Last night I stopped in the arena to watch a ranked pvp match. Both of the players on the field, were Commanders, and both seemed to know what they were doing. Behind one of the players was standing a Warlord.
About one third of the way through the match, the Warlord started announcing the game, play by play.
Ok, no big deal, who couldn't do that, but he was not just telling us what was happening, he was telling us what was going to happen. Not just for one player, but for both players. He was guessing correct about 70% of the time, I was impressed.
He knew just from playing so much, almost exactly what each players was going to do. Even guessed the heals, on the round they healed.
Standing there listening to him made me think of two things.....
1. Never be predictable, always switch things up, and confuse them. 2. (I'll let you guess at the second one).......
While you never want to be easy to read, I think at times when two players can sort of read each other, it becomes more of a matter of getting what you want first, especially when playing against someone you have played against many times before. I once counted exactly how many rounds it would take me to defeat a certain storm wizard, and I was right (eight rounds.) I even hinted to help another player to not ignore my minion, that in a matter of moments, that one little trap left behind would help me close the final points in health, and it did. Of course, you just gotta be good with numbers. Really. I even know the moments where I would lose. I can see four or five rounds down the line where once something has gone wrong, where the climb to get back up to your feet looks too steep I just gotta submit. It happens.
Note on reshuffle guys, Don't ever wait to reshuffle when you only have say 5 cards left. Don't wait that late, but don't shuffle early either. I'd say, reshuffle once 70% of your deck is gone or so. I'd suggest try when you have at least 20 to cushion you for the next few rounds. You can really lose the lead if you shuffle at the very end of your decks.
