Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!
As I'm playing the game I typically will pull off and save the link to matches that I think I could examples to potentially share. I started also a collection of instances where I beat the teams that I struggle the most against. As someone who is playing 95% of rift watchers and Chaos legion, I struggle against certain combinations of untamed monsters that are very difficult. The classic matchups include Kron llama, anything yoden, and sometimes just Kron. Needs to serve both as examples to share with others as potential solutions to the problem, or as reminders to myself of ways to approach the matches to find a victory.
Weekly Highlight - Finding a Way to beat A Boosted Kron on Last Stand in Bronze
This game in particular was very interesting. Things worked out about as well as they could for both teams. They managed to boost Cron pre last stand with two martyrs. This means after last and cron had the most ridiculous stats you could imagine. Eight magic damage, 6 speed and enough health to realistically be able to self heal for a long time. Even if you took away it's attack via the having alchemist it would get cleansed and go right back. This should win most matches given how powerful its attacks are.
The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide
The Rule Sets
Watch the Match Here
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_acf9297096e432680871e06e03ed3a59&ref=senstless
MANA: 30
Ruleset: Standard: No modification to the standard gameplay rules and mechanics.
SPLINTERS: Fire, Earth, Life, Death
Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts
- Rulesets
Pretty simple and straightforward, the standard rule set doesn't really change anything. Wow sometimes you wish for certain rule sets given the available splinters and your opponent's history, standard leaves everything wide open. - Mana
30 Manor is a difficult number. It used to be a higher mana match but given the last few sets 30 is now somewhere in the middle, and given how high some of the mana costs are you will be limited in what you're able to do. By the time you add in a seminar and a 10 and a monster you're pushing almost halfway of your management. - Splinters
Not too much of an impact in my mind, only missing dragon and water which means most splinters are available and most lineups can be
Summoner ETERNAN BRUNE
When I picked this line up, I decided to try something new. I noticed my opponent played a lot of cron and I was just spitballing in all honesty. I do really like this summoner as it takes away armor and gives me access to a couple of the fire Gladius cards that I'm really starting to find useful.First Position GRUM FLAMEBLADE
Nothing new here, while it's powerful it's real benefit is it's 5 void armor which helps protect it from the opposing team. The real question with flame blade is always can it start to build its stats and knock out opponents before it's killed.Second Position SCAVO HIRELING
If I value void armor so much, I then must find a way to repair it and bring it back each round to absorb some of that magic. It's the only thing that keeps health live as I'm still waiting for a tank heel and fire.Third Position FINA VOXOM
One of my favorite fire Gladius cards. High speed, three damage and high health with opportunity and bloodlust means it's likely to be able to build some stats quickly.Fourth Position HALFING ALCHEMIST
So happy I'm able to borrow an alchemist, it's so useful in taking away your opponents attack and allowing your monsters to get an upper edge.Fifth Position URAEUS
Solid choice, while I tend to play it more when I give a boost to my own mailing attack, removing the arm of my opponent makes it more likely to get the knockout.Sixth Position SCORCH FIEND
Didn't know where to put it in all honesty, could have would have should have put it before Voxom but also wanted to give myself some speed protection
Opponent Lineup & Match Play
- Summoner SCARRED LLAMA MAGE
I really hate the llama. It's such a pain to get rid of in so many cases and it creates such powerful monsters out of otherwise not so powerful. Give a boost to a crown or a monk and give it last stand and it's almost unbeatable - FAILED SUMMONER
Solid first card to play, especially if you're expecting your opponent to play magic. - QUEEN MYCELIA
Never a bad idea to add armor to any setup. To me it looks like it's just a delay tactic to keep its team members around while crown is doing some damage in the back - FUNGUS FLINGER
Going to be an issue as it dies before crime and gives it a boost before martyr. - KRON THE UNDYING
Really dislike Kron and not a fan citizen fact I don't have one - VENARI MARKSCRAT
Exceptionally risky play, as if I did not play a sneak or opportunity card then crime would not be getting the last stand ability and could be completely wasted
Round 1
I'm looking at this lineup, I'm exceptionally concerned that I'm going to lose. KRON boosted with martyr and the llama last stand is going to be an insanely difficult hurdle to overcome. As round one plays out Markscrat but that unfortunately boosts chron already. As the rest of the round plays out I lose all of my armor on flame blade and things are looking questionable at best
Round 2
Round two is looking okay when it starts out as I secure a knockout Voxom and trigger my first blood bust. Unfortunately I lose a significant amount of health to chron since flame blade was out of armor and did not get repaired until after the attack. The round ends with everyone hitting their attacks and taking away
Round 3
The start of round 3 leaves things looking grim again. It starts off with another knockout for me and another boost Voxom, while it's great to be building up attack speed and health, it will no way be able to beat Kron once it gets on last stand. The interesting part in this round is with this knockout, my opponent is down to one attacking monster. That means if I'm able to repair armor prior to Kronos attack it won't be able to take away any more health. While it's too late for this round, I have an opportunity to be in a endless loop of always having void armor.
Round 4
Round four starts and I'm lucky enough to get one more last knockout with Voxom. Boosting its to six damage 7 speed and 10 health. This knockout also gives crown of boost to 5 magic damage prior to last stand. After last stand it's doing eight damage with six speed and 21 health. This is all very important as I still have the fastest attacking monster with seven speed. This will be very important. As the round ends I trigger repair and put two void armor back on to flame blade. This means that if the start of the second round when KRON attacks it won't do any health damage and will only hit armor. It will then be repaired and the same thing will happen again.
Round 5
Around five starts and plays off and I've noticed that after my attack and six damage that I dealt, KRON is able to repair seven health given its 21 base health. That means I will get a guaranteed hit with Voxom each round due to my Superior speed, and I only need one additional hit from my other three monsters to slowly bring his health down. If I get a Miss then they'll bring it up by 1:00. This is a war of attrition now and it's only a matter of time until I'm able to get a couple of hits in a row and knock them out.
Round 6
Round 6 is amazing as I get hits from both having alchemist and plane blade, really bringing crown's health down to 11.
Round 7
Around 7:00 is another victory for me as flame blade manages another hit even though it's a 50/50 Miss. This pushes me to be looking great for around 8:00
Round 8
Round 8 I miss my three potential attacks and he is able to add one health back.
Round 9
Round 9:00 I take back to health and he is down to eight health
Round 10
Getting very close to the end now as I attack first, and bring crown down to health after self heal it's back to 9. I only managed a hit from The alchemist which brings it back to a neutral round for everyone
Round 11
Around 11:00 is another lucky round as flame blade hits it's attack and secures my victory.
Round 12
It's all over as I'm a go first and knock out crown at the starting of the round. It took a long time to get here and that was pretty lucky to have two void armor at the start of each round and have everything work out in my favor for the order of attack. I'm sure my opponent was left very frustrated wanting a monster dealing eight damage being flummoxed by two void armor.
Thoughts -
I really think I got fortunate as they could have chosen a few different cards that would have thrown a wrinkle in here. But I think this showcases how important void armor and repair can be when facing teams that rely so heavily on magic attack. Being able to repair that armor before the magic comes means you're able to preserve your health in some cases with different splinters heal your tanks.
