What cards to buy first from the Classroom in HP Defense Against the Dark Arts
Harry Potter Defense Against the Dark Arts is a head-to-head deckbuilding game designed to simulate a wizard's duel. It has similar abilities and game mechanics to many other deckbuilding games.
There are tons of different cards in the "purchase" or Hogwarts deck, 4 of which are available to buy from the Classroom at any point in time. There are various strategies you can employ, depending on what cards you chose to add to your deck. However, there are basic card abilities that tend to be more powerful over the course of a game than others. This is how we would prioritize buying cards...
#1) Cards that add hexes to your opponent's deck
The earlier you can buy a card that puts a hex into your opponent's hand or discard pile the better. Hexes, as you can imagine, hurt your opponent - they dilute his/her deck with "bad" cards and prevent him/her from having a more effective turn. The more hexes you can add to your opponent's deck, the better for you.
#2) Cards that allow you to banish cards from your deck
Being able to banish cards from your hand or discard pile is super important. Not only can you remove "bad" cards like hexes from your deck, but you can also remove cards that aren't as strong...like your starting cards. If you can effectively stack your deck with only your most powerful cards, your turns will be better - you'll do more damage and generate more coins to purchase even more awesome cards!
#3) Cards with your house affiliation
Affiliation cards have a bonus ability if you have the matching house. Generally, these types of cards are a great value if you can trigger that affiliation ability.
#4) Cards that align with your overall strategy
If you find some of the cards in your deck get an added benefit for using certain types of cards or abilities (like Hermione who lets you draw a card if you played 3 spells), try and continue to purchase cards that fit into that strategy. Oftentimes you'll get powerful bonuses if you can stick to that plan.
#5) Allies
Because Allies "persist" and remain on the table for use every turn (at least until they are discarded), they tend to be very strong.
#6) When in doubt...buy some Library Books
If all else fails, go ahead and buy a Books card from the Library for 3 coins. This card can help you earlier in the game to purchase more expensive cards, as you can discard it to gain 2 coins. Later in the game, you return the card to the Library (and remove it from your deck) to draw a card, which can be very good after you've stacked your deck with lots of stronger cards.
So what do you think? Would you reorder these in any way? Comment below!