Splinterlands game is so rich in NFT cards that you can use to strategize your battles that I can barely keep up with them. And sometimes I am reading things so fast that I don't pay attention enough to their skill which ultimately turn against me. And after losing some battles because of that, I felt that I have a trojan horse within which is harming my formation. And after discussing the new NFT cards with another friend and as I was praising one of them, he opened my eyes and explained that the skill that I was referring works against me. So in this post I will give all the other plays and maybe better the new ones some hints on how to pay attention to cards skills and really understand them.
The devil is in the details
My trojan horse was the Shock Trooper, an Epic water unit with an amazing 4 Magic damage power, 4 Mana cost and a life of 5 points. Pretty good right? But the secret is found in its skill entitled "Electrified". At a first read that seems positive, but let's take a closer look to its description - "Deals 1 damage to all allied units at the beginning of round 2 and each following round." Probably you've spotted the fine detail in the description, but if not I will pinpoint that to you - IT DOES DAMAGE YOUR OWN UNITS!!! The word that I've overlooked was "allied" which I interpreted as "opponents".
The trojan horse
While the card itself has great stats and can inflict a lot of damage on the battlefield, in the end I believe it will do more damage to your troops than it will gain. This shows that even if a card has great stats, the skills can counter that in a positive, but also a negative way. I wasn't paying attention and I went from the premise that all the skills are good, are on your behalf but it seems that I was wrong. Giving 1 life damage to all your cards each round can be devastating on the battlefield and as I've lost few games about it I realized that on my own skin.
Turn the odds in your favor
So I believe that the Shock Trooper is a real trojan horse in games where all the skills are enabled and even amplified. But there is also an exception when we can make use of it and use its stats for us. This refers to battles where all the skills are nullified and simply don't count on the battlefield. This way you'll be able to benefit from all the stats of the card, without its skill affecting it.
All the above shows that when it comes to battles things are quite complex and require a lot of knowledge and strategizing from the players. And I believe that this is where the game becomes more fun as it is not another cards farming game, but one where the skills of the players truly come under the spotlight. Know your cards, understand their stats and skills and couple them with the rules of the battle and you might end up victorious. Even if you have a worst deck then your adversary has, you can still win if you play it right. And the example presented here shows how you can avoid a trojan horse cards, but also make use of it when it fits the rules. The game is not just black and white, but also a lot of gray in the middle. And its there where the best players thrive!