Splinterlands is a pretty complicated game with interesting battles, with all the options available. This is a part of the weekly social media challenge for Splinterlands. This week is about a great fight where I won because I used some opportunity and sneak monsters.
Featured cards
Dread Tafarian is an earth splinter that costs 9 mana. This splinter starts with the heal ability. This card doesn't learn any new abilities, but increasing its level will increase its stats.
This is honestly one of the best cards in all of Modern. I can't count how many times I have won a match because of this card. I have this card at level 3, and I could increase it to level 4. However, I did not because it would decrease its health. So for now, I keep it at level 2. The heal is just that overpowered, and if you manage to get your opponent down to just 3 damage or less per turn, this card is invincible.
Why this card?
The main reason why I would suggest opportunity and sneak monsters in Frontier is because of this card. You need quite a bit of damage to overcome this card, and while you are focused on the front, your opponent has free rein to attack the rest of your lineup. To counter this, I have been using opportunities and sneak monsters more when Earth is an option for my opponent. This allows me to kill off my opponent's backline and reduce the damage to 3 or less as fast as possible.
Rule Set, Battle, and Plan
The ruleset this time is Ferocity and Rise of the Commons. This means that only common and rare cards can be used, and all monsters gain the fury ability (more damage to taunt monsters). There is also 25 mana available, and I can use fire, earth, life, or death splinter.
| Splinter | Mana Cost | Position | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurelia | 6 | Summoner | +1 Health |
| Dread Tafarian | 9 | 1st | Heal |
| Kanaaq Miner | 5 | 2nd | Sneak |
| Vicious Quilliun | 5 | 3rd | Opportunity |
| Total Mana: | 25 |
I use Aurelia as my summoner for the +1 health. Dread Tafarian is my tank, and I have two other melee monsters with sneak and opportunity as my damage dealers.
The plan is to outlast my opponent with Dread Tafarian while relying on my other monsters to wipe out the backline. This is my counter when my opponent also uses Dread Tafarian. It's a fairly simple strategy, but that is the only counter I know of against it, and it's hard to beat that when we have a low mana cap. I just don't have the monsters to outdamage the heal if my opponent uses Dread Tafarian.
Round 1
At first glance, this is the exact setup I was worried about, and why I went with the Opportunity/Sneak lineup. This match is my win, though, because I will be able to kill off my opponent's ranged monster in the first round or two (due to the speed). After that, my opponent will only have 3 damage per turn, so Dread Tafarian won't die on my end. However, my opportunity and sneak monsters will shine during fatigue.
Round 21
Just like I mentioned, we are in fatigue (round 21 and over). Both my opponent and I will take damage every turn. However, I have two extra monsters that can push my opponent's health down further. This will be the slight advantage that I can decide between a draw or a win.
I ended up winning this match a few rounds later due to fatigue.
Conclusion
The battle this time did play out as I planned. My worries about having a Dread Tafarian versus Dread Tafarian battle were confirmed. After losing or drawing to this a few times, it just seemed like the best choice to use sneak or opportunity monsters to up my chances. I am glad that I was able to show the strategy that I think works best. Dread Tafarian is just that strong of a card, and going up against it without a plan is not a great idea.
You can see my entire match here.
What did you think of my match? Was there anything you would have done differently? I think it is quite interesting to see how different players use the same card.