Mycelic Morphoid with Thorns
 |
This week’s challenge is featuring another monster from the 1 Mana set that came out with the Chaos Legion’s edition. Their low mana cost makes them easy to cram in any lineup where there is at least one spot and one mana left. As I’ve described previously in my “Share Your Battle Challenge” featuring Carrion Shade, most of those 1 mana monsters have the particularity of getting a useful ability at level 3.
In the case of Mycelic Morphoid, it gets Thorns, which makes it instantaneously much more interesting in a multitude of configurations. Even with simply two Health Points (HP), Morphoid can theoretically inflict up to four damage with its Thorns if the opposition’s melee monster only hits for 1 per turn. However, in most cases, this monster will be able to absorb one Opportunity or Sneak attack depending on where we choose to place it. On top of that, because some of those Opportunity or Sneak monsters have equally low health, the thorns might even drag them down altogether.
 |  |  |  |  |
Personally, buying Gold Foils of those 1 mana monsters turned out to be valuable acquisitions. I might have to quickly repeat myself in this post, but I believe the 3 following points are worth mentioning again. First, as Common monsters, one single Gold Foil copy (1 BCX) unlocks their abilities. Second, they can occasionally help us out when we found ourselves in Gold Foils-only situations. And finally, they offer a 10% DEC bonus after each battle we manage to win with them.
 |  |  |
If for some reason, those benefits were not convincing enough, there is still one more thing. In the Equalizer ruleset, those 1 mana monsters become even more powerful. Abilities like Void, Flying, or Dodge can turn them into decent tanks!
Protecting the backline of a Classic Magic Spam & Offering a 10% DEC Bonus
Today’s battle is a Magic Spam lineup I have run uncountable times. It is for sure not unbeatable. Nevertheless, it often fares very well in Earth Magic confrontations.
 |  |  |  |
Unicorn Mustang with its Void ability is a tank hard to get through, especially when Magic is expected from the opposition. Then, Wood Nymph and Goblin Psychic’s Double Tank Heal ensures that the Unicorn has its HP back up after each round. Adding into that the Mushroom Seer and its Silence ability, we give little chance to the opposing Magic lineup to take over the Mustang in time.
|
How about Mycelic Morphoid then? In this battle, I had precisely one mana left. So, I ended up placing Morphoid at the back to protect Mushroom Seer from a potential Sneak attack. In the end, it wasn’t necessary. But, besides the fact that it hasn’t much to do, it still provided me with the +10% DEC bonus at the end of the battle. This is one of the reasons why those monsters are very compelling, they always bring value one way or another.
The Battle
Rulesets: Stampede + Broken Arrows
Mana Cap: 28
League: Gold III
 |
When I saw my opponent’s lineup, I felt I had a good chance of winning. While going with the Failed Summoner in the front is an attractive option, I knew it would be no match for the Unicorn Mustang. Why? Because I’ve made that mistake myself thinking that the Magic Reflect could quickly take down one or two low HP Magic monsters. It rarely works, unless paired with Amplify, mainly because the Unicorn is often fast enough to take away most of the Failed Summoner’s HP, which reduces tremendously its utility in that first position.
 |
My only concern was the leveled-up Goblin Psychic I saw in the opposition. Playing with a Goblin Psychic myself but, only at level 1, I couldn’t rely on Affliction. This had the potential of making my Double Tank Heal tactic completely ineffective. After the match, I went on to check my win rate on Splintertools.io. The result was that I still had roughly between a 70% to 80% chance of winning. This observation, once more, convinced me that a versatile lower-level deck could still be competitive as long as it was built around key synergies like the combo Void and Silence, whenever it is through rentals or purchases.
Links
Splintertools.io:
https://splintertools.io/battle?player=tt88&battleId=sl_833c19e5440f6d1c77896f5928f88526
On mobile:
https://m.splinterlands.io/#/battle/game/process/sl_833c19e5440f6d1c77896f5928f88526
On desktop:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_833c19e5440f6d1c77896f5928f88526&ref=tt88
See you all in the next challenge!
Thomas
For new players interested in joining this amazing game, you can support me by using the following referral link (at no extra cost to you!):
https://splinterlands.com?ref=tt88
Thank you.