Splinterlands is the number 1 blockchain game, and each week the Splinterlands community focuses on one card to highlight battles using. This week's card is the Goblin Psychic, a powerful healer that every player has access to.
About the Goblin Psychic
The Goblin Psychic is one of my favorite cards from the starter set of cards that all Splinterlands players have access to. Since everyone has access to this card, this is also a great battle challenge for new Splinterlands players to get involved in. I'll talk more about that later. For now, let's discuss the card.
Card Stats
The Goblin Psychic is from the new Chaos Legion set and is a common card from the Earth Splinter. In the current low tier meta, Earth Splinter has a very strong magic lineup, and it is in those teams where this card really shines.
At level 1 the Goblin Psychic has a 2 magic attack, 1 speed, and 3 health. It's a slow unit. But it's also a healer having the Tank Heal ability at level 1. So you do want to wait a bit in the turn to fire it off after the tank has taken damage anyway. This is a STRONG support unit with a decent attack.
At higher levels the card gains more health and a series of great enemy de-buffs including Affliction, Silence, and Dispel. Those abilities weaken the enemy's ability to heal, deal magic damage, and hold buffs respectively. All in all, a solid kit.
Let's See It In Action!
In the battle linked here, you can see how I used the Goblin Psychic in a battle.
This particular battle was a 19 Mana battle with the Normal Ruleset and All Splinters available.
Typically in lower mana battles I try to have a decent tank, and put as much cheap damage on the table as possible. In this battle, I was able to do that with just two cards.
My Strategy
I chose Obsidan as my summoner. As I said earlier, Earth has a good magic lineup in the current meta, and that's due in no small part to the Obsidian summoner buffing all magic attackers with +1 to magic attack.
I chose a magic attacking tank to soak damage. The Mycelic Slipspawn has 2 magic attack (3 with Obsidian's buff), 10 health, and the Taunt ability forcing any enemies to attack it that are able.
The Goblin Psychic took spot number two, accounting for the rest of my mana allotment, and played the role of keeping the tank alive, and also dealing 3 magic damage with the buff.
Considering a very basic strategy of having a tank, damage and healing, with Obsidian's buff I was able to leave the damage work to the tank and the healer. Multitasking at its finest!
Of course, I had to add the Furious Chicken since it costs no mana. However, I positioned the chicken poorly. I often put the chicken in the back to soak sneak attacks (especially if I'm using Mylor Crowling), and so I just stuck it in back for this formation.
But with a card with the Taunt ability, you don't really need to worry so much about attacks from the rear. Putting the chicken up front would have made the first attack from the enemy essentially useless. This would have been important in a closer match. I consider this a strategic error.
Did My Strategy Work?
My opponent had been playing a lot of Dragon teams with Drake of Arnak's armor buff and Cursed Windeku as a thorny tank. This combo would really vex a melee focused team, and if the opponent played this combo again it was a perfect time to use the lineup I mentioned above.
Spoiler alert, they did.
They had some melee units with Sneak that could have caused trouble in the back if I didn't have the Taunt ability on my tank.
Having an all magic team kept the enemy's thorns from proccing, which would have ended me. An extra 2 damage per turn from the thorns would have been hard to keep pace with the healing on. Again, the error with the chicken position is highlighted here.
But once the enemy's tank was out of the way, the Goblin Psychic was able to do it's job and keep healing in pace with the received damage.
In the end, I came out ahead, but I do need to pay attention to the chicken a little better.
Reflections
I really like the Goblin Psychic card. I love the Earth Splinter, and this card is just so useful. Even in teams not built around magic, this card stands as a fantastic healer if you have the mana to use it. And that's the only real downside to this card. It requires just a little bit more mana than you can sometimes afford to spare. Otherwise, consider it an Earth Splinter Staple.
NEW PLAYERS
I love when the Battle Challenge is focused on a card that is in the starter set. The various posts from players in different tiers really show how diverse you can get with strategy in this game. And when it's with a card that every new player can try out what they're reading about, that's great for keeping new players excited about the game.
Beyond the strategic growth of a new player, being able to participate in the social aspect of the Battle Challenge is good for both the new player, and the greater community. It helps to encourage new players to become part of the greater Hive and Splinterlands community, and learn about some of the other earning opportunities Splinterlands has going for it, namely earning Hive and SPT tokens from creating content like this post.
So, if you're a new player, share your battle, too. Start earning from playing, from posting, and become a better player and more savvy Splinterlands investor in the process.
And if you're not yet playing Splinterlands... Really, now is the time to start. Here's the link to get you going.