves, so players will be forced to return to their Horde and Alliance ways. The second set will also introduce a slew of new Horde and Alliance allies for people to play around with, many of which will probably be geared towards dealing with Monsters if the metagame for Tides is as Monster-heavy as I predict.

The Thrones Finale
The third and final set of the Tides block is likely to be the final moment in the sun for the Monster heroes and allies. Similar to the Twilight of the Dragons expansion, the final set of the Tides block will probably see a huge push in favor of the Monsters, a push that will start with the last of the heroes that are needed to fill out the set of 10. This will give the Monsters complete access to every class in the game, as well as the abilities and equipment that go along with them. Similar to the second set, these heroes will see a lot of play early in the metagame but will likely fall off as the decks become more fleshed out.

It is with this set, however, that I feel the fate of the Monsters will truly be seen. Similar to the Worgens, Goblins, and Dragons from the Worldbreaker block, Monsters are likely to be relegated to two strategies. The first, and most obvious of the two, is theme decks. Some players out there, myself included, absolutely love theme decks, and Monsters will always be an option for them. The other strategy, though, is the one that Worgens/Goblins/Dragons have fallen into as of late. It is very rare to see entirely Worgen/Goblin/Dragon decks, especially at the competitive level. Monsters, which share a similar role in the overall strategy and design of the World of Warcraft TCG, will fall into this same pattern. The third set of the block will definitely boost the power of Monster decks, but I feel they will only be used in a supporting manner to Horde and Alliance decks. There may be some Monster hero decks still prevalent in the competitive scene, but I really do not expect them to be very strong compared to the Horde/Monster and Alliance/Monster splash decks.

Lasting Impressions
For now, I feel most players are getting too worked up about the power of Monster heroes and allies. Are they new and exciting? Absolutely. Will they be strong in the metagame? Probably, but I do not think they will be for every long. Right now, I think Monsters are riding a huge tidal wave of hype that will crash into the shore once the second set of the block is released. If Monster heroes and allies seem overly powerful to you right now, my suggestion for you is to bide your time. They will definitely have their moment in the sun, but I do not think it will last as long as everyone tends to think it will. A year from now, when the first set of a new block is released, I really believe Monsters will have fallen to the wayside and be replaced by the always present and always strong presence of the Horde and the Alliance.

But how do you get more cards than your opponent? That is usually accomplished by drawing more cards than your opponent or discarding cards from his hand. While it is certainly possible to do both, World of Warcraft tends to lend itself to players focusing on either drawing or discarding as combining the two makes for some very strange deck constructions.

So which is better?

While there are surely some who will disagree, I strongly believe that drawing cards is better than discarding your opponent’s. For starters, it is generally easier to do and is usually more cost effective than discarding cards.

The Rules of the Game
By the very nature of the rules of the game, drawing cards is far more available than discarding cards. To put it plainly, you get a free “draw a card” effect at the start of every turn. Without playing other cards or abilities, there are no free “your opponent discards a card” effects. With this in mind, drawing cards already has the edge over discarding cards, regardless of what deck you may be building.

Factions
Regardless of whether you are playing Horde, Alliance, Monster, or otherwise, every faction has some sort of way to draw cards built in. Draw is usually found in allies or generic abilities across all of the factions, whereas discard is much harder to find in these areas. There are generally only a few allies in each faction that can provide discard, and they are usually more expensive than similar cards that draw.

Classes
The only classes that are truly capable of discarding cards are the Warlock and the Rogue. These two classes could focus heavily on discarding the opponent’s hand and being successful at it. The problem, however, is that the way to discard cards from the opponent’s hand is to use cards of your own. Since most discard effects only get rid of one card, this generally means that you are trading cards. The advantage, however, is that some discard effects allow you to pick which card to discard, so you do gain the edge in that regard.

Even with this in mind, though, this “discard advantage” really only suits Rogues and Warlocks, leaving the other eight classes without viable discard options.

Quests
For the most part, quests are designed to draw cards or add cards to your hand in some way. There are very few quests that discard cards from the opponent’s hand, and even these are usually geared towards or require a Warlock or Rogue hero.

Cost
In the block format, the average cost of drawing a card is around 3.5 resources. This takes into account the average cost of quests and the requirements to complete those quests. With this in mind, drawing cards may appear to be more expensive than discarding cards as a lot of discard effects cost between 1 and 3 resources. However, discard effects have the extra cost having to play a card to generate them. If you factor in that the average cost of drawing a card is 3.5, plus the cost of playing that discard card, discard cards come in about 4.5-5.5 resources each in the long run.

