Hello and welcome to my first strategy primer. I figure that since I have a 15+ win winning streak going on here, I should probably pass on some of my knowledge in an attempt to create an actual challenge for myself.
Today's subject is Card Advantage.
First, what is Card Advantage? Card Advantage is actually a broad term that is divided into one of three types: Raw card advantage, Card Quality Advantage, and Virtual Card Advantage.
Now, before we can go further into card advantage, we must first define what does not constitute as Card Advantage. This falls under one of two items: Card Disadvantage and Card Parity.
Card Parity - The "1-for-1," this is where you trade one card of yours for one card of your opponent's, or discard one card from your hand to draw one from your deck, etc. Examples of Card Parity are Shockwave and Cloud Scepter.
Card Disadvantage - The "1-for-2," this is where you trade two or more of your cards for a lesser amount of opponent's cards, or discard X cards from your hand to draw less than X cards from your deck, etc. Examples of Card Disadvantage are Sandsinger and Vortex of Knowledge.
Now that we have those out of the way, let's define what is Card Advantage and what isn't.
Raw Card Advantage - By spending one card and a small number of resources, you draw 2 or more cards. Examples of Raw Card Advantage are Secrets of the Book and Dream Rift.
Card Quality Advantage - Frequently, this is synonymous with Card Parity in that you often trade one card for another. However, with Card Quality Advantage, you look at multiple options and choose the best one out of them. Examples of Card Quality Advantage are Kybar's Scroll and Warlum.
Virtual Card Advantage - This is the trickiest kind. Just about anyone who has played against me has been a victim of this. By running a very minimalist number of certain types of cards, usually creatures, your opponent's answers for those kinds of cards suddenly become dead draws. Entomb and Cleansing are two other examples of Virtual Card advantage in that they deny the opponent use of the named cards, effectively giving them dead draws again.
Now that you know what these are, you need to learn how to apply them. For example, why is Vortex of Knowledge Card Disadvantage? You spend 1 card to draw 2 cards, right? But your opponent also draws 2 cards. Thus you spent a card and your opponent spent nothing, net loss of one card on your part. However, of course, there are times when Vortex of Knowledge is quite useful and thus shouldn't be immediately discounted.
Applications of Card Advantage will be covered in the next Primer, Resource Advantage, as the two go hand-in-hand.
