Day 4: Death!
It’s day 4 which means we’re over halfway through this review series! Time flies doesn’t it! We’re racing towards the General Sale now and we should all be planning our buys by now - but if you’re still unsure this series is for you! If you’ve missed the post about your favourite Splinter, you can check them out here:
The Death Splinter
But now onto today’s topic: Death! This Splinter is a tricky one to evaluate, as it’s such a counter-dependant one. The strength of Death depends on what is strong in the Meta, and how good it is at countering that. This means it can wildly vary in power level at any given time, or in any given rulesets. However, there are still cards that excel when given their opportunity to shine, and that’s what I’m going to talk about today. Not only which cards are good, but when they will be a real strength (and when they might not be!).
The Summoners
To start with, we need to look at the Summoners, to know what we’re trying to use this Splinter to work against. The most readily available Summoner at higher levels in Death will be Thaddius Brood:
I spoke yesterday about Obsidian, and how she has replaced Alric as the Magic Spam Summoner in the lower tiers. Well thankfully, we have a new answer to go alongside the Bortus we get to keep access to! Thaddius Brood nullifies Obsidians +1 Magic - making your Opponent play with essentially no Summoner buff! To reward you even further for making the read on your opponent, Thaddius also gives your opponent’s Monsters -1 HP. This also means that if you guessed wrong on the counter, Thaddius still has some upside, albeit not as large.
This means the Death Splinter is most ready to deal with Earth in this set - or Dragon if your opponent is showing a Levelled up Delwynn! With Magic proving to remain popular in Silver, and with how powerful I spoke about the Earth Splinter being yesterday, Thaddius should be on everyone’s radar.
Due to this, I will be adjusting my rankings according mostly to their support in the Anti-Magic team, but I will not be neglecting other strong cards, as there is more than 1 Death Summoner after all. So without further ado, let’s get into the top 5!
Number 5: Magi Necrosi
The first spot in our list today goes to Magi Necrosi. For 6 Mana, you get 3 Magic Snipe damage. Being able to ignore the Frontline is extremely powerful, and in the Obsidian matchup can mean you skip past the Tank and take out the Healers themselves first, saving you a lot of hits! On top of this, our Magi has Camouflage, so he won’t be taken out by Sneak or Opportunity monsters, leaving him safe to throw out his Magic bombs the entire battle!
Number 4: Cursed Windeku
One of the cards that really helps Death when it’s not coming against Magic is the Cursed Windeku. While it’s 11 HP is a solid amount to wall against Magic attacks, there are better options in the Splinter. But against Melee, this card is a must-have. With that high health pool and Thorns, Windeku trades favourably against a lot of the popular Melee Tanks (such as Unicorn Mustang and The Forgotten One). The 3 Attack Damage is also not something to overlook, as it leads to Windeku having a solid Damage Output alongside the Thorns. This card is also especially good in the Super Sneak ruleset, placing it at the back to protect your squishy Damage Dealers and to put down some heavy Thorns Damage.
Number 3: Silent Sha-Vi
This card, while not excelling in any particular area, is just a great bundle of stats for the Mana Cost. For only 5 Mana you get a 6 HP, 5 Speed, 3 Damage Sneak Attacker! Like the Necrosi, it skips past the Frontline and can take out enemy Supports or Damage Dealers swiftly, and if it gets pushed to the front by your Tank dying, it’s solid Speed may be enough for a few lucky Dodges! With Thaddius’s -1 to the HP of your opponent, Sha-Vi will feast on their Backline, leading the way to Victory!
Number 2: Riftwing
An extremely unassuming card makes it all the way to our top 2, but why? It hasn’t even got any attack! For newer players, this may seem confusing. For experienced players, they may be seeing the Gelatinous Cube comparisons. Riftwing can sit behind your main Tank (or in Little League even be your main Tank!), dodging potshots from the Enemies, and even hitting back as it does! Backfire deals 2 damage if the Opponent misses this card, and with 4 Speed there’s a decent chance -
they do! Besides the Backfire damage, Riftwing gets Scavenge, making it extremely hard to kill if your backline Damage Dealers are doing their job. This card is one of the sleepers in this set for sure!
Number 1: Djinn Muirat
As I said in my intro to the Splinter, Death excels playing vs Magic in this set. And what card is better than Djinn Muirat for that purpose? With 12 HP vs Magic thanks to Void Armour, and Thaddius’s Summoner ability, Djinn Muirat is going to be an essential Tank for the Splinter going forward. He can easily give you 2 or even 3 turns of survival while your backline monsters pick off your opponents swiftly. 2 Magic Damage himself is not to be ignored either - dodging Thorns in the match-up at first position can be especially useful! Djinn Muirat is a perfect example of everything the Death Splinter excels at in this set - and a must-own card in my opinion!
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
So how do you think I did with this list? Agree or disagree, I’d love to hear from you in the comments! Tomorrow we tackle the final Splinter - Life! Due to Dragon having so few cards I’m going to combine them with Neutral, but may have to make more of a Top 6 or 7 to compensate.
If you read this far, please consider upvoting and following me for more content like this, and tell me what you’d like to see after this series!
See you tomorrow for Sloan and the Life Splinter!