Healing Healsing: matchups, key interactions and mistakes to avoid

Before you start

This is the second part of the guide to Healing Healsing, the Van Helsing control deck that Davdas, OriginsMeta staff, published on 15 September 2026 as the first community deck of the site. The first part covers the list, the game plan, the mulligan and the round-by-round play. Here we look at the interactions that decide games, at the matchups and at the mistakes that cost the most. The author's notes are on the deck page; the matchup reading below is OriginsMeta's, based on the card texts of patch 0.6.3.

Five interactions to know

1. Shahrazad and everything that puts a card in your hand. Shahrazad heals 1 damage from your barrier in her location whenever a card enters your hand. Van Helsing adds his Tools before every combat, Spellbook adds a spell at the start of every round, Scarecrow and Ali Baba draw, Baby Bear's death adds Papa Bear. With Shahrazad and Van Helsing on the board you heal every single round without spending a card.
2. Every heal feeds Phuong Hoang. Phuong Hoang gets +1/+1 whenever an ally or barrier is healed. Tin Woodman's On Reveal is one heal of eight points, so it is one +1/+1; Shahrazad's many small heals are worth more to Phuong than one big one.
3. Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll's On Reveal heals 3 from any other character or barrier in his location. Kept in hand after combat he becomes Hyde, a 5/3 with Trample, and a Hyde kept in hand becomes Jekyll again: the same card is a healer or a finisher depending on when you play it.
4. Boitata against burn. If a spell or ability would damage one of your barriers, Boitata deals that damage to the opponent's barrier in that location instead. Against decks that finish games with Lightning Strike or Searing Light, Boitata turns their reach into yours.
5. Baby Bear's family. Baby Bear pings any enemy that damages your barrier in its location and, when it dies, adds Papa Bear to your hand; Papa Bear pings harder and adds Mama Bear when it dies, and Mama Bear destroys enemies that damage your barrier. Three bodies for one two-mana card, and the ideal thing to have on the board when Forbidden Knowledge resolves.

Matchups

Ranked data is not public yet, so what follows is a reading of the lists, not a win rate.

Against 3 Pigs Mid Range (the same author's other deck) and other midrange lists. Their finisher, Ellen Trechend, grows for every enemy card in her location: spread your units rather than stacking one lane. Impundulu's Lightning Strikes are exactly what Boitata is for. Axe Throw deals four damage, which is exactly Van Helsing's Health: expect him to be answered, and do not rely on him alone for removal. The Pigs come down at seven mana and fill every lane with Trample: that is the round to hold Forbidden Knowledge for, one round later.

Against aggro and go-wide decks. This is the matchup the mulligan note has in mind when it says to keep Jill: every time she takes damage she heals 2 from your barrier. Baby Bear punishes each attacker that gets through, Jekyll heals what matters, Tin Woodman's eight points reset a barrier. Do not chase their units with the Tools one by one; stabilise the barrier, reach eight mana and let Forbidden Knowledge take the whole board.

Against other control decks. Card advantage decides, and this deck has more draw than most: Spellbook is the card to protect and to play first. Keep Hyde for a lane that has been left empty, and save Holy Water for a Legendary whose ability carries the opposing deck, such as Mulan, who repeats her allies' On Reveal abilities, or the Queen of Hearts, who repeats their On Death abilities.

Mistakes to avoid

• Casting Forbidden Knowledge too early. The advice on the deck page is to wait for a round where the opponent reveals first, so their cards are on the board when it resolves. A wipe into an empty lane is a wasted eight mana.
• Letting the Tools sit in hand. Van Helsing only adds them if you do not have them. Use them every combat, even on a small target.
• Phuong Hoang before the heals. A 2/3 for four mana with nothing to grow from is a weak card; the same card after Shahrazad and Spellbook are set up is the win condition. The mulligan note puts her, with Shahrazad, among the cards not to keep in the opening hand.
• Treating draw as a luxury. The deck page warns that "not finding Forbidden Knowledge when you need it can be very painful": Scarecrow, Ali Baba and Spellbook are how you find it, so play them early even when the board does not require them.

Conquest

The deck is tagged for the ladder only, but it fits a Conquest line-up: a different Legendary from 3 Pigs Mid Range and a single card in common, Ali Baba, so the two lists are eleven cards apart, more than the nine required at Big Bob's Playtest Battle. The deck builder counts the difference in tournament mode.