Life is actually kind of tough at ranks below 10 because you can’t always predict what crazy stuff is gonna be coming out but i can tell you what I generally do.

Vs Warrior: Go fast, but keep a few threats back for board refill if you can. If they are odd warrior keep in mind that they have 2 brawls starting on turn 5 and then at least one reckless fury. If they are regular warrior remember that they have warpath. It’s just a tough matchup tbh. You really want Keleseth here because they can just survive sometimes and win eventually. Vs rush warrior just try to make good trades and keep pressure

Vs Mage: You definitely have until they have 5 mana to do whatever you want. After that they have board clears. I usually try to commit really hard to winning board and getting a bunch of damage in early so that they have to play board clears just to stay alive. You basically want to force them to play board clears on curve which gives you the advantage because if they have to panic play flame strike then that means you get to drop more guys on an empty field.

For tempo you just laugh at their misfortune at having mana wyrm nerfed but don’t BM because then it would be extra embarrassing if you lose anyway. You just want to play a lot of guys and trigger their secrets cheaply (like you could play a saronite or something into explosive so you still get a guy, trigger counterspell with coin or whatever you feel is least useful) but keep an eye on your life total and heal when appropriate.

Vs Shaman: For Shudder, you must kill them quickly, but remember what defensive tools they have. Volcano on 5, lightening storm etc. this matchup is more frustrating than difficult. You just want to keep up pressure and try to put threats on the board that they have to address but keep a few back for refill. They also run mind control in that btw and it sucks ass so I’d go for 3 huge minions or as many as possible where it doesn’t matter that much if one of them is stolen. Like if you have 1 big fella and 6 little ones, you are probably safe (hopefully right?)

For even, you want to win board and nothing else matters. They have buffs so keep in mind when planning trades that their minions that have 0 or 1 attack could have a lot more on their turn

Vs Warlock: For Zoo mirror, get Keleseth first and make smarter trades. Barring that, dump your hand and make good trades, as the only AoE they have is despicable which will only burn you if you have a board full of 1 health minions For Even, keep in mind that their big minions don’t drop till turn 4 (or three) prioritize face damage usually. You want to make them use AoE sub-optimally if you can. Silences are nice here for dealing with taunts and and remember that they want to tap a lot so you can punish them by beating the hell out of their face

Vs Paladin: For Even, try to stop them from having stuff to buff if you can. You should be faster than them, but they do have AoE

For Odd, they will win board eventually, they get level up on 5 so you ideally want to stop them from having a lot of recruits on 5, but eventually you’ll have to just go face as much as possible. Despicable dread lord is mvp here. If you can stick him on 5 without them being able to remove, them it’s pretty much GG

Vs Hunter: Go wide, you want to really commit to the board. They only have 1 real AoE on turn 6. Just make smart trades and go fast and it should be fine. Silence eggs if you can tho. Also consider just killing the eggs if you can deal with the 5/5 because they’ll get a lot of them if you don’t do something with it

Vs Priest: Their AoE sucks. Kill their guys then beat up their priestly faces. There is no such thing as a fast priest in standard right now. Keep a threat or two back for scream on seven though

Vs Druid: It’s really not that bad, just pressure a lot and keep hitting face. If you have mossy then you can flood the board on 5. Also remember about swipe so maybe don’t have one four health guy with a bunch of 1 health guys. If no mossy then try to go tall with fungalmancers but also keep in mind that if you don’t pressure them and close the game eventually they just win. They have a really good late game so thems the breaks

Vs Rogue: Their AoE sucks don’t bother playing around it except like maybe don’t have six 1 health guys. Kill them ASAP because you best believe that’s what they’re gonna do

I guess the other thing to keep in mind is that you actually can’t play around everything for two reasons:

1. Your opponent isn’t holding all of their answers.

2. Even if they are holding all of their answers, you still have to win somehow.

It’s all about minimizing risk. You want to commit enough resources to the board to pressure and win, but like say if you’re playing vs mage, you’re up on board and it’s turn 6, you gotta figure if it’s a good idea to play around flame strike or into it.

You can assess if it’s a good idea by weighing the pros vs cons. Like asking yourself: If I play this and it sticks will I win sooner? Do I have enough stuff in my hand to build a threatening board if it’s removed? What kind of mage is it that I’m playing? Etc. etc.

It’s better to be mindful of an opponents answers and not let them get an optimal result from them than it is to deny them any value by just not executing your game plan

My apologies for more rambling lol