Hey there my awesome Splinterland community,
How are you today? I hope you all are in good health and enjoying playing Splinterlands.
So, Splinterlands brought to us another 'Social Media Challenge' this week and I've decided to write up about an ability, very challenging and difficult to beat, the 'blast' ability, and the 'explosive weaponry' ruleset.
I'll also share the two best battles I won this week, wherein the first one, I fought against the 'blast' summoner Yodin Zaku, and, in the second one, I fought the battle using Yodin Zaku as the summoner of my team.
So let's start then...
Before sharing the battles, let's learn a bit about this blast ability/ruleset.
So, the 'blast' is the ability/ruleset, which makes it possible for your monsters (and the opponent's monsters too if the ruleset is blast), to deal additional damage to the adjacent monster/s of the target monster.
This is why this ability/ruleset is so dangerous. It does double damage. First damage is when your monster attacks the opponent's monster. And the second damage is due to the blast ability to the adjacent monster/s.
This ability is so powerful that you can defeat a level4-5 opponent with your level 1 team with the perfect card combination and the ruleset.
SUMMONER WITH THE BLAST ABILITY
The name of the only summoner who has the blast ability is -
Yodin Zaku
The only summoner with the blast ability is named by the legendary Yodin Zaku.
If you face a Yodin in any battle, you have a very small chance of winning that battle. It has all the killer abilities combined within.
Using the +1 health buff, it does your team stronger in therms of health and the +1 ranged attack buff increases the attack power to +1 of all the ranged attack monsters.
And the killer 'blast' ability does additional damage to the adjacent monsters of the target monster.
Moreover, this is a deadly summoner for any battle and nearly undefeatable in the 'close range' ruleset.
I was lucky enough to defeat the Yodin Zaku multiple times and will share those battles below.
MONSTERS WITH THE BLAST ABILITY
There are 25 monsters (I may have missed one or two) that have blast ability triggered anywhere from level 1 to level 5.
Here I'll only mention those monsters who have blast ability activated from level 1.
Because that is the level that everyone can use in the battle.
Melee attack monsters having blast ability
Exploding Rats
Exploding Dwarf
Nightmare
Gremlin Blaster
Ranged attack monsters having blast ability
Goblin Tower
Pirate Archer
Pyromancer
Prismologist
Fire Elemental
Magic attack monsters having blast ability
Ruler Of The Sea
Gloridax Magus
I rarely use any melee attack monster with the blast ability. The Nightmare is the only melee attack monster I ever used that had blast ability.
The Fire Elemental and the Prismologist are two ranged attack monsters with the blast ability, which I use frequently in the battles.
Then, the Ruler of the seas is my handy monster for almost all the water splinter battles.
Now, after we read a few words about the blast ability and the summoner and monsters having this ability, it's time to share the top 2 battles based on the blast ability.
Top Battle No. 1: Better Luck Next Time Yodin, It Was So Close.
This is the battle I played while completing my Water focus.
I already have a strong magic attack team from the water splinter, and to enhance the overall power of my team, I rent this awesome summoner Valnamor.
Just 2 extra mana costs than Alric Stormbringer, this summoner has all buffs that will make your magic attack team stronger.
THE BATTLE RULESET
Mana Cap: 26
Ruleset:
Keep Your Distance: Monsters with melee attacks may not be used in battles.
Active Splinter: Fire, Water, Life, Dragon
My Strategy and Team Setup
As I've said earlier, it was my water focus running. I was just simply playing all the battles with my favorite magic teams.
The battle was also a mid-to-low mana cap battle, therefore I didn't have much choice to use all those magic attack monsters I generally use in the majority of battles.
I planned to use 2 high mana cards, the Djinn Oshannus and the Nerissa Tridawn, 1 low mana card, the Coral Wraith, and a 0 mana cost card, the Furious Chicken.
So, this was my team-
SUMMONER
VALNAMOR
1st Position
A 0 mana-cost very useful card for this type of mid-to-low mana cap battle. I placed this in the first position to absorb the first attack from the opponent team.
