Underdog mini-series #02
Introduction to the Underdog Mini-series
Grabbing Wins Here and There
This mini-series is aimed to be a fun one that will hopefully inspire players on a budget. Playing myself with mostly low-level cards in Gold, even though I have now a reliable Life Splinter, stealing wins against much stronger decks is always satisfying.
An Apple-to-Orange Comparison
My Win Rate hovers only around the 50% range, which is far from others who might be between 70% to 90%. Part of it is certainly a lack of skills for sure. That being said, I believe, we also have to take into consideration the tools each of us can rely on. In the end, the goal is to simply do our best with what we have available.
(Brighton Bloom) Level 1 VS Level 5 (Zintar Mortalis)
Combining Expectations & Rulesets
Rulesets: Explosive Weaponry + Earthquake
Mana Cap: 42
League: Gold III
In this battle, I was expecting a Death Heavy Magic Team with most probably Gelatinous Cube in the front as my opponent had recently run a similar lineup three times out of five. This happened to be spot-on.
With this expectation in mind, I tried my best to come up with a lineup that would specifically counter that strategy.
The Tanks
Main Tank (Void Dragon)
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I chose Void Dragon, instead of Bone Golem, as my main tank for two reasons.
Even though I was expecting Gelatinous Cube in the front, I couldn’t be sure if my opponent wouldn’t end up trading it for the Cursed Windeku, which can Self-Heal as well starting at level 5.
With Void Dragon in the frontline, I would first prevent Bone Golem from potentially hurting itself against the Thorns of Windeku. Then, its 5 Speed could also potentially allow it to dodge one or two attacks, which would have not even been a possibility with Bone Golem’s 1 Speed.
Off-Tank (Bone Golem)
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By default, I had to place Bone Golem as my second tank even though it meant not putting into use its Melee attacks. The Golem was my only other monster that came with the Void ability. Against a Magic-heavy team, Void was essential, especially in this Explosive Weaponry ruleset.
Third Tank (Djinn Murat)
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To make sure that I wouldn’t fall because of Magic, I went with Djinn Murat as my third unit. If one of my two other tanks got knocked out, I could still count on the Djinn to slow my opponent’s Magic offensives.
The Support Cast
Creeping Ooze
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I was trying to slow the opposition as much as I could because I had two fairly fast characters: Void Dragon in the front, but also Lira The Dark in the back. The Slow ability could possibly increase their chances of dodging a few attacks.
Sand Worm
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In high Mana Cap battles, Sand Worm often finds a place in the lineup. Its 5 Melee Sneak Attacks can inflict serious damage to the opponent’s backline if not well protected. With Brighton Bloom as my Summoner, I didn’t have to worry about Sand Worm being taken down by the Earthquake.
Lira The Dark
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Lira The Dark completed this lineup. Her 6 Speed combined with her Flying ability made her very evasive. Moreover, her second native ability, Snare, could come in handy as it was likely I would encounter a few Flying monsters in this battle.
My Opponent’s Strategy
My opponent went with 2 Self-Heal Tanks in the front, Gelatinous Cube and the Haunted Spirit. Then, in the back, the three support monsters all had the Flying ability. So, only Sand Worm in the middle couldn’t heal back or avoid the Earthquake damage.
MVP: Lira The Dark
Round 1:
Thanks to her Speed and her ability Opportunity, Lira The Dark fired first wiping out the Vampire right off the bat, just before it could put into use its Life Leech ability. Then, the Blast damage Snared the adjacent Phantom Soldier canceling out Phantom's Flying ability. To wrap up this round, she gracefully dodged the opposite Sand Worm.
Round 2:
She kept her momentum going in this round by hitting the one that missed her just a few seconds earlier. This dragged down Sand Worm to one single HP while also snaring Dark Enchantress at the same time. Soon after, she concluded this second round the same way as the first, by avoiding Sand Worm’s attack once more.
Round 3:
Lira kept on going by hitting the Haunted Spirit this time. Her swiftness didn’t allow the Haunted Spirit to heal back up before the hit. In the opposition, there was only one survivor left, the Gelatinous Cube. Even though it successfully accomplished its role as a tank by standing until the very end, the win was now just a matter of time.
In a nutshell
While we can’t always compete against far more powerful decks than ours, successfully anticipating our opponent’s lineup and taking full advantage of the set of rulesets, give us the best chances to put up a good fight. In addition, securing a few key rentals for specific circumstances, such as Brighton Bloom for the Earthquake ruleset, might end up being highly beneficial at a marginal cost.
On Mobile:
https://m.splinterlands.io/#/battle/game/process/sl_9da3f79271a88f8332b2f31083fb2f1c
On Desktop:
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_9da3f79271a88f8332b2f31083fb2f1c
Splintertools:
https://splintertools.io/battle?player=tt88&battleId=sl_9da3f79271a88f8332b2f31083fb2f1c
See you in the next post!
Thomas
For new players interested in joining this amazing game, you can support me by using the following referral link (at no extra cost to you!):
https://splinterlands.com?ref=tt88
Thank you.