One of my favourite splinterlands posts to write it is finding cheaper alternatives to outlandishly expensive cards. I have done a couple of these in the past, and they have been well received.
There are many cards that I don't have in my splinterlands deck, and I don't have a goal of collecting all cards. However, there is one that eludes me. I had a chance to pick it up late last year for half its current price.
What makes Hydra so sought after?
The Hydra is a Beta edition legendary monster from the Neutral Splinter. It has many features that make it an attractive card to me - good speed, good melee damage, good health, not too high mana cost and excellent abilities (heal, thorns and retaliate). To begin the search for potential alternatives, I will use the following combinations and look for cards that meet the criteria at the lowest level:
- Melee damage 3+, Heal ability.
- Melee damage 3+, Heal & Thorns ability.
- Melee damage 3+, Heal & Retaliate ability.
- Melee damage 3+, Heal & Trample ability.
Melee damage 3+, Heal ability
| card | level | mana | health | armor | speed | melee | ability | cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra | 1 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 3 | Heal | $24.75 |
| Sacred Unicorn | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Heal | $7.99 |
| Sea Monster | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 4 | Heal | $0.28 |
| Cerberus | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Heal | $11.16 |
| Flesh Golem | 4 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Heal | $13.30 |
| Haunted Spirit | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 3 | Heal | $4.95 |
| Red Dragon | 3 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 4 | Heal | $99.99 |
As soon as you have a common level 1 monster in the category, it will almost always be the cheapest in this category. The Sea Monster is a reward card that many players would've gotten when it was still in print in their daily quest reward.
Melee damage 3+, Heal & Thorns ability
| card | level | mana | health | armor | speed | melee | ability | cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra | 2 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 3 | Heal, Thorns | $69.99 |
| Sea Monster | 6 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 5 | Heal, Thorns | $7.00 |
The Sea Monster is a 10th of the cost of the Hydra!
Melee damage 3+, Heal & Retaliate ability
| card | level | mana | health | armor | speed | melee | ability | cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra | 3 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 3 | Heal, Retaliate | $120.00 |
| Cerberus | 5 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 2 | Heal, Retaliate | $29.00 |
The Cerberus is a top-rated Beta card due to its usefulness and low mana cost. Good to see that it's 4 times cheaper than Hydra in this category.
Melee damage 3+, Heal & Trample ability
| card | level | mana | health | armor | speed | melee | ability | cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra | 4 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 4 | Heal, Trample | $190.00 |
| Sacred Unicorn | 3 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | Heal, Trample | $39.50 |
The Sacred Unicorn is a punchy legendary monster that is almost 5 times cheaper than the Hydra in this category.
Summary
This was again a fun and exciting exercise to undertake. Looking at the data mentioned above and categories, the Sea Monster came out the cheapest in two categories. However, purchasing the 3 cheapest monsters above (level 6 Sea Monster ($7), a level 5 Cerberus ($29) and a level 3 Sacred Unicorn ($39.5)) would still be 2.5 times cheaper than a maxed Hydra!
What do you think - would you opt to have a maxed Hydra or the 3 cheapest monsters?
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