Good evening Splinterlandians!
A hot topic as of late is the use of Gladiator Cards in Ranked Battles, more specifically: Bronze League
Why is this such a bone of contention?
Originally, when I joined 2 years ago, Gladiator Cards were special cards only to be used in special battles between Guilds and they were called "Brawls".
The Gladiators were very powerful warriors and as such were relegated to The Arena...
However, after the switch from Reward Cards to Soulbound Reward Cards (another different issue)... The rules were changed a bit... the idea was to incentivize joining a Guild and being active Brawling... in addition to earning Gladiator Cases (just like a regular pack) you would earn SPS too!
Now... this doesn't sound like it would cause much of an issue... but by adding Summoners that allow players to bring a Gladiator from the Arena into a Ranked Battle... allows some people to have access to cards that others can't...
I've heard a number of analogies but this game, at it's core - is a TCG... and the best analogy I've heard so far is this:
"By allowing players to use hard to obtain, non-purchasable, cards is a lot asking someone to play chess with you but since they're new, they can't use the Knights or Castles, etc"
This gives the players who do have access to Gladiators an advantage in every Ranked League, over those who don't - especially when one looks at how powerful they can be.
At first, I thought "pffft this is dumb, a non-issue"... then through a series of weird events, ended up stuck in the Bronze League grind, trying to escape the hordes of Gladiators running around... and lemme tell ya... it sucks.
It's not that I lose a game and think I should win them all... It sucks because having access to one card can make or break a win... and that's not how the core Battles of the game should be (in my experience)...
After much Salt in the MavChat - AZircon asked me to stop... truthfully he was right.
Whining in the MavChat WON'T solve the issue... and it's up to the TEAM, not the DAO or Salty Mavs to recognize a card or card combo is fundamentally "breaking" the game by having an insanely high win% or creating an "unbeatable" situation.
If a card or card(s) are truly "unbeatable" that's one thing and they (The Team) should look at banning them immediately...
If a card or card(s) are just "annoying as F$%K"... Like this one:
Then I'm gonna spend less time whining about them and more time SHOWING YOU HOW TO BEAT THEM...
Until they're hopefully removed from Ranked Battles again and sent back to the Arena, where they belong... with the exception of the rare ruleset:
"Are you not entertained" - this allows each player to use 1 Gladiator in a Ranked Battle.
Part of what makes Gladiators like Quora so powerful in Modern Bronze, is the lower Mana Caps most battles have...
My issue with Quora is that at the 16 Mana Cap Battle in Bronze League... she seems damn near unbeatable!
I mean just LOOK at her... 👀
She's a Big Booty Judy with 12 Health, which means she will heal for THREE each turn!!
If the Heals weren't enough... she'll Avocado Cadaver your chump blocker for 2 Magic, then swing that big ol' BEATSTICK on her back for 2 more... Hopefully you didn't throw a Fiend out there as a Fleshy Speedbump or her Bloodlust is going to trigger... Yikes.
All in all, she's a force to be reckoned with... But she isn't UNbeatable...
However, due to another Bronze issue... the Low Mana Cap...
Even if you used Blight to cast Affliction... that's 8 Mana used so far...
A 4 Mana Summoner, 4 Mana Blight, leaving you 8 Mana to deal with her and not let Quora rampage all over you with Bloodlust in her eyes...
So, how do we deal with Quora Spamhead? Take a look below 😁
Let's use Keyla Frendul as the summoner with Djinn Oshannus as your Tank and Blight behind the Genie in the second slot.
Kelya will supercharge your Oshannus to a blisteringly fast, 6 Speed havin', Ricky Bobby actin', Slingshot engagin', Shake n Bake MONSTER... WITH VOID - which halves Quora's Magic Attack down a notch to only 1...
In addition, adding the Armor will help Oshannus EAT HER FIST a few times... because even with the large speed difference, my RNG luck with Dodge is F@#$@NG TERRIBLE 😫
Throw a fiend BEHIND Oshannus (but in front of Blight) if you see them running a few "Sneak" teams in their Battle History... BUT NOT IF YOU SEE KATRELBA FFS!!!
If Blight can land an Affliction in the first 2-3 turns... Oshannus's Health and hopefully a few dodged attacks will allow you to claim victory!!
Combo #2 is an absolutely INCREDIBLE powerhouse of damage at low mana... I just thought of this yesterday and it works well - even though I was ABSOLUTELY ROBBED by RNG, when my guy missed as a 2Spd vs their 3Spd...
Although in an earlier game my 6spd flyer was clobbered by my opponents 1 Speed Archer 😡😡😡
So what is my new favorite "Anti Quora" combo for Modern Bronze League at the 16 Mana Cap?
If you haven't looked much at the Rebellion Cards, you should!!
There are some REALLY powerful cards in there and they will definitely help you overcome these OP Gladiator Cards until a resolution is reached...
With Fabino adding +2 Atk, Grund will BASH for 5 Damage... TWICE!!!
That means with Double Strike, Grund will be doling out a MAJOR amount of PAIN each turn!!
Unless of course, you get absolutely ROBBED by the RNG... 😅😅😡
The battle SHOULD look like this:
Round 1:
Quora, with 3 Speed, will go first and swing for a total of 4: Grund is at 6HP now...
Grund goes second because the Soulbound Summoner: Lobb Ape-for-brains, not only gives the Player who uses him the ability to summon a Gladiator in Ranked Battles... but ALSO gives the opponents team (-1)Speed 😒
Grund (2 Spd) will attack second and swing for 5 + 5... Quora is at TWO (assuming no RNG shenanigans)!
Round 2:
Quora Heals +3 and is now at 5 HP. She attacks for 4 leaving poor Grund at 2HP 😭
Grund still has some fight left in him and if EITHER HAMMER HITS... As long as you don't miss TWO of your FOUR attacks on a ONE SPEED DIFFERENCE... then you win and Quora takes a big fat Mjolnir to the FACE... lying defeated and strewn upon the ground... like the rubbish she is.
So yeah... there you have it... TWO separate ways to beat that STUPIDLY ANNOYING QUORA TOWERSHEAD at 16 Mana in Modern Bronze League...
Stay tuned for more of these - because Katrelba, Captain Katie, Stabby McOpportunity (Isgald Vorst) and others are strong too... just not quite like the POWERHOUSE that is Quora...
Oh and before you say it... I've heard the "Oh but Scarred Llama Mage + Kron the Undying were sooooooo powerful in Bronze when Untamed came out for the same reasons..." - that statement and thought process is utter garbage.
Yeah, Llama+Kron were OP when I joined... and YEAH, I got my face smashed a BUNCH by that combo at 17 mana...
So what did I do - I BOUGHT THEM... and proceeded to SMASH OTHER FACES!!
This is what you should be able to do... with any card(s) played in the NORMAL FORMAT of a TRADING CARD GAME... with very rare exceptions...
If you can play them in the standard Battle Format - you should be able to buy them...
Anyways, that's just my opinion - I hope the team agrees, with their focus on NPE in 2024...
Until then, I'll be in the trenches figuring out HOW TO BEAT the Gladiator Spam so YOU TOO can escape the hellhole that is Modern Bronze League!
That's all I have for today folks, thank you for joining me!!
Make sure you click the "Follow" Button and please leave your feedback, comments and thoughts below (even if you call me an idiot) I'd still want to hear your opinion.
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https://splinterlands.com?ref=captaindingus
Cheers 🍻,
- CaptainDingus