In contrast, while drawing cards has the average 3.5 resource cost, they have the added bonus of replacing themselves when the draw effect resolves. Also, if the draw effect generates two cards, you actually break even on the resource costs. Any draw effect higher than 2 cards actually causes you to net resources in the long run.

Options
The biggest disparity between drawing and discarding comes when looking at the options that both provide. As I discussed earlier, discarding cards has the extra cost of having to use cards to generate those effects. Usually, for each card of your opponent’s you discard, you are losing one of your own. Even if you have a slight card advantage when you start your discard effects, you’ll usually find yourself floating around 2-3 cards in your hand while your opponent is floating around 1-2. While it is certainly good that your opponent has a low hand size, you are also putting a crutch on yourself because your hand size is low as well.

Drawing cards, on the other hand, keeps your options open. For each card you have in your hand you have at least one option of what you can do during any given moment. This is true even during your opponent’s turn as, barring hand revealing effects, your opponent will have to take into consideration that you have 4-7 cards in your hand and each one of them can be a counter or problem for the opponent. If you’re reducing your hand size to lower your opponent’s, you are reducing your options at the same time you are reducing your opponent’s.

Conclusion
As I hope you can see with my explanations above, drawing a cards is generally a much sounder strategy for your game than discarding cards from your opponent’s hand. While the benefits of discard tactics may seem enticing, the cost of attaining those benefits is simply too high compared to the benefits of drawing cards for similar costs. Also, it is important to remember that drawing cards always creates more options for you than discarding cards does, and those options are what will help you win games.

But what is playtesting? New players may think it is simply playing a deck over and over again to see how it does. While this is certainly a major part of playtesting it is definitely not its only component. Playtesting encompasses a wide range of techinques that, when employed properly, will turn your mediocre decks into Top 8 decks.

Before I get started I must say that not all decks can be playtested to success. Sometimes, but hopefully not often, a deck you build will simply not perform well at all. This happens and you shouldn’t be discouraged. Sometimes a deck or combo simply won’t work the way you want it to and that is a part of deckbuilding; trial and error. The important thing to remember, though, is that every idea you have is valid and you may find yourself coming back to those ideas in later decks or coming back to a deck that didn’t work when new sets and cards are introduced.

Where Does Playtesting Begin?
Obviously it begins with building the deck itself. When you are buiilding the deck, unless you are throwing a random pile of cards together, you will be thinking about how you want the deck to work, what combos may be in it, and how it may handle other decks. This is all part of playtesting as you have already determined what you want to look out for when you play the deck for the first time. Remember these ideas as they will become integral to playtesting later.

Now that you have your deck you will probably want to dive right in and play some games. This is exactly what you want to do and I encourage you to play as many games as possible before you ever consider changing the deck. Play against every person at your local gaming store, play against your friends, let your friends borrow one of your decks and play against that. Play against a wide variety of opponents and deck types to get a complete scope of how your deck operates.

Once you have played a bunch of games you will come to your first playtesting hurdle. If the deck isn’t doing well you might consider taking it apart. I strongly urge against this as almost every deck can be fixed (but sadly not all). The key to playtesting is to not take decks apart quickly and build new ones but to play the same decks over and over and “tweak” them.

Tweaking
“Tweaking” is a term that originated from…I don’t know where. I heard it for the first time at my local gaming store over twelve years ago and it stuck. Everyone at my store says it and I have no idea where it came from but it is the key to playtesting and deckbuilding. To “tweak” a deck is to make a minor change, which could be as little as changing which quests you play to replacing four copies of one card with a completely new card.

The key to successful tweaking is to take notes regarding your deck, be it mentally or on paper. Did you find that you were drawing too many quests? Make a note of that. Did you realize that the kill card you are playing isn’t as effective as you thought? Remember that and keep it in mind when you look through your cards later. Every time you find yourself disappointed with how your deck is operating is an opportunity for the deck to be tweaked.

Once you have these notes, flip through your binders/boxes and begin pulling out cards that you think solve your problems. Sometimes a problem can be solved simply by increasing the number of one card you play and decreasing another. You may not realize it but a minor change can go a long way.

Always Look to Improve
Now that you made your changes your deck you may feel that it is done and ready to go to a major tournament. While I hope this might be true, the deck is far from done. As far as I’m concerned, a deck can always be perfected, always able to be tweaked or modified to handle any situation that may arise. While this is certainly harder to do in World of Warcraft than some other card games I have played, you should still have the same mentality when approaching your decks.

