Hey guys 👋, Hyde here with my first guide series featuring the different ghost cards of every splinter. This is mostly for newbies since I believe that understanding your ghost cards is a crucial foundation for beginning your Splinterlands journey. I believe that in order to be an efficient player in this game, it is imperative that you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your cards as well as the ones that your opponents use. There is no better way to start practicing that but with the ghost cards that you get in the beginning of the game. So without further ado, let's go on with our first splinter: FIRE.
The fire splinter is the most common splinter that you'll encounter from novice to bronze league. It features an aggressive set of ghost cards that can dish out strong melee and ranged damage while having decent to superior speed thanks to Pyre. Common Fire splinter ghost cards that you'll encounter includes:
SUMMONERS:
A. Malric Inferno
Cost: 3, Ability: Grants +1 Melee Damage to All Friendly Melee Attack Monsters
He grants +1 Melee Damage to all melee units. It's as simple as that. Malric Inferno has the ability to give Fire splinter team comps. the abiity to hit like hell. It may not seem much but that +1 melee damage really elevates the damage of cards like Serpentine Spy and Living Lava. There are also not that many non-tank cards with health higher than 4 if you're just starting out in the game so you'll see your cards taking them down in just one hit or living them clinging to their lives with just 1 HP remaining.
B. Pyre
Cost: 3, Ability: All friendly monsters have +1 speed.
It is a given fact that the common summoner for Fire splinter users is Malric, but there are also times when using Pyre is better. Pyre gives all your monsters with additional speed and it synergizes really well with Fire splinter cards since it turns their decent speed into quickdraws that can take down enemy monsters before they can even strike. Personally, I use Pyre if I know that the opponent is also going to use a Fire splinter with Malric as their summoner. Why? In a battle between two fire splinters with exactly the same cards, the summoner using Pyre will most likely win. Beginner Fire splinter comps often rely on Serpentine Spy to assassinate key damage dealers in the enemy team, but if you have Pyre, your Serpentine Spy will take down the opponent's Serpentine Spy because it will more often than not have the lowest hp in their team.
MONSTERS:
A. Serpentine Spy
Damage: 2, Speed: 3, Health: 1, Cost: 3
Ability: Opportunity
Serpentine Spy is a staple choice for every Fire splinter player (Literally). You'll encounter them EVERY SINGLE GAME omfg. It's a really strong card with a strong melee damage and high amount of speed. Coupled with Malric or Pyre? He could either be a heavy hitter or a lightning-fast card. His opportunity ability allows him to target the enemy card with the lowest hp from any position (Except if he is in the 1st position). This makes Serpentine Spy an assassin of sorts who can target and eliminate your opponent's squishies from the get go.
Weakness: His health is only 1 at the beginning making him a total glass cannon. This makes him a prime target for enemies with opportunity ability as well and oh, it also makes him pretty vulnerable to splash.
Tip: Avoid putting him in Position 2 or Position 6 to protect him against blast or sneaks. It is also a good idea to include a creeping ooze or chicken in your formation to at least save him from a dying from an opponent card with opportunity ability in the beginning.
B. Cerberus
Damage: 2, Speed: 3, Health: 5, Cost: 4
Ability: Heal
Another Fire splinter staple. Cerberus is the go-to tank, especially on low mana cap rounds. Decent damage, decent speed, and decent health make him really versatile. Not to mention that his heal can be really OP especially in novice-low bronze. Just pop him in the 1st position and watch him soak up all the damage.
Weakness: He has no armor. He is literally a chunk of hp. He is prone to being bursted down before he even gets the chance to heal. His high speed can work against him sometimes as his heal will proc. without soaking any damage yet (Leaving him vulnerable to burst). If you're fighting a Water splinter user with Alric and you haven't taken down their magic attackers fast? They'll shred Cerberus in a sec.
Tip: There are cases when Cerberus is placed in Position 6. The reason for this is that because of his heal, sneak monsters of your opponent will end up stuck hitting him and he'll just regenerate the damage.
