This is a fairly easy game to learn. Even if you have trouble following the written directions, playing one round is enough to understand what’s going on. The only things that really change game play are the judges (changing the power limit and disallowing certain cards) and fighters like the Skeleton (inverts the power on spells). It is important to remember which cards are played face up vs face down. We had to refer back to that rule several times (Enchant cards are the only spells played face down).
Since this was a new game, we were a little hesitant playing cards during round one. Was it worth it to discard in order to look at the face down cards next to a fighter? Yes. This ability was used several times in rounds two and three in order to adjust strategies.
I really got lucky on the first round. I bet on the succubus simply because I hate fighting succubi in Diablo III.