Even if you feel like your deck is running well there is still room for improvement. Keep taking notes and making changes whenever you feel you are encountering a serious problem.It is important to remember, though, that not all problems will be handled perfectly by tweaking. Sometimes the class you are running simply can not deal with a particular card or deck style. This does not mean switch classes or change the deck completely, it simply means do the best you can with what you have.

Playtest Often and Make Changes
Always be sure to playtest your deck as frequently as possible. It is certainly fun to build a plethora of decks and play a different one each game, but if you want a serious/competitive deck it is important to keep making changes to an existing deck. Like I said earlier, it is very rare to build a winning competitive deck right out of the gate so don’t be discouraged if your deck doesn’t do as well as you think it should.

I know this sounds like a long and arduous process but I promise you that it is effective. Although I hate citing my own experience, one of the decks I currently play in The Spoils is a modified and tweaked version of a deck I have had for years. I built the deck, originally, three days before the Gen-Con 13k event in 2007 and have been tweaking the deck ever since. I finished in 12^th place in that tournament (out of about 80 I believe) and since modified the deck with new cards that have been releaseed, elevating the deck to an entirely new level. There is no doubt in my mind that it is my strongest deck and I look forward to playing it in future tournaments.

The key to that deck, though, is that I have worked on it over and over again. Even during the “dead” period of The Spoils I was playing the deck and making changes, and now that I have new cards to work with I can not imagine how much more I will be working on it.

Letting Go and Pushing On
There is a time when you might have to abandon a deck and put it in the discard pile, so to speak, but that is up to you. As much as I’d like to say that I’ve figured out when to drop a deck and when to push it, I can’t. It’s really a matter of personal preference, playstyle, and the amount of time you can commit to gaming.

In the end, though, the key to playtesting and tweaking is persistence. This may be a concept that is foreign to most gamers as we, as a group, love when things are fast and exciting. To get through it you have to remind yourself that playtesting and tweaking are the necessary components to success in Constructed formats. It is very similar to learning a sport; aside from being a prodigy, learning how to throw a 95 mph fastball takes time and training. Card gaming, as odd as it may seem, is exactly the same. You will get as much out of your constructed decks as you put into them, so be sure to put as much work into them as possible.

Aileen is a rare card in the Worldbreaker set and with the ability “Pay 1, exhaust a [Nature] card you control => This ally deals nature damage to target hero or ally equal to that [Nature] card’s ATK.” [Nature] cards are any card with the “leaf” symbol under their damage number, which right now includes allies and weapons. Aileen costs 4 to play, deals 1 [Nature] damage herself, and has 6 health (she’s pretty tough!).

Why is this card interesting? Well, mainly because of cards like [Bound Vortex], which are 3/1 [Untargetable] neutral allies that spawn a 2/1 [Air Elemental] each time the card exhausts. With Aileen on board, I can pay 3 to play the [Bound Vortex], then pay 1 touse her ability and exhaust the [Bound Vortex]. Aileen would deal 3 [Nature] damage (3 because the [Bound Vortex] has an ATK of 3) to a target hero or ally of my choice and since the [Bound Vortex] exhausts as part of the cost of Aileen’s ability, I get to place a 2/1 [Air Elemental] token into play. If I have more untapped resources I could also pay another 1 to exhaust the new token and ping (deal direct damage) something else for 2. Starting to see the idea?

Questions: First let’s cover the [Untargetable] question you might have. [Bound Vortex] cards have the [Untargetable] keyword on them, however, Aileen’s text does not say “Pay 1, exhaust target [Nature] card you control => …,” it says “a.” This means that, as long as there is a [Nature] symbol in the bottom left of the card, it’s a legal card to use with her ability. Even with [Untargetable] keyword I can still exhaust the [Bound Vortex] because the word “target” is not part of the ability’s cost requirement. It’s almost as if, all of a sudden, all my nature cards have [Ferocity] and [Long Range] as long as I can pay 1 to use Aileen’s ability. Another thing to note is that Alieen’s ability doesn’t require her to exhaust, so it can be used the instant she hits the table and even on herself.

Taking a step back for a moment, though, we have to look at how the deck operates. Since Alieen is a 4 cost card, it’s important to know that this is not a rush deck. You’ll need some creative playing to eventually overwhelm your opponent. This is why I prefer to call this a “swarm” deck. You’ll need to survive long enough to get Aileen working for you. This brings me to the next aspect of what else goes in the deck.

