Card Advantage: Hand vs Field

[Sora1499]

There are two primary forms of card advantage: hand advantage and field advantage. Both are important, but some decks handle one better or differently than others. So, have at it YCM. Which is more important? Does the importance of each type of advantage change with the format? Do you like playing decks that make better hand advantage or better field advantage? Discuss these points and more.

[Canadian]

Most of the hand advantage cards get hit by the list before field advantage cards.

That says something I guess.

[Toffee.]

Gallis, Chaos Dragons, Noob.dek, Mermail, Geargia, HEROs, Samurais, etc, all do the same thing~
Throw hand on field, Gg

So they, more or less, do a little bit of both hand advantage before they proceed to field advantage.
At least, from what I've seen/self experience.

[Sora1499]

@Armz In my personal experience with mermails, I tend to preserve hand advantage well. I like to play the deck conservatively, like a control deck, vs SPAM, LOL, GG, so I wouldn't really compare them to Sams and Chaos dragons of all things.

[VictorSempra]

@Armz In my personal experience with mermails, I tend to preserve hand advantage well. I like to play the deck conservatively, like a control deck, vs SPAM, LOL, GG, so I wouldn't really compare them to Sams and Chaos dragons of all things.

I agree with the first part of this. Every time I've played Mermails its ALL about hand advantage, same with Gishkis (my two favorite decks). Both are equally important however, because you with no hand advantage you have to rely on good topdecks, and vice-versa for the field.

[Synchronized]

Hand Advantage is infinitely more important.  Fact.

 

Let me explain why.

 

Field Advantage, while it can definitely offer pluses, is more or less only good if you're going for game or looking to swing for lots of damage.  Cards like Mirror Force, Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, etc. can clear your field with one play.  You don't see cards like that which can discard the entire hand, or something along those lines?

 

The Field is much easier to pick apart but the hand is where your strategy is most important, being able counter a play and have moves prepared for when your current one(s) fail. 

 

Hand Advantage is where all of your options come from and is extremely essential in playing strategically, especially because of how easy it is to clear the field.  You don't want it to become a battle of topdecks because then it's not advantage, it's just playing level with the opponent and it becomes solely luck.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Considering hand goes to field is the most common play, that's not saying much. The real argument is field advantage versus Graveyard advantage.

[Toffee.]

you with no hand advantage you have to rely on good topdecks

Hand Advantage is also determined by consistencies.
If you drew into a bunch of dead cards that are ONLY usable after you topdeck Reborn/Dark Hole/Storm, in order to sack the victory~
That is a terrible way to duel.

Hand Advantage also counts with your ability to use multiple cards in a single turn, and not end up screwing yourself over because you overextended too much.
This is why Gishkis are amazing(And also loop-centric); They literally pick and choose cards at will, and can recover whenever they feel like it.
Compared to something like Samurais, who throw their hand on the field in order to rush for game- Its their only actual move, because outside of that, they will almost always end up with no backrow/cards in their hand. So if you can successfully play around that, you basically have them beat.

....
I dunno', my views are just obscure regardless.

[guuu1234]

I will always prefer hand advantage over field presence. Unless I'm using infernities (or OTK is not my goal, which it usually isn't) I tend to always keep some amount of hand advantage while keeping a small amount of field presence either for defense, offense, or a little threat (usually in the forms of traps, stall cards, etc.). When I use wind-ups, my hand almost never falls below 3 cards.

[ihop]

Hand advantage is better because field advantage is susceptible to mass removal/removal by battle which loses you advantage whereas hand advantage is a lot harder to get rid of.

[newhat]

This should probably be in Deck Discussion and Articles.

 

This thread has very little context. In Lightsworns, field advantage is more important.

[Sora1499]

[quote name="newhat" post="6136451" timestamp="1360004728"]This should probably be in Deck Discussion and Articles.   This thread has very little context. In Lightsworns, field advantage is more important.[/quote] And in stuff like Geargia and Sams. Shi En protects the latter and Stardust the former, and it helps them win.