Keyser wrote:
1) What are the most important things to consider when trying to decide if you are ready to build another building or need more creatures?
When in doubt, play a creature (as long as it is reasonably cheap). You can always build the building next turn in the same spot and the creature will be one turn closer to menacing your opponent.
Keyser wrote:
2) When do you expand by building towards the center vs building a construction site in a corner?
This was really hard for me when I started. I kept dropping things in corners only to have them destroyed. When you don't know what cards to expect your opponent to play, you don't have a sense of how likely the construction site is to be safe. Its much better to build a deck with some 2 vision buildings and plan to build towards the center. If you have to drop things in corners (say with a bad building draw in a limited game), try to avoid doing it with expensive buildings at all costs.
Keyser wrote:
3) What do you consider the most important aspects and traits of a character? (Armor, Heal, Attack, Health, Vision, Speed, Range, Abilities)
Speed is huge; there are a lot of creatures that are essentially useless in constructed because they are too slow. This is why Goose Tamer is so much better than most similarly costed cards. He threatens your opponent this turn, not five turns later after he finally makes it across the map. Vision is pretty big too. Being able to see your opponent when he can't see you is a large advantage.
Keyser wrote:
4) What are some of the most important lessons you've learned about the turn based strategy of each round?
If your opponent makes the last move of the round, you make the first move of the next. There are a lot of cases where you want to do something before your opponent has a chance to react by attacking before you can move your creature / moving his creature before you can attack / blocking your path / etc.
Keyser wrote:
5) What advice would you give to beginning players? What advice to mid-range players?
For beginners, pick a single domain and stick with it. Sylvan is fairly friendly to beginners, as is Death. Get comfortable with your cards, but also pay attention to what others play. As you see what cards get used against you a lot, you'll have a much better chance of figuring out what your opponent is planning.
For mid-range players, think speed. A lot of games are won by whoever can gain an early advantage since the resulting flux advantage helps dig in to exploit it. A related result is that a card that sits and clogs your hand in the early game had better be a real game winner late to be worth using.
Keyser wrote:
6) What are the most common mistakes you see new players making? What are the most common mistakes you see mid-range players making? What are the most common mistakes you see high-level players making?
Often new players have too few buildings or too few creatures; your opponent will be coming after them. A good place to start is 20 creatures and 10-12 buildings.
Keyser wrote:
7) What is the average air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
African or European?
Keyser wrote:
8) What do you do when you encounter huge creatures such as epic veteran or bilgrim's first prototype?
Huge creatures typically require 3 domain and a good chunk of mana. Every domain has a way of dealing with creatures and by that time you should be able to afford it.
Sylvan - Charm / Ascent / Entangle
Mountain Folk - Volcano / Fissure / Negate
Death - Lysis
Elemental - Icy Encasement
Keyser wrote:
9) What's the most important goal of the game? Should we try to win by attacking the opponents base or defending ours as the primary objective?
Neither. Fight his creatures. If you win that battle, then for the most part he can't touch your base and you can mop up his at your leisure.
Keyser wrote:
10) Anything else you'd like to say?
Keep Cards?