Right now our deck list looks like this:
4x [Aileen the Thunderblessed]
56x [Bound Vortex]

I’m just kidding about the 56x [Bound Vortex] cards. Technically you could do this because the [Bound Vortex] card is [Unlimited] but that’s no fun. We want to mix it up and give you some extra things like draw, equipment and ability destruction, interrupts, etc. Let’s start with other allies that work with Aileen. Since she is an Alliance character we can narrow our focus on other Alliance and neutral allies. Worldbreaker gives us a good selection of neutral Green Dragonkin allies, who for the most part, all do [Nature] damage. Since we are going for a theme here, let’s only focus on cards that deal [Nature] damage to maximize Aileen’s potential.

Some great additions to the deck would be:

• [Emerald Captain] – when a resource you control is turned faced down, deal target hero 1 [Nature] damage
• [Emerald Tree Warder] – when a resource you control is turned face down, draw a card

Also:

• [Windspeaker Nuvu] - readies after his first attack this turn. He can either attack the same target twice or two separate targets
• [Bella Wilder] – this card has Ferocity if you control another [Nature] card
• [Varandas Silverleaf] – when this card enters play you can turn a resource face down, if you do, deal 3 [Nature] damage to target ally. Works great to combo this card off the Green Dragonkin.

Finally let’s throw in a heavy hitter:

• [Al'Akir the Windlord] – not only is he annoying as hell because generates a 2/1 [Air Elemental] per turn but also allows you to exhaust an [Air Elemental] you control to exhaust an opposing ally. Both Al’Akir and the tokens he generates also work with Aileen’s ability.

Some Extra Allies to round it all out:

• [Gully Rustinax] – Doesn’t do [Nature] damage but is a 2 cost 2/2 [Protector] who is also [Elusive].

The core mechanic of the deck is pretty much fixed at this point. You are going to do your best to keep Aileen healthy and on the table, all the while pounding your opponent with [Nature] damage. But, are we a Paladin? Druid? Shaman? That hasn’t been defined yet. We know we have to be Alliance and we also want to keep with the theme of [Nature] damage. Ultimately, I decided that the Shaman was the best fit for this deck, mainly due to the combination of abilities and equipment available and how they relate to the core mechanic.

Shaman Abilities:

• [Primal Strike] – I can use this ability as an instant to pump up an allies ATK for that turn. This also works with Aileen because she deals damage equal to the exhausting ally’s current ATK value. If I pump it, it will do 3 more damage than normal. Also there is some nice synergy with Windspeaker Nuvu!
• [Earthen Blast] – I generally only use this card for it’s STASH ability. I do a quick 2 damage to the opposing hero and because it flips, it triggers any Green Dragonkin I have on the table
• [Earthen Embrace] – This card can be used in a few ways. Primarily it’s a way to heal Aileen. She has 6 health and if your opponent can’t kill her outright, it will heal her to full, keeping her on the table and buff her damage. Otherwise you can add it to another ally on the table for the added damage.
• [Cleansing Spirit] – Threw this in here as ability destruction. Plus it heals 3 when you play it to remove an ability.

Now this works pretty well, but allies like the [Bound Vortex] and Green Dragonkin are still kind of weak (some of which only have 1 health) and we want to keep them on the table for a long as possible so we can work the deck’s magic. The following equipment both allow for that to happen and give the allies a nice damage increase when you need to go after other threats on the table.

Equipment:

• [Prized Beastmaster's Mantle] – Neutral Allies have +3 health which works with the Elementals and Dragonkin. You can also [Stash] this card to heal a neutral ally you control.
• [Crul'korak, the Lightning's Arc] – Will give each of your [Nature] allies +X [Assault] where X is equal to the ATK of the weapon. It starts at 1 but when combo’ed with [Primal Strike], it will give each [Nature] ally you control +4 [Assault]!! Plus it swings for free!! Imagine this with Windspeaker Nuvu attacking twice (that’s 14 damage just from those 3 cards alone kids!!!).

Finally, let’s round this off with some quests and locations. [Skywall] easily fits into this deck. When you deal [Nature] damage, which pretty much going to be every time you do damage, you can pay 2 and exhaust the location to add another [Air Elemental] token to your swarm. It also allows you to exhaust an opposing ally when you put an [Air Elemental] into play (this, by the way, includes Al’Akir). If you are facing an opponent with a lot of protectors, this could come in handy if you don’t have Aileen to snipe at them. Also, since 98% of the damage you are dealing is [Nature] based, I also threw in 4x Corrosion Prevention quests, giving the deck a little more draw.

