Thanks for posting this. I've been thinking about strategies non stop for the past month and your thread brings up some good questions.
"Waiting" may not be the correct term here, although it does get the point across. I think the main question to ask is, "What are you waiting for?" Since Arena has one simple objective (defeating the opponent mage), your answer should revolve around that.
Here are some answers to the above question I thought of:
- Waiting for you to die from ongoing damage.
- Waiting for you to leave yourself defenseless so I can take you down in one fell swoop.
- Waiting for you to over commit to one strategy that I have a simple solution to, so that I may overpower you in the end.
The thing behind all of these, is that they're not actually waiting. To use an analogy; They're not sitting back hoping that they'll get called for the job interview, they're going out there sending out other resume's, calling the company they applied for, they're doing other actions to improve their chances of getting that job.
In other words, the goal may seem like a ways off, but the only way the process is going to happen (at least faster) is by taking action. You asked about the beginning of the game
Is there a real advantage to wait at the begining of a MW game?
I think most would agree that's where your economy plays happen. In the mid game I think your waiting strategy would be a series of micro actions that either set up the kill, or set up the lock down (or whatever your strategy is). End game I think would be either using micro actions to remove your opponent's responses (dissolving that regrowth belt) or blowing your mana for the finisher.
Unless your soul purpose of not using an action is to save mana for a necessary play the next round, there is no reason to just sit back and wait. Poking at your opponent with small spells and actions to set up the kill is a very advanced technique that only the most patient players can accomplish. Even then you'll need to have decisive, effective moves. Hanma's Weighted Wizard, The Blasting Banker, a strangle Druid, and a CurseLock are all good examples.
Thoughts?