In my early days of Splinterlanding(I'm turning that into a word), I was fascinated by virtually every aspect of the game and struggled to cope with it. My tactic was simple; the bigger the mana, the better. However, despite being so dynamic and having all these moving parts, what stood out the most was THE ANGRY BIRD.
The Angry Bird is that Furious Chicken that I use to see in battles and ask myself, why? Why the hell do you need a chicken in battle? No, who needs a chicken in battle? Then I did some more digging and found out that it wasn't only about chickens because there were other monsters that aren't what we'd call fighters. I call them punching bags, and here are a few punching bags that you may encounter;
Albatross
Sticking with birds but a little less angry is the albatross. Unlike the furious Chicken, this punching bag flies, so it might evade melee and ranged attacks if you're fortunate. At level 6, this bird has the healing ability and as you continue upgrading it, you also increase the speed. Each unit costs about 3cents and it is plenty in the market.
Warrior Of Peace
This slippery dude with that looks like he's smoking and reading a long-ass scroll is a peace-loving hippie. He's so peace-loving that he reduces the melee attack of enemies and is surprisingly nimble. It is one of the commons in the Life splinter and costs around $0.012. At higher levels, this monster also reduces ranged and magic.
Gelatinous Cube
It's crazy how you never know what to expect from monsters that literally don't have any form of attack to offer. That is the case with this Cube that gains +1 health every time a monster dies in battle. My advice? Use it when Sneak is turned off and watch how your opponent gets frustrated.
Peaceful Giant
Listen, there's nothing more annoying than a big guy that doesn't fight. Sometimes I just look at this card and wonder how powerful its melee attack would have been if it wasn't such a wuss. This peaceful giant is a punching bag, and because of its size, opponents hardly miss it but, just like other punching bags, it has its uses; it takes a lot of hits.
Shadowy Presence
It is Epic, it is spooky, it can take hits and higher levels increase health and melee attack of teammates.
Lord Arianthus
Do you see that ugly head in a jar? Run when you see it. Seriously, this guy is the Lord of all punching bags and despite not having an attack, tends to do serious damage. It is a legendary Neutral monster that costs at least $10 to buy but I think it is totally worth that money. Out of all the cards in the game, this guy right here has done the most dirt to me and despite having a level 2 version on my team, for now, I still can't seem to trust it.
The Battle
I went up against a formidable opponent in this battle and lost, but there are many points to note from this. Top of the list is how badass Lord Arianthus can be and also since I used two monsters with zero attacks, I also learnt something from them.
So the game had earthquake rules and extra armour for everyone. I went with Life summoner because it was the only one allowed for this battle. My team constituted two punching bag monsters in Lord Arianthus and Truth Speaker.
I put Lord Arianthus in front to take hits and reflect magic, while Truth Speaker was to further boost my shields since Earthquake rules would be in effect.
At the end of the day, the two Lord Arianthus were the last men standing and I lost the battle due to the Earthquake rules.
Part of the reason why I suffer in the hands of Arianthus is that I have an overreliance on Magic monsters. I could have won this battle if I used the Ranged Thunderbird, instead of the Magic Light elemental that had all its magic reflected and eventually killed it. It was ultimately a very good battle to watch and showcased how you can employ punching bags to your advantage.