Life, we all need it. Unless you are an undead I guess, then you are the exception!
If you want to see what I initialy had to saw about this splinter, check out this post from two weeks ago!
So today its the 3rd Splinter, life, which I want to talk about, expect lots of armor and ranged units! Aswell as some healy and paladiny stuff!
~~~ Common Cards ~~~
As always were starting with the commons, I would say we have three really good cards here, one useable and two nieche cases.
Lets start with the not so good cards, the Silverschield Archers only cost 2 mana, but are worthless unless you get double strike on them, and even then they arent amazing. They are useable with Selenia Sky. If UNTAMED or any other expansion ever brings "inspire but for ranged attacks" then this card would be very good in that combination.
Silvershield Knight is just took expensive. You cant use him as a tank, and paying six mana for inspsire isnt worth it. You can use him in the sneak ruleset or melee mayhem.
Now to the middle field, thats the Silvershield Warrior, hes a better reach unit than Grumpy Dwarf, so use him in case you need one.
Now to the good cards!
Feral Spirit is an amazing sneak unit and heavily used. You might want to get a lvl 4 one before unit it, becouse 1 dmg isnt that good. But it has insane speed, and goes up to 4 dmg at max level.
Early on Life Decks often use a tank + two sneak units in the life splinter.
Another really good card seen in nearly every life deck is this divine healer. While her dmg never goes above 1, she is an amazing supporter for only three mana. Starting with tank heal and getting slow at lvl six. She can also be use in the 2nd or last spot to tank some sneak/snipe attacks.
Armorsmith is a really good common once again, that every life deck should own! You dont need a max one, since the stats he gets arent that important. I myself often only use a lvl 4 one.
He comes with the repair ability, which restores 2 armor on units that have lost armor. His priority is the tank slot, and backline afterwards. This is really good, since life has two summoners that give armor to all your units.
~~~ Rare Cards ~~~
Now now, the rare section has two of the most used cards of this splinter! But lets start with the less used ones.
The clay golem can be used as an agressive tank, but doesnt see much play, since a better options exist, in most cases.
The Silvershield Bard has value, since it is a one mana card, but its not played that often, since er ability "cleanse" is not really used by people at the moment. That could change with UNTAMED.
I recently changed my mind about this card, I didnt think it was that good, but that has changed now. The utility and stats you gain here for just three mana is insane. He starts out with silence, which is really good, since magic dmg ignores armor and many monsters of this splinter have armor, but less HP, so reducing that dmg is key. Starting from lvl 5 he also gains thorns, which is just an amazing ability in itself. This allows us to use him in the last spot to defeat against sneak units.
Im not sure if the Peacebringer or the Paladin is used more, but both are in almost every game where the life splinter is used and with good reason! While he starts with only two dmg, he already goes up to three on lvl 3, that means you can have a tanky and fast backline unit with three dmg from silver league onwards.
I mostly use the Peacebringer in my last slot, since he can tank 2-3 attacks.
Hurray! We've arrived at the probably most used card in this splinter! The Silvershield Paladin! Hes an amazing tank for just five mana. In my opinion he is the only tank in the 4-6 mana range that can be used instead of Lord Arianthus. There are of course still times where I would use Lord A over the Paladin, but he can hold his own quite well!
Starting out with the shield ability hes already a good tank against melee and ranged units, his armor helps aswell. His real power starts at lvl five (gold league) where he gets magic reflect. While he takes full dmg from magic attack, he can still reflect them. He is often combined with the Divine Healer and the Armorsmith to restore both his armor and life to have an unkillable tank.
~~~ Epic Cards ~~~
Whats this?! A splinter where all epic cards are good and used?! NANI?!
Jokes aside, yes all of them are good, so lets talk about them.
So this little girl comes with the divine shield ability, which means she ignores the first dmg she takes completly. If you combine that with one of the armor giving summoners, she will be able to survive a few hits. She also is a magic user with up to three attacks, there are barely any magic dmg users in life, so she is very important.
