The Javelin Thrower from the Earth Splinter is one of my favourite cards to play in the Green Team. Quite often, I will be placing her in the last position to take advantage of her Dodge ability if I have the 5 mana that is required to play her. However, it is always a toss up as to whether I play her or the Earth Elemental. In battles that I have the Earthquake condition or where I need to save that spare 2 mana (3 vs 5) then I will likely play the self healing Earth Elemental.
Both monsters hit equally hard, but the Piercing ability does make the Javelin Thrower a much better choice especially in combination with the high speed allowing her to damage and remove an enemies' armour with ease. However, it really does end up being a gamble between the ability to dodge sneak attacks (not getting hit...) or healing from being hit (self healing). In my experience, the Earth Elemental with the Self Healing is often the safer choice, but that fast Piercing attack is pretty tempting!
Anyway, before I get into the featured battle... I have to say that it is pretty weird to see the whole picture of the Javelin Thrower. I knew that she was female, but I had somehow assumed that she was completely lizard/reptillian from the waist down! So, I was pretty surprised to see that she had legs!
The Battle
In this featured battle, I was using a bit of prior intel to choose my lineup. I had seen that my opponent had played quite a long string of Water (Magic) Splinters, so I was choosing a lineup that would diminish the effectiveness of that sort of lineup. This meant that I would be aiming for magic reflection rather than the the usual lineup that I would ordinarily choose for the Earth Splinter.
Leading the way was Lord Arianthus... there is nothing better than this guy for sending Magic heavy teams packing. Reduced damage taken from getting hit AND sending a good portion back... and teamed up in the second position is the Prismatic Energy with exactly the same Magic dulling skills!
Next up, the Wood Nymph to give healing support and also an extra Health Boost (to stack on top of the Health boost from the Summoner for an extra two points of health... every little bit of extra surviveability counts!). Finally bringing up the "proper" rear was the Javelin Thrower... I need to get some fast early hits in each round to take down as much of the Magic damage dealing potential as possible... Lord Arianthus and the Prismatic Energy are tough against Magic, but they won't last forever! Plus, I don't want to field another Magic damage dealer as I am afraid that I will cop Reflection back at myself!
Okay... finishing out the line-up is the Furious Chicken meat shield. Dodging an enemy attack is good... sticking a Furious Chicken in front of it is even better!
Round 1
Whooops... all my well laid plans... firstly there is the Sniper battle condition in play, which means that the Prismatic Energy will be the target of the enemy attacks instead of Lord Arianthus... and the opponent isn't playing the Water Splinter! Sigh, that's what you get for trying to be too smart!
Anyway, Javelin Thrower is first off the mark... high speed, first attack! For a miss...
In many ways, the overlooked Snipe condition is working in my favour... as my Magic damage dealers are attacking the Phantom Spectre instead of having the Reflection from the lead Lord Arianthus. Stupid wins every time!
Round 2
This time around, the Javelin Thrower gets a hit in... and hits the Phantom Spectre pretty hard! As soon as the Phantom Spectre goes down... I will have the full potential of my Magic damage dealers unlocked, and I will be able to do some serious damage! Of course, that all depends on the ability of being able to take down the enemy Twisted Jester before he takes out all my Ranged and Magic hitters!
The round ends up neck and neck... My Prismatic Energy and the enemy Phantom Spectre are both at Death's Door... however, the last attack by the enemy Phantom Spectre is dulled and reflected back to take it down! I'm in the lead... and from here things "should" cascade to a win!
Round 3 onwards
The opposing Twisted Jester goes down fast in the third round with the speed of the Javelin Thrower being the deciding factor in getting that first shot in! Now the enemy team has no damage dealing potential with the Haunted Spirit being stuck in the second row behind the Lord Arianthus.
Over the course of the next few rounds, I get free hits on the enemy Lord Arianthus until it goes down... and despite the reflected magic still affecting the Wood Nymph, I manage to take down the disembodied Head in a Jar with all my forces intact!
After that, the Haunted Spirit follows soon after with similarly no casualties.... leaving just a Furious Chicken to take my might army on! It doesn't....
Conclusion
The Javelin Thrower is a great choice for the last position... the dodge ability is the key, not getting hit is the best thing for survivability... healing is a close second. That said, the Earth Elemental is the safer choice with the self healing and the lower mana requirement.
However, fast piercing attacks mean that you are going gamble on getting that first shot in early to take down the enemy before they can attack. It really ends up being a choice between those two modes of play... attack fast and early and hope to dodge attacks? Or get hit, heal and then hit back?
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