Introduction
Hi everyone! Welcome to another edition of the Splinterlands Social Media Challenge brought to you by The Jedo! This week, I will share two awesome battles I have experienced while playing in Modern Ranked! These were encountered during last season's grind and I can't wait to share these with you!
I currently play in Modern Diamond League and usually hit Champion 3 closer to the end of the season. I used to try to compete for Gold League Leaderboards back when league locks were a thing. Ever since the removal of league locks, I have been automating my account in Wild League to spend accrued energy and collect Glint. I knew SPS rewards were better in Modern and I would dedicate a few hours, usually on a weekend, to manually play my account and advance in the standings. Over time, I realized I could go toe to toe with a lot of the Diamond players and decided I should play more often than initially planned. I have yet to try competing past Champion 3 but who knows? Maybe someday you'd see me battling consistently in the Champ League!
Battle 1 vs @lucarezzza
The first battle I would like to share with you features a mirror match against Lucarezzza. Mana Cap is 19 with the Water, Earth, and Death Splinters active. Rules of the match are Earthquake, Stampede, and Shades of Gray.
The Shades of Gray Ruleset limits your Monster selection to just Neutral units. For summoners, you can only select from the Active Splinters. Given a low mana cap, you need to be really selective on which units you want to play. I went with Risqruel Drath as my summoner to give my units Flying, basically negating the Earthquake ruleset. Halfling Refugee, a very popular one-mana tank, led my team into battle with Venka, another popular card from the Rebellion set, stood in my backline and was ready to Charge at any moment. I included Chaos Agent and placed him in the 6th position for Sneak protection as I expected to see Uraeus in this low mana cap match. I also played my Elanor Bravefoot to deal additional damage by at least chipping away opposing units' armor or health. She was a no-brainer add considering her cost. For my last unit, I debated on using Uraeus but ultimately decided to play Scavo Hireling instead for a little speed debuff to my opponent.
During the Tactics Stage, I was surprised to see an almost exact lineup on the opposite side of the battlefield! The only difference is that I have Scavo Hireling for speed manipulation and my opponent had Uraeus for firepower. To think that I almost played Uraeus, too! I needed to decide quickly on whether I would use the Taunt tactic from my Squirrel or True Strike. True Strike + Impede seemed like the better choice so I gave these abilities to Halfling Refugee and to Venka. My opponent, having the same tactic options available, gave Uraeus and his very own Venka the same abilities. Now it all comes down to who gets to strike first knowing that either Venka can attack from anywhere and can go on a rampage with the Trample ability, amplified by the Stampede ruleset.
The X-Factor in this battle was SPEED. After all buffs, debuffs, tactics, and other effects have been applied, my Venka wound up having the highest speed an therefore attacked first. As a player who has been playing since 2021, I have seen my fair share of enemies trampling over my units. This time, I get to connect this insane combo, and man, was it satisfying to witness! My opponent didn't even get the chance to react! This play reminds me of those one-turn kills playing Magic the Gathering where the other player couldn't do anything else but watch a combo go off!
Have you ever done this in a Splinterlands battle? Let me know!
Battle 1 link HERE
Battle 2 vs @redxvipers
Battle number 2 features the strong and mighty Heloise the Hollow! As much as I wanted her to battle alongside my units, she was on the other end of the arena ready to wreak some havoc to my lineup! It's also quite rare for me to encounter Heloise considering the league I play in (I think she's more often found in Champion League battles). It's like spotting an extremely rare creature in the wild!
Rulesets were as follows: Odd Ones Out, Melee Mayhem, and Silenced Summoners. All Splinters were active in this match! With a 47 Mana Cap, there were plenty of card combinations available to play or experiment with! Just needed to pay attention to the chosen summoner since no summoner abilities will be active.
