Splinterlands is a complex game, and it allows for various cards and strategies. Each fight is different as there are various rulesets applied, and this can give specific cards an advantage depending on how you use them. In this post, I talk about a great battle where I won because I used Spellmonger.
Featured cards
Spellmonger is a neutral splinter that costs 6 mana. This splinter starts with the thorns and untrainable ability. This card can't be weapon-trained, so it can be limited in some cases. I do use this card from time to time in Frontier because it could be useful in some rulesets/lineups.
Rule Set, Battle, and Plan
/center>The rulesets this time are Melee Mayhem and Aimless. This means that melee monsters can attack from any position, and all ranged/magic monsters gain the scattershot ability. There is also 28 mana available, and I can use any splinter except for fire, water, and earth.
This ruleset is interesting because melee monsters are more effective, and ranged monsters will have to rely more on luck.
| Splinter | Mana Cost | Position | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incessant Sage | 6 | Summoner | +1 armor |
| Spellmonger | 4 | 1st | Thorns |
| Twice Yester Knight | 7 | 2nd | |
| Paprikash | 6 | 3rd | |
| Hungry Ulund | 5 | 4th | |
| Total Mana: | 28 |
My summoner is Incessant Sage for the +1 armor. My tank is Spellmonger. My backup tank is Twice Yester Knight. Then I have Paprikash and Hungry Ulund as damage dealers.
The focus of this lineup is to keep my monsters alive while dealing damage and outlasting my opponent. I have Spellmonger as my main tank because melee monsters tend to be in the first spot, and if my opponent has any other melee monsters in the back without sneak/opporunity, it will hit Spellmonger first. The Aimless ruleset makes the ranged and magic monsters attack randomly, so that should keep Spellmonger as long as possible. The rest of my lineup is more for damage.
Round 1
At first glance, I think that this match can go either way. My opponent has a maxed level tank with the shield ability. So that monster will take quite a while to kill, and I have to rely on luck for my opponent to not kill off my damage dealers in the back.
Round 6
A few rounds later, my opponent is down to 1 monster while most of my monsters are alive. My opponent can't attack anymore, and I am glad that I was able to take out that shield monster. The thorns plus damage dealers put in quite a few turns to win the match.
I won that match later that round.
Conclusion
The battle this time went exactly as planned. Spellmonger was a great card, as that thorns damage helped me take out the most troublesome monster. The aimless ruleset also helped Spellmonger stay alive, and it looks like my team had quite some leeway in the end.
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.