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Beginners Tip: Burning CardsThis is a long read for a tip but its very crucial to completing scenarios. TL:DR at bottom
One of the key aspects of this game is deciding when to burn cards. In most cases when you burn a card, its gone for good. There are exceptions to this but there is no need to go into them to make my point.
The reason burning cards is not something you want to do early is because it brings you closer to exhaustion each time you do it. If you do it too early, you lose out on more than just one round. For example: Say you have 10 cards in your starting hand. Since you have to use 2 cards each turn, thats 5 turns before you have to rest. Resting burns a card. So lets say you dont burn any cards the entire game, other than the one necessary each time you rest. If you start with 10 cards, you get 5 rounds, rest and lose a card, you now have 9 cards. That gives you 4 rounds before you have to rest and burn down to 8 total cards. Then you have 4 more rounds before you rest and burn to 7. Then you have 3 rounds and burn to 6. Then you have 3 rounds and burn to 5. Then 2 rounds burn to 4. Two more rounds burn to 3. 1 round burn to 2. 1 round and exhaust when you rest. So lets count the total rounds you had: 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 totaling 25 rounds of card play.
Now lets do the same scenario but we burn a card before our first rest. So we start with 10 cards, play 5 rounds burning one in those rounds and then burn another resting. We now have 8 cards, 4 rounds to play, 1 burned resting. Now at 7 cards, 3 rounds to play, burn 1 resting. 6 cards, 3 rounds to play, burn 1 resting. 5 cards, 2 rounds to play, burn 1 resting. 4 cards, 2 rounds to play, burn 1 resting. 3 cards, 1 round to play, burn 1 resting. 2 cards, 1 round, exhaust on rest. Lets total up the rounds now: 5 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 totaling 21 rounds of play. Most people dont realize that burning cards costs them more than just that 1 card, it costs them extra rounds later in the game. In this case burning 1 card in the first round cost them 4 extra rounds at the end!
Now lets burn 2 cards in the first set and see what that costs. Start with 10 cards, 5 rounds, burn 2 cards on plays and then 1 more resting. 7 cards remaining, 3 rounds, burn 1 resting. 6 cards, 3 rounds to play, burn 1 resting. 5 cards, 2 rounds to play, burn 1 resting. 4 cards, 2 rounds to play, burn 1 resting. 3 cards, 1 round to play, burn 1 resting. 2 cards, 1 round, exhaust on rest. Total rounds when burning 2 cards during the first set: 5 3 3 2 2 1 1 for a total of only 17 rounds. 17 rounds vs 24 if you didnt burn anything.
Every card you burn before your first rest costs you 4 extra rounds if your starting hand is 10. This is why burning cards too early is so costly and why a lot of people are exhausting so quickly.
If you start the scenario with even less than 10 cards, you hamstring yourself even worse, since you have less rounds as a result of a smaller starting hand. If you started the scenario with 8 cards and burned a card before resting, you would short your total rounds by 3 round each time. Without burning any cards outside resting, with a 8 card starting hand you only end up with 16 total play rounds. Burning 1 before the 1st rest drops you to 13 total rounds.
If you have a starting hand of 12, burning a card before your first rest costs you 5 rounds each time. While 5 rounds lost is more than smaller hands lose, you still have more rounds over all as 36 rounds goes down to 31 rounds when burning 1 card before your first rest.
TL:DR:
Burning cards is bad. It costs you multiple rounds the earlier you do it.
TINKERER starts with 12 cards, burns one before resting. His total rounds of play before exhausting drop from 36 to 31 by burning one card before resting. Burn 2 cards before rest, thats 10 rounds lost.
BRUTE starts with 10 cards, burns one before resting, his total rounds of play drop from 24 to 21. Burn two before rest you only get 18 total rounds before exhausting.
SpellWeaver* starts with 8 cards, burns one before resting, her total rounds of play drop from 16 to 13. If she burns two before resting she only gets 10 rounds of play.
* Note the Spellweaver has a one time card that gives her back burnt cards. The key to playing her is using this correctly.
