TLDR: sorry. I don’t know how to summarize this beyind “don’t craft indiscriminately.” Read more if you want details and examples.
Never craft cards. Craft decks. What I mean is that some cards look super cool. Maybe they’re good. Maybe not. They’re definitely not good without a deck to put them in.
For example, Mordresh. Ten damage face and board is awesome! If you don’t have the other cards to be able to both survive and activate him by turn 10 then he’s 1600 wasted dust.
Second, don’t craft random decks. When you first start you have to win to grow your collection. Going back to Mordresh, the deck is super, super fun. It doesn’t have a super strong win rate so you’re probably better off going for something cheaper and stronger. Checking vicious syndicate can help you find good decks. Once you have a bigger collection and a better feel for the game you’re cool to start crafting decks you find more fun.
Last, never craft cards for decks you haven’t played. Going back to Mordresh one more time: let’s assume someone finds an optimal configuration that makes it strong enough to spend precious dust on. You want to play it but don’t own Mordresh. DON’T CRAFT HIM!!!
Instead, build the cheaper part of the deck. Play it. A lot. Once you know it’s fun for you, DON’T CRAFT HIM!!! Think about the games. How often did you find yourself wishing you’d drawn him? How often did you already win or lose by turn ten? How often did you get to 10 without having done 10 damage via your hero power?
Maybe you love the deck but don’t really need him for it. That’s 1600 dust saved.
If you haven’t noticed, I’m opposed to crafting. At least indiscriminately. I buy bundles but I didn’t always. I can’t count the number of cards I’ve crafted and wish I hadn’t. For instance, I crafted Reno *after he rotated to wild. * Highlander mage is fun but not worth the 3 legendaries I crafted for it.
Footnote: CRAFT WHIZBANG!!! He’s fun and will give you tons of decks to play in ilwild.
Corollary: DON’T CRAFT WHIZBANG!!! He’s unusable in standard and won’t do much to help you rank up past a certain point.
I hear you now. “But, Ginger… You sounded so wise up until now. How am I supposed to bi h craft and not craft him?”
Easy. Create a second account in a different region. You should be able to get 1600 dust fairly quickly there. Or even enough to craft him gold if you want. That way you can play him whenever you want without using up precious dust on your main account. I wish I’d done that. 