Improving Technical Play Part 2: Saving Removal Article: Hayl_Storm Graphics: Shiroiusagi Introduction by Hayl_Storm (@TL_Hayl)



Welcome back to part two in the Improving Technical Play series. This week we are going to be looking at how to conserve and maximize the value of your removal spells. Removal is an interesting topic in Hearthstone because killing minions is easier than in other games because you can attack them directly. That said, removal is an important part of every deck because it is able to deal with opposing minions while preserving your own; furthermore, it is often does so in a more mana efficient manner. The two branches of today's topic are going to be Saving Removal -- knowing when to cast it -- and Sweepers, or board clears which hit multiple minions at once.



Saving Removal When building your deck, spots for removal spells are limited; as such, it must be used appropriately. There are two types of removal which must be considered, burn and unconditional. Burn spells are defined as the removal which says “deal x damage to y”, unconditional removal is what it sounds like: “kill target minion.” The question that must be asked before casting either of these types of removal spell is whether or not it is immediately necessary.



Burn spells -- while not as powerful as their unconditional counterparts -- gain versatility in their ability to hit players. While burning your opponent is rarely correct in the early game, when considering when to cast your removal it is a consideration if you are the beatdown. As the player beating down, the correct time to cast your burn spells relates to your ability to apply pressure. In the early game -- when the aggro deck should be ahead on board -- killing an opponent’s creature so that your creatures can continue to attack is the correct play to make. If the control player is starting to stabilize later in the game, burning your spells to try and claw back an advantage usually won’t allow your minions to attack for more than what the spell would do alone. This is the essence of whether or not to cast burn spell: will killing a creature allow my minions to do more damage in the long run.





Here you are better off Fireball Faerie Dragon

If you are the control player in the match up, knowing when to cast your burn spells requires a different approach. What you must be considering as the control player is the importance of the threat you are facing. It is often worth saving a burn spell and take an extra hit if your Taunt minion can kill two of your opponent’s smaller creatures a turn later. Your burn spells should also be used conservatively in case they are need to be played together to kill a bigger threat later.



Unconditional removal may seem like the easier type to play with, but its scarcity is what makes it valuable. When a control player considers casting an unconditional removal spell, he must consider the threats on the board as well as those that may come later. If you -- as the control player -- know that you have no other way to deal with a large threat later, you are taking on a significant risk if you use your limited removal to kill a smaller early game threat. In other words, its incorrect to waste one of your two answers to Ragnaros





You have many ways to handle this, be patient.





This, however, is Hex



Sweepers/Board Clears Much like single target removal, board clear spells must be used appropriately because their ceiling is so high. A well timed board clear effect can often win the game for you; not necessarily on that turn, but a 3 or 4 for 1 is a huge advantage to gain. There are two key aspects to playing your board clears properly: how much control you have, and how much pressure you are under.



When you have a board clear in hand, it is easy to let your eyes widen whenever you see an opening for it. The trick is, not to use it if you don’t need to. These types of effects are most often found in Control or Midrange decks who are looking to maximize card advantage going into the late game. When playing in the control role versus an aggro deck beating down, you should time your board clears for when you are lacking control. It may often be tempting to play your big spell when you are ahead on board -- with big Taunts etc. -- so you can start beating down. The flaw in this logic, however, is that you should be in no rush to end the game as you have a better late game: perhaps the one exception being if you stabilize at very low health against a Hunter or Mage running Pyroblast



The other key to maximizing the effect of your board clears is to let your opponent play into them. If you can clear out three minions with one spell you can quickly become a large favorite to win. If it is still early in the game and you have some life to play around with however, feel free to hold off and let your opponent make the mistake of playing more minions. A common example of this type of play would be against Murloc based decks. Against these all out aggro decks you often find yourself under pressure early; however, most Murloc decks only have one shot at killing you. If you have a board clear spell in hand, you can choose to take an extra hit or two before sweeping their board. The reasoning here is that -- even at a lower life total -- you are more favored to win if they have fewer cards in hand after the sweep and, therefore, fewer resources with which to build another board.



If you're lacking in options, it might be better here to eat a couple hits and see if they play more minions.





Feel free to go for it in this case.

