This is my submission to the Splinterlands Weekly Battle Challenge. This time it is featuring the "Defender of Truth".
About the card
The Defender of Truth is one of the more rare cards of the game, being a strong Epic monster from the out-of-print beta edition.
The cheapest max level version is currently offered for 21.65 USD, which is quite a bargain imho. Alas, I'm out of funds, so I will stick with my level 4 version. I refrain from upgrading it to level 5. On level 5 the Defender gains an additional magic attack point but loses one health. This is a considerable downgrade in my opinion as it will get it killed a lot faster by monsters with the Magic Reflect ability and being a support monster with its Protect (+2 armor for all friendly monsters) ability, it should live as long as possible.
Card Use-Cases
Kind of obvious: Use it in rulesets in which Armor is useful and in which Magic Reflect is rarely used.
- Weak Magic: Perfect match for the Defender. It is a Magic monster itself, but that can be overlooked because the Defender is used for support and not for attacking.
- Earthquake: A nice alternative to flying monsters in Earthquake matches is buffing your monsters with a lot of armor.
- All-Sneak and Melee Mayhem: Your opponent is likely to use a lot of melee attackers. So pair up some Thorns monsters with the Defender and watch your opponent break out their own teeth.
This week's match
Click on the video ^ to play or view the original match on Splinterlands.
Out of the rulesets mentioned above, this was an Earthquake match. I decided to buff my monsters with a lot of armor and watch the earthquake damage bounce off of it.
My line up:
Silvershield Paladin: Nothing goes better with a lot of armor, than Magic Reflect. This way, no matter which attack type your opponent uses, you will either block it, or reflect it.
Prismatic Energy: Also has Magic Reflect and also Void to further reduce the weakness of armor.
Cornealus: Unconventional, to place a ranged attack monster in the third spot. But with Cornealus you may view it as a frontline defense wall, rather than a backline ranged attacker. The middle position allows it to attack for a while until switching to its defending role with Magic Reflect and Thorns.
High Priest Darius: You know what's the great thing about the Defender of Truth's Protect ability? It will trigger again when the Defender is revived. Therefore, I love playing the Defender in a position where it will die quickly and then revive it. This will nullify all damage my opponent did to my monster's shields by simply restoring them. The Priest Darius is a good match for that cause as it comes with the Resurrect ability on board.
Angel of Light: Another monster with the Resurrect ability for the same reason.
Defender of Truth: In the last position the Defender is likely to die quickly due to Sneak monsters. Let them come. I will just resurrect the Defender and restore my armor.
Conclusion
This plan worked out perfectly. While the Defender was not the first monster to die, I still had a second Resurrect up my sleeve and fully restored my armor, being protected from further Earthquakes and looking at a complete team of monsters, while my opponent slowly faded away into nothingness.
Want to join the fight?
Create an account at the Splinterlands today and fight me in next week's battle challenge!