2nd Position
This is my most used card in the water splinter. The moderate mana cost makes this card affordable to use in the majority of battles. Also, the void ability makes this card take less damage from the magic attack.
With high speeds of 5 and with big health of 10, this monster has 2 magic attacks.
A perfect tank and attack card for a perfect magic attack team.
3rd Position
A bit costlier in terms of mana cost than Djinn Oshannus, but Nerissa has a huge 3 magic attack power and 9 health.
This card can destroy the opponent's low health cards in just one blow.
4th Position
Coral Wraith has low health but with a very useful ability, the sneak ability. One of the three magic attack monsters that have the sneak ability.
Plus it has 2 magic attack power and a moderate mana cost.
Team Submission
Upon submitting my team, I found that my opponent used the Yodin Zaku against me.
He used Venari Heatsmith having the void armor ability as a tank and Furious Chicken in the 2nd position.
The Lord Of The Fire in the 3rd position makes his team gain a bit more health.
The Creeping Ooze makes my team slow with his debuff.
Both the team has no armor, so that makes my team more vulnerable than my opponent because my opponent's monsters have the blast ability and relatively high ranged attack power to all three ranged attack cards due to the Yodin Zaku's buffs.
Round 01
Round 1 starts with applying the buffs and debuffs effect for both teams.
My Djinn Oshannus attacked first the opponent's Venari Heatsmith and the Venari lost his 2 armor only.
Then the opponent's Pyromaniac attacked my Coral Wraith. And the Coral Wraith was destroyed completely without getting a chance to attack. Nerissa gets additional damage due to the blast ability.
Next, Nerissa attacked the opponent's Venari and dealt 4 magic damage. Venari withstands for the next round with only 1 health.
Then the Lord Of Fire attacked my Furious Chicken to destroy it completely and dealt additional damage to my Djinn.
The last hit in round 1 was a missed attack by the opponent's Pyromancer to my Djinn.
It was a crucial factor. If the hit was successful, I may not have had a chance to win this battle.
Round 02
Just like the previous round, my Djinn Oshannus attacked opponent's Venari Heatsmith and destroyed it completely. The Furious Chicken took his place in the first position.
Then the opponent's Pyromaniac uses his sneak ability to attack Nerissa that dealt additional damage to the Djinn.
Next, Nerissa attacked the Furious Chicken and destroyed it completely. Lord Of Fire takes his place in the first position and became inactive.
The Pyromancer attacked next to my Djinn and dealt additional damage to Nerissa.
Round 03 / 04
Starting round 3, my Djinn Oshannus attacked the opponent's Lord Of Fire.
Next, the Pyromaniac did a big 3 ranged attacks to the Nerissa and performed additional damage to my Djinn.
Nerissa revenge back by dealing a huge 4 magic attack to the opponent's Lord Of Fire, destroying it completely and the strengthen buff is revoked for the opponent team.
The Pyromancer was replaced in the 1st position and became inactive.
My Djinn attacked first in round 4 to the Pyromancer. Next, the opponent's Pyromaniac did a sneak attack on the Nerissa Tridawn and destroyed it completely, and did additional damage to my Djinn.
Now the Djinn Oshannus is the only monster remains in my team that has only 1 health.
Round 05 / 06 / 07 / 08
In round 5, my Djinn Oshannus did the first attack on the opponent's Pyromancer and destroyed it completely.
The Pyromaniac was replaced in the 1st position and became inactive. This was the turning point of this battle.
In the next 3 rounds, my Djinn Oshannus continues to attack the remaining two monsters of the opponent team and destroyed them completely to secure my winning.
Here's the direct link to the battle in real-time- https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_638055a05e216082c5f2bf13a2c7f5f1&ref=furiousfighter
Important takes of this battle
The battle was so thrilling and fun to fight.
It would be impossible for me to win this battle if the ruleset was close range. The opponent made a clever strategy to use a sneak attack range card combined with Yodin Zaku.
