I Know What you Did Last Summer - Using Goblin Psychic in Battle!

This week's Share Your Battle challenge features Goblin Psychic! Similarly to Deeplurker last week, this is another one of the cards in the (free) starter set that I enjoy using, so I was happy to get the chance to share a battle that showcases its utility in this week's challenge.

Goblin Psychic is an extremely useful card - it isn't the cheapest card around with a relatively high cost of 6, but even from level 1 it comes with an excellent 2 point magic attack, and very importantly, the Healing ability. Its downsides are that it is slightly squishy and slow, with 3 HP and only 1 speed.

Luckily the low speed only hurts a little since magic attacks can't miss, but it is important to structure your lineup so that Goblin Psychic can stay alive for as long as possible in order to dish out the magic damage and provide as much healing as possible. Perhaps fitting given its name, Goblin Psychic works best when you can predict your opponent's lineup - you do need to be a little careful with how you place it in your lineup and protect it!

If you wanted to jump right to the action, the Battle Link is right here. Want to hear some more about the lineup? Read on further!

First up: the ruleset. This is a good ruleset for using Earth magic, which means it is most likely a good ruleset for using Goblin Psychic. Earth magic likes having plenty of mana to work with, and 50 is a very high mana cap. The rules also allow us to use magic and the earth splinter without any obvious drawbacks.

Goblin Psychic is in the earth splinter so we're going with an earth summoner. Obsidian works great because we'll be using a magic lineup and Obsidian's magic damage boost will help us put out as much damage as possible, including giving our Goblin Psychic a buff!

I started my team with my tank and secondary tank. Thanks to the high mana cap in this battle, we don't need to spare any expense! Nectar Queen gives us a lot of damage up front, along with plenty of HP and a bit of Flying evasion. Unicorn Mustang is just as beefy, and works very well any time I suspect that my opponent may be thinking about bringing some magic damage.

After the tanks comes the magic damage. Mycelic Slipspawn and Sporcerer both have 2 base magic damage. Mycelic Slipspawn is super beefy with 10 HP, and its Taunt ability is extremely useful in making sure that important backline units like Goblin Psychic don't get picked off early in battle. Sporcerer was mainly brought just for the 2 magic damage and 5 HP, but its Rust ability can also come in handy depending on the ruleset and my opponent's lineup.

I rounded out our team with some crucial support units. Mushroom Seer is one of my favorite earth cards - in addition to also having 2 magic attack, its Silence ability debuffs enemy magic attacks and can be a huge help in the case of a magic mirror match. Our guest star of the week, Goblin Psychic also has 2 magic attack and has the Tank Heal ability to help keep whichever unit is in the front healthy. Normally, putting Goblin Psychic all the way at the back is a little risky because of the possibility of Sneak, but in this case I felt that my Mycelic Slipspawn and its Taunt would offer adequate protection.

With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I am hopeful - my opponent has chosen an Earth lineup and we have a near-mirror match with plenty of magic damage, thankfully my Mushroom Seer should give me the advantage on that front. There are a couple of causes for concern though - the enemy lineup brought a Goblin Tower which could hit some come of my crucial units with its Blast, and I am also at a unit level disadvantage, thanks to my opponent having plenty of gold foils and a level 2 summoner compared to my level 1 lineup.

Round 1.png

The first round of battle goes according to plan - thanks to my Mushroom Seer, my monsters are able to knock out my opponent's Mycelic Slipspawn while mine still has a bit of health left. At least for now, I am slightly ahead in the damage race.

round 2.png

It is another couple of rounds before we see any more meaningful developments on account of the large number of tanks that we both have at the front, but by the start of the fourth round I am beginning to make some progress - my own Mycelic Slipspawn has also been taken down, but my slightly higher-powered magic damage has nearly chewn through both of my opponent's tanks. Thanks to the combination of Nectar Queen's evasion plus Goblin Psychic's healing, my remaining monsters are still in relatively good health.

round 4.png

It actually it took two more rounds to get through most of my opponent's lineup, but with my Goblin Psychic bringing more heals and my Mushroom Seer keeping the magic damage low, I was finally able to grind down the rest of the monsters. By the start of round 6 all that was left was on my opponent's side was a extremely weakened Goblin Psychic, and the Goblin Tower which would be fresh meat for my (still!) nearly full strength lineup. And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.

round 6.png

My gameplan for this battle worked out perfectly - I was able to keep outputting plenty of magic damage throughout the fight, while limiting the damage to my own lineup with Mushroom Seer and Goblin Psychic. Goblin Psychic played a huge role here, as the (boosted) 3 magic damage per turn coupled with the healing on Nectar Queen meant that I was getting a swing of 6 HP/damage on most turns. Not bad at all for a 6 mana monster!

Goblin Psychic really shines when it gets a bit of time to let its healing and magic damage accumulate - between chipping in a few points of magic damage and a couple of HP per turn, you can quickly get a huge advantage in battle. Despite its squishy-ness it is a super solid card and will remain a key part of my earth magic lineups going forward!

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. Interested in seeing some more of my writing in the future? Be sure to give me a follow! In the meantime, if you'd like to see some of my recent posts:

Splinterlands Economics: Marginal Analysis - An introduction to Credibility, and insights it gives us into Splinterlands.
Rolling in the Deep - Using Deeplurker In Battle! - This week's battle challenge, featuring Deeplurker!
Splinterlands Economics: Compound Interest - A introduction to compound interest, and how it can help you out in Splinterlands.

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