Back To Splinterlands - continuing to add new cards to my level 2 summoner deck. Closing in on completing cash legion and rift watchers.
I have been doing the tremendous amount of work as of late to add as many new cards as I can. I'm still trying to focus on adding as many cards. While I still have a ways to go, I have noticed a significant improvement in both my card selection, and feeling like I can compete in more matches. It's been nice to have some of those massive legendaries that I've been missing for a while.
Weekly Challenge - GEM METEOR
I really enjoy these weekly challenges because it will push me to use cards that I have not played recently. I tend to pick the same lineups over and over even when there are perfectly suitable and potentially better cards for my use. I'm not sure why it is but I almost forget I have the cards when I'm building teams. This week was no different as I don't think I've used gem meteor much in the past but I'm going to try to use it more and future.
Edition: CHAOS LEGION
Rarity: EPIC
Element: NEUTRAL
Attack: RANGE
Abilities: SCATTERSHOT
Health: 5
Speed: 4
Attack: 1
Reasons Why I like it
There are a lot of good things to like about Gem meteor. I think two of its biggest attributes are the five health with four attack speed. While it only does a base attack of one range, it can easily be paired with general Sloan to boost it to two. Given its speed it should be one of the first monsters to attack it might really be part of a great lineup built on speed that gets out and attacks for the enemy ever gets a chance. It also has a very interesting ability.
SCATTERSHOT Ranged and Magic attacks hit a random enemy target.
From my experience with scatter shot it's either the greatest idea I've ever had to play scatter shot, or the worst idea. The amazing ideas come from when scatter shot happens to attack low health monsters that would otherwise be protected and randomly takes them out and wreaks havoc on a lineup. The downside to scatter shot is that all of your attacks might be so random that you don't knock out any of the opponents monsters while they chew through your lineup with concentrated attacks.
The few minor drawbacks that I see is it is a 5-mana card which is an awkward number for me to use, and has no armor but it's high speed should help it Miss a few attacks.
The Matchup
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_8d0828c74d66d1760f4e0be4610d80bd&ref=senstless
MANA: 46
RULES: Counterspell: All Monsters have the Magic Reflect ability
RULES: Odd Ones Out: Only monsters with odd mana costs may be used.
SPLINTERS: Earth, Life, Death
Thoughts on match play
46 mana matches have enough room to do anything you want to. Adding in counter spell and odd ones out make it a little more interesting and challenging to make a well-balanced lineup. Given that monsters have counter spell I doubt it'll be a magic heavy Earth lineup played by my opponent especially considering death is also available to counter the summoner Plus have reflect making it a really unlikely play. I think it'll be more based on melee or ranged.
- Summoner General Sloan
I went with general Sloan and the life splinter to get that increased range attack and really see if I can do some damage. Since I don't think they'll be magic I'll be fine with the tank. - First position Uriel the Purifier
My favorite Life tank when I'm really confident they won't be playing magic. High health with high armor makes it really fun in first position, especially when it's been charged and does nine melee attack damage. - Second Position Hero of Beyond
A solid second position for me, and used very heavily with life. It's attack gets boost to three, and added with close range means that it can still attack while in first position so it's in almost every lineup - Third Position Runeslinger
This is a new ad for me. I was out shopping for gold foil rift launcher cards I didn't have and thought this would be a great ad. For speed high heels with stun is an amazing addition to life. - Fourth Position Adelade Brightwing
I absolutely favorite to play with Uriel, have any ability to keep repairing its armor is really key in most matches to allow it to stick around to recharge and drop a haymaker. - Fifth Position Portal Spinner
I decided to go all in on the scattershot. Portal spinner while slower and less health does have one more range attack as a base plus it has one armor to help it absorb a sneak attack. - Sixth Position Gem Meteor
Here is where I put jim. While it doesn't have the armor, I was hoping it's for speed would help it Dodge a few sneak attacks and would be fast enough to get off attacks and if you're rounds.
Opponent Lineup & Match Play
- Summoner Thaddius Brood makes the most sense to try to counter the potential magic and it has a well-rounded sneak and range attack team as well.
- Undead Rexx I don't see undead Rex too often, but whenever I do I remember that it can do five melee damage and I start to get concerned
- Disintegrator looks like they were trying to counter a high melee attack from me, since I didn't go that direction I'm feeling pretty good
- Sandworm massive sneak attack, dealing five damage is enough to knock it out for the first attack.
- Silent Sha-vi another big sneak attack card doing three damage with five speed, it's faster than any of my cards and will always be first to attack
- Dhampir Stalker forget speed when you have true strike dealing three damage every round is going to be nice.
- Pelacor Deceiver I assume to put this here to try to dodge sneak attacks for me. This lineup looks like a perfect counter to their own lineup but it didn't go that direction. So I don't think that the flying in four speed is really going to be too much of a concern for me
initial thoughts.
I'm feeling mixed but my chances. Given the fact that this is a level account for me and level four for them means that many of their cards have much higher attack speed and abilities than I do. On the other hand I think I have a really strong lineup to play against theirs. I think I have a shot alone not too sure at what percentage I have.
Round 1
Round one played out like I feared. Well gym media did get to attack second, the fact that they have two high damage sneak attack monsters means it was knocked out in the first round. I was lucky to stun undead Rex before it got a chance to attack and I was able to knock it out before the round ended. I also added my first Miss of the match, thanks to my flying ability. I hope that continues to play big part in the match.. both teams took some heavy damage for just the first round.
Round 2
Round two was much like round one, that double sneak attack wreaked havoc and took out portal spinner. I was lucky enough to get another stun this time on disintegrator. But I am starting to get a little concerned about that double sneak attack. My choice to go with double scatter shot seems a little risky now since my attacks could have knocked out the lead monsters but instead just to damage the back rail.
Round 3
Round three will probably decided for me, since it's an art around that means I'm only charging and won't attack with Uriel. But I was super fortunate to have two more misses on monsters that have flying. One would have been a knockout, the other took away all my armor. These two misses are going to probably be key for the match and give me a shot to win.
Round 4
The start of the round doesn't look great, but it doesn't look terrible. I'm a few attacks away from knocking out two of the most powerful monsters, but they're also likely to knock at least one of my monsters out this round.
Thankfully it's an even round so I get finished recharging and knock out both of their melee monsters. That leaves them with no attacks to start the fifth round.
Round 5
Since they have arranged attack monster in the first position without close range they can't attack, It looks like a free knockout for me leaving them only one monster
Round 6
It may be around but it's going to be over quick low health Plus my three monsters leave them no options even if I didn't stun them which I did. Overall it was a great victory of a level two team versus level 4 summoner.
Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again
As always I'd like to see if I have luck or skill, in my lineup picking and I went off to splintertools.io to check it out. As you can see by the screenshot below I was a 93% favorite to win so I feel fairly confident that I picked a good lineup. If none of my flying or speed cost a mess then I can see how I might lose on a bad luck match, but overall I feel pretty confident in what I picked. And we'll have to consider a similar lineup again.
