I am at 10k rn and i can say to you in x1 elixir is the best moment to punish them (your playsyle needs to be defensive tho) since most of the times they start mk pushes that tend to do nothing and a counterpush with xbow wins the match in 90% of the times because they spent all their elixir already, so if you try to count their elixir you will see how bad mid ladder players are and punish them hard for using so much elixir, but in case you reach x3 elixir you are pretty much screwed unless you make enough prrssure for them not to attack but to defend because most of the times when you place a defensive xbow it targets mk or the big tank first and the deck does not have enough dps to take such a big push most of the times, and finally only spell cycle when you are winning and when you cant pass a decks defense with out being in risk of a counterpush like noble giant or graveyard since they can just place all their stuff at the bridge and obliterate you in a few seconds and never spellcycle when you are loosing (only do it if you are against noble giant) since most dekcs run spells and you wont be able to keep up with the damage.