I chose a less frequently played Dragon Summoner whose name is Sthispa. I could have picked Quix instead or a 3-mana, dual element summoner but I really felt like Sthispa needed some love. I went with the Water Splinter to pair with Dragon. I placed Mantaroth, a sturdy and offensive tank, in 1st position. I also wanted utilize Agor Longtail in the 6th position as a rear tank that can attack from the backline with both his melee (Melee Mayhem ruleset) and magical attacks. Aside from self Heal, he also has Taunt that can cause distraction and lead attackers away from my other monsters. Since only odd numbered monsters can be played, I knew I wouldn't see Dr. Blight nor Goblin Psychic, popular cards with Affliction, on the opposing team, and I did not need to worry about Agor not being able to heal himself. I played support cards in Daarg Deadblast, Spirit Hoarder, and Angelic Mandarin, further sustaining Agor with Triage. Merdaali Guardian was also selected for this battle. Not only can she Heal my frontline tank and repair allied units' armor, but she can also deal magical damage thanks to Daarg's Weapons Training ability.
After submitting my team, I was shocked to see how many heavy hitters were in front of me! My opponent's lineup included Heloise the Hollow, Venka the Vile, and Delya, who are all maxed out and therefore have all their abilities unlocked! Leading the charge is the flying tank Pelacor Mercenary. RedxVipers also had his own version of Taunt in Mycelic Slipspawn. A level 6 Fungus Flinger was also present, probably for the Blind debuff to my team. Aside from being another unit that Heloise can Soul Siphon from, I don't see any other reason to have this 3-mana card out on the field. It would not be giving Martyr bonuses to the planned focus fire to Slipspawn or to Heloise. Or would it...?
The enemy backline ganged up on my Agor, while the tanks from both teams stood their ground in front. Thankfully, my team had enough sustain abilities to ensure Agor's survival and had low enough damage to ignore Slipspawn's Forcefield. Mantaroth's blast from Armor Strike dealt the killing blow to Slipspawn and his follow-up melee attack damaged Pelacor Mercenary a second time, spreading collateral damage to Fungus Flinger.
My team then went after the next monster unit with Taunt. In this case, it's Heloise. Merdaali Guardian brought Heloise's life to zero and hence triggered the Spite ability. Lucky enough, Heloise missed her attack, mainly due to Merdaali Guardian's speed plus the added Blind from my Spirit Hoarder. Phew!
Heloise then came back to life and started Soul Siphoning her allies. This ensured her recovery and preparation for another Opportunity attack when she's ready. Delya attacked the taunting Agor and missed 1 out of 2 shots. Venka connected with a solid melee damage but only after Agor had healed himself. Agor's attack hit Heloise, killing her for the 2nd time this game. I braced myself for another Spite attack but Heloise missed.... again! What is going on here?!
Self-resurrect triggers another time for Heloise and then siphons the soul of the next available unit, the enemy Venka. Pelacor Mercenary and Mantaroth traded blows, killing Fungus Flinger from Blast damage and boosting both of the Mercenary and Heloise's stats from the Martyr ability. Daarg Deadblast sent a magical attack to Heloise, killing her another time this game, but it is not without vengeance. Heloise, with another Spite opportunity, made sure she connected a whopping 9 damage to my Weapons Trainer. As expected, she revived herself one last time, siphoning the soul of the remaining non-exhausted unit, Delya.
Here come the final highlights of the match. Delya and Venka with back to back.. TO BACK misses to my Agor and my Merdaali Guardian, though making herself vulnerable from Spite, dealt the final nail in the coffin to ensure Heloise stays eliminated. The rest of my surviving units made quick work of the remaining enemy team bringing me all the glory in defeating this Heloise-led lineup.
Battle 2 link HERE
Final Words
So there you have it! Two epic battles from yours truly for this week's edition of the Splinterlands Social Media Challenge! Playing this game, even though it gets frustrating at times, can still be so much fun! I understand that I have still so much to learn and some of my wins might be from sheer luck or getting on the good side of the RNG gods. Some might be actual good plays that other players can learn from. Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this article and if you have questions, comments, or feedback for me, please let me know! Let's all learn and grow together and set each other up for success! Vonak! Together We Thrive, Kapamilya!
Instant Followed!! Keep up the great work and welcome to Hive posting!
Much appreciated!
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