This week's battle challenge involves the Angelic Mandarin! The Angelic Mandarin is a Water splinter Range monster that has some exceptional uses. This card is a niche card but can work well in certain situations.
Angelic Mandarin Highlights
The Angelic Mandarin at first glance isn't great. It isn't particularly strong or fast but it does have a decent amount of health for a 3 mana card. For a ranged card, it's not a bad one to stick at the very back to help protect against Sneak attacks.
| Icon | Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Triage | Heals the friendly back-line Monster that has taken the most damage (Heal is max health divided by 3, rounded down. Minimum is 2) |
 | Silence | Reduces the Magic Attack of all enemy Monsters by 1 |
In Bronze League, it's likely you'll use this card a filler or an odd tank. In Silver, however, it gains Triage which actually makes it an excellent Sneak protector. At max level, it gains Silence which is an incredibly useful ability to help fight against Magic attackers.
So when do I use the Angelic Mandarin?
- Honestly, below Silver, it's likely only going to be used when you're extremely limited on what you can play
- Some use cases are as a low mana tank/meat shield or a filler to help take out some frontline Armor while protecting the back
- In Silver, Triage can save you from Sneak damage or even Poison! Pair this with the Wave Brood and you've got yourself a hard monster to kill
- At max level, it gains Silence which can be a very useful ability
- Close Range is a good ruleset for this card
This Week's Featured Battle
In this week's featured battle, we have Kelya Frendul versus Mylor Crowling in Back to Basic battle with no magic!
Battle Ruleset
 | Back to Basics | Monsters lose all abilities |
|---|---|---|
 | Lost Magic | Monsters with Magic attack may not be used in battles |
 | 17 Mana | This is considered a low mana battle |
 | Active Splinters | All splinters except Fire and Death are available |
- Back to Basics
- Bring out the Magic attackers!
- Magic attackers have a huge advantage since they ignore Armor and can attack from any position
- Obsidian is a very popular choice
- Lost Magic
- Uh oh. No Magic and Back to Basics? Armor is VERY important here
- Try to balance health, armor, and good Ranged attackers
- This may require you to play more than one tank
- 17 Mana
- This is a low Mana battle so don't expect to many strong monsters
In this set of rules, it's obvious that you will need some Ranged damage since it'll be the only thing that can attack from the backline. I went with Kelya as my Summoner because without Magic, Armor is key. Additionally, the speed boost will help with some evasion
Also, I noticed that my opponent plays Mylor Crowling a lot. This is a super sneaky play in Back to Basics without Magic because it can really tear up any Melee tanks. Because of this, I tried to avoid using Melee monsters if possible.
This led me to use the Angelic Mandarin as a third tank! It's got a good amount of health and will not be subject to thorns. The range damage doesn't hurt either!
The Lineup
| Position | Card Image | Card Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summoner |  | Crypt Mancer | Legendary Death summoner that grants a -1 Melee, -1 Speed, and -1 Health debuff to the enemy monsters |
| Pos 1 (tank) |  | Furious Chicken | This is a "tank" since it can take 2 hits before dying. No melee attack is a plus since I was expecting thorns. It also costs 0 mana |
| Pos 2 (tank) |  | Torrent Fiend | Similar to the Furious Chicken, this can take 2 attacks and costs 0 mana |
| Pos 3 (tank/attacker) |  | Angelic Mandarin | Great tank for only 3 mana |
| Pos 4 (attacker) |  | Igor Darkspear | Only 2 mana and can attack from the backline |
| Pos 5 (attacker) |  | Merdhampir | Strong, low mana ranged attacker |
| Pos 6 (attacker) |  | Kulu Swimhunter | Similar to the Merdhampir, it's a strong, low mana attacker |
Let's Battle!
- My opponent played Mylor Crowling as expected.
- This played perfectly into my plan since their backline monsters were all slow and weak
- Kelya with Ranged attackers was the perfect play
- Ultimately, I did too much damage for them to handle and won the battle
Did it work?
Yes! My backline was able to completely demolish the enemy and Angelic Mandarin ended up being a good tank.
I analyzed the battle with Splintertools and was given a 100% chance of winning the battle. That is always great to see!
Final Thoughts
The Angelic Mandarin isn't great at low levels but gets much better once it gains Triage! Because of that, it costs a bit more than you would expect at $0.21/BCX.
Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it!
Referral link : https://splinterlands.com?ref=at.bui89
If you decide to use my referral link, I'll happily send you a few cards to help you get started!
Your opponent is likely to be just spamming Mylor. I often see this kind of spamming strategy specially at the start of the season. I am guessing that they want to rise up the ranks quickly.
I also found your strategy guide very useful.
Thanks for sharing.
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