Alright, this post will be a bit technical. So, generally, replacing is used to possibly get the card you want. By request, I will talk about Advanced Replacing. The bread and butter of advanced replacing, as an offensive tool, is reading your opponent . Let me give an example, let’s go:

Please excuse the formatting. It is tricky to get it working

Scenario 1 – Magmar vs Vetruvian (Sim city deck in this case) . I start 2nd. Alright, so starting off, I draw Plasma Storm, Natural Selection, Young Slithar, Chrysalis Burst and Bounded Lifeforce as my opening hand and choose to replace Lifeforce, because that’s more of a finisher and not needed at the moment, and get Adamantine Claws in return.

Turn I: He moves diagonally up and plays pax, closest to the top mana tile and ends his turn As a “safe” move, not yet knowing what he is going for, I move forward two tiles and summon Young Slithar, taking the middle mana tile. Not having anything else to summon, I end my turn and draw Makantor Warbeast. Now I could have used natural selection, but opt not to, to prevent setting up his board to blast minions.

What do I need to replace on turn 1: Nothing. I choose to wait to see if I can start getting a read on him on turn 2.

Turn II: Pax moves towards young slithar, attacking it, triggering dying wish with the dervishes summoning, one tile above, taking the top mana tile and the other right in front of young slithar. Vetruvian, moves forward two tiles and a summons Fireblaze Obelisk (the +1 attack obelisk) and ends his turn. So, by now I have a good idea on what he’s doing. So seeing that he probably is going to go for another obelisk, rae or pax.

I choose to move towards him two tiles, to begin getting in range and moving young slithar two tiles back to prevent him possibly killing it, saving my Adamantite Claws for a future turn but having it targeted as a replace just incase, next turn and ready to use plasma storm next turn. I draw Earth Sister Taygete at the end of my turn.

What do I need to replace on turn 2: I replace Chrysalis Burst because the eggs would have a high possibility of being taken out, via dervishes and his general. I choose not to replace Makantor Warbeast, to save it as a punish if chooses to summon a pax or another obelisk or chooses to use a wish on one of his minions.

Turn III: He moves forward one tile, now only being one tile from me. One of his dervishes spawns one tile beneath the obelisk, while the other behind the obelisk. He moves the two dervishes via pax, back two tiles and summons a Pyromancer, using also Scions First Wish unto it. He uses one of dervishes from the obelisk to move in range to attack young slithar killing it but triggering the egg and ends his turn. So, now seeing that I have successfully read him, I use plasma storm, clearing the board but also young slithar egg in the process. Still a good trade-off.

What do I need to replace on turn 3: I choose not to replace anything, because there is no longer a threat on the board and my hand can now deal with any minion/minions he puts out for now.

Turn IV: He moves back two tiles summons Sand Howler and Wind Slicer and ends his turn. I move closer towards him two tiles and summon Makantor Warbeast, clearing his minions and dealing 4 damage to him. I draw Veteran Slithar at the end of my turn.

What do I need to replace on turn 4: Nothing, I have him right where I want him

Turn V: He chooses to kill warbeast and summons another Windslicer one tile beneath him and Portal Guardian one tile above him and ends his turn. So now I see he is desperate, trying to get more dervishes on the board via windslicer. I move in front of him, now using the bloodborn spell to deal 3 damage to him and then using natural selection to clear portal guardian.I choose to summon Earth Sister Taygete right where portal guardian is to pressure him, ending my turn and drawing Chrysalis Burst.

End of scenario: So do you see how I was able to choose what to replace based on knowing I will control the board on turn 5? By reading him, there was no need for me to replace anything except Chrysalis Burst on turn 2. And he never summoned any other minions higher than 3 attack which allowed me to further set up plasma storm. Because he was reliant on his obelisk, I was able to punish him. As mentioned earlier, this is more of an offensive tool of replacing. There is a defense and set-up variant as well that I will cover later. It very helpful to already have a card in your hand that you have ready to replace the next turn. It helps set-up the board the way you want it.