Saying Goodbye to Splinterlands Classics 🔥✨💀 - Part I

_{Banner Source}

What's going on?

With the modern and wild format split looming over the horizon, I think it's high time that I start saying my goodbyes to personal favourites rotating to the wild format. Even with the introduction of Chaos Legion, I have still been relying on them and I've been racking 60%+ win rate the past few seasons. I don't see myself playing a lot of wild games so it's only right to look back and pay tributes to the summoners and monsters that have accompanied me since season 55. That's 19 Seasons!

🔥🔥🔥 Fire 🔥🔥🔥

We all get to play with the Fire Splinter first when we we're just going through the tutorials and when starting with Ranked battles. The older cards provided a more straightforward approach to the game.

Monster/Summoner	Comment
	The very first summoner we got to use. He is a spectre of fire with powerful attacks of his own, but he is also extraordinarily brilliant. He is especially skilled in boosting the attack power of his monsters. Provides +1 melee damage so you won't have a hard time thinking about what you want to do with your line up.
	Who's the goodest boi? Comes with insane damage, decent speed and a big chunk of health for its mana cost. And its abilities make this doggo really stand out specially in low mana battles. This for sure belongs in my top tanks list. Its heal makes it harder to be eliminated while its retaliate allows it to be able to deal extra damage. So tell me, who's the goodest boi?
	Comparable to the undead badge of the death splinter but is chunkier. Well that's kinda obvious from its picture right? Provides significant sneak damage (especially when buffed) at a very low mana cost.
	I don't see a lot of people use the Naga Fire Wizard. Magic damage looks out of place in the Fire Splinter but the handful of them are really good cards. I normally place this at the very back if I want to punish sneak attacks with its thorns and soften their blows with its shield abilities. This also gives me the option to play as tank if no melee monsters are allowed.
	According to the lores, no one knows where they came from; the Dwarves simply emerged from the Molten Mountain caverns, quickly reproducing and settling across the Burning Lands. It is best to keep distance from them (especially when they are exploding). Faithful to the lore, this monster can really surprise your opponent with its massive damage and quick speed that give it a big chance to attack first. Nevermind its 1 HP, once it's able to land its attack (and maybe a second one with its retaliate), your opponents will be raising their white flags soon enough.
	The burning protector of Ferexia always bring annihilation. This is quite expensive to use but is always worth its price. As I've mentioned, magic strategies aren't very common for the Fire Splinter so this could come as a surprise for your enemies. This deals a lot of damage especially with blast and is quite chunky as well. Along with its speed, this will be a little bit hard to eliminate for slow monsters.

I'll be leaving you with some fun matches using the Fire team
Battle 1
Battle 2
Battle 3

✨✨✨ Life ✨✨✨

The Life splinter has not always been the easiest to use but is surely fun to field especially with the classic cards below.

Summoner/Monster	Comment
	The fisherman turned hero who wields the Silver Shield and Silver Sword. The life splinter is not the easiest to use especially for beginners and lower leagues. I normally re-roll my quests whenever I get the life quest when I was just starting out. Once you get familiar with strategies and you get to use higher level monsters, the beauty of life cards starts to show. Tyrus Paladium is the cheapest option for the Life splinter, providing a decent +1 armour to your line-up. With Tyrus, you get to use all the awesome monsters below.
	Straight out of Alice in Wonderland, the Feral Spirit bites and slashes enemies from the back. Forever caught between dimensions, with its speed and damage, you might think that this is in the wrong splinter. With low mana, you can easily insert this in your lineup regardless of the mana cap.
	The Silvershield Assassin is everything but stealthy since she definitely draws attention to herself with her double strike and poison dealing attacks. Easily paired with other sneak monsters for easy clearing of backline monsters. Can't count how many times this has brought me W's by clearing the enemies from the back. They never take prisoners... true that.
	The Knights are the law enforcement arm of the Order of the Silver Shield. They are well-trained in horseback riding and skilled in the use of a vast array of weaponry. Definitely the core of melee strategies for the Life Splinter. Just place this at the middle and your sneak/opportunity monsters are all set. I also play this as tank for lower mana caps for a chance of a second attack with its trample ability.
	Nothing fancy to see here. Just some heavy hitting range attacks. The Peacebringer has got to be the heaviest hitting range attacker at 4 mana. Even without abilities, the Peacebringer can bring you W if your opponent's been debuffing your attacks (melee/magic). True Peacebringers are masters of martial arts and members of the secret underground resistance to the Order of the Silver Shield. These warriors are especially skilled with throwing weapons which fully explains why it's hitting like a tank. But why is he barefoot???
	Socorro Rivera? Pretty certain this is Coco's Abuelita. This is the combination of Time Mage and Venari Crystalsmith but with less damage. The divine healer has always been the perfect support for the Shieldbearer. Always provides timely heal to piss off your opponents. It also has the slow ability to provide more chances for your team.

