Introduction
In the case you're not a Maverick, which I'm not, you haven't been able to test out Grandmaster Rathe on the Test Server. Yet, a specific ruleset can give us all a taste of how powerful Grandmaster Rathe can possibly be: the Weak Magic ruleset!
In fact, the Weak Magic ruleset provides every monster on the field with the Void Armor ability, which is part of the buffs package Grandmaster Rathe is going to bestow on friendly monsters.
For those who haven’t been following lately, this Legendary Life Summoner will be the first airdrop among the summoners.
He will provide 3 buffs, which are +1 Armor, Void Armor and Amplify. In line with former Life Summoners, Rathe will also lean on the Defensive side of the spectrum.
With the Modern Format approaching, the Life Splinter would have suffered from a lack of protection. Rathe’s role is to fill the gap.
Pelacor Conjurer, from Good to Great!
At Level 4, Pelacor Conjurer acquires the ability Magic Reflect, which currently synergizes well with the Amplify provided by another 2 Mana cost card, Dax Paragon.
I’ve recently learned that Magic doesn’t need to hit the HP to get reflected. Consequently, the Void Armor given by Grandmaster Rathe will be extremely beneficial.
The Pelacor Conjurer has always been one of my favourites among the in-print Reward cards. And, I’m glad I have been constantly accumulating them.
That being said, its current Print Rate is only about 65%, which means that there are many more copies waiting to flood the market.
On the flip side, the good news is that new players should be able to easily get as many copies of it as they might need to in the foreseeable future.
Caveat:
To make the following strategy work, you will need at least a Level 2 Grandmaster Rathe, which means 3 BCX!
Battle #01
Ruleset: Weak Magic
Mana Cap: 19
League: Gold II
Available Splinters: Water, Earth, Life, Death, Dragon
On Mobile:
https://m.splinterlands.io/#/battle/game/process/sl_493e28a0ba2d2eb9a5fb6a3be4e1823c
On Desktop:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_493e28a0ba2d2eb9a5fb6a3be4e1823c&ref=tt88
Splintertools:
https://splintertools.io/battle?player=tt88&battleId=sl_493e28a0ba2d2eb9a5fb6a3be4e1823c&cards=441,343,422,420,150,417,455
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Pelacor Conjurer
Level 4: Magic Reflect
Essential to take full advantage of Grandmaster Rathe's Amplify.
Dax Paragon
Level 2: Amplify
Won't be necessary anymore if Grandmaster Rathe is used as the summoner.
Truthspeaker
Level 1: Protect
Act as the additional armor that will be provided by Grandmaster Rathe.
In this battle, my opponent went quite heavy on Magic as the Magic monsters were able to inflict 7 damage per turn, which was more than any of my monsters' HP. However, the Void Armor from the Weak Magic ruleset greatly helped to absorb part of it.
It's also thanks to this battle that I finally realized that Magic Reflect still worked when opposite monsters hit the armor. For a while, I thought this ability would only work when directly hitting the HP. So, I'm probably late to the party, but that was a huge insight for me.
Side note:
I guess I haven't noticed this sooner as I never had the opportunity to play with Queen Mycelia, who provides both Protect and Amplify!
To begin with, Regal Peryton could theoretically hit for 3 but only got rid of the 2 Armors of the Pelacor Conjurer. Yet, because of the Amplify ability, Regal Peryton still got hit back for 3. Then again, in Round 2, Pelacor Conjurer only had 1 HP left, but once hit by Regal Peryton, the Conjurer still reflected back 3 damage!
By Round 2, the Khmer Princess and Regal Peryton were already both out of the game mainly thanks to the Conjurer.
The battle quickly ended soon after.
Battle #02
Rulesets: Weak Magic + Keep Your Distance
Mana Cap: 27
League: Gold II
Available Splinters: Water, Life, Death, Dragon
On Mobile:
https://m.splinterlands.io/#/battle/game/process/sl_5928505fe0bde8b4f9cc3b4da2b5fcc6
On Desktop:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_5928505fe0bde8b4f9cc3b4da2b5fcc6&ref=tt88
Splintertools:
https://splintertools.io/battle?player=tt88&battleId=sl_5928505fe0bde8b4f9cc3b4da2b5fcc6
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Scavo Hireling
Level 1: Repair
Adelade Brightwing:
Level 1: Repair
Level 2: Resurrect
With more mana to work with this time around, I was able to throw in a double Repair thanks to Scavo Hireling and Adelade Brightwing. Their difference in Speed, 3 for Scavo and 1 for Adelade ended up working very well together.
Once more, the opposition could hit with 7 Magic damage per turn, which again was more than any of my monsters' HP. Yet, thanks to the combination of rulesets and abilities, the Pelacor Conjurer was able to stay on the field the whole 5 Rounds!
In Round 4, the opposition finally got through the Pelacor Conjurer, but he immediately got resurrected by Adelade Brightwing, which allowed him to come back to the game not only with 1 HP but 2 "voided" Armors.
With only one Magic monster left at this point, my opponent couldn't get through the Conjurer anymore because of the Repairs.
In a nutshell
In conclusion, only a Level 2 Grandmaster Rathe will be able to take advantage of the Pelacor Conjurer's Magic Reflect, the cornerstone of this strategy's success. As this new Legendary Summoner already comes with a full package, +1 Armor, Void Armor & Amplify, a player will still be able to make this play without having to rely on extra monsters like Dax Paragon and Truthspeaker or wait for the right ruleset, Weak Magic.
I hope you've learned something or at least, got entertained.
See you 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