Have you ever wondered how your opponent started his hog push before the battle’s intro animation finished playing for you? He probably skipped that animation and you should too. 

As soon as the loading animation starts, just tap anywhere.

This will cause the game to skip past this “arena” screen and the “player vs. player” screen and leave you at the point where your cards are popping up in the deck area at the bottom of the screen.

I like to follow up with two more taps to mute my opponent’s emotes, but that’s just me.

Credits: I think it was CrazyAssassin who first pointed this out to me months ago. Correct me if I’m wrong.