Today, I am going to share with you a moment from my Splinterlands experience that will be remembered for a long time. I was playing the game like every day, but this particular match had me worried before it even started. When the ruleset and mana amount appeared on the battle screen, I saw that the mana cap was only 20!
Those who play Splinterlands regularly know how challenging it is to create a good combination in a 20 mana match. You can only take a handful of cards, and that is where victory or defeat is decided. At first, I was a little confused, wondering what strategy I could devise to overcome my opponent with such a small capital. After much thought, I suddenly came across my favorite summoner, Avina of the Wolf. An idea came to mind—the specialty of this summoner is that it can heal a card in its team. I thought, since the mana is low, the real fight for survival will be the fight, and healing can be my trump card there.
In planning the team, I first decided that I had to put a card in front that had a lot of health or vitality, so that it could withstand oneattack after another attacks from the opponent. With that thought in mind, I chose Dar 'Gottem' Gearnut as the main warrior or 'tank' of my team. Taking this card in a game with only 20 mana may seem a bit risky, but its stats gave me confidence.
As you can see in the screenshot, after entering the battlefield, its health was incredible—20! And the attack power was 2. My plan was very simple but effective—I would apply Avina's healing power to this Dar 'Gottem'.
I reasoned that if he has 20 health, if he can be healed every round, he will recover a lot of health every time. Killing him will be a nightmare for the opponent. And since the 20 mana limit, there was only one more card to take with it. So I put the 1 mana Halfling Refugee card in the second position as support. To be honest, I didn't expect any attacks from this small card; he was just there to protect the back row.
When I got ready to start the battle and clicked the 'Battle' button, the opponent's cards were revealed. Seeing that, my heart palpitations increased. My opponent was not a raw player at all. He used the Earth Summoner named Chuul Jujinchi. I was really disappointed to see his team. He put Lord Thanalor in the first position. This card is very powerful because it does magic attacks and has its own auto-healing ability. Magic attacks directly hit health, which was a matter of fear for me.
Not only that, in his second position was Satha Toledo, who can heal the first position card in addition to ranged attacks. In other words, the opponent's setup was based on 'double healing' or double healing ability. On top of that, their cards also had a lot of armor and health. After seeing everything, I thought in my mind that I couldn't win this match. I thought that my card might not last more than two or three rounds.
But what I saw happening before my eyes after the match started was like a miracle. The opponent started attacking my Dar 'Gottem' Gearnut with all their might. Lord Thanalor was hitting with his magic, and Satha Toledo, behind,d was shooting arrows. But this is where the real magic of my strategy started to work. Due to the 'Shield' in the ruleset, physical attacks could not do much damage to my cards. And what damage was being done, just before the end of the round, Dar 'Gottem' was healing itself with the blessings of my summoner, Avina of the Wolf. Since his maximum health was 20, the amount of healing was also very high.
Every time it seemed that my card was going to die, his health bar was turning red, but the next moment, the green light was lit,t and he was back to full strength. On the other hand, the opponent's cards were also healing themselves, as a result of which the game was heading towards a prolonged stalemate.
The match got more and more tense. Rounds 1, 5, 10 passed—no one could beat anyone. I was surprised to see that my one card alone was holding off the entire enemy force. The enemy was trying to melt my card’s armor with their ‘Corrosive Ward’ ability to reduce their armor, but they couldn’t break my card’s unwavering morale. You can see in the screenshot that my card was still standing tall in round 17. My heart rate was increasing because long matches in Splinterlands often take a sudden turn due to fatigue.
I just stared and thought, “Just a little more, just a little more.” The enemy must have gotten annoyed that my card wasn’t falling after all the damage I’ve done. I was slowly whittling away at their health with my card’s 2 attack power. Although they also had healing, my cards had more endurance than theirs.
Finally, after an epic battle of 26 rounds, the final moment arrived. The opponent's cards could no longer withstand the counterattack and fatigue of my cards. One by one, their powerful Lord Thanalor and Satha Toledo fell to the ground. When the big 'VICTORY' text appeared on the screen, and I saw that I had won, I could not believe my eyes.
In this Silver Two League match, I not only won rating points and SPS tokens, but I also won a huge amount of confidence. This battle taught me that no matter how strong the opponent is, and no matter how few resources (mana) I have, even the impossible can be made possible with the right strategy and the right use of cards. I never imagined before the game that this pair of Avina and Dar 'Gottem' would perform so well. I couldn't help but share with you the excitement I felt while playing the game and the peace I felt after winning. I hope this experience will inspire you to devise a new strategy.
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