Scrolls advice for players new to TCGs

 

Having virtually no experience of TCGs myself, diving straight into a game of scrolls really didn’t end well. There is a lot to take in and get to grips with before you can expect to match up to the more experienced players. Below is a step-by-step guide of how I personally improved as a player.

 

Step 1: Choose your deck

 

The pre-constructed decks are there for you to play around with and learn the basics before you have the confidence to build your own deck. Play against the AI using the pre-constructed decks and decide which one suits your style of play more. I personally started with order as I felt it was the easiest to learn as a new player – but you are welcome to choose whatever you like. You are free to create more than one deck, and you can create decks of mixed factions, so don’t feel that you have to stick to the first deck that you make.

Step 2: Practice makes perfect

You will lose a lot of games, but take every loss on the chin and remember that even the top ranked players lose games. The most important thing is to learn something from each game. Ask yourself how you could have defended better, did you ignore the middle lane? Did you forget about an enemy’s countdown? Did you make the best use of the cards in your hand? I would advise practising with the AI until you are comfortable with your deck and experiment with the various difficulties. It also doesn’t hurt to talk to the people you play with, ask them how they think you did and if they have any advice they can offer. I’ve found that the Scrolls community is generally very helpful and friendly. You may also want to have a look on the Scrollsguide forum, where some players have posted their decks. This will give you an idea of decks which are working for other people, and will also tell you what you need to watch out for.

 

Step 3: Strategy

Something I need to remind myself of sometimes, is to take your time (yes I know there is a timer) but make the most of every second, don’t make any rash moves. Controlling the middle lane is an extremely useful strategy, which many players utilize. By controlling the middle lane you are forcing your opponent to go top or bottom and making it more difficult for them to position their units in a way which would allow them to take down 3 idols before you do. This is the lane where you want to put a structure, or something with a lot of health. You may also want to race them and take out the middle idol using a combination of low cost cards. For example, a Crossbowman + Focus (maybe blessing of haste). Durr has also provided ways to get in on idols early on in the game – look out for his mono energy post for more details.

You need to constantly be looking out for countdowns – what units are attacking next turn? You also need to take haste and countdown reset cards into account. With energy you want to be careful of Fury – this will reduce all units countdown by 1, and Iron Whip (which can be combined with magma pack) can be deadly. For growth you need to be ready for God Hand and Rally (which could possibly be combined with Crimson bull). Growth also has cards with haste – Ragged Wolves and Kinfolk Veteran. And for order you need to watch out for Honorable Generals, Blessing of Haste and Speed (although Speed is much rarer). Generally when playing against growth you should always be prepared for a sudden rush in, my tactic is to make sure there are as few units on the field as possible – making God Hand/ Rally redundant.

Quake is another card you will need to play around – for some advice on dealing with this, please read my post “Why Quake is Hurr’s favourite Scroll”.  This may all sound a bit daunting, but being prepared for the above will come with time.

 

Step 4: Refine your deck

By now you should have a basic knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. You should be aiming to get the more powerful cards for your deck (for example if you are running a growth deck you are looking for God Hand, Quake, etc) and trading with other players if necessary. Take your time to read each card description carefully and think about how this card could be used against your opponent. Play your new deck against different players, it will take a few games to adjust to a new deck and you may need to change your tactics. For example, I am now using a growth/order deck – this deck is designed in a way that my aim is to out race my opponent.

 

Step 5: Play play play!

The simplest way to learn is to play with more experienced players. You don’t have to take on the ranked top 10 (or you can if you are feeling brave), but playing against someone who is more experienced than you will enable you to see where your deck needs improving. Also playing with someone who runs the same deck as you, will give you ideas on how you could possibly use the same cards/combos in the future.

This is just some basic advice for new players and is not intended to be a complete guide on how to win games (you may want to ask Durr about that). I hope you at least found some of this information useful and if you ever see GrumpCat online - feel free to challenge me !!