C. Living Lava
Damage: 3, Speed: 1, Armor: 2, Health: 6, Cost: 7
Abilities: Shield
Living Lava is a total behemoth. Health? Armor?? Damage Reduction from Shield??? Living Lava has all the characteristics of a tank. Not only that, see that damage? That's a whopping 3 damage per hit (4 if you're using Malric). Meaning he also hits like a truck and he can overwhelm tanks from other splinters. His ability is also really strong because you'll mostly see enemy melee and ranged cards deal 0-2 damage only since cards with more than 4 damage are rare in the start. You will definitely see him every time you fight someone using Fire splinters in medium-high mana cap battles.
Weakness: He is quite prone to being bursted down by magic damage since his shield only affects ranged/melee attacks and magic damage ignores armor. He is also VERY SLOW. So unless you're fighting under the Reverse Speed ruleset, expect him to be among the cards attacking last. This also means that he can occasionally miss vs opponents with higher speed.
D. Goblin Shaman
Speed: 2, Health: 3, Cost: 3
Abilities: Weaken
No damage? What's the use of that guy!?
Hoho don't sleep on him now just because he has no damage. His ability "Weaken" reduces the health of every card on the enemy team by 1. It may not look much, but it can be a pretty powerful debuff in the beginning since it'll make enemy cards easy pickings for your other damage dealers like Serpentine Spy. Allowing them to eliminate enemy cards in just one hit with their high damage and the enemy's reduced HP. Goblin Shaman is often played in Position 2. Also, take note that the debuff disappears if he is killed in the middle of the match which brings the enemy health up by 1 again.
Weakness: Dude got no damage. Being played often in Position 2 also leaves him fresh prey for cards with snipe like Demon Jester since he has no damage.
E. Kobold Miner
Damage: 1, Speed: 2, Health: 2, Cost: 2
Abilities: Sneak
Kobold Miner could be referred to as the grunt of every Fire splinter team comps at the beginning. He's not the best attacker, but you'll see him play a part in every game that you play with or against Fire splinters. He is a low-cost attacker who can hit enemies in the backline with his sneak ability. His 1 melee damage may not be much, but using Malric will boost his damage to 2 which can chew away at the opponent's backline fast.
Weakness: He has really low damage without Malric so he is prone to taking a REALLY long time or even forever before he can take down the enemy backline especially if they are prepared and has set up a backline protector like Onyx or Water Elemental.
Other Notable Cards:
A. Fire Elemental
Damage (Ranged): 2, Speed: 4, Health: 2, Cost: 5
Ability: Blast
In contrast to the usual melee monsters that you get as ghost cards, Fire elemental is one of the few ranged attackers. You'll mostly see yourself using this monster in high mana cap battles as a backup attacker. Fire elemental has decent damage with high speed that serves as a backup damage dealer. The blast ability is also a good bonus since it can slowly wither down the hp of enemy monsters in Position 2 through its effect.
B. Fire Beetle
Damage (Ranged): 1, Speed: 2, Health: 4, Cost: 3
Ability: Snipe
You wouldn't always encounter a fire beetle in your enemy's team, but I do think that Fire Beetle is still pretty useful as a Position 6 ranged unit in low mana cap battles. Its 4 hp can tank a couple of hits from pesky sneak monsters before going down. Often giving your other cards enough time to deal enough damage for a win.
-OVERVIEW-
The ghost cards that come along with the Fire Splinter are strong melee hitters that can obliterate opposing teams right from the first round. They are really aggressive and they possess two strong frontliners that can soak A LOT of damage. This particular splinter can finish the match in less than 3 turns with its powerful blows. But, they are not flawless. Most damage dealers like Serpentine Spy, Kobold Miner, and Fire Elemental DO NOT have a lot of health. They are total glass cannons. They deal a lot of damage but they can't take a lot of damage. It's either they kill their targets first or they're at risk of going down fast. A major weakness of theirs is that they rely too much in melee monsters. They don't really have a lot of ranged nor even magic monsters at the beginning. That's why if you're using a Fire comp. filled with melees and you encounter a Mylor team? It's a guaranteed L.
-Summary of Strengths and Weaknesses-
Strengths:
- High damage output.
- Durable tanks.
- Can take down enemies behind Position 1 with abilities like snipe, blast, opportunity, and sneak.
- Good speed (Pyre turns it to great lol).
Weaknesses:
- Relies primarily on melee units.
- Damage dealers like Serpentine Spy and Fire Elemental don't have a lot of health.
- Vulnerable if they can't deal enough damage at round 1.
- Gets hard countered by Mylor Crawling if you run full melee.