Strategy Chat: Armour Up - Turn Defense into Offense (Watch the battle replay!) - LOOK OUT FOR THE SYNGERGY!

over 2 years ago

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You know, this game is all about synergy - it's about maximising what you've got to turn some good cards into great pairings. That is exactly what this post is about, so please join me as we get underway for a deep dive into the CRUEL SETHROPOD and his mate, VENARI WAVESMITH! (Did you see the joke I made there, 'dive' for the WATER splinter. Haha!)

To do this, let's start with the card of the week CRUEL SETHROPOD:

On it's surface, this is the kind of card you want in your deck. He is basically an underrated hero - and I actually use my guy a fair bit. You see, the key to this card is the MANA count - at 3 mana, he costs very little to put into a battle, yet - his stats are much more equivalent to a card that might usually cost you 5 odd mana. Let's call him a bargain then!

The key part of this guy is his armour - at 4 armour, he is going to be able to take some hits to knock him down! Then, when you do take his armour, he holds 5 health. That's enough to put him in the tank position and to keep him alive long enough to frustrate an opposition.

His attack is only +2 melee - but, at a 3 mana cost, that ain't bad at all. I'd recommend you play this guy with an INSPIRE skilled card, either River Hellondale or the Demented Shark, and that would pop his melee to +3. The other part of this card then, worth considering, is his speed. At 2 speed, he'll be on par with a number of tanks, and, depending on who the summoner is - you can certainly get some additional grunt in those boots!

This guy is amazing!

My card is Level 5, and it is leveled so I can make use of it in in my Silver league battles, but I did want to check out it's complete stats, just for some perspective.

In the end, the key reason for this card to be underrated, I'd guess, is that he never picks up a skill. A lot of the time it is abilities which can shift a battle, and by not having any - he only has his ARMOUR as his greatest attribute. I love that as the card grows through the levels, his armour and health both grow. He's not a bad card at all!

To celebrate the card, I decided to buy another one, to get me underway to level 6! At 7.7 cents per card, or 76 DEC each, he's not the cheapest out there for the 5 Card Power return. I've been buying up card power recently, and I can tell you, I'm more focused on buying CP for less than 1 cent per 1 CP. That said, I can imagine a lot of players in the future taking this card to Level 10 - and, given that's 400 cards total, you would have to imagine that this little guy will become rarer and rarer with time - especially since Chaos Pack openings have slowed right down.

But it does raise the question - how do you make an already amazing card even more amazing? And I think I have the answer, you see - the CRUEL SETHROPOD's biggest advantage is his armour. So it occurred to me, why not make his armour an even bigger frustration for an opponent? Here's how I did it: VENARI WAVESMITH!

I own this card maxed out to Level 8, but SILVER limits me to playing him as Level 4 - but what I love about this guy is his TOWER skill which gives all of my cards an additional +2 ARMOUR. That's the best way I know to really frustrate an opponent who plays MELEE! The other thing is though that VENARI WAVESMITH is an offensive weapon - he plays +2 MAGIC damage; ignoring the armour of an opponent. All this adds up to VENARI WAVESMITH and CRUEL SETHROPOD becoming an unbeatable combination!

It brings me to my final piece of the strategic puzzle. That puzzle is EVEN MORE ARMOUR:

I don't make it a secret, Kelya Frendul is my favourite WATER summoner - and, he offers an additional +1 ARMOUR. What this means is that my CRUEL SETHROPOD, who started with 4 armour of his own, will actually become a mountain with 7 armour!! And, by picking up the speed of both my SETHROPOD and VENARI WAVESMITH, I will certainl be looking to take some early kills!

So let's get to the BATTLE:

Let's face it, this ruleset was made for the CRUEL SETHROPOD and VENARI WAVESMITH. It is a battle where every account has SNIPE, and everyone has equalized health. In a battle like this, you want to play a lot of low mana cards, knowing that whoever has the most cards/health will likely become the winner. The SNIPE ruleset will mean that no single card will be targeted, and that the life expectancy of my CRUEL SETHROPOD just went way up! But it also means I need to protect my VENARI by playing him deep in my line.

