This week's Splinterlands Challenge of the Week was to showcase the Silvershield Sheriff from the Life Splinter
I've picked up a fair few copies of this heavy mana reward card over the past several weeks, and only needed a couple more to tip him over to level 3 where he picks up piercing, with his usual snipe and 3 damage. He also has quite high health, so although heavy on the mana, he can serve a purpose if used strategically in high mana battles.
This battle showcases him quite nicely I think, combined with another snipe card from the Life Splinter, although against a lower powered opponent.
The Rule Set and Line Up
- Mana 50 (well, it had to be high with a 9 mana card to show off).
- No magic - which strongly favours life with all those shield and repair cards!
Summmoner - Chanseus - great for no magic.
- Lord A - strong defence against my opponent's front row monster
- Shieldbearer - Taunt in second, to soak up every other attack - weak against magic, but great with this ruleset! He'll get most of Chanseus' repair and triage, also a useful first row tank if Lord A dies.
- Corneleus - in third because of heal, protects against blast, and useful damage
- TruthSpeaker - protect for more shields, cleanse in case of affliction, heal for Lord A
- Lone Boatman - more repair, and snipe
- Silvershield Sheriff, to add to the snipe attack (5 snipe damage, useful!
The battle
- Round 1 - Straight off the mark the Sheriff's piercing ability comes in handy against my opponent's sheriff! No loses
- Round 2 - my opponent loses his Sheriff, and it's taken this long for my shieldbearer to lose all his shields, by the end of the round!
- Rounds 3 and 4, no losses, my shieldbearer is still unharmed!
- Round 5 - he loses his Unicorn (I guess Thorns and Corneleus are just too much, then his Cyclops, took me a while because of Shield
- Rounds 6 and 7 no loss, so this is slow going
- Rounds 8 - end, my opponent is now low on damage and loses his next three monsters in rapid succession!
Analysis - did my strategy work?
Yes!
This is one of my favourite strategies for high mana no magic battles - play Chanseus, put the Shieldbearer in second with two other good tank cards either side, then rely on either sneak or snipe to do the damage.
Also play the Truthspeaker for tank heal, cleanse and protect (an awesome combination of buffs), and another armourer (besides Chanseus).
With two repairs and a triage per round on a monster that has shield (with no magic) you're neutralising at least 2, possible 3 out of 5 attacks (depending on damage done) - as monster one will still attack the main tank.
And, if any of your monsters die, it should be the Shieldbearer to go first, (as long as you play the right monsters either side otherwise this can backfire with blast) and with Chanseus' resurrect, he comes back with all his shields.
And with no magic, there's no chance he's going to die next attack, Chanseus can probably triage him back to at least half health before his shields disappear.
NB there won't be a lot to analyse in the battle below as this strategy worked like a charm!
NB I also think my opponent made the mistake of maxing out his mana, you don't need to do this with 50 mana, the only reason I did was because I had this challenge!
Weaknesses of this strategy
I love love love this strategy, it's kind of cheeky, but it can backfire IF another monster dies first besides the Shieldbearer, assuming you get a higher powered opponent.
Never play when you expect a lot of magic - all those shields matter a lot less!
Affliction can also be a weakness, if you expect affliction then play him up front, so the Truthspeaker can cleanse him.
NB I usually play sneak with this strategy, but I played snipe this time because of the challenge!
Final Thoughts: How useful is the SilverShield Sheriff more generally?
I think the Sheriff is a great addition to Life, given the earlier introduction of the Lone Boatman.
I tend to play life when there's a no magic rule set, or a rule set where I expect my opponent to play lots of melee or ranged attacks (although the later is more of a risk) so I can take advantage of the nice selection of protect and repair options.
Since the introduction of the Lone Boatman I've much preferred using him over the Amouror because his attack at least isn't wasted, however his snipe attack is pretty puny, but having the Sheriff to pair him up with works quite nicely.
The high health on the sheriff also makes him a useful card to play next to the taunting Shieldbearer, if you're going to play him in second with Chanseus to take advantage of triage and resurrect. The high health means it's unlikely he's going to die (and thus be resurrected) before the Shieldbearer, which isn't the point of the my taunt strategy above!
NB at max level he does 6 damage AND you get protect, making him a really awesome addition to a Life Splinter - a very good fit, if you like!
If you don't yet play Splinterlands, why not give it a go?
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