Also, I should praise the summoner Valnamor. He helped my team by providing extra speed, health, and attack power.
The crucial factor of this battle was when the opponent's Pyromancer missed the attack on my Djinn Oshannus.
Apart from the above battle, these are the few battles where my team defeated the Yodin Zaku.
Feel free to check these out.
Battle 01 Result - Win
Battle 02 Result - Win
Let's move on to the second battle...
Top Battle No. 2: General Sloan Bites The Dust.
On the next day, I got the Fire focus to complete and I decided to try the legendary summoner Yodin Zaku this time.
I remember my earlier days when I was a new player of the Splinterlands, and I lost numerous battles against Yodin Zaku.
I had a strong urge to use this summoner. So, I rented the Yodin Zaku and started to defeat my opponents one by one.
THE BATTLE RULESET
Mana Cap: 58
Ruleset:
Stampede: The trample ability can trigger multiple times per attack if the trampled monster is killed.
Equalizer: The initial health of all monsters is equal to that of the monster on either team with the highest base health.
Active Splinter: Fire, Water, Life, Death
MY STRATEGY AND TEAM SETUP
As I'm using Yodin Zaku as the summoner, I tried to use the best range attack monsters I have in my team.
So that the backline ranged attack units can work efficiently, I've used three monsters with close-range ability, the Molten Ash Golem, the Lava Launcher, and the Gargoya Devil.
Also, the equalizer ruleset helped to increase the health of some low-health ranged attack monsters.
SUMMONER
YODIN ZAKU
Now, this is the time when I finally use the legendary Yodin Zaku in my team. Yodin has a long history of creating win streaks in battles.
With the ranged attack team I set up, I know I will win this battle unless there's some miracle happened.
First Position
It has only 1 speed, therefore, will attack later than most of the monsters.
For only 6 mana cost, this is a good tank for my ranged attack team.
Second Position
A bit costlier with 9 mana cost, it has a huge 3 ranged attacks and 6 armor. With 3 speeds value, it most certainly will attack first.
A perfect monster for the second position.
Third Position
It has mediocre battle stats of 3 health and 1 armor with the cost of 7 mana.
The good things about this monster are its 3 speed and 2 ranged attack power.
Fourth Position
For a cost of 5 mana, it has 2 range attacks and 4 speeds, though the health is too low, just 2 health.
The best thing about this monster is it has the blast ability. So, even if you don't have the Yodin Zaku, you can use this monster to use the blast ability.
Fifth Position
It's a cost-effective monster, with 5 mana cost, it has 2 range attacks, 3 speeds, and 4 health.
Sixth Position
Additionally, it has the snipe ability which makes it another deadly monster of the team.
Team Submission
Upon submitting my team, I found that my opponent also used a summoner that can buff the ranged attack monsters, General Sloan.
While I only have level 1 Yodin Zaku, my opponent has a level 6 General Sloan. He also used 3 higher-level monsters, the Chaos Knight, the Time Maze, and the Pelacor Arbalest leveled 7, 6, and 6 respectively.
He made a good battle strategy by using Chaos Knight with the shield and the giant killer ability, in the first position.
Time Maze from the opponent team will slow down my monsters.
The Shieldbearer is also a clever addition to the opponent team against my ranged attack team.
His Pelacor Arbalest can deal huge damage to my monsters with his double strike ability.
Overall, my opponent team seems stronger than my team. Let's see what will happen.
Round 01
Round 1 starts with applying buffs and debuffs to both teams.
As my opponent used the Time Maze, my monsters will attack later than him. The opponent's Time Maze initiated the first attack on my Molten Ash Golem.
Then the opponent's Pelacor Arbalest and the Goblin Chariot made huge damage to my Molten Ash Golem and destroyed it completely without giving him a chance to attack. The Lava Launcher replaced his place in the first position.
The first attack from my team was made by the Fire Elemental on the Shieldbearer, which caused additional damage to the adjacent Pelacor Arbalest, due to the blast effect.