Take a look at my Line-Up, that falls in behind my CRUEL SETHROPOD:

I play the FEASTING SEAWEED as my off-tank. I like this card because of his 2 melee attack, but he is in a safe position there, as he can attack with his OPPORTUNITY, but not be hit by the SNIPING. Next to him I put in the 2 mana IGOR DARKSPEAR. The truth is, he's a sacrificial lamb, he will be the first to die in the battle, but I'm looking to protect my magic attackers at this point. The first of which is the ICE PIXIE, who is followed up by VENARI WAVESMITH. I finish my line-up with the 0 mana fiend. He's there as a meat shield to block SNEAK attacks.

This is how the battle gets underway. The starting point has me a little bit unsettled - who wouldn't be, facing the same summoner, but looking at an entire team of GOLD FOIL cards!! I can see his strategy straight away - he'll be trying to use his 3 sneak cards to come from behind. I can see the best way for this to play out, I will need to use my SNIPE cards to take his two archers, and then hopefully start to use my magic to attack his tank position. At the moment, my biggest advantage is that he will be attacking my tank, my first archer and my fiend. By splitting his attack in three directions, to my two directions, there will be a good opportunity for me to make some solid gains.

Ok, let's have a look at how the battle went, have a look at this video. It's a long battle, despite the maximum health being 5. At different times, the battle looks like it could fall to either of us.

As you can see, this battle was on from the start. My opponent played a very good team, but with my defensive positions - hiding behind mountains of ARMOUR, I am able to frustrate my opponent's melee attack. Don't get me wrong, it's coming - but I was able to slow him down.

At the end of round 1, you can see, the initial hits have taken a lot of my rear-guard's armour and health! But, I have taken first blood, knocking out a +2 archer. Interestingly to me, it was my FEASTING SEAWEED whose +2 melee delivered the final blow to my opponent's card. Looking ahead into Round 2, I'd say I'll lose my fiend, but, I'll take his next archer in the process. In regards to my SETHROPOD out front - he lost 1 armour - which is handy - he'll be here for a long fight!

Round 2 very much went to script - the exact same kill pattern which took his first archer, this round, dropped his second archer, the CAPTAIN. My opponent's tank is also looking significantly more vulnerable - and while my FIEND died, and my VENARI lost some armour - the pathway to victory is looking more sound, given I lost 1 meatshield, whereas my opponent has lost 2 attackers which were giving him +4 ARROWS per round.

By the end of Round 3 - my intention to start to move his SNEAK accounts into the TANK position has occurred, although by this point, my VENARI is teetering on death. The position I'm in, however, remains strong - and my opponent is looking increasingly vulnerable - whereas my CRUEL SETHROPOD is looking very much unphased by any battle attrition!

Progressing the battle to the end of Round 6, you can see my CRUEL SETHROPOD has finally had his armour destroyed, but I have promoted his final card to the tank position. It's now a 3 on 1 showdown. I'll be blunt, I'm confident at this point. My opponent's only hope is lots of misses on my part, which was a feature of the last few rounds. My opponent's SHARK kept dodging my attacks from my FEASTING SEAWEED and CRUEL SETHROPOD, otherwise, I'd have been further into this fight!

And then only one round later, it's all over. You can see my SETHROPOD has remained the battle champion in this one, having survived due to his HUGE mountain of armour. That said, the unexpected hero of this battle was the FEASTING SEAWEED, who took the final hit to kill a number of cards, including the death blow in this battle!

So what's the verdict?

CRUEL SETHROPOD is a very, very, very, very good card. I already knew this, and have often played him in mini-monster battles which limit mana to 4. However, I don't think I've often used him in equalizer battles - it's perhaps here where he shines even brighter.
I have really come to understand the importance of synergy in this battle - and for the CRUEL SETHROPOD, his key is his armour - so by combining his natural armour, with VENARI WAVESMITH'S +2 Armour, and Kelya Frendul's +1 Armour - I created my monster!! It meant he was absolutely unbeatable and was the reason he was alive at the end.
I am looking to move into GOLD at some point, I have about 82,000 card power now. I am going to need to buy some more of this card. True, you wouldn't use him every battle, I love my DIEMONSHARK too much for that, but this card has huge potential in the right battle - and it's those tricky rulesets that are absolutely worth exploiting!

Thanks for joining me, for another Splinter Chat! This blog was put together as part of Splinterlands' weekly 'Share-Your-Battle' challenge. Have you put yours together yet?
LordTimoty

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