In weeks one and two, you learned to build a focused deck and shape its resource curve. Both of those skills share a quiet dependency: they assume you know what you are building against. Scenario scouting is where that knowledge comes from. The difference between a good player and a great one is not card selection — it is information. Great players read the Scenario before they draft a single card. They let the threat dictate the response. ...
In Your First Deck: A Checklist, step two asked you to map your resource curve. That single bullet point carries more weight than any other item on the list. The resource curve is the heartbeat of your deck. Read it wrong, and even the strongest cards in the arena cannot save you. What the resource curve is Your resource curve is the distribution of card costs across your deck. Line up every card by cost — zeroes on the left, your most expensive finishers on the right — and the shape that emerges tells you how your deck performs across the arc of a session. ...
Every arena match begins long before the first card hits the table. It begins with the deck you assemble. A scattered collection of powerful cards loses to a focused deck built with intention. This checklist walks you through the decisions that separate a pile of cards from a weapon. The checklist 1. Choose a strategy before you choose cards Decide what your deck does in one sentence. “Recruit heavy hitters early and overwhelm the Mastermind before the Scheme escalates.” That sentence becomes your filter. Every card you consider either serves that sentence or stays out. ...