Can someone advise me on what is the correct play in these situations?
In both scenarios, both players are at over 24 hp. My deck is aggro and comprises of the following: 7 x 2 mana minions, 4 x 3 mana minions, 5 x 4 mana minions, 3 x 5 mana minions, 2 x 6+ mana minions and 8 spells (1 consecrate, 1 hammer, 2 blessing of kings, 1 blessing of wisdom, etc)
Scenario 1 - Game at turn 5: Opponent (playing mage) with 2 x 2/3 Crocolisk, while I (playing paladin) have a 3/2 Raptor and 3/5 Burly Rockjaw Trogg on the board. Should I be hitting face or should I be take out both his crocolisk?
Scenario 2. Game at turn 8: Opponent (playing mage) with a 2/3 Crocolisk and a 4/4 Ogre Magi, while I (playing paladin) have a 6/7 Boulderfist Ogre. Opponent has no flamestrike or fireball - as he used a couple of his minions to trade for mine in an earlier turn. Should I hit face knowing that my opponent will probably need to use both his minions on top of a spell/ping to take out the Boulderfist Ogre?
Not enough info. Classes matter. If you are priest, then attack with a minion that will live and heal him. If your opponent is Priest then you need to kill all minions. If you're Hunter... Probably hit to face.
What he said about context, but I'd kill his minions in the first example and hit face in the second at a guess.
I suppose the reason is that I can clear in the first example so I will. In the second I can't clear so i may as well hit face, and force my opponent to trade minions. If I kill his Magi I am just initiating a combat that he will have likely initiated anyway, but this way he's taken 6 more damage,
Also life totals really matter. If I'm low on life I'm likely to have to kill opposing minions as I can't race. One more thing- in your examples there isn't any plays that are disastrous. Except maybe hitting the croc with the ogre.
For example 1, wouldn't the correct play for my opponent be to at least take out my raptor, even if I went for his face with both of my minions? So, in that case, wouldn't it be better for me to just go for his face instead of trading for any of his minions?
Deck specific as in, What is your deck built to do. Aggro, or control? Are you just stalling to get bigger minions out? If so then you might want to prioritize removal. If you are playing aggro, you might want to go face. That's why hunter almost always hits face.
With class info, definitely both crocks in first example. Mage has too many spells to take out your guys and keep board control.
I'd take out the Magi in the second situation. Same reason. I would assume he doesn't have Polymorph if he hasn't used it yet. But he might have hoped to use the +1 spell damage for a fireball kill on him.
In all my answers I assume that card and lifetotal situation is EVEN else as stated before to many variables.
Situation 1: Aggressive play - go face, believe in no Fireball. Now he will *likely* kill one of your minions leaving you in a better board position than his and higher life total. Conservative play - trade Raptor, hit face with Trogg. This play ensures that Trogg lives unless nuked down. Defensive play - kill both minions. If you are paranoid about Fireball. Also is the safest line of play. Advanced play - trade with Trogg, hit face with Raptor. This play either ensures that one of your minions lives OR that the minion they play will be weaker than the minion you play (because they used 2 mana on ping/Frostbolt).
Situation 2: Aggressive play - go face, believe in him not having Fireball. If he has Fireball you lose on the spot, if he doesn't you "win" 6 life. Conservative play (also Defensive) - kill Ogre Magi. This ensures the card advantage. Wrong play - kill Croc and lose to all the nukes in Mage's arsenal while still leaving him with a 4/4.
Without taking into consideration their health, your health and what other cards are in your hand or in their hand, it's almost always better to take free trades when they are available in arena. In your 2nd scenario for example, if you kill the ogre magi with your boulderfist, you are basically guaranteeing getting a 2 for 1 with your ogre. If you hit face and hope he does the trade for you, he can instead simply fireball your ogre and get a 1 for 1 and then you still have to spend resources to remove his ogre and croc.
The same can apply for scenario 1. If you go face, he can do something like shattered sun his croc and kill your raptor for free. Or dark iron croc + ping to kill your trogg and trade up. Then the dark iron takes out your raptor for free next turn. Lots of things like that can go wrong.
But like I said, this is not taking into consideration health totals or potential cards in either player's hand. If you're a mage holding 3 fireballs for instance, then you can probably just go face and let your opponent do whatever value trade he wants. You're only looking to get him into lethal range. If you suspect your opponent has aoe, then you might want to do the trades in such a way as to minimize its value rather than letting your opponent make the trades that might allow him to set up a perfect aoe.
For example 1, wouldn't the correct play for my opponent be to at least take out my raptor, even if I went for his face with both of my minions? So, in that case, wouldn't it be better for me to just go for his face instead of trading for any of his minions?
This line of play isn't wrong, it's just more aggressive. So if you curve low and are more of a beat down deck that needs to win and do damage early, it's probably correct to attack face with raptor. If you're a slower deck it's a closer call. The safer play is to clear his board because he could put you in a worse position pretty easily. Sunfury or argus on his crocs would probably put him ahead of you. Dark iron and ping could also let him trade up on your trogg, etc. i think most people would choose to deny those scenarios to their opponent rather than get the immediate 3 -6 damage on their opponents face. So yeah, in a lot of scenarios you'll be better off getting the damage, but in a lot of other scenarios you're going to get punished and be put in a potentially losing position. That's the risk/reward of the play
Can someone advise me on what is the correct play in these situations?
