Patterns

So what are patterns (or play patterns)?

They're bite-sized sequences of actions you commonly take while playing a deck. Some of them can be coupled together to form a combo line, while some are stand-alone and serve to help you advance your game plan in a certain way.

While it can be easier to get started with the full combo lines directly, it's easy to fall into the trap of memorizing the combos right away and treating them like gospel, applying the first available combo every single time you duel without much thought.

That can lead you to play suboptimally a lot of times and certainly doesn't help you understand what each card truly does in your deck. The game gets a lot more fun when you can recognize these patterns and when it makes sense to perform them.

Don't get us wrong - combos are important! - but it's just as important to see them as combinations of patterns, each achieving something to further your goal during the duel. This way, you'll eventually learn when to diverge from the bread-and-butter combos into something a little more custom for your specific matchup and/or situation.

Enough talking - let's play the game, shall we?