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Top 3 Neutral Acquisitions for Neutral per Splinter

So you've read my initial post about the Starter Core Neutrals, you've learned a bit about your Starter Cards and you've learned a bit about some Teams, and you're thinking: Hmmm, I really wanna get some new Neutral cards to enhance ALL of my Splinters as much as possible!

Smart move!

In this Article, I'll be talking about a selection of Neutral cards that, in my opinion, are the best cards to acquire for newcomers and players playing with Starter Deck cards. I will be developing it in multiple parts, this part will focus on Modern: Who brings something new to the Modern table...

This will be done with the explicit goal of enhancing your team's battle capabilities with as few cards as possible. I will do my best to make these cards affordable choices.

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FIRE SPLINTER | Orcs | Goblins | Insects | Elementals

The Fire Splinter is particularly powerful, but the starter set needs more High Mana attackers, and low mana attackers. Because of your options: Tarsa and Pyre, you want mostly Melee focused monsters, although if you find yourself using Pyre more than Tarsa, you can get away with some ranged and magic options.

#1: Sand Worm | High Mana Sneak

Melee | Low Speed | High Mana

Sand Worm is THE high mana sneak attacker, he rules in **Reverse Speed** and he deals melee damage, a lofty 5 Damage, with Sneak. For Fire, there's a lot to like here, and when paired with Tenyii Striker, Sand Worm can shred through the competition with a high powered Sneak Comp. Sand Worm doesn't really pair very well with Pyre, but offers a very valuable chunk of damage in 60+ Mana battles, whereas its a match made in Heaven for Tarsa, offering melee damage and additional health, which makes Sand Worm even more lethal.

This monster is pretty good in Reverse Speed, High Mana, Equalizer, and Melee Only, but avoid using him in Poison and Earthquake, Super Sneak, and Fog of War where he lacks the health to survive, or cannot attack effectively except in position 1.

#2: Battering Ram | Ultra Low Mana Opportunity

Melee | Low Speed | Opportunity | Ultra Low Mana

Battering Ram is a bonus card that has a lot of utility/roles, especially in Fire. Paired with Tarsa, he becomes a more lethal Reverse Speed Opportunity attacker, and once upgraded with Pyre, he is a blistering fast opportunity attacker. Either style tends to work quite nicely in their respective summoners' arsenals.

At 2 mana, you will be able to use this monster quite often, and he's an excellent Opportunity blocker to allow your Serpentine Spy to take out your opponent's, trading Battering Ram for Serpentine Spy in Standard matches, and the opposite in Reverse speed, where Battering Ram can be lethal.

He pairs nicely in round sets like Melee Only and Equalizer, and loses some lethality in Armored but also survives longer, sort of a double edged sword, depending on how you're using him. Finally, avoid using Battering Ram in No Abilities, Poison, and Earthquake where he will basically die round one.

BONUS: Battering Ram is one of my favorite Neutrals to throw on for nearly all of my teams! I like him in Water and Life as well!

#3: Uraeus | Low Mana Sneak

Melee | Sneak | Armor | Low Mana

Venari Wavesmith also goes to Bortus, as it allows him to open up his compositions and gives him some much needed anti-melee.

With Bortus, Venari Wavesmith allows him to utilize Scavo Hireling too, and protects his tanks and squishy cards alike against Bortus' weaknesses: Ranged and Melee.

He pairs nicely with a card with repair, such as Scavo Hireling

is NOT good in Unprotected, but is very useful in nearly any other situation, especially in No Melee

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WATER SPLINTER | Sea Creatures | Merfolk | Sharks | Oh My!

#1: Uraeus | Low Mana Sneak

Melee | Sneak | Armor | Low Mana

Water Splinter has a similar (initial) specialty to Fire in the Starter set, with a more balanced team, but mostly focusing on Melee and Armor. As such, Uraeus is a great card to snag for Water, especially when you pair it with my other articles on Water recommendations. (Hint: Those cards in the banner are in there a lot!)