In both scenarios, both players are at over 24 hp. My deck is aggro and comprises of the following: 7 x 2 mana minions, 4 x 3 mana minions, 5 x 4 mana minions, 3 x 5 mana minions, 2 x 6+ mana minions and 8 spells (1 consecrate, 1 hammer, 2 blessing of kings, 1 blessing of wisdom, etc)
Scenario 1 - Game at turn 5: Opponent (playing mage) with 2 x 2/3 Crocolisk, while I (playing paladin) have a 3/2 Raptor and 3/5 Burly Rockjaw Trogg on the board. Should I be hitting face or should I be take out both his crocolisk?
Scenario 2. Game at turn 8: Opponent (playing mage) with a 2/3 Crocolisk and a 4/4 Ogre Magi, while I (playing paladin) have a 6/7 Boulderfist Ogre. Opponent has no flamestrike or fireball - as he used a couple of his minions to trade for mine in an earlier turn. Should I hit face knowing that my opponent will probably need to use both his minions on top of a spell/ping to take out the Boulderfist Ogre?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
Not enough info. Classes matter. If you are priest, then attack with a minion that will live and heal him. If your opponent is Priest then you need to kill all minions. If you're Hunter... Probably hit to face.
It's entirely deck/class specific.
I really want Pirates to be a playable theme.
Edited OP with class.
What do you mean by deck specific though.
For example 1, wouldn't the correct play for my opponent be to at least take out my raptor, even if I went for his face with both of my minions? So, in that case, wouldn't it be better for me to just go for his face instead of trading for any of his minions?
Deck specific as in, What is your deck built to do. Aggro, or control? Are you just stalling to get bigger minions out? If so then you might want to prioritize removal. If you are playing aggro, you might want to go face. That's why hunter almost always hits face.
With class info, definitely both crocks in first example. Mage has too many spells to take out your guys and keep board control.
I'd take out the Magi in the second situation. Same reason. I would assume he doesn't have Polymorph if he hasn't used it yet. But he might have hoped to use the +1 spell damage for a fireball kill on him.
I really want Pirates to be a playable theme.
In all my answers I assume that card and lifetotal situation is EVEN else as stated before to many variables.
Situation 1:
Aggressive play - go face, believe in no Fireball. Now he will *likely* kill one of your minions leaving you in a better board position than his and higher life total.
Conservative play - trade Raptor, hit face with Trogg. This play ensures that Trogg lives unless nuked down.
Defensive play - kill both minions. If you are paranoid about Fireball. Also is the safest line of play.
Advanced play - trade with Trogg, hit face with Raptor. This play either ensures that one of your minions lives OR that the minion they play will be weaker than the minion you play (because they used 2 mana on ping/Frostbolt).
Situation 2:
Aggressive play - go face, believe in him not having Fireball. If he has Fireball you lose on the spot, if he doesn't you "win" 6 life.
Conservative play (also Defensive) - kill Ogre Magi. This ensures the card advantage.
Wrong play - kill Croc and lose to all the nukes in Mage's arsenal while still leaving him with a 4/4.
Without taking into consideration their health, your health and what other cards are in your hand or in their hand, it's almost always better to take free trades when they are available in arena. In your 2nd scenario for example, if you kill the ogre magi with your boulderfist, you are basically guaranteeing getting a 2 for 1 with your ogre. If you hit face and hope he does the trade for you, he can instead simply fireball your ogre and get a 1 for 1 and then you still have to spend resources to remove his ogre and croc.
The same can apply for scenario 1. If you go face, he can do something like shattered sun his croc and kill your raptor for free. Or dark iron croc + ping to kill your trogg and trade up. Then the dark iron takes out your raptor for free next turn. Lots of things like that can go wrong.
But like I said, this is not taking into consideration health totals or potential cards in either player's hand. If you're a mage holding 3 fireballs for instance, then you can probably just go face and let your opponent do whatever value trade he wants. You're only looking to get him into lethal range. If you suspect your opponent has aoe, then you might want to do the trades in such a way as to minimize its value rather than letting your opponent make the trades that might allow him to set up a perfect aoe.
This line of play isn't wrong, it's just more aggressive. So if you curve low and are more of a beat down deck that needs to win and do damage early, it's probably correct to attack face with raptor. If you're a slower deck it's a closer call. The safer play is to clear his board because he could put you in a worse position pretty easily. Sunfury or argus on his crocs would probably put him ahead of you. Dark iron and ping could also let him trade up on your trogg, etc. i think most people would choose to deny those scenarios to their opponent rather than get the immediate 3 -6 damage on their opponents face. So yeah, in a lot of scenarios you'll be better off getting the damage, but in a lot of other scenarios you're going to get punished and be put in a potentially losing position. That's the risk/reward of the play
This topic is the aspect of Hearthstone that separates the good players, from the best.
There are a great many considerations that must be made; neither of your examples give enough information.
Health totals; Hand contents & sizes; opponent's prior plays; contents of your remaining deck; size of their remaining deck.