Introduction
Hey fellow summoners,
As you may have recalled, last week I wrote a post about which cards to buy for a Novice League tournament. Today I am going to describe some general "metas" that are used in the tournaments. Again, this is all from my experience so some parts may vary but don't hesitate to mention any mistakes I made in the comments.
So without further ado, let's head on into the Novice UNTAMED Tournament Metas Guide.
So What Are Metas?
OK so some of you might be wondering, hmm what is a meta? According to Grammarly, meta can be used as an acronym for “most effective tactics available,” and calling something “meta” means that it's an effective way to achieve the goal of the game, whether it's to beat other players or beat the game itself. There are certain popular metas in the novice tournament and knowing them can help you develop workarounds or counters. There will be some variance variance and I will go over each in detail in a separate post. I will start the meta list by putting out there what I consider the most effective meta.
Metas
1. The Earth Meta
This meta is by FAR the most effective. Some may argue that fire is more effective than Earth but Earth has more variance on attacks and can output and survive a big beating. This meta usually consists of the following (wouldn't go over the summoner since there is only 1 of each type):
Tank: Unicorn Mustang
Hella good tank, can beat Living Lava in a battle if paired with the Eastwood summoner even if Living gets all the hits off. Its main features are the good health, attack, and speed but the void ability is pretty useless since UNTAMED doesn't boast much good magic attackers.
Secondary Tank: War Channg
Good health, has 1 ranged attack and 2 melee attack, people usually put this in at second position to attack as a second tank while also getting some attack off at the back position. Elven Defender is also seen here but War Chaang is more common.
3-4 (Mixed)
It is usually these positions which differ the most in battles. Some people put in sneak, some put in snipe, some go damage and some do a mix. I mainly do a mix of snipe and damage here. Going with Mantoid and Goblin Chariot or Goblin Thief, depending on how I feel that day. Everyone plays differently here but I will get into the more common setups in my next post.
Support: Sporcerer
I cannot stress ENOUGH the importance of Sporcerer in your games. It is a goo counter to the Living Lavas and Serpent of the Elds and has the Rust ability in case you want to go with Drake. It is also very good in reverse speed but overall, its magic attack of 2 is what makes it shine.
Glass Cannon: Mitica HeadHunter
The main damage dealer in all your earth teams, her high speed and attack make her worth every single mana she costs. Not many sneak monsters are used in UNTAMED only so it is usually safe to put her in the back.
2. The Fire Meta
1. Main Tank: Living Lava
Living Lava is the go to tank for almost ALL fire games except for little leagues and even stevens where living lava cannot be used. Living lava's only weakness is magic type monsters which UNTAMED edition has very few of. This lack of good magic monsters make Living Lava of one the most common tanks in UNTAMED only.
2. Secondary Tank + Snipe Bait + : War Chaang
War Chaang isn't used as much in fire splinters with people often putting other attackers since Living Lava is such a good tank. Even so, I put War Chaang here since it acts as a fail-safe in case my opponent decides to put in magic monsters.
Sneak Attacker: Pyromaniac
Some poeple put Fire Elemental here but honestly, sometimes that can ruin your Serpentine Spy's opportunity attack and Fire Elemental isn't a good Snipe Bait, only having 2 health. Pyromaniac also has sneak to take out the Spark Pixies and Serpentine Spy in the back.
Damage Dealer and Opportunity Bait: Spark Pixies
Spark Pixies serves as the Fire Team's damage dealer and Serpentine Spy's protector. Serpentine Spy has a health of 1 so is very squishy and only Spark Pixies has the same health as it. This means that if your opponent also uses a Serpentine Spy, it will kill your Spark Pixies before killing your more valuable Serpentine Spy. Spark Pixies can also do a lot of damage so it is good nonetheless.
Opportunist: Serpentine Spy
Great monster for taking out the enemy's glass cannons though it itself is a glass cannon. You are going to have to protect him well but if you do, it pays off.
Sniper + Sneak Bait: Felexia General
Snipe monsters are the most useful thing in UNTAMED only tournaments after Opportunity because many of the ranged monsters do a lot of damage but are easy to kill. Bypassing the tank and killing the back monsters is half the battle!
3. The Life Meta
(Disclaimer: I only put life here because of how good it is in High mana battles but otherwise, it sucks)
Primary Tank: Elven Defender
Why, you may ask that I put Elven Defender here instead of Shieldbearer even though the Shieldbearer has better stats. First of all, the Shieldbearer is...
