When to Pass: An intermediate LoR Guide

Hey y'all, I'm back with another guide. Again, I originally made this a YouTube video with a bunch of gameplay examples, but I'll also leave a write-up here.
Link: https://youtu.be/JocfYOMopOE

Definitions & Concepts

Having Initiative means having the current action / being first to act. In LoR, whoever has the Attack Token has initiative on that round. However, initiative is not always a good thing to have.

If we play a very proactive deck, we generally prefer to have initiative. A great example would be MF Scouts, or any aggro or midrange deck that tries to close out games quickly. Initiative gives us the opportunity to open our turn with an attack before the opponent gets a chance to develop any unit or slow spell.

If we have a lot of reactive cards in hand, we'd generally prefer to see what our opponent does first, so that we can then find the best plays and the best targets for our cards, without the threat of our opponent playing a bigger threat afterwards. Great examples here would be Ezreal/Karma or Warmother's Control; Basically any control or combo deck that seeks to stall out the game first and then play big proactive cards later on to close out the game. This is where strategic passing can improve your gameplay a lot.

Note that if two decks that play at roughly the same speed face each other, it is entirely dependent on the game state and cards in hand who is currently in the proactive seat and who is playing reactively. Assessing this correctly is a super important skill to develop, as it impacts your gameplan and the way you utilize your cards. (but it won't be the focus of this guide ;D)

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10 Situations in which Passing / Ending the Turn can be good

1.) No Mana

2.) No Cards in Hand

3.) No sensible plays - I know these first three examples are super obvious. Nonetheless, I decided to include them, because for many newer players, these seem to be the only situations where they ever pass. Whenever they have mana to develop units or play spells, they do it, although it's often incorrect. There are many situations where holding back and being patient is better.

4.) Open Pass - This is a tool you should utilize often if you play a reactive deck with a lot of fast/burst speed removal spells. As a general rule of thumb, you open up your attack turn with a Pass when you want to stall out the game AND are not afraid of your opponent's open attack in case they decide to end the turn right away. You basically tell your opponent "Hey, I can handle what you have on board right now" and want to force him to play stronger units first, so that your removal spells have better targets. This can be compared to a "check-raise" from Poker.

5.) Pass Back - Now imagine we are playing the faster deck in the above situation and our opponent open passes. We have a decent lead on the board which might not close out the game on its own, BUT we hold a bunch of good combat tricks (e.g. Fury of the North). We can end the turn and burn our opponent's mana and opportunity to stabilize, and try to close out the game with an open attack supported by offensive spells. This can be compared to a "check-check" in Poker.

6.) Greed Pass - Let's say opponent has a big board lead, we're low on health and hold The Ruination. We can play it and clear the board, but our opponent would have 9 mana to redevelop units and then open attack, and we don't hold any spells to deal with that attack. Our best bet might be to open up with a Pass and hope our opponent plays more units onto the board. This works especially well in lower levels of play, where people don't really play around removal yet. Keep in mind that this can be punished heavily by a Pass Back.

7.) Bluff Pass - If our opponent tends to play a lot around removal, we could e.g. bluff The Ruination by open passing with 9 mana available, even though we don't hold it. This could keep our opponent from developing units we could otherwise not deal with. This move works better in higher levels of play.

8.) Playing around Removal - One of the rare cases where we want to Pass as the faster deck although we have plays available. We have a strong board and are confident that we can get lethal on the next attack. Opponent opens up his turn with a Hapless Aristocrat, BUT still has 9 mana available overall. If we still think we can finish the game on the open attack, we should pass. Otherwise, we might not have enough mana or units in hand to re-develop a board after our opponent plays The Ruination. There's no need to over-commit to the board.

9.) Waiting for Attack - Most of the time it's best to keep our removal spells as long as possible, until we would otherwise take damage or burn mana. That means: if it's obvious that opponent will attack this turn, but plays a small unit first, don't play a Mystic Shot on it right away unless you're forced to. They might play a bigger threat which we need the Mystic Shot for, and it doesn't make a difference for us whether we remove the small unit before or during the attack. So keep in mind: It's good to keep optionality open as the reactive deck!!!

10.) Burst Pass - If you play a Burst speed spell and then click okay, it gives initiative over to your opponent, but does not count as a Pass. That means that opponent can only Pass, not End Turn, and we get the option to end it in case they Pass. In lower levels of play, burst passes usually bait your opponent into developing something. On higher levels, this can allow for some advanced mind games, as a Burst Pass usually means "I want to play something this turn, but I wanna see what you do first, and I don't wanna give you the option to end the turn and burn all my mana."

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Those were all of the situations I could think of right now. Let me know if I missed something.
Apart from that, I hope it was helpful, and let me know if you have great ideas for topics for future guides.

Peace!