Ability Focus
For this week's Social Media Challenge, I would like to explore the MARTYR ability introduced with the Soulbound Reward Cards earlier this year. As new editions of cards, such as Untamed, Chaos Legion, and Riftwatchers, come into play, players must adapt quickly to different monster lineups and learn how to use new abilities to strategize their play.
Of the many new abilities introduced recently, I believe that the MARTYR ability is one of the most game-changing to watch out for. When a monster with MARTYR dies, it grants adjacent monsters a +1 to all stats, making its placement in the battle formation crucial. Players have quickly realized how powerful this ability is and are already utilizing it effectively in battles whenever possible.
Till date, if I'm not mistaken 😅, the MARTYR ability could only be found in these Soulbound Reward Cards and the recently launched Promo Card: Vruz.
Here are some of the rulesets and ability which I personally feel have great synergies with the MARTYR ability. Therefore, do look out for such situations when setting up your team and hopefully they would bring you one step closer to victory!
Both Noxious Fumes and Earthquake rulesets deal damages to the monsters every single round, hence when utilize properly with the MARTYR ability, you could essentially power-up your backline.
Resurrect - Bringing a dead monster back to life with +1 health, therefore allowing the chance for MARTYR ability to activate twice if that is the first monster to fall during the battle.
The Battle
In my alt account, jimbei, I was able to deploy and showcase one of my favorite strategy to get the best out of the MARTYR ability. To get right into the action, the battle link can be found here. Otherwise, do read on as I go into more detail regarding the lineup and fight.
First up, let us run through the ruleset. A pretty straightforward one for this battle as Odd Ones Out was the only restriction. This ruleset states that only monsters with odd Mana costs may be used in the battles. A relatively high 45 mana capped battle with only the Water and Earth Splinters banned.
Summoner, Grandmaster Rathe
In any battle, except for the Unprotected ruleset, including Grandmaster Rathe in your lineup can significantly increase your team's durability. His ability to provide +1 Armor and Void Armor work together seamlessly to offer much-needed defense. While Rathe's Amplify ability is typically used to counter Magic teams, it wasn't as necessary in my recent battle. Instead, his defensive capabilities were key to keeping my team alive.
First Position, Uriel The Purifier
Uriel The Purifier was an excellent choice as the main tank in my recent battle, thanks to its high health and armor stats. Equipped with the Flying ability, Uriel had a +25% chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks from monsters that lack this trait. Additionally, Uriel's Heal ability was invaluable in this fight, capable of restoring up to 4 health per round, particularly when combined with its already high health. All things considered, Uriel proved to be a solid and dependable tank in this scenario.
Second Position, Djinn Renova
Djinn Renova is one of my go-to cards whenever I play with the Life Splinter due to its high Magic damage and respectable health and speed stats. Its Triage ability, which allows for healing of backline monsters, is especially helpful when using my strategy of placing Iziar (see Third Position) in the backline. With this setup, Djinn Renova proved exceptionally useful in keeping my team healthy and effective in battle.
Third Position, Iziar
I'm absolutely in love with the new Soulbound Legendary Reward Card, especially when it comes in a Gold Foil - it's truly a thing of beauty! 😍 In my lineup, this card is the linchpin of my strategy and crucial for its success. To unlock its full potential, I need it to be at Level 3, where it gains the MARTYR ability. Thanks to its Taunt ability, I can effectively place it between the monsters I want to grant a power-up to when Iziar dies. With its high health and Void ability, this card is impressively durable.
Fourth Position, Uraeus
To be honest, Uraeus made it to the team selection as I've only 3 mana left to spend after choosing the rest of my lineup. However, it is a great utility monster that you will commonly find in the Diamond and Champion League Ranked Battles. Despite its low mana cost, Uraeus packs a punch with its 3 melee damage and Sneak ability. What really stands out, though, is its chance of inflicting Poison on opposing monsters.
Last Position, Adelade Brightwing
Choosing Adelade Brightwing is essential for my strategy to succeed. As I mentioned earlier, the Resurrect ability has incredible synergy with the MARTYR ability, potentially providing my lineup with a stats boost twice. Additionally, the Repair ability complements the +1 armor buff provided by Grandmaster Rathe, ensuring my team's survivability in battle.
The Analysis
Interestingly, my opponent opted for a similar strategy by pairing the MARTYR ability with the Resurrect ability in their lineup. They placed Venari Marksrat in the first position, allowing it to be killed before resurrecting it with the Astral Entity's Summoner Resurrect ability. This gave the monster in the second position, Queen of Crows, a much-needed boost in all stats through the MARTYR ability.
On the other hand, I opted to place Iziar between Djinn Renova and Uraeus, and subsequently resurrect it with Adelade Brightwing when it dies. In comparison to my opponent's strategy, I was able to provide the stat buff to two monsters instead of only one, which ultimately proved to be the difference in firepower. This was only possible due to Iziar's Taunt ability, which allowed me to dictate the opposing team's attacks and set it up for Iziar's ultimate downfall 🤣
Having Uriel the Purifier as my main tank in the first position, I was hoping that he won't be the first monster to fall in my team, thus avoiding unnecessary triggers of the Resurrect ability. This strategy has proven to serve me well in many battles.
Do you guys have any go-to strategy as well? Do share them with me in the below comments 😜
If you made it this far, I sincerely appreciate your time and value your encouragement. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions so that we can discuss about other strategies. Thinking about giving Splinterlands a try but haven't signed up yet? Feel free to use my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=ak08, and be sure to reach out to me if you have any questions!
Are you interested in reading some of my future writings? Don't forget to follow me! In the meantime, here are some of my most recent blogs if you'd like to view them:
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All banners, dividers card and battle images used in this article are open source and obtained from the Splinterlands team or made by @flauwy. Do check out his link for other amazing designs