Final Deck List (60):

Hero:
Deragor the Earthsworn

Allies (30):
4x Aileen the Thunderblessed
2x Al’Akir the Windlord
4x Bound Vortex
4x Bella Wilder
3x Emerald Captain
4x Emerald Tree Warder
3x Gully Rustinax
2x Varandas Silverleaf
4x Windspeaker Nuvu

Equipment (8):
4x Prized Beastmaster’s Mantle
4x Crul’korak, the Lightning’s Arc

Abilities (14):
4x Earthen Blast
3x Earthen Embrace
4x Primal Strike
3x Cleanse Spirit

Resources (8):
4x Skywall
4x Corrosion Prevention

Let me know what you think! Post a question, comment, or critique below.

Today’s card was first previewed over on WoWTCG.com and has since received a lot of attention. Since she is the first entrant of this new series, I am proud to present to you Alana the Woebringer, the Queen of Don’t Worry About it.

The Hype
When this card was first previewed, the immediate response I heard from fellow WoWTCG players was that Alana is “utterly broken” and “game-changing.” These players would begin explaining to me that her ability is an instant win condition and that the current metagame, especially the block format, would be dominated by her presence. Even players that do not feel Alana will change the game argue that she will create a swarm of mill decks that will cruise through the metagame. For those of you who do not know what a mill deck is, a mill deck is one in which its objective is to discard or remove cards from the opponent’s deck so that the opponent loses by running out of deck.

While I will certainly agree that she is an interesting card, I’m here to explain to you why I think Alana is a rather terrible card that will be forgotten only a few weeks after Throne of the Tides is released.

The Breakdown
Faction: Alana is joining the fight under the banner of the Horde, which is a bit unusual for a card based on mill. In the past, the Alliance has been the mill powerhouse with amazing allies that would cause cards to fly off the top of the opponent’s deck. Since Alana is Horde, this corners her into playing a very specific form of the mill deck, the goblin/fire elemental build. For non-mill decks, Alana’s allegiance leaves her without the strong slew of Protector’s found in the Alliance, leaving her vulnerable to an onslaught of attacks from allies.

Race: In the past, being Undead was a blessing as there was a high volume of cards that favored the Undead. Since the introduction of the Worldbreaker block and the recently announced new core format, the Undead have taken the backseat to the Worgens, Goblins, and Dragonkin that are driving the competitive scene. The future could see a revival of the Undead, but for now they are just as mediocre as any race that is not one of the three mentioned previously.

Class: Alana being a Priest does not really bring much to the table other than possibly reminding the deck builder that the Priest is a strong build for a mill deck. Other than that, Alana’s class is irrelevant.

Cost: At a cost of 5 she comes in at what I consider a “low high cost.” I’m never a fan of cards/abilities that cost above 4 as they never really seem to be worth the entire turn that it takes to play them. This is definitely true of Alana. For her to be as effective as possible she needs to be in play as early as possible, which for most decks will be turn 5. Is she worth a turn 5 play? In situations in which you are winning through the normal means (damage on hero), she does nothing to help you. If you are losing, she isn’t an ally that is going to help you stabilize yourself and back on your feet. With this in mind, her cost basically screams “I only work in a mill deck.”

Attack: Nothing special here. With 2 attack she’ll be putting the hurt on the weenies that may be thrown at her, but bigger allies (and heroes for that matter) will be shrugging her off. The shadow damage is a bonus as it will allow some abilities to trigger off of her doing damage, but she isn’t the kind of ally you’ll be throwing around all that much to begin with, so it’s likely the shadow damage will not be terribly relevant.

Health: Alana’s ridiculously high 8 life is where she starts to shine. If you manage to make her work it is likely she will be around for a few turns as it will require quite a few allies or swings from a hero to take her down. If the opponent is scared of her she could be a good way to eat damage for a turn, but anyone who reads this article will certainly be ignoring her, so the 8 healthy may not mean all that much in the long run.

Ability: Here is where the discussion truly begins. Alana’s ability is to, at the start of your turn, remove the top half of a target opponent’s deck from the game. This means that, if your opponent has 42 cards left in his deck, count the top 21 of them and remove them from the game. Sounds good, right? This is the part where I tell you why it isn’t.

With a cost of 5, Alana will not be seen on the table until your opponent’s turn 5, with the exception of Druid decks with resource acceleration. For the sake of the math I’m about to do, let us pretend that your opponent has played Alana on his fifth turn and you went second, so after your turn five wraps up it is the start of your opponent’s turn six, and the first opportunity for Alana to trigger. You have had 5 turns to play and draw cards.