I'd leave some links here for some fun life battles:

Battle 1
Battle 2

💀💀💀 Death 💀💀💀

Suumoner/Monsters	Comment
	Zintar Mortalis is the polar opposite of Malric Inferno. As the leading Dark Summoner, Zintar provides a -1 melee damage debuff on the opponents team. When facing Zintar Mortalis in a summoner’s battle, only the bravest opponents do not cower in fear.
	Another favourite low cost tank. I'd say this is a toss up between the Haunted Spirit and Cerberus. The Haunted Spirit comes with heal, a massive HP (when compared to its cost) and when coupled with the debuff from Zintar, it'd take a lot to bring this down. This also provides sufficient counter vs a magic lineup with its reflect ability. I'm surely going to miss this ethereal being when it rotates out. The good thing is, the Cursed Windeku is ready to step up to the plate with very similar attributes abd function albeit a higher cost.
	The Skeleton Assassins are notorious for sneaking up behind their targets and making quick work of them with a knife. Cheap and effective in dealing 3 melee damage and possible poison damage. This is not as explosive as the Feral Spirit but you have to take into consideration that this is summoned by Zintar and when matched headon with a Feral Spirit, the cat will have less attack damage. And the poison ability is very potent with a 50% chance of taking effect. I normally use this as the 1-2 punch combo partner of the Undead Badger. When this rotates out, Ureaus or Silent Sha-vi can do the job.
	One of the very first cards I owned and a personal favourite. Deals 3 ranged damage to ranged/magic monsters hiding in the back. You can position this at the back and watch it evade those annoying sneak monsters with its dodge ability. This is solid over all. It's a pity the death team no longer has something similar to this. Dark Astronomer is meh and the Death Elemental is too soft. And I only come to know just now that this is a guy!!! I thought the jester is the Harley Quinn of Splinterlands. Oops.. my bad.
	"Their original light has been corrupted; they have been reborn as ferocious warrior mages of the Death Splinter. A warrior mage that uses a burning sword.." That got me confused. Can't they just cast spells at the back like how I normally play them? LOL. The Phantom Soldier deals decent magic damage, silences pesky magic line-ups while soaking up magic damage with its void, and is flying to survive an Earthquake ruleset. The combination of its stats and abilities make this a really good card over all.
	This monstrosity has nearly all the most terrifying features of both spiders and octopi. It has a confused combination of spider legs and tentacles because why not. Octupi/octopuses are know to be very intelligent creatures so this makes this monstrosity a very dangerous opponent. So dangerous in fact that this a perfect combo with Zintar providing a whopping -2 melee debuff to your opponents. With that debuff, your opponents will be barely grazing your team. And at max stats, it gains the blind ability that will definitely leave your opponents scared shitless making them miss their targets.

I'll be back next week to round up the list for the remaining splinters. How about you? Will you be playing wild? If not, which cards will you be missing? Let me know in the comments section. 😊

Want to start having fun while earning in the @hive network? Signup to @splinterlands using my referral code.