Hello fellow Splinterlanders!
In today's post I would be posting a battle challenge using the card, Time Mage from the Life splinter. It's been a hectic month, and I have missed a few weeks of Splinterlands write ups. Hope to spare more time this weekend to have another writeup.
The good news is that I am busy due to some preparation for my upcoming wedding in June. Covid-19 has delayed the ceremony somewhat for like 2 years.
L͓̽I͓̽N͓̽K͓̽ T͓̽O͓̽ B͓̽A͓̽T͓̽T͓̽L͓̽E͓̽
THEME: TIME MAGE
Rarity: Rare
Element: LIFE
Attack: MAGIC
Abilities: Slow at level 1, Rust at level 5
Although I haven't been using this card much, the battle challenge actually encouraged me to play with this card, initially with some loses, but getting the hang of it.
Abilities
| Abilities | Description |
|---|---|
 | Reduces the Speed of all enemy Monsters |
 | Reduces the Armor of all enemy Monsters |
Play Strategy
The Slow ability is always useful for almost all rulesets except for a few that should be noted. For the following ruleset I do not recommend to use or you are not able to use the Time Mage.
I do not use the Time Mage often, because my cheap go to card for slow is always Creeping Ooze as that is a neutral card, and the mana cost of only 1 is really cheap.
Do NOT use Time Mage for the following ruleset:
| Ruleset | Why |
|---|---|
 | Time Mage is not useable in this ruleset |
 | Slow is used to try to get the opponent to miss. So it is not so useful when it comes to this rule set where the attacks will not miss |
 | Definitely no "Slow" here because you do not want your opponent to gain the upper hand in reverse speed |
USE Time Mage for the following ruleset:
| Ruleset | Why |
|---|---|
 | In this ruleset who attacks first is very important to kill off the low health cards |
 | Additional speed debuffs on the opponent plus enrage can do wonders |
 | All Ranged and Magic attack Monsters have the Snipe ability. Therefore more speed will be better to snipe off the opponents first. |
Ruleset & Mana Cap
Let's move on to the battle, the ruleset for my battle is Equalizer and Target Practice.
| Ruleset | Description |
|---|---|
 | The initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health. |
| All Ranged and Magic attack Monsters have the Snipe ability. |
Based on the following ruleset my strategy is to place cards with the heal ability on the front and back of the lineup. I am also adding some heavy hitters and in 2nd position I am hoping that the dodge and slow combination of Spirit Miner and Time Mage will be able to evade some attacks.
Positioning and Choice of Monsters
Summoner: Tyrus Paladium
A summoner from the life splinter that grants armor to all my card. I am assuming the opponent will be using ranged attacks from past battle so some armor will be helpful.
1st Position: Hydra
A level 1 legendary neutral card that has the heal ability. The speed is good and the attack is quite high. With the heal, hopefully this will allow my tank to survive few rounds.
2nd Position: Spirit Miner
This 6-mana neutral has magic attack and dodge. The magic attack will be useful in this ruleset to snipe the enemy
3rd Position: Sand Worm
This is a high mana card but the high health from the ruleset really helps because this card has a high attack of 5. The sneak will be useful to take down the enemy's backline
4th Position: Silvershield Assassin
Another sneak card at 7 mana. This card has double strike thus allowing multiple hits to damage the enemy backline
5th Position:Time Mage
At level 1, I am using this card for it's base ability which is slow. It has magic attack to snipe the enemy with the battle ruleset
6th Position: Cornealus
This is a high cost 10-mana card. I am putting it at the back to tank hits and to heal up damages. Though one of the risk is that I am giving all my opponents 12 Health.
BATTLE Commentary
Round 1:
The opponent is using a level 2 General Sloan and a bunch of ranged cards. Looks like the opponent is also equipped with a Cornealus and the heavy hitting Sand Worm. Additionally the opponent has Chain Golem and Prismologist with blast. Pelacor Arbalest is also present with double strike. The opponent line up is quite a challenge and so this will be quite a close one.
The match started with Time Mage reducing all opponent's speed and firing off the first attack on the ShieldBearer. All my attacks will be unfortunately focused on ShieldBearer due to the Taunt. The rest of my cards attack Shieldbearer with none of the attacks missing due to the higher speed. In fact in the 1st round, Shieldbearer was taken down.
The enemy's Cornealus took out Spirit Miner's armor, and with the attack from Prismologist and Pelacor Arbalest my Spirit Miner was almost killed.
Thankfully Chain Golem misses when trying to attack my Hydra. However the enemy's Sandworm removed the armor from my Cornealus.
Round 2:
In round 2, my attacks are no longer focused on the main tank. All my ranged and magic attacks are not focused on the enemy's Cornealus. Spirit Miner got killed my the enemy's Cornealus. I am quite unlucky as the speed differential and the evasion skill is not able to elicit a dodge.
Prismologist tried attacking Time Mage, but the attack missed due to the speed difference. Even the Pelacor Arbalest was only able to hit Time Mage once out of twice this round. The enemy's sandworm damaged my Cornealus, but for this round, only my Spirit Miner was taken down. The enemy backline however was also damaged, and should be taken down soon.
Round 3:
In round 3, once more my cards attacked the enemy's Cornealus. Sadly Cornealus was able to heal up all the damage from round 2. The Assassin's double hit is able to take out Pelacor Arbalestm while my Sandworm removes the armor from Prismologist. Once more my time mage was targetted, but the attack from Prismologist missed! I really like "slow" ability.
Cornealus is damaged by the enemy's Sandworm at the end of this round.
Round 4:
In round 4, Hydra healed up the damage and attacked Chain Golem to remove the armor. With the 3 sneak attacks from Assassin's double and Sandworm, Prismologist health is greatly reduced. However this time round, Prismologist is able to hit Time Mage thus putting the Mage at a critically injured state. Cornealus once more takes the hit from the enemy's heavy hitting Sandworm.
Round 5:
In round 5, my Hydra is able to heal back up while damaging the Chain Golem. The enemy's Prismologist was successfully taken out my the Assassin. Sadly this round, the enemy's Cornealus took out the Time Mage. My Cornealus is once more attacked and greatly injured by the Sandworm.
Round 6:
In this round, I am able to take down the enemy's Sandworm with a combination of attacks from the assassin and my very own Sandworm.
Round 7:
With only two cards on the opposing team, my sneak attackers are able to focus their attacks on the enemy Cornealus to do more damage and what it can heal up. Hydra continues to attack Chain Golem and heals up at the same time. Sadly my Cornealus was killed before it is able to heal up.
The enemy Cornealus was reduced to 3 HP.
Round 8:
In round 8, the enemy Cornealus was taken down by both sneak attacks. Chain Golem was again damaged by Hydra, and the end is near.
Round 9:
In this final round no. 9, my Hydra landed the killing blow, thus winning the battle.
🆅🅸🅲🆃🅾🆁🆈
FINAL THOUGHTS
Is it cheap?
For a level 1, yes, at only 0.25 per card, if we were to compare to Creeping Ooze which is selling at around 2 USD per card for the lvl 1 Ooze.
Vs Oooze
Strategies
This card is good to be used when the enemy uses more melee and ranged attacked. Coupled with Flying and Dodge ability or even Phase at a higher level this card can really shine
What do I like about Time Mage most:
The slow is really nice especially if we can couple them with a few other speed up cards or slow cards.
What I do not like?
It's not that I do not like the card, but to me the creeping ooze is still more versatile and has a lower mana costs. Also being a Neutral card, the creeping ooze can be used with my other splinters.
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Credits
Splinterlands for the source image and Canva for the bountiful elements (background, animation, logo design) to use.