With Bortus, Uraeus is a solid backline attacker, designed to eat through your opponent's squishy magic, whilst Bortus nerfs their damage for your mainline tank. Because of Uraeus' low initial speed, he and Bortus pair nicely together in a Reverse Speed format

For Kelya, Uraeus is a faster, tankier card, which for 3 Mana, makes for a solid backline attacker/tank. I like to use him in Kelya Melee Only teams.

In my opinion, Uraeus places best either in the absolute back, Position 6, to block other sneak attackers, or in Position 2/3, as a low mana off-tank.

I would avoid using him Unprotected, Super Sneak, Melee Attacks from Anywhere, and Opportunity, but is very useful in Reverse Speed, Melee Only, and Equalizer

#2: Sand Worm | High Mana Sneak

Melee | Low Speed | High Mana

Yeah, so they're gunna have the same sneak Neutrals here: Water ALSO benefits from a 9 Mana Sneak, (as do most Splinters honestly, but I promise this is the last time you'll see him!) With Bortus, Sand Worm is a slow, hard hitting attacker that fills out Bortus' high mana with a powerful **Reverse Speed** monster, and additional variety for Melee Only (which you shouldn't use Bortus in, but that's beside the point)

With Kelya, Sand Worm is a slightly faster, but more importantly, armored sneak attacker: This is a big deal when you realize that Sand Worm can one hit another Sand Worm, and in a Sand Worm v Sand Worm matchup, your faster, armored sandworm is gunna win against the slower, harder hitting one like Tarsa's.

This monster is pretty good in Reverse Speed, High Mana, Equalizer, Melee Only, but avoid using him in Poison and Earthquake where he lacks the health to survive, he is also worthless (you read that right) in Super Sneak, Fog of War, and No Abilities where he loses a lot of viability.

#3: Legionnaire Alvar | High Mana Anti Magic Tank

Melee | Low Speed | Void Armor | High Mana

Legionnaire Alvar is a really nice Neutral card, offering Void Armor, a LOT of Health, and a LOT of Armor. That's perfect for filling out Bortus' anti-magic at high mana, and giving Kelya some anti-magic options as well! Win:Win!

With Bortus, Legionnaire Alvar is a huge tanking presence, and allows Bortus to really effectively use Venari Wavesmith and Scavo Hireling in combination. He also empowers Bortus' Reverse Speed teams.

Kelya already uses those two monsters like crazy, and the +1 Armor and +1 Speed make Legionnaire slightly more dangerous and a little bit harder for a magic team to pick through: This means Kelya is suddenly able to counter (some) magic teams with just a slight change up in playstyle!

This card is pretty high mana, but he works nicely in Equalizer, Reverse Speed, Melee Attacks from Anywhere, Broken Arrows, and Earthquake, and Armored, avoid using him in Unprotected and Lost Magic especially.

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EARTH SPLINTER | Mushrooms | Beasts | Elves | & Plants

#1: Magi of Chaos | Magic Attacker

Magic | Low Speed | Mid Mana

Magi of Chaos is your standard 2 Magic Attacker, and that's exactly why you want him: Not only does he empower Earth, he gives more powerful options for Magic in nearly every Splinter, and is a surprisingly cost effective and powerful Neutral.

Paired with Eastwood, frankly, he doesn't offer much, but let's be real: Most people don't like Eastwood (sorry Eastwood fans!)

The +1 Magic of Obsidian makes this monster a powerful magic attacker with somewhat okay speed for standard battles, and becomes very threatening in Reverse Speed

Play him in No Melee, Reverse Speed, Snipe, Broken Arrows, Equalizer, Armored, and Opportunity, he's a solid card in a lot of situations. Avoid using him in Earthquake, Poison, and Weak Magic

#2: Doctor Blight | Little League Affliction/Camo

Magic | Low Speed | Anti-Heal | Anti-Sneak/Snipe | Little League

An expensive card, but you'll want it for nearly every team you can possibly have: Camo and Affliction are a very nice combo on a 1 Speed magic attacker, and that holds especially true for Earth.