Then the opponent's Supply Runner and the Chaos Knight made an attack on my Lava Launcher. My Lava Launcher attacked back to the Chaos Knight and did 2 additional damage to the adjacent Time Maze.
Then the remaining 3 ranged attackers of my team, the Ferexia General, the Gargoya Devil, and the Fire Beetle did the back-to-back attacks on the Shieldbearer, which does huge additional damage to the adjacent Pelacor Arbalest.
Round 02
Just like round 1, the Time Maze made the first attack of round 2 to my Lava Launcher.
Then the opponent's Pelacor Arbalest and the Goblin Chariot destroyed my Lava Launcher by making huge ranged damage. The Gargoya Devil was replaced in the first position.
Next, the Fire Elemental made an important attack on the Shieldbearer and the opponent's Pelacor Arbalest was destroyed completely due to the blast effect.
Supply Runner and the Chaos Knight missed their attacks on my Gargoya Devil. What a relief.
Then the Ferexia General attacked the Shieldbearer and finished him.
Next, the Gargoya Devil attacked the Chaos Knight and the Fire Beetle missed his attack on the Time Maze.
Round 03
Being the fastest monster of both teams, the Time Maze made the first attack of round 3 to my Gargoya Devil, just like the previous 2 rounds.
Next, my Fire Elemental attacked the Chaos Knight and the blast ability deals additional damage to the adjacent Time Maze.
The opponent's Goblin Chariot again missed his attack on the Gargoya Devil.
The Supply Runner and the Chaos Knight made combined damage of 6 health to my Gargoya Devil.
Next, my Ferexia General attacked the Time Maze using his snipe ability which caused additional damage to the two adjacent monsters the Supply Runner and the Chaos Knight.
Then my Gargoya Devil attacked the Chaos Agent and the Time Maze gets destroyed completely due to the blast effect. Now my monsters are back to their original speed as the slow debuffs were revoked also the Gargoya Devil got his 1 armor back as the rust debuffs also got revoked.
Next, my Fire Beetle attacked the Supply Runner using the snipe ability and the Goblin Chariot and the Chaos Agent, both getting additional blast damage.
Round 04
The first attack rule changed in round 4 as my Fire Elemental is the fastest monster of both teams.
She attacked the Chaos Agent and the supply Runner gets additional blast damage.
Next, the Ferexia General attacked the Supply Runner using the snipe ability, which destroyed him completely. The Chaos Agent and the Goblin Chariot got additional blast damages.
The Gargoya Devil finished the Chaos Knight in his next attack and the Goblin Chariot were the only monsters left on the opponent team.
The Fire Beetle took the honor of the last attack, which destroyed the Goblin Chariot completely, securing my winning.
Here's the direct link to the battle in real-time- https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_56d5b87f68f9918be36c6c6729bc9615&ref=furiousfighter
Important takes of this battle
This battle was thrilling not just because both the teams used the summoners that buff the range attacks, but also because my opponent has a level 6 General Sloan against my level 1 Yodin Zaku.
Losing my first monster without making any attack confused me about my winning. But with the help of the blast ability from the Yodin Zaku, my monsters destroyed the opponent's monsters like a tornado.
This proves how much deadly the Yodin Zaku is in the battle.
Also, the equalizer ruleset helped to increase the health of some low-health ranged attack monsters.
Finally, using three close-range ability monsters helped the other ranged attack monsters greatly making their attacks effective as the close-range monsters soak the primary damages from the opponent monsters.
It was a great battle to watch.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
So that's all for today, guys.
I'm happy to write about the strategy and team combination as well the gameplay of the good battles I fought every week.
I hope you'll love to read it.
Also, it's so overwhelming to see the love and support you're showering on me. Your comments and upvotes are my inspiration. I need more and more of them.
So, please keep them coming.
Thank you very much.
I found this 'gem game' Splinterlands last year.
Wanna try it out? Join here - https://splinterlands.com?ref=furiousfighter
Thank you for reading.
Peace.
Akash Kumar.