Assuming you have a standard 60 card deck, your deck size drops to 52 on the first turn (7 card opening hand + 1 at start of turn). To keep things simple, let’s say you manage to draw an additional card during each of your turns beyond the card you draw at the start of each turn. 2 cards a turn, multiplied by the 4 turns after the first one (to bring you through turn 5), is 8 cards. Take those 8 cards away from the 52 you started with and you are left with 44 cards when Alana triggers, bringing you to 22.

Keeping the same assumption that you draw 2 cards each turn (one for start and one for another effect), here is what your deck size will look like at the start of each of these turns if Alana is allowed to remain in play and no other mill/draw effects occur.
Turn 6: 22
Turn 7: 10
Turn 8: 4
Turn 9: 1
Turn 10: You lose.

Looking at these numbers, it is evident that Alana is not a threat on her own. She needs to remain in play (or find a way to come back) from the turn when she hits play plus an additional 5 turns. If you do two or more damage to her a turn from when she hits the table, she will be dead before she has a chance to kill you.

Remember, this math is factoring in that you started the game with an extra card in your hand and you found a way to draw an additional card every turn, which is very hard for most classes.

I imagine you are now asking yourself any number of the following questions: Shouldn’t I care that I’m losing half of my deck? What if she is in a mill deck? What if the opponent puts out more than one? These are all fair questions, and I’m going to answer each one with some detail.

Shouldn’t I care that I’m losing half of my deck?
In short, no. Unlike a lot of other TCGs, World of Warcraft does not have an abundance of cards that allow you to search your deck for a specific card and put it into your hand or in play. Basically, this game does not have a lot of “tutor” effects. This causes deck construction to feature multiple copies of most cards, with it being very rare that a player will only run 2 copies of a card (Quests excluded), and even rarer that a player would throw in only 1 copy of any given card. This is because players want to increase their chances of drawing particular cards, and those chances are even more critical because there are no easy ways to search. In games like The Spoils or Decipher Star Wars, players have ways to hunt down the one copy of a card they play that completes their combo because it was easy to do so. That does not occur in World of Warcraft. All players, new and old alike, have to play multiple copies of a card in their deck if they ever hope to see it in their hand. With this in mind, losing half of your deck shouldn’t be terribly devastating unless you have some bad luck and lose all copies of a particular important card in one shot. Math, however, dictates that this is unlikely, so the fact that your deck went from 44 to 22 cards in one shot shouldn’t really change how your deck operates.

What if she is in a mill deck?
If Alana is found in a mill deck she will definitely become more powerful than normal. She will be aiding the mill deck in accomplishing its goal and the first time she triggers will go a long way in succeeding in that goal. The problem with the mill deck, however, is that it will give itself away very quickly. For mill decks to survive, they need to start milling the opponent as soon as possible, sometimes as early as turn 2. Since mill decks give themselves away so quickly, players will be able to foresee Alana hitting the table and will be able to prepare for it accordingly. Most other mill cards, such as Darkmoon Card: Volcano, Dark Embrace, and Seeping Shadows, are either one shot effects or are on a much smaller scale than Alana that they are easy to ignore. These cards have the added benefit of being cheap and can be played early, but that informs the opponent of what he is up against. When Throne of Tides is released, any deck that is focused on milling will be extremely transparent, allowing players to prepare for a turn 5 Alana. Have a direct kill card in your hand? Hold it back and wait for Alana. Have an ally with Ferocity waiting to leap out of your hand? Save it for turn 5. Alana’s two biggest strengths are her health and the element of surprise, but the element of surprise is thrown right out the window the moment she is put into a mill-based deck.

What if the opponent puts out more than one at once?
Sadly, there is no easy answer to this question. Like some other cards on WoWTCG, Alana becomes over-the-top powerful if a player manages to have two of her in play at once. This is the one part of my argument where I will concede that Alana is worth the hype as two 8 health allies are very hard to deal with if you are concerned about milling. However, the likelihood of a player having two of the same 5 cost ally in play at the same time is very slim, so it shouldn’t be a concern. If it still is a concern, you have the option to switch your deck to one based around Monsters and throw in some Commander Uthoks to deal with Alana before she hits the table.

Conclusion
Alana the Woebringer is a card that will certainly create some interesting game situations and fun mill decks, but in the long run I do not see this card being viable or having a sustained impact on the game. I can agree that most players will read her for the first time and be blown away by the prospects she proposes, but as players learn the game and learn Alana, they will realize that she is nothing more than hype.

