The "broken" Last Stand / Heal Combo!
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.
Earth Focus
The following battle took place in the middle of my Earth Focus.
To be fair, I was struggling trying to come up with creative and effective lineups within this Splinter. But, after a while, I noticed that the not-so-creative combo Llama / Flesh Golem was bringing me most of the wins I needed.
The funny thing is that this combo didn’t come to mind immediately as I’ve been renting the Scarred Llama only recently. So, I did struggle for a while before even considering it. However, this Earth Focus certainly acted as a useful reminder.
The Battle
Scarred Llama Mage Level 1 VS Level 6 Tarsa
On Mobile:
https://m.splinterlands.io/#/battle/game/process/sl_22297a312419044716a67c7c41632fe5
On Desktop:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_22297a312419044716a67c7c41632fe5&ref=tt88
Splintertools:
https://splintertools.io/battle?player=tt88&battleId=sl_22297a312419044716a67c7c41632fe5
Rulesets: Heavy Hitters + Even Stevens
Mana Cap: 34
League: Gold III
Splinters Available: Fire, Water, Earth, Dragon
In this battle, it felt like we both tried to force our way with our Focus Splinter. Mine was Earth and my opponent’s Focus was most probably Fire. Having already the combo Llama / Flesh Golem in mind at that time, I set up my team to give myself the best chances of making it happen.
Grund was in the front to deal as much damage as it could while Wood Nymph would hopefully keep it alive just a bit longer. Then, the Furious Chicken was placed as an off-tank just to give the Wood Nymph an extra shot if possible.
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In the back, Venari Knifer was there to protect the backline.
Knowing that I would certainly face a Fire team, I thought there was a good chance of encountering a few Sneak monsters. In the end, it worked out even better than expected as the Venari Knifer’s Thorns took down the opposite Kobold Miner thanks to the additional 2 HP from the Llama.
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Last but not least, Flesh Golem was hidden in the second to last position. This was in my opinion the spot where it would have the best chances of ending as the last survivor.
In this position, Flesh Golem’s Heal would have allowed it to absorb a few extra Sneak hits in the case Venari Knifer got prematurely knocked out.
The combination between Grund and Wood Nymph successfully went through Magnor by Round 2. Then, by Round 4, there were only opposite monsters that could attack once in the frontline, which greatly facilitated Flesh Golem’s work.
Once Magma Troll eliminated Wood Nymph, the Last Stand ability buffed up Flesh Golem’s stats.
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At that point, it was now just a matter of time before Flesh Golem went through all of the opposite monsters one at a time because the Magma Troll, Tusk The Wide, and Ant Miners couldn’t inflict enough damage on their own to threaten Flesh Golem.
A “Broken” Combo
The Last Stand / Heal combo, whether it is with Kron The Undying, the Pelacor Mercenary or the Flesh Golem, is as close to a “broken” combo as it can be. In fact, this battle illustrates once more how effective it is if the opponent doesn’t come up with a specific plan to counter it.
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There is more, in many 16 Mana cap battles or lower, I sometimes voluntarily give up on a few Mana to make sure the Flesh Golem is the one getting the Last Stand. This might not always be the most optimized lineup, but it is often just good enough to get the win.
New Alt-Account in Bronze
As I have reached a point in my main account (Gold II) where I sometimes struggle to get wins, I thought I would reactivate an account that belongs to a relative that doesn’t play the game anymore.
So, I made it my first and only Alt-Account.
Starting from Novice, this unfair Llama / Flesh Golem combo allowed me to reach 1400+ MMR and more importantly, helped me unlock 50+ chests in one single day.
There was no real gameplay on my part. I was just spamming the combo as much as I could, no matter the rulesets. This was made possible mainly because, in Bronze, most of the battles are low Mana. I ended up opening 18 daily chests, from which 10 of them were cards.
- 3 Pelacor Conjurer (RF)
- 3 Merdhampir (RF)
- 2 Pelacor Bandit (RF)
- 1 Blood Maker (RF)
- 1 Explosive Rats (RF)
Not too bad, especially considering the fact that I struggle to reach the average 6 daily chests I used to get in Gold III. That being said, it does seem that the cards I get in Gold are better though, as I got a Gold Foil Blood Maker and another Djinn Oshannus this past week.
In the end, even if I don’t maximize my Gold rewards this season, I will at least be able to open a bunch of EOS Bronze Chests!
See you all in the next challenge!
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.