From far away, a Roc may be mistaken for a normal bird, but once it comes closer its true size can be appreciated. These massive birds never stray from the Burning Lands, most likely due to the warm ground and favorable nesting conditions of the uninhabitable wasteland of The Unknown.
This week's battle challenge features the Giant Roc, an Alpha/Beta edition card from the Fire Splinter that holds the Reach ability, along with Flying, and can be levelled to also acquire Trample.
Right from the bat, this monster doesn't hold an impressive attack power, nor health. But it does scale fairly well the 2 speed it starts with, that can be raised to 5. In conjunction with Flying, this monster becomes a dodge machine the more levels you put on it.
Being an Alpha/Beta card means this is one of the monsters that were recently rotated out of the Starter set. So it's not a very common card to see in battle in the present day.
The price it holds reflects more the scarcity of the edition than the gameplay potential per se, in my opinion.
Here's how its price compares to other more popular Reach options used with the Fire splinter.
But how does it hold in battle, now that the Chaos Legion is out? Should we consider it as a viable second line option, in the current meta? Nothing like taking it for a pin, to find out.
The market price for renting is ridiculously cheap, which likely is proportional to how useful the card is (not).
Battle 1:
Let's see how it holds on a 13 mana battle, and hope our opponent doesn't have Thorns.
Of course he did. Everyone spams Thorns at low mana. The Giant Roc is pretty uneffective here, it just doesn't have enough Health to endure Thorns. Even if it dodges a few hits.
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_71eef4e2b1eb5b8f0039a43a9a271873&ref=sp3ktraline
Battle 2:
Next up we fought in the Earthquake rule set, and this gave the Giant Roc some battle value on it's own.
Still a Defeat. Not effective enough.
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_eed4b311037693a7305b4ae4d9fbe846&ref=sp3ktraline
Battle 3:
This one was 27 mana battle. Again, I used Tarsa to try and beef up both the attack and helth of my monsters, since I have to play Fire to play the Giant Roc.
No use. The Giant Roc just doesn't seem to be a viable option in the current meta, at least for low levels. After my first line tank died, the Giant Roc sustained only two hits before dying himself. It just falls short in both attack AND health to be viable, even WITH Tarsa's buffs.
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_57822c573a5baab1bc22dc40448d4bda&ref=sp3ktraline
No one is sad it got rotated out, in the end that's just what it is :(