The first and most difficult thing you need to do with a theme deck is toss out the idea that you are building a deck to win. Winning is a side effect. What you are really doing is building a deck to accomplish some other goal. For example, I built a theme deck around [King Genn Greymane]. Granted, he is a very powerful card and could very well win you the game, but that wasn’t my intention. I read the card and said to myself, “let me build a deck that is all about Worgens.” My hero was a Worgen, all the allies were Worgens, even the quests in the deck favored being Worgen, for better or for worse. The focus of the deck was to optimize the impact of [King Genn Greymane] hitting the table and not worrying about dealing with ability destruction or a rushing opponent.

I am a big fan of the changes in the core format and as such have been really focusing on block decks. This is mainly due to the fact that I only recently returned to the game and missed most of the Scourgewar and Drums blocks. All my deck building of late has resulted in decks that only include cards from the most recent sets (e.g. Worldbreaker, War of the Elements and Twlight of the Dragons). I know everyone is currently focusing on Dragonkin decks because of how versatile and powerful they are, but I am going to focus the next patch of articles on the neglected four elements.

War of the Elements brought some really powerful cards in the form of locations and allies that I feel have been overlooked in favor of the newer shiny Dragonkin. Don’t get me wrong, [Twlight Citadel] is a crazy card and the decks that I’ve seen use it properly are really powerful. However, I’m putting the “gotta win!” concept behind me and trying something different. Who knows what I’ll come up with.

The next four deck building articles will introduce decks around each of the four elements: Fire, Earth, Wind and Water. Some of them will be more effective than others, but all should prove to be fun in both their play and their construction.

Have you come up with any other interesting theme decks? Feel free to share those here!

That’s not it though, as I have some more surprises coming. What other things should you to expect in the coming weeks?

• New articles: I’ve been deck building a lot recently. Not only is it something I enjoy, but with some of the focus in my local area shifting to “block” game play, I’ve really been trying to find unique and fun decks. My next series of articles will focus on “theme decks” where I’ll take you through my thought process on how to construct decks. Each person has their own unique approach, however, so if you are a new player, just looking at a deck list will not show you the logic behind it. In addition to providing you with a fun deck to play (which may or may not be competitive), I hope to provide you with the insight on why I chose the cards I did.
• Previews and commentary on the new set Throne of Tides: Based on what I’ve seen over at wowtcg.com, the new set has some pretty astounding cards in it. Plus, it adds the new mechanic of monster heroes!
• A WoW TCG Knowledge Base: I will be creating a section on this site for reference materials. For example, this section will cover questions about specific cards, card keywords, and other game terms. Also, as we play, we often run into weird circumstances where specific combinations of cards create a rules nightmare. These types of situations are when it is nice to have a judge. In this section you’ll also be able to submit questions and help improve and enhance the knowledge base for other players who might be seeking similar information. I will try my best to get official references for any answers I research and provide.
• Last but not least, we have a brand new design in the works for Diannara.com. No more standard WordPress theme for us! I’ll be working with a designer friend of mine to give this site a unique flare and style that will hopeful spice things up.

When I was younger I frequently found myself asking, “what is a metagame?,” and I received a plethora of different answers. The reason for this is that the metagame is different for every game, and although some would disagree, different for every player.

Metagame – A Definition
To speak in general terms, the metagame is usually defined as the game universe, the environment of the game that takes place outside of the cards and the rules themselves. For example, around the time of the New York Regionals a few years ago, the metagame in World of Warcraft was very heavy on The Aboominable Greench with decks focusing on how to get him out as quickly and efficiently as possible. The metagame discussion was all about how to handle these decks or how to pilot them, if you chose to run one.

But how do you come to understand the metagame? Many players do it in different ways but the most common method is to surf the internet, browse the forums, and read tournament reports. The problem with this, though, is that this can help you understand the national (now global) metagame. If you never intend on playing outside of your local gaming store, what good is this to you?

While the global ideas may help you come up with new deck builds and combo ideas, they do nothing to help you with YOUR metagame. That is the key to having a succesful gaming career: understanding your metagame. While some players may consider a succesful gaming career one in which they have won numerous large tournaments with big prizes, others consider having fun casual game nights with a good win ratio their version of success.

The first step in understanding your metagame is trying to figure out which metagame you want to be playing for. As far as I am concerned there are three metagames the card-gamer can play for: the local, the regional, and the global metagames. Each metagame certainly has a different style of play and deckbuilding from the others and it is critical to know which one you want to be a part of.

Now you might be asking yourself why it is important to understand which metagame you want to be playing for and the answer is simple: when you know which metagame you are playing for, you are best able to maximize your playtesting and deckbuilding abilities.

