Card draw.

At the start of each turn, a hero draws 5 cards + 1 for each inspire. Because cards are discarded at the end of the turn, unplayed cards are “wasted” draws. Any draw that is added to the deck should then be reframed under the understanding that if the deck cannot play the drawn cards, it is wasted. This is also why card draw that costs zero mana is inherently strong.

There are two types of draw. Some cards like Yellow Expected Prophecy draw in excess and raise our total hand size, whereas Cards that only draw 1 are considered ‘cycling.’ When adding cards that cycle to your decks, it’s worth remembering that when played, you will only draw the card that you would've drawn had you not added the cycle to the deck in the first place. This is why cycling cards are generally bad if they do not provide some other desired benefits.

How many cards do you think white setup draw? It says it draws 3. But you are required to put 2 back. Additionally, it also ‘costs a card’ in our hand to play. This is why white setup is not actually considered draw, but is infact cycling.

Mana.

At max madness, a hero gets 3 energy every turn and +1 for each energize. Mana is not depleted at the end of the turn, and can be spent on following turns, however this doesn't increase our total mana per turn, only how we use it. Average deck cost is a good measurement of how ‘playable’ your deck is. If average cost is too high, we will not be able to play our entire hand every turn. If its too low we will end our turns repeatedly with excess energy, and not be as strong as it could be. Because we get 5 cards per turn, inspire is easily accessible, and card cycling is plentiful, average deck cost generally starts far below 1, but as we get further through the game, energy becomes more accessible, and average deck cost steadily increases.

Helping hand. An example in analyzing cards.

Helping hand is zero cost card, which means it can always played. This inherently makes it desirable irregardless of its effects.

Cleansing slow can be strong at times, as speed fixing is an extremely lucrative effect. Going first is always desirable as preventing damage is easiest when enemies are dead.

Giving one inspire puts helping hand in the ‘cycling’ category which means it replaces itself. Most importantly, the inspire can be passed down the team, which will engage a ‘snowball’ effect, or can be donated to the carry to make their turn stronger.

Its not uncommon to see 4-6 copies of helping hand(or clarity) in our decks coming out of the act 1 town, due to its incredible strength and playability.

Snowball

The most important aspect of deciding how to build a deck is turn order. Remembering that the hero that goes first cannot benefit from other heroes, while each hero can benefit from ones that came before. Most non carry decks will be primarily comprised of support cards, and will begin a ‘snowball’ effect, where the first hero makes the second hero stronger, which can then use their turn to make the third hero in a row stronger still, finally

All characters, regardless of their role, follow the same fundamental deck building concepts.