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[GUIDE] - The value of a card
Hello there, fellow comrades. Today I want to share my personal opinion about the cards on the game, their value and how to get the most out of them through synergies.
I will separate this topic into 4 categories: Simple value, Synergy through combo, Value generator cards and How to value.
First things first.
"Value" is a small comparison between what you paid and what you got. (I will be using this term a lot). If you get a cool offer, like: "play 2 zombies for the prize of 1", then you know that you got a great value.
---Simple value---
There are some cards that are meant to be played once (like Fun-Dead-Riser) and their normal value is if you play them like they are supposed to be played. You pay 3 brains and draw 2 cards. That's the value of that card.Most beginner cards are designed like this, with a Simple Value in mind, and because they offer the less amount of value out of all cards, they do not see play in ranked pretty often. (Haunting Zombie, Mixed Nuts, Ra Zombie, Bonk Choy)
---Synergy through combo---
Now comes the synergy part. Synergy is when two or more cards work together to create more value of what you do than if they were alone.
Returning to the Fun-Dead Riser example, you can get more value from the same card if you have another card that benefits you or itself when you play this trick. Paparazzi Zombie and Mad Chemist, for example, are cards that either gain or give you something for "free" whenever you play a Fun-Dead Riser. Most of this synergies are quite obvious, and strong enough to create a deck around it. Some examples are:
Punish-Shroom + any mushroom = Free damage
Power Flower + any flower = Free healing
Podfather + any pea = Free stats
The more "free things" you can get, the bigger the value you get and thus, bigger the advantage you will have over your opponent.
---Value generator cards---
There are 2 types of "value generator cards", those that give you "instant" value and those that give you "value over time".
The "instant" cards are the less effective, but the safest. Your opponent don't expect it (most of the time), so you often caught them off guard.
The value of this type of cards is often determined by the time you play the card. Some examples are:
-Dandy Lion King against a 20 health/1 health hero
-Onion Rings with a full/empty hand of plants
-Brainana when the zombie has ton/zero brains left for the trick phase.
The "value over time" cards are more risky than the "instant" ones, but are the ones with the most value potential. These are the cards that can be triggered many times, and they are (oftently) designed to only trigger once or twice. By this I mean that they either have poor stats in comparison to other cards or that can be removed easily. The value of this type of cards is often determined by how many times their effect triggered. Some examples are:
-Starch-Lord: Infinite conjuring, can be destroyed by Rolling Stone.
-Kyte Flyer: Infinite card draw, can be stopped with Scorched Earth/Berry Blast.
-Doubled Mint: Infinite grow, can be destroyed on early turns.
---How to value---
Finally, the last part. How we can get as much value as possible out of our cards and decks.
1.- A good direction.
The more synergy you have between your cards, the more value you can get at all times. Captain Combustible, for example, can have 2 different synergies: Mushroom synergy (with Kabloom cards) and Pea synergy (with Mega-Grow cards), but that doesn't mean you should have both in a single deck at the same time. Your Podfather will give you nothing when you play your mushrooms. Focus on one thematic, and then use your other class to support that archetype. For example, use Pair Paradaise (Kabloom card) to create MORE peas.
2.- Right timing.
Just as explained on the "value generator cards", the most valuable cards are those that have an ongoing effect. It is common to play these cards as soon as they are playable (like Punish-Shroom on turn 3) so you can get more resources to spend next turn, and with that, play more cards and gain a bigger advantage. BUT, sometimes is better to hold your card for the right time. Remember that the "value generator cards" are (oftenly) designed to be removed easily. So, if you are not careful, your 3 cost Punish-Shroom can be easily destroyed by a simple 1 cost zombie trick.
3.- Efficiency
Remember, always try to use your cards in a way that allows you to gain as much value as possible. If you use a 3 cost trick (Spring Bean) to deal with a 1 cost zombie, you are obtaining a negative value from your card. However, if you use it to remove a big/key zombie (Nurse Gargantuar) you will gain a bigger advantage. Sometimes is just better to save the removal cards in your deck to deal with more annoying minions on the later stages of the game.
4.- Feedback
You will lose some games, that's a fact. There is no deck out there that has a 100% winrate. But you can learn a lot from your loses. After a match, try to figure out what went wrong and at what point.
-Maybe it was because your deck didn't have a way to deal with that annoying mayflower and the plant hero conjured way to many cards for you to deal with.
Now that you know, you add some removal into your deck.
-Maybe it was because you played your 2 health zombie on the ground and didn't considered that the plant hero may had a Spikeweed Sector.
Now that you know, you play your 2 health zombies on the top lane.
-Maybe it was because you only drew big cards and your early game was nowhere to be found
Now that you know, you add more early game cards into your deck.
That's it for today, I hope you liked this small guide.
Hopefully, it will teach you something interesting that you can use to climb higher than before.
Until the next one!
