Cards that can destroy you in one turn

There are some cards that can do you in immediately if you have a Level 3 deck like I do, so I always watch out for them.

For Corn Fields, there is Gold Corn Ronin and Gold Patchy the Pumpkin. Both have attacks over 25, which means if they land on an empty lane, you're dead. Blue Plains has one such card, Gold Psionic Architect, and Useless Swamps has one such card, Gold Tree of Underneath.

For this reason, it's imperative to keep all your lanes filled as much as possible.

Typically, this is how a typical game for me goes:

• Computer goes first, places two creatures down for 1 point each.
• If I have any Black cards, place them on the two empty lanes to immediately hit the computer. If not, place any other 1 point cards with high attack. Even if I have no high attack cards, place cards in empty lanes. Even if the computer already placed cards with higher attack.
• Computer goes again, usually countering the cards I just put down. Also, cards that were placed in the first round get to attack, and may be stronger with a building added.

This way, the computer doesn't have a chance to hit an empty lane, and the computer will never replace an existing creature with another unless that creature was killed off.

Yes, it pays to mine the Cool Chest

Yes, when you have a bunch of coins leftover from winning the Black Card Tournament, it does help to mind the Cool Chest for cards. Why? Because, if you're like me, you can't mine Quests for cards because it will increase the level of your hero. And you can't increase the level of your hero because you need to keep it at 3 or lower so that it costs only 1 Heart to play Deck Wars matches.

So, here are two examples of decent cards you can get in the Cool Chest. The Pickler is very useful, late in the game, against low-level decks, as most cards have 5 Defense or less. Corn Parthenon is not as useful, unless you happen to have a three- or four-colour deck.

But most of the time, you just get 1 Rarity cards, often worthless cards, like The Pig or Mouthball. You just have to be patient.

New update, increase inventory for coins!

Great news! With the new app update, you can add extra inventory to your card box for COINS, and not GEMS! What a great deal! If you're like me, after winning several tournaments, you end up with lots of coins anyway. I usually spend them on the Cool Chest, but this is much better. So, I maxed up my inventory to 500, which is the maximum. It only took me less than 1 million coins.

Also, I was greeted with this interesting message:

Sure, I'll take it, why not?

My Current Deck

Originally, when I started, I had to work with a rather weak Corn Fields Deck. For a starter deck, this was the best I could muster -- you already start with some Corn Fields, and you already have Jake as a hero, who is strongest with a Corn Fields Deck.

But as I won tournaments and began to acquire Black Cards, I was freer to choose different decks. Don't forget that all of my heroes are at Level 3 or below so that it costs only 1 heart to play a match in Deck Wars. This allows me to quickly rack up trophies so that I can win Black Cards. But this also means that I don't have the opportunity to "mine" quests for cards, even 1 star cards.

Thanks to Tournaments #14, #15, and #4, I now have three Sandy Lands Black Cards -- two Sandasaurus Rex and one Party Ogre. These are 14/16 and 11/19. Because my heroes are all Level 3, I almost always get matched up against other Level 3 decks, which means I need only 25 points to knock out the opponent. This means any two out of three Black Cards placed on empty lanes will give me an instant win (always go second so that you can attack first). If I don't start with two Black Cards, I can play whatever card I have an use Crystal Ball to get a new hand. It's best to use Brief Power before Crystal Ball so that I can place a bunch of 1-point cards down for free, and then use the Crystal Ball to grab the Black Cards.

Also, Sand Eyebat is very useful in knocking out any opponent cards that have only 1 or 2 Defense. These opponents don't have to be on the exact opposite side of the Sand Eyebat -- it will work on any opponent. This can often open up a lane so that I can place my Black Card down for a nice 11-point or 14-point hit.

Tournament #6 Log Knight and X-Large Spirit Soldier

Another tournament, another Black (and Gold) Card!

Log Knight, with 10/20, is a little on the weak side compared to other Black Cards, but if you're playing with a Corn deck, it's a welcome addition. X-Large Spirit Soldier, at 7/60, may be weak in terms of Attack, but it's a tank, and the best part is its floop -- if it's about to die, floop the card back into your hand and play it again!

The next Black Card Tournament, #7, has Camera Dude and Lost Golem. Camera Dude is very handy, as it lowers the opponent's Magic Points by 2. This is good to combine with Timmy Magic Eyes, which lowers the flooping cost by 1, and Infinite Figure, which increases the opponent's flooping cost by 1.

New Redemption Code: GHOST DOG

Another redemption code is available! Type in "GHOST DOG" to get Ghost Jake! Don't forget all caps and the space in between. Ghost Jake is similar to Jake, except it adds +5 Attack to Blue Plains creatures! Regular Jake adds only +3 attack to Corn creatures. But this also means you need a decent Blue Plains deck, which I don't have right now.

Don't forget to check http://cardwars.wikia.com/wiki/Redeem_Codes to make sure you have redeemed all the codes you can.

Don't forget that new hero cards are useful when you're intentionally keeping your hero card levels at 3 or less. You can use a new hero card to farm some more cards or you can try to advance in the Quests to increase your heart maximum. Just be sure to keep your hero level at 3 or lower. Once you go over 3, the number of hearts it takes to play a match in Deck Wars increases to 2. The number of hearts required is your highest hero's level divided by 2, rounded down.

Tournament #5 Apple Tree and Good King Wonderful

Tournament #5 is over, and that means more Black Cards!

I don't particularly like playing with Nicelands decks, so this tournament wasn't that exciting for me. I have Apple Tree (which is not the most useful) and Good King Wonderful. Both are pretty defensive, but then again, so is everything about NiceLands.

The good thing is that this tournament, I didn't suffer from the connection error as I did last tournmanet. I wonder if D3 has still flagged my account for cheating (which I didn't do)?

Also, all of the Deck Wars matchups were fairly consistent. I was matched up only with other Level 3 Hero decks. Sometimes they were 5 trophies, and other times just 4 trophies. I always tried for 5 trophy matches, of course. I'm glad that D3 finally fixed that. I was getting tired of being matched up with Level 10 decks.