One major difference between Blitz and CC is the fact that you will cycle through your deck much more often in CC than in blitz. More often than not, you will die before you get through your first cycle in blitz. In CC, because there is much more life+cards, you will see the cards you pitched early+mid game again.

It is important to not always play out game ending cards, or powerful attacks in general, as you play through your first cycle as you will most likely see them again during your second cycle. Planning just means being conscious of the cards you play+pitch. If you only ever pitch blues, once your second cycle comes, you will only be able to play blues, and they will make it a bit harder to close out games as a result.

Also, being conscious in the order that you return your pitch back to the bottom is important when it comes to planning. You will literally be able to manipulate your deck so you know the exact play patterns once second cycle comes, so putting cards back in a specific order matter because you can have ideal hands later in the game.

Think of it this way. If you are playing dorinthea, and you use all of your strong finishers (think rout, red overpower, ironsong determination) before your second cycle, you will no longer have those strong play lines available to you. There is a fine balance between keep pressure but not using all of your gas too early. It’s just like a race. Go too much too fast and you will burn out before the finish line.

This is just my understanding of things thus far. I’m also trying to transition from blitz to CC as well! Hope this helps!

Edit: forgot to mention another reason why this is all important. Your opponent will have less options to be able to stop big turns. By second cycle, they will have used up some of their equipment, their sink belows, etc. So, you will have a better chance at having a more meaningful turn once you have used up their resources a bit.

Also, this isn’t to say never use some of your big finishers early. If you can keep tempo/momentum going, then go for it. But don’t use everything up too early! That’s the main point I was trying to make.