With Eastwood, you've reduced Armor, you have a Magic card that cannot be hit, and you've got anti-healing, in the right hands, this will make Eastwood a solid, in fact, possibly overpowered counter to Obsidian. Doctor Blight only gets better with levels as well.

For Obsidian, that little Doctor Blight now has 2 magic as well, and 2 magic affliction is gunna hurt no matter who it hits: Affliction doesn't need to do damage to prevent healing.

This monster is pretty good in Reverse Speed, Low Mana, Equalizer, Armored, and Little League, but avoid using him in Poison and Earthquake where he lacks the health to survive, he's also less powerful in Weak Magic

#3: Spirit Hoarder | Magic Support

Magic | Low Speed | Opportunity | Low Mana

Spirit Hoarder is the perfect card for Earth Modern currently

As a magic card, he gets amped up from Obsidians magic boosting abilities, and with Triage, he can heal your backline Mycelic Slipspawn, diverting damage and allowing you to heal your frontline AND your backline.

Put him in Reverse Speed, No Melee, No Abilities, Equalize, and Poison. He is also an excellent card to play Armored. Avoid using him in Earthquake This card has an added bonus of being universally useful to other splinters, improving their poison, low mana magic, and providing backline healing and sneak protection!

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LIFE SPLINTER | Rangers | Paladins | Knights | Holy

#1: War Cha'ang| Ranged/Melee Tank w Retaliate

Melee | Ranged | Retaliate | Mid Mana

War Cha'ang is a really solid card, with a decent amount of speed, good health, and Melee AND Ranged attacks, he's a pretty cool card with the added value of Retaliate.

With Mother Khala, War Chaang is just a tankier card, however, with 9 HP, he now is healed for 3 Health instead of 2 from Healers, this is a significant upgrade.

General Sloan makes him a 2 Melee, 2 Ranged attacker that can be quite dangerous on the backline OR the frontline, giving him some of the most versatile positioning out of any card.

He pairs nicely with healers, like Venari Crystalsmith.

He's very strong in Close Ranged, Opportunity, Melee Only, Melee Attacks From Anywhere, and Opportunity, as well as Super Sneak, but is not as good in things like Armored, Equalizer, Reverse Speed, Poison, and Earthquake

#2: Grenadier | Low Mana Ranged Oppress

Ranged | Low Speed | Oppress | Low Mana

A monster with Oppress, he's cheap and has low speed, pairing nicely with General Sloans' low speed ranged attackers. He also deals double damage to non attackers, like Baakjira, Almo Cambio, and more.

With Mother Khala, he's not a huge deal: +1 HP doesn't mean much for a 1 HP monster. You will have limited use for this monster if you primarily use Mother Khala as your Starter Summoner.

With General Sloan, he now deals 3 Damage against targets for 3 Mana, and if he hits a non attacker, he deals 6 Damage, that's a pretty significant damage source.

Use him in Low Mana, Close Range, Reverse Speed, Armored, Equalizer and No Melee but avoid using him in Poison, Earthquake, Opportunity, and Snipe.

#3: Cornealus | High Mana Ranged Heal

Ranged | Heal | High Mana

An expensive card, I know, I'm trying not to throw these on, but sometimes they're necessary, and this one definitely is.

With Mother Khala you gain +1 HP, which again, isn't that significant for this card as it was for War Cha'ang, unfortunately, +1 Health tends to matter for certain things, like Poison/Earthquake and reaching an odd number of health to survive an extra round.

General Sloan makes this monster a 3 Ranged, healing tank that's just an absolute mess to deal with and severely empowers your 60+ Mana teams.