OK now with that out of the way, let's see why Elven is a good primary tank. It is good because it has super high and and armor. Its 2 damage doesn't really matter but any additional damage is helpful.
Reacher/Secondary Tank: Luminous Eagle
War Chaang is also good here but I like Lumious Eagle because it does more backline damage and its flying ability makes it evade some attacks if it ever goes to second position.
Sniper: Mantoid
Mantoid is a strong sniper and can ruin your opponent's backline which is important when playing life since you are more concentrated on taking your opponent's backline out instead of the front tank.
Magic Attacker: Light Elemental
This will be your only good magic attacker for life and having a magic attacker is important for taking out any pesky Serpent of the Elds or Living Lavas.
Secondary Sniper: Lone Boatman
Some people go Cave Slug here but I like to have double snipers instead of having both an opportunist and a sniper. Cave Slug is also a good choice since since it can destroy weak attackers like Serpentine Spy but I like to get rid of ranged and magic attackers first like Fire Elemental and Spark Pixies.
Taunter: Shieldbearer
Shieldbearer has the ability taunt which means that all backline attack will target it except for reach. Putting a melee monster in the back seems counter-intuitive though but this way, you can spread out the damage done to your monsters giving your tanks much longer to live.
4. Water Meta
Dodge Tank: Serpent of the Eld
At first glance, Serpent may seem like a pretty weak tank, having only 2 armor and 5 health. Even so, it is VERY hard to hit with its high speed and its dodge ability. This makes it very effective against slow speed monsters such as living lava and bone golem.
Secondary Tank: War Chaang
War Chaang is a MUST have here since it won't be long until the Serpent dies. War Chaang is pretty tanky in health making it a good second position monster to have.
Opportunist: Feasting Seaweed
You will probably need an opportunist to do well will the water Splinter to take out any high damage low health monsters on your opponent's side. Downside of this is its low speed making it miss quite a bit.
Sniper: Sniping Narwhal
Sniping Narwhal is an awesome sniping unit and when you are playing water, you want to get rid of all the damage dealing monsters at the back before all your tanks die. Sniping Narwhal's snipe ability is perfect for this.
Second Sniper: Mantoid
Mantoid is another sniper making it very good at taking out pesky attackers at the back and assisting Narwhal with its job.
5. The Death Meta
Now last and the least, the worst splinter, sometimes with a good meta, it can beat some bad setups in other splinters.
Main Tank: Bone Golem
At first glance, you might be wondering why I didn't choose Elven Defender for the main tank. This is because while bone golem has less health, it is cheaper mana wise and has more attack. It is also pretty useful in reverse speed. Elven defender is a good substitute as a tank, I feel like Bone Golem is more commonly seen and more useful in more scenarios.
Secondary Tank: War Chaang
A must have when playing the death team. Bone golem doesn't have much health so you have a second tank and War Chaang fits that bill.
Magic Attacker: Tortisian Chief
Death doesn't have much magic units but a good magic monster is a must have in most battles. Tortisian Chief is the best magic attacker death has but darkest mage could work as well if you are low on mana.
Sniper: Mantoid
As previously mentions lots of times before, this card is a super strong sniper and can get rid of your opponent's backline attackers quickly.
Main Attacker: Soulstorm
Soulstorm is the death team's main attacker. With 3 ranged attack and 5 speed, it can deal devastating amounts of damage to your opponent if it is protected well.
More Damage: Goblin Chariot
Dark Astronomer can also be put here if you are low on mana but personally I feel like 2 additional speed is worth the 1 mana and 1 health loss. Speed matters a lot in UNTAMED only matches and you want to have the faster monsters.
Conclusion
So after seeing the most common and in my opinion, most effective setups for each splinter, what do you think? Are they better than what you usually put in or do you have better setups? Feel free to let me know so I can improve my guide!
Thank you all for reading my post and as always,
BATTLE ON!
Interesting ideas, although aren't you wasting your Shieldbearer by having him at the back, it's like 2 damage you're not doing! Surely it's better to have him at the front? Then pile in with some the damaging ranged attacks Life has?!?
Yes but spreading the attack makes both tanks last longer. When playing life, you want to make your monsters survive for as long as possible while you do the damage.
Excellent guide!
Lotta good suggestions here.
Very helpful to me actually. 🤣
I tend to rely heavily on my Alpha/Beta buddies and sometimes forget about mixing things up.
I recently started using Bone Golem a little more up front. He is pretty good, especially in reverse speed... which I got several times today. 🤣
Great post!
🥰@carrieallen