Gimme Gimme Gimme Mana After Midnight
One of Hearthstone‘s rather unique mechanics is that of Mana Crystals. At the beginning of the game each player has 1 mana crystal (although whoever goes second has 2 in theory because they are given a special one-time use card). After a turn passes the maximum amount of mana players have at their disposal increases by 1. You’ll see on the top left hand of corner of each card a small number, that’s the Mana cost to play the card. Managing this is the key to your success.
We all know it would be nice to have the most powerful cards in your deck at all times but this simply isn’t feasible. Firstly because you can only have two of each card in your deck at any one time – except Legendary cards where you can only have one. That means you’re not allowed a full deck of Core Hounds or Arcane Shots. Secondly, and most importantly, having a deck full of highly powerful cards will likely mean you’ve got nothing to play in the opening turns.
Against some players this won’t be a problem. Against most though, it can cause you to lose before even playing a single card. Hearthstone‘s internal Suggest Card option when building a deck does help you to avoid this but it isn’t perfect so be careful. Also keep track of how much you’re using in a turn. If you’re planning a combo of several cards only to find that on the final strike you’ve got nothing, your opponent will take advantage of your weakness.