This card is PHENOMENAL in most rulesets, put him in Earthquake, Poison, No Melee, Close Ranged, Snipe. He is also an excellent card to play Unprotected. Avoid using him in Reverse Speed, No Heals, and Equalizer

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DEATH SPLINTER | The Undead | Shadows | & The Void

#1: Legionnaire Alvar | High Mana Anti Magic Tank

Melee | Low Speed | Void Armor | High Mana

He's back, you've got Bone Golem, who's your standard anti-magic monster who can't hit the broad side of a barn, but that's okay: You can replace him with this guy as a main tank.

With Contessa, you've now got the Armor to deal with Magic and Melee, and the -1 Range debuff to deal with Ranged, making for a pretty solid generalist tank.

With Thaddius, you've got basically the same thing going on as Bortus, but with an added benefit of -1 Health on your opponents as well.

He pairs nicely with a Repair at his back, hello Scavo Hireling, and don't worry you'll be able to use Scavo Hireling with some other (fantastic) Death monsters later on in my Death Acquisitions.

This card is a pretty solid addition to Death for most rulesets, put him in Earthquake, Armored, Melee Attacks from Anywhere, Supersneak, Broken Arrows and Reverse Speed. Avoid using him in Equalizer, Unprotected, Poison, and No Abilities

#2: Doctor Blight | Little League Affliction/Camo

Magic | Low Speed | Anti-Heal | Anti-Sneak/Snipe | Little League

Another one showing up again: Doctor Blight is back in Death, to bring his Camo/Affliction to the Death Splinter for 4 Mana. With Thaddius, Doctor Blight has an easier time knocking out the competition, and is less threatened by magic. This doesn't help Blight specifically, but with the right front-facing tanks, a magic team won't ever reach Blight in the first place.

With Contessa, you're eliminating ranged, which will allow you to survive longer and use Blight to his fullest against a team like General Sloan.

I like to use him against Life and Earth when I have one rented, but he's not as effective against other Death teams and Fire teams, where they do not rely on Healing as much.

This monster is pretty good in Reverse Speed, Low Mana, Equalizer, but avoid using him in Poison and Earthquake where he lacks the health to survive.

#3: Halfing Alchemist | Ultra Low Mana Halving Attacker

Ranged | Low Speed | Halving | Ultra Low Mana

This card is phenomenal in all situations: If you can afford it, Halfling is a solid choice for every splinter, under any situation. Halving is just that good.

That being said, Death utilizes attacking debuffs for its summoners, and that makes Halfling arguably the most potent with Death early on, and his low mana cost improves Death's low mana presence significantly

Paired with Contessa and a shield tank up front, he can effectively shut down Ranged AND Melee attackers, while not being able to be nerfed by another Contessa.

With Thaddius, Halfling Alchemist will shut out any magic damage that squeezes through, and also offers a more generalized set of debuffs for any high damage ranged or melee outliers.

This card is PHENOMENAL in most rulesets, it's easier just to say when NOT to use him: Avoid using him in Poison and Earthquake. That's basically it.

Giveaway!

As usual, I have a giveaway for you guys, and this time let's make it a bit juicier than usual: I won't be announcing the location of this giveaway, my more loyal readers will find themselves a chance to get a Uraeus ;) Enjoy guys

You do NOT need to upvote, tip, or follow, but these all help me continue to do what I'm doing!

Good luck to everyone, the commenters will be chosen via Wheel of Names when the post pays out.

A few rules:

Comment on this post with your IGN
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Have Fun!

𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟 𝕌𝕡 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕊𝕡𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕨!

Wanna collect these and MANY more Neutral cards? if you use my link, here:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=jakkal
I'll send you 100 DEC when you sign up and get a spellbook, (as long as you show up as referred) which should help you get started via renting! Also, feel free to message me, I can answer any questions, give tips, etc

Also, for a limited time you'll be able to get a free Gargoya Lion as well! Just comment if you have done so!