An aside for the aggro player: Just as the control player is going to try and bait you into their board clears, you need to try and avoid them. There are two paths you can take to success in this regard: the riskier, or the safer plan. The more high risk/high reward line of attack is to play as if they don’t have their board clear in hand. On this line you want to dump your entire hand, as quickly as possible, and try to kill them before they draw or can cast it. The safer line of attack is to try and strike the sweet spot of threats on the board. This line will not instantly die to a board wipe, but won’t kill as fast either. The plan here is to develop a reasonable clock, but make your opponent always feel like they can get more value if they wait. If you do this perfectly, once the opponent is forced to clear your board, you can just rebuild and kill them in short order over the next turn or two. Welcome back to part two in the Improving Technical Play series. This week we are going to be looking at how to conserve and maximize the value of your removal spells. Removal is an interesting topic in Hearthstone because killing minions is easier than in other games because you can attack them directly. That said, removal is an important part of every deck because it is able to deal with opposing minions while preserving your own; furthermore, it is often does so in a more mana efficient manner. The two branches of today's topic are going to be Saving Removal -- knowing when to cast it -- and Sweepers, or board clears which hit multiple minions at once.When building your deck, spots for removal spells are limited; as such, it must be used appropriately. There are two types of removal which must be considered, burn and unconditional. Burn spells are defined as the removal which says “deal x damage to y”, unconditional removal is what it sounds like: “kill target minion.” The question that must be asked before casting either of these types of removal spell is whether or not it is immediately necessary.Burn spells -- while not as powerful as their unconditional counterparts -- gain versatility in their ability to hit players. While burning your opponent is rarely correct in the early game, when considering when to cast your removal it is a consideration if you are the beatdown. As the player beating down, the correct time to cast your burn spells relates to your ability to apply pressure. In the early game -- when the aggro deck should be ahead on board -- killing an opponent’s creature so that your creatures can continue to attack is the correct play to make. If the control player is starting to stabilize later in the game, burning your spells to try and claw back an advantage usually won’t allow your minions to attack for more than what the spell would do alone. This is the essence of whether or not to cast burn spell: will killing a creature allow my minions to do more damage in the long run.If you are the control player in the match up, knowing when to cast your burn spells requires a different approach. What you must be considering as the control player is the importance of the threat you are facing. It is often worth saving a burn spell and take an extra hit if your Taunt minion can kill two of your opponent’s smaller creatures a turn later. Your burn spells should also be used conservatively in case they are need to be played together to kill a bigger threat later.Unconditional removal may seem like the easier type to play with, but its scarcity is what makes it valuable. When a control player considers casting an unconditional removal spell, he must consider the threats on the board as well as those that may come later. If you -- as the control player -- know that you have no other way to deal with a large threat later, you are taking on a significant risk if you use your limited removal to kill a smaller early game threat. In other words, its incorrect to waste one of your two answers toto kill a minion that you can answer in multiple ways.Much like single target removal, board clear spells must be used appropriately because their ceiling is so high. A well timed board clear effect can often win the game for you; not necessarily on that turn, but a 3 or 4 for 1 is a huge advantage to gain. There are two key aspects to playing your board clears properly: how much control you have, and how much pressure you are under.When you have a board clear in hand, it is easy to let your eyes widen whenever you see an opening for it. The trick is, not to use it if you don’t need to. These types of effects are most often found in Control or Midrange decks who are looking to maximize card advantage going into the late game. When playing in the control role versus an aggro deck beating down, you should time your board clears for when you are lacking control. It may often be tempting to play your big spell when you are ahead on board -- with big Taunts etc. -- so you can start beating down. The flaw in this logic, however, is that you should be in no rush to end the game as you have a better late game: perhaps the one exception being if you stabilize at very low health against a Hunter or Mage running. An effect as powerful as a board clear should never be used to win more; especially if your late game is favored already. The correct play to make in these scenarios is to hold on to your powerful spells in case your opponent is able to mount a comeback. If you play it out this way, you may end up having won the game at a later point without ever casting the spell: this is fine. By taking this conservative line, you will be able to win that extra small percent of games where your opponent hits the perfect combination of spells.The other key to maximizing the effect of your board clears is to let your opponent play into them. If you can clear out three minions with one spell you can quickly become a large favorite to win. If it is still early in the game and you have some life to play around with however, feel free to hold off and let your opponent make the mistake of playing more minions. A common example of this type of play would be against Murloc based decks. Against these all out aggro decks you often find yourself under pressure early; however, most Murloc decks only have one shot at killing you. If you have a board clear spell in hand, you can choose to take an extra hit or two before sweeping their board. The reasoning here is that -- even at a lower life total -- you are more favored to win if they have fewer cards in hand after the sweep and, therefore, fewer resources with which to build another board.