TOP 10 ARENA MISPLAYS

INTRODUCTION

Redditor CrackChowder listed the top ten arena misplays. It was made by his friend, Waskir, who is at legend rank but mainly plays arena, with a win rate of about 75%. Without further ado, here is the list:

TOP 10 ARENA MISPLAYS

1. Missing Lethal

This has also happened to me more than once, especially whenever I use Hunter or Mage decks. Sometimes, we do get occupied with gaining board advantage and clearing everything in our path that sometimes we miss the potential of actually doing lethal. This could either cost you the game since your opponent stayed alive longer than necessary. Apparently, this also happens to the best players, so never forget to check for a possible immediate win by directly attacking your opponent. This hits home because I have often thought about a mistake of using Frostbolt or Fireball to a minion instead of to the face.

2. Forgetting to Attack

Again, this hits home. I have often been disgruntled at the fact that, because I knew how my play is for that turn, I hastily do all the clicking. And when I hit that next turn button, I actually didn't attack with that minion. This also goes with forgetting to use your hero skill when you actually had the mana.

3. Playing For Too Much Value

According to Waskir, this is one of the most frequent mistakes done mostly by lower level arena players. An example of a bad play waiting for your opponent to overcommit to the board while you take a lot of damage. The better play is to cast Mind Control Tech on turn three, regardless of its ability being useless, just so that you don't give the opponent an easy board control. Besides, there's only a 25% that you will get the minion that you want from your opponent when you do play Mind Control Tech in the late run.

4. Getting Greedy

This means getting all of those great Legendary cards you were offered to pick. This also includes the great neutral cards such as Boulderfist Ogre. The problem with this is that you forget your mana curve and while you do have Ragnaros, Alexstrasza, and all of the giants in your deck, you will probably be dead before you have enough mana to play them.

5. Playing Like In Constructed Decks

Apparently, there are a lot of plays which are only good in constructed play and do not necessarily apply well in arena mode. An example is that while you do get to draw a card if you use the 1 damage option of Wrath to kill a minion instead of simply using Druid's hero skill, you're also losing a card that can kill a minion with three health. You have no idea what you are up against, so it's actually better to use that Wrath's 3 damage ability.

6. Drafting for Constructed Decks

If you're playing in arena, you should expect to not get all the cards you want. Sometimes, it will work for you to pick cards as though you're in casual or ranked play. However, most of the time, the Shadowstep you picked won't actually have a Leeroy Jenkins or an Argent Commander. Most of the time, your arena deck will look unfinished with cads that lack their combo pieces.

7. Bad Mulligan

You have to be familiar with your mana curve in arena. Yes, having three four-drops in your opening hand might be bad, but it's probably better keeping one of them if your deck is mostly composed of heavy hitters and expensive spells.

8. Having Inflated Expectations of Your Arena Deck

Never be downtrodden when you've made a decent arena deck and suddenly lose twice in a row. Rest for a while if you need, but don't lose your patience or else it can ruin your third game. Keep your head up and understand that RNG in Hearthstone plays a huge role. So what if you had bad draws and your opponent had good ones? Don't blame yourself for that and keep calm.

9. Killing Yourself

Always keep an eye out on your remaining life total. Hitting 15 below is bad when you're up against a Mage who's probably holding down a Fireball or two along with some Frostbolts. Additionally, while it feels good to kill minions with weapons, don't forget that you also receive damage just like a defending minion would. Sometimes, you just have to settle for less efficient trades.


10. Drafting Too Many Situational Cards

If you're playing Hunter class in arena, you probably want to keep that Timber Wolf. However, that's a situation-specific combo card which might prove to be useless when you don't get Starving Buzzard or Unleash the Hounds or just a lot of great beasts. Even if their potential value is enormous, you should keep them to a minimum to lessen the risks. This is why Chillwind Yeti and Boulderfist are good picks because they are good on their own.

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