Defender of Truth is a very good card, with just one problem. Magic reflect :(
While she is still very good, you need to be careful not to waste the mana. As Lord A is often used, she cant shine in every game. The best rulesets for her would be "no neutrals, "weak magic" and "lost legendaries". Otherwise she will very likely kill herself via reflect.
The Air Elemental is often seen in the silver-league, he starts out with six speed, which makes him almost always go first. You also only need a lvl two unit to get up to three dmg, meaning silver-league players can already have two 3 dmg ranged units with him and Peacekeeper. His HP, speed and dodge ability also allow him to be a backline tank!
~~~ Legendary Cards ~~~
Now, its time to talk about the legendaries! Spoiler: its not looking that hot.
While both of them see some use, and can be good, they are far from must-have cards.
The Angel of Light is a fulltime supporter and can be used as a tank in no melee units, or as a backline sneak defender.
She comes with the unique ability ressurect, which revives the first unit that dies with one HP, the good thing here is, that they get all their armor back. Starting at lvl three she gains tank heal and inspire on lvl four. Sadly as of right now, using ranged units is mostly stronger, so inspire isnt as good. Im very curious how UNTAMED will look, this could become on of the best life splinter cards really fast. Maybe now is the time to get a max version, as shes one of the cheapest beta legendaries.
If you look at the stats and ability of the unicorn, its really surprising that it isnt used more, it has agressive and defensive stats, which should make it a really good card. There are times when it is used, but often people use either the paladin or Lord A.
I do belive that this card can be very good, it is also very cheap right now, but its reward printrun is nearly over, so if you ever want a max version for really cheap, do it now!
~~~ Summoner Cards ~~~
Its time to talk about the summoners! But before we start, lets talk about why armor is really good!
Armor is more than just additional HP,its extra HP + dmg reduction in most cases. I think its easiest with an example:
Defending creature has 2 HP and 1 Armor
Attack creature has 3 melee dmg.
After the attack the defending creature will still have 2 HP and only lost the armor.
That means that the rest of the attack is wasted/absorbed. The only exception is from units with the "pierce" ability. They do the remaining dmg to the HP.
That means that even giving a single armor to monsters is really strong, as it can absorb an entire attack in most cases.
That means that Tyrus is a really solid summoner, and Kiara should only ever be used in silenced summoner rulesets.
The Peakrider is tyrus on steroids, hes super good! Giving 3 Armor to every single units while debuffing all enemy ranged units by one is really good.
You should however not use him in the broken armor ruleset.
If the mana allows is you should always use The Peakrider, otherwise go with Tyrus.
~~~ Neutral Cards ~~~
As mentioned earlier going for two sneak units is really effectly in the early league with this splinter. That makes Elven Cutthroat really valueable. The only downside is her price, its quite expensive to get a lvl 4 one to get her to two dmg. Getting a max lvl card would set you nearly 500$, so dont bother.
As always you can use Lord A aswell, combining him with armorsmith and divine healer will make him survive even longer. Just make sure that you have enough dmg in your team, otherwise all the defenses wont mean anything.
~~~ Dragon Cards ~~~
Both Daria and Selenia are good choices to use in the life splinter, but in most cases the armor from Tyrus of Peakrider will be better. So you should only use them in the broken armor ruleset or in cases where you want to use the dragon splinter cards.
As we've talked about, using multiple sneak units is good, why not use three? Or use this one instead of the Elven Cuttrhoat. He comes with piercing aswell, which is useful against some target. This is currently the only ranged unit with sneak.
While the Silvershield Warrior can be used, I would recommend to use the Manticore if youre already using the Dragon splinter. Having a higher HP pool is better against magic units, anb his thorns ability makes him even better!
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Splinterlands beginner overview! Video and Text version
Steem-Engine Overview & How to buy and sell DEC
Peakmonsters Overview & How to rent cards!
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Water Splinter Review
Talking Meta #1 - Lord Arianthus