Sunday, August 2, 2015

My Best Edwin Vancleef Win So Far (8/8 on Turn 2!)

Well, I'm back to Rank 20 after the August reset...  But, the good news was I started off the month with a great first hand on my first match up. A little while back I started off a match with a 6/6 Edwin VanCleef that wound up winning me the match. However, in my latest match up against a Warlock I pulled off any even better Turn 2.

After replacing 3 of my starting cards, I ended up with Eviscerate & Preparation. Not to mention I had "The Coin", which allows the Turn 2 Edwin VanCleef play to even be possible. Starting the match, my opponent passed on his first turn so I ended up just using the eviscerate on his Hero. If he would have played a Minion on Turn 1 I would have been able to use Backstab.

Turn 2: Being that I couldn't use backstab, I settled for the three card combo instead. Playing Preparation + Eviscerate + The Coin + Edwin Vancleef, set me up in a great position to start the matchup. By playing this three card combination I was able to summon an 8/8 Edwin VanCleef on only turn 2! Withing a few seconds of playing this card, my opponent conceded. Honestly if I was playing against this combination, I would find it extremely difficult to come back.


Recap: It would take either 3-4 cards, Silence or an extra two or three turns just to deal with this card. Wasted cards and wasted turns usually result in a loss later in the game. In addition, normally Warlock decks do not use any minions or spells that can Silence, especially this early on in the game.

There is always the Ironbeak Owl, which only costs 2 Mana, but I rarely see this card used by other Warlocks. The reason for this is that this is really a defensive type card and most Warlocks I've played against mainly use low cost Minions that focus on offense.

While this happened to work out for me in this particular match-up, this Rogue play is extremely risky. If your opponent can deal with this card early on, you are at an immediate disadvantage. Here are a few things to be aware of when using spell combos to play Edwin VanCleef early in the match.

#1. You are at a card disadvantage: You are essentially playing 4 separate cards to create one extremely powerful one. (As a Rogue you always want to have more cards than your opponent. The only time you should have fewer cards is when you are finishing off your opponent)

#2. Counters: While it needs to be the right card, your opponent only needs a single card to deal with Edwin VanCleef. Just to list a few, these counters include Silence, Shadow Word Spells, Hex, Polymorph, Spellbreaker, Sap, Ironbeak Owl, Mass Dispel and any cards that can destroy a single minion (regardless of Attack & Health).

#3. Opponent's Deck: While there are counters to this card you can sometimes tell if your opponent will have a counter to this early push or not. However, when using EdwinVanCleef this early on, most opponent's have not played a card yet. Therefore, it is can be extremely difficult to tell what kind of deck you will be facing. Depending on the Class you are facing, it can sometimes be better to wait for your opponent to show his/her hand before playing Edwin VanCleef.

In conclusion, this is a Very High Risk/Reward play! If you like playing conservatively this may not be the choice for you, but if you enjoy the risky plays try this one out.

If you have any experience using or playing against the Edwin VanCleef Legendary card. Please share in the comments below!

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