Watching great players

Today, we're looking at another three Splinterlands battles from the top of the bronze leaderboard. Cost-effective strategies and great combos might turn up, so read up!

Hive account@reyju123 vs Hive account@kjchemical (link)

First on this list is kind of a no-brainer. Hive account@reyju123 decided to go with a strategy that is far too simple, for which they've ended up getting stomped. Remember, you have to try really hard if you want to stay at the top of the leaderboard. Reyju was sitting at a higher MMR, so maybe arrogance got the best of him.

On Hive account@kjchemical's side, we see high health, high speed and high damage monsters that synergyze well with the chosen summoner's bonus damage to ranged attackers. This provides more than enough damage to beat Sea Monster, while allowing Dragon Spirit to tank and even evade its attacks.

It's a good example of how we shouldn't ever be lazy when we want to stay at the very top of all competition. Even though it's clearly very tiring.

Hive account@reyju123 vs Hive account@kjchemical (link)

Next up, we have yet another battle from these two monster players, only 2 hours apart from each other. But Hive account@reyju123 was the winner this time. At first glance, the reason is very obvious: Hive account@kjchemical's monster synergy with their summoner was terrible.

A bunch of magic monsters without Alric Stormbringer? Furthermore, armor in Back to Basics ruleset? None of this makes any sense. Meanwhile, Hive account@reyju123 followed Back-to-Basics meta to the letter: boosted magic attacks, stalling monsters and something with very high health.

Going beyond summoner of choice, let's compare the rest of the team if both players used Alric Stormbringer as their summoner. Hive account@kjchemical would have 10 total magic damage in a single turn, while Hive account@reyju123 can deal 12 instead.

Any monsters of up to 2 health die as quickly as a monster of only 1 health, so there's no reason we should pick something like Hardy Stonefish while Furious Chicken is available - that's mana that could have been invested in more damage.

I like Kelp Initiate a lot in this battle, and it's probably the single reason Hive account@kjchemical would have won if they used Alric instead even if they wasted the 4 extra mana from using a 3-mana summoner instead of a 7-mana one.

Heads up! Tortisian Chief was a particularly good choice over Ruler of the Seas in this battle. Even though it's 1 less mana cost, it has 1 extra health and only 1 lower speed. Maybe Hive account@reyju123 chose Ruler of the Seas as a habit, but either way, it's the poorer choice in Back to Basics.

Hive account@alfred0101 vs Hive account@patternroot (link)

Finally, a battle featuring entirely different players. An interesting, but mostly boring battle to watch, though. Hive account@patternroot wins by healing their Flesh Golem getting Llama's Last Stand. It's no wonder Llama is the one of the top summoners in Bronze League.

All Hive account@patternroot had to do was make sure their own frontliners died first. Honestly, I'm not even sure why they're there at all. Might as well choose nothing but Flesh Golem!

I think that the only team that could beat this Flesh Golem would be a high-magic team, which is very cost efficient for attacking. But this counter strategy needed to include healing and a 7-health frontliner. Valnamor, Crustacean King and Kelp Initiate along with magic damage dealers are a great example.

Image sources: https://splinterlands.com/ and @nane-qts/free-splinterlands-graphic-resources-20