Local vs. Global
The downside of mis-understanding your metagame is you will eventually become confused and see your win/loss ratio swing towards the losing side. One example I can give is a good friend of mine who use to surf the tournament scene with me back when Raw Deal was a big game. I, a tournament player, would frequently build my decks based on what I ran against in the most recent States tournaments and would check forums and deck lists to see what the world was doing. I wanted to win a World Championship and was determined to do so.

My friend, similar to me, had the exact same goal. He wanted to win tournaments and go on to the World Championships and become a known Raw Deal player. The difference between us, however, was that he never took the global metagame into consideration. When we would playtest at home, he would frequently build and fix his decks to counter what I was doing. While this helped me immensely, it hurt him. Whenever we would travel to tournaments he would do less-than-stellar because he wasn’t prepared for what was coming at him. I, on the other hand, was making Top 8 and Top 16 consistently.

This example demonstrates how knowing which metagame you want to play for can be crucial to your success in that area. My friend knew which one he wanted to play for but would play as if he were playing at the local level. This was counter to his goals and eventually led to him shifting his entire perspective on the game.

So how do you figure out which metagame you want to play for? To be frank, this is the easy part of metagaming. Simply think about where you want your success. Do you want to be a World Champion? Do you want to win a Regional title but never go to Gen-Con? Or do you simply want to play Battleground events and a plethora of casual games?

If you answered yes to one the last question then you are most likely playing for your local metagame. In my opinion this is the easiest metagame to understand as it is the one with the least influences. The only influences the local metagame has are the players playing in it, which includes you.

Local Metagame
To figure out what the local metagame is doing you simply have to analyze the decks of your fellow players and see what trends they represent. You may notice that a lot of your players are playing Rogue discard decks, or maybe they like Hunter rush decks. Once you recognize the trend you will be able to counter it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with building decks specifically to beat your friends if that is all you want to do. You’ll be having fun putting another couple of wins on your scoresheet as well as giving your local players a run for their money.

One last thing to consider when playing at the local level: try to determine what level your fellow players are trying to play at. If everyone you are playing with is playing at the local level then you have nothing to worry about, but if a few players are looking to win a major tournament then you are going to have to contend with some top tier decks. Figuring out what your opponents are playing for can help you determine your own playstyle.

Regional Metagame
Everything starts to change, however, if you answered yes to the second question above. If you are looking to be successful at the regional level you have to change your approach to the game. Playing to beat you friends at the local venue will no longer suffice. You have to broaden your horizons.

The key to success at the Regionals level (and later the Global level) is research. You will not be able to build a deck and play it at your local venue and expect it to succeed at the State level without some form of research.

The best form of research is actual play against players outside your store. Find out where the other players in your state get together and take a trip or two there to play agaisnt them. You can play in either casual games or in a tournament, any play experience against them will be beneficial. You will quickly find that other venues will have similar qualities to your local venue: they will have trends in decks and playstyles just like your store, even if it is different from yours.

You can also go online and check out tournament reports and/or decklists posted by other players in your state/region. Similar to play experience, this information will give you a good idea of what other players around you are doing, in turn giving you ideas of how to counter those decks for when the big regional event occurs.

The trick, however, is working your deck and playstyle to a form that can not only handle your local players but also the players from the other venues. You do not want to find yourself playing against only one of the venues as you might find yourself at a disadvantage against the other percentage of the field.

Global Metagame
Gaming gets even trickier when you start considering playing against the global metagame. In a nutshell, playing for the global metagame means you want to be able to play succesfully against every other player who owns a World of Warcraft card. This may seem like a daunting task but there are many resources available to help you.

Similar to the Regionals level, the internet can work wonders for your metagaming. Top 8 deck lists are frequently posted on the World of Warcraft website/forums after major tournaments and these can serve as a great starting point when you are looking to see what decks have been successful in major events.

With the internet you are also able to discuss with players around the world, learning about strategies, combos, and playstyles that may not be apparent in your area. You can also get valuable input regarding your own deck lists if you ever choose to post them.

It is also important for you to get yourself out there and play in some major events. It is very rare for a player to appear from nowhere and dominate a tournament, and it is likely you will under-perform in your first few major events. Do not be discouraged by this because, even if you are are not happy with your standings, every tournament is a valuable learning experience.

Final Word
Regardless of which metagame you are choosing to play for, never be afraid to ask questions. As good as you may be at World of Warcraft, every player you talk to will have a different perspective than you and will have an opinion that you can consider. The more you talk to other players the more you will be able to grow as a player, learning different techniques that will help you craft your own gaming personality.

In the end, though, always be sure to have as much fun as possible when playing for your metagame. Winning is great, don’t get me wrong, but if you aren’t having fun then you will not be able to play to the best of your ability.