The Undead Minotaur isn't really a card that I use that often... For me, I usually play the Death splinter as a Ranged biased team hiding behind a Lord Arianthus. However, there is nothing like a Weekly Challenge to shake things up and try out new tactics! Even if it means that end up losing ten battle straight whilst trying to find a good use for a card that I have very little experience in using!
In fact, it appears that @splinterlands had laid the groundwork and an incentive for me to play and lose a million Death Splinter games today! Although, in reality, I only lost a few (or was it 5-10...) before I found a really awesome game to share!
The Undead Minotaur
Well... like I had mentioned before, I didn't really have much in the way of strong thoughts about the Undead Minotaur. Even in games where the melee characters can attack from any position, I would rather choose a different splinter... or play the Death splinter with a non-melee style. So, despite the fact that I have a level 8 Undead Minotaur (the highest level that my summoners can field)... I just don't really use this card!
At Level 8, the Undead Minotaur doesn't really do that much damage... 2 per strike, and two strikes.... it doesn't have a huge amount of health (7 HP) and costs a bit too much mana (6 mana) to field in comparison to my other cards in the Death Splinter. At level 8, it also has a retaliate ability as well... but that involves getting hit first, and my Death Splinter doesn't have a healer... so that really rules out fielding the Undead Minotaur as a lead tank.
However, it could have some place in the rear or mid of the line-up. At the rear, you have some chance of picking off the enemy sneak monsters with the Retaliate if it triggers... however, at 2 damage... you are likely going to have to take a couple of hits first... and you MIGHT trigger the retaliate!
Maybe in the middle ranks of a low mana battle?... if you expect a higher amount of melee monsters? After all, a ranged/magic monster won't trigger the retaliate... which is half of the utility of this card!
Finally, a Showcase Battle!
Well... it did take a couple of goes of experimentation... and a few more of finding opponents that would field the correct combination of teams that wouldn't just stomp all over me! But when I did find one, it was a real ripper of a battle! Real cliffhanger material!
As you see here, I have fielded a low mana team with the Undead Minotaur in the second rank. The Furious Chicken is up front to take a hit (hopefully a ranged or magic one) before the real game starts with the Undead Minotaur stepping over it's fried wings..
The Screaming Banshee is to try and cause some havoc before it goes down (health is low, and snipes, opportunity and reflect will bring it down fast). I hope that it gets at least one shot in, to reduce the health of one monster such that the double attack of the Undead Minotaur can be used effectively (not wasting two shots on one monster, but using one attack to drop one monster and the second attack to make a start on the second monster!).
The Cursed Slimeball... well, I had a leftover mana point and someone needs to take up the rear to protect the Banshee from any rear attacks!
Round 1:
I'm really quite lucky that the enemy summoner is using the Death summoner that DOESN'T reduce the melee attack of monsters! That means that my Undead Minotaur is hitting at full strength rather than at 1 damage per attack. Luck is a really under-appreciated component of success! My Furious Chicken fulfills it's life ambition of taking a ranged hit instead of the Undead Minotaur... it can rest easy in the knowledge that it served a useful purpose in my army of minions.
This brings the Undead Minotaur into play... and again, with luck, it is the next one in turn to attack! Landing a nice double attack worth 4 total damage on the Haunted Spirit... getting past this healing tank is going to be the key! The Haunted Spirit heals for 2, but triggers the Retaliate skill! Meaning that the heal is nullified! YES!
Some reflection comes back at the Screaming Banshee, but it manages to cause some damage to the front two monsters. Thankfully, there are no opportunity monsters on the other side, so I'm safe as long as the Undead Minotaur remains standing.
Round 2:
The real danger is in the Haunted Spider's Poison skill. If this takes hold, my Undead Minotaur is going to go down too fast. Thankfully, the ranged attack hits... but doesn't trigger the Poison.
This time, the Haunted Spirit is the first to attack... meaning that it has healed and dropped my Undead Minotaur down to a single HP. But the retaliate is triggered AGAIN... Good Luck again! This means that the Haunted Spirit is taken down by the first of the double attacks, and the Haunted Spider is put in the front row where it is completely neutralised.
The Spider is wiped out with the Screaming Banshee attack, which brings up the last of the enemy melee monsters.
WTF!??!?!?!?... the Creeping Ooze (being a slow monster...) still had an attack in this round and killed my Undead Minotaur! However, the Retaliate triggered AGAIN... and with it's dying attack, the Undead Minotaur takes out the Creeping Ooze.
Sigh... sometimes, luck is completely against you. the Furious Chicken is EVEN slower... and gets he final attack of the round to take out the Screaming Banshee. I'm down to the last of the monsters... the Slimeball that was a mana filler.
... and what do you know??!?!?!?! The Slimeball that was the space filler... well, it was the SLOWEST of the entire round... and got the last attack!
WIN! Pure luck was on my side this time!
Conclusion
When the Retaliation triggers for the Undead Minotaur, you can some pretty hefty damage going... however, it isn't a guaranteed trigger. I had many games before this, where the Undead Minotaur would just sit there getting hit. So, it is a bit of a mixed skill... you have to be hit by a melee skill to have the chance of a Retaliation. Which also makes the card quite weak against ranged and magic damage cards.
The double hit is really a great way to split up your damage so that you don't waste your entire damage output on killing a single low HP monster, or taking out a single point of armour. However, I had a game earlier where it just exposes you to a double dose of Thorns...
The Undead Minotaur has two skills that are really a mixed bag... they offer some really good advantages in terms of damage dealing.. but they do expose you to quite a great deal more risk. Thus, this is NOT the ideal card for the front line tank position.. however, as a mid game melee card (or in a attack from anywhere game condition) it is a useful card if you have busted past the enemy tank and are starting to rip through the middle. That said, if you place it in the middle of the team, you are spending 6 mana on a card that is useless until it reaches the front row.
In this particular featured battle, I was lucky that the Retaliation skill triggered so many times. Also, the Double Strike did end up being genuinely useful in spreading the damage to two monsters in the second round. So, the Undead Minotaur managed to live up to it's potential in this low mana game... however, that was after a string of losses where it's disadvantages caused me to lose games.
I'm not really sure that this card is really a good card to play in general... however, after a bit of experimentation, it does appear that it could have some use in the low mana games... perhaps if ranged and/or magic damage cards are restricted as well!
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