The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Silenced Summoners this time! This means Summoners do not give any buffs/debuffs or grant/use abilities. Use your lowest cost and highest level summoner within this ruleset.
It's not always easy to get the specific ruleset, but if you play hard enough, you definitely can find one! This time I was lucky enough to have one - woohoo!
So here's the interesting battle that I encountered.
Anyway, I thought it would be still be interesting to introduce some useful cards and show how their strengths can be maximised especially with a particular ruleset. In this post, the featured card is a Legendary Death card, Usut!
Usut is a card that I always wanted to have but didn't get it. This time round, I am featuring a card which my opponent used instead. Usut is an extremely strong card because of Bloodlust. Unlike Gladius cards where you have to use specific summoners, Usut can be used with any summoner. Its stats is very strong because Flying increases its survivability. When paired with Astral Entity, it is even tougher to hit. Death generally has very squishy Magic cards at low HP so Usut fills the gap nicely.
As usual, here's the lore for Usut for your reading interest:
He has been known by many names: Eater of Death, Lord of Ruin, The Pestilent. Usut is all these things, but more than anything else, he is the Undying. Only those that have lived with death and walked its halls can truly know the joys of life. Usut knows this all too well… so who better to torment and persecute the living.
Three hundred years dead, Usut was made revenant by the Lord of Darkness himself. Lagfael found the red dragon's corpse on a mound of bones and treasure in his lair within the Black Glacier on Mortis, preserved within a frozen tomb of ice. There was something about the dragon that pleased him, so he breathed an ancient spell, and life once again found purchase in the great drake.
Usut now soars the skies of the Splinterlands. His haunting cries are a proclamation to all: death is coming, and it is only a matter of time until it finds you. He is Lagfael's personal reaper and a creature that fears nothing. It is said that to look upon his terrifying visage is to welcome death into your heart. There are records of those brave enough, or foolish enough, to seek to slay the Undying. Their bones lay with all the rest, scattered across Usut's pyre of death. Never before has the undead become such a living nightmare.
Battle Type & Team Lineup
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| Summoner | Astral Entity | 6 |
Even though summoners are silenced for this battle, the level still dictates the maximum level of cards that can be played. Opted for Astral Entity so that minimally I can field a 3/2/2/1.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Night Ghoul | 11 |
For big mana matches, Night Ghoul is pretty useful as a tank because of its bulky stats. Also, the Taunt ability diverts all the attacks to him, thus protecting the backline, which can focus on dealing damage.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Djinn Muirat | 9 |
Mana's aplenty here so Djinn Muirat gets the pick for its stats and relatively okay damage output.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Riftwing | 4 |
Riftwing is always useful for full fledged battles where two teams will field 12 cards. The Scavenge ability can then operate on full advantage and help to buy time for the backline.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Silent Sha-vi | 5 |
Silent Sha-vi at Gold Foil Level 3 has pretty nasty stats and definitely deserves a spot any Death lineups. Dealing 3 Melee damage for a 5 mana card is really quite strong.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Dhampir Stalker | 7 |
Dhampir Stalker is another strong card for Death lineups because of the True Strike ability. 100% accurate means it is not deterred by any opposing ability like Flying/Dodge or even high speeds, which can be very important.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Lira The Dark | 7 |
Rounding off the lineup would be Lira The Dark, which is a very strong Legendary Death card. Opportunity ability a high speed means she is quick to hunt down cards with low HP.
- Pre Battle: My opponent made full use of Soulbound cards, there's Usut with Bloodlust and Skok Duskblight with Weapons Training. The lineup looks very strong and once again my cards aren't quite at the level, so I am the underdog here.
- Round 1: The disparity in the level of cards were quite obvious looking at the icons above each card. I managed to take down the opposing tank but this meant the triggering of Martyr for the opposing Usut. Not good.
Round 2: Even though I still maintained the one card advantage, my Lira The Dark was stuck hitting walls this time. My damage output was lacking because my opponent's Weapons Training and my team would start to struggle.
Round 3: The tipping point was this round. My team just couldn't cause any problems to the opposing Usut and were badly hit. The one card advantage was lost and it's 4 vs 4 now.
Round 4: And it all fell apart this time! My deck of card was just out of depth with the opposing Usut's Bloodlust.
Round 5: A consolation prize for me as Lira The Dark struck out one more cards, before I went down. Not a surprised outcome and I managed to take out half the team.
If you are interested to watch the battle, you can find it here.
Post Battle
Did my strategy work? My lineup just wasn't strong enough, be it level of cards, or selection of cards. My opponent's Soulbound cards were just too strong and were used to perfection in this battle.
And do you know Soulbound cards can be unbound and can be bought or sold in the market?
The cards can be unbound with 10 times the DEC! I took a look at the market and the cheapest Usut listed is at USD 4.95 now. Haha. Was tempted to buy - but I think prices will drop so I will wait. Hehe!
What's the Battle Mage Secret? Some of the Soulbound cards are actually very strong, especially cards like Usut and Skok Duskblight. They are more Legendary than Legendary if you ask me.
So that's all I have! What are your takeaways from this battle? Feel free to comment below, as I am always keen to learn and improve!
As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!
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