I truly find the rewards cards addition for the Life Splinter are very unique. But it is in the sense that most of the cards seemed to be inferior compared to reward cards from other Splinter. Nevertheless these new cards fill particular role which make less flexible to fill other necessary roles.
NIMBLEDOOK EXPLORER
Nimbledook Explorer is a pure Support card having no attacks and possess Protect as its main strength. This card is the exact replacement for Truthspeaker under the modern format; except that this card gained better parameter for its extra mana. Nimbledook Explorer gained tremendous status growth reaching up to 4 armor and 7 health. The armor leveraged by the addition of Armored Strike ability dealing a total 6 damage! (4 armor + 2 from Protect). This great damage would be more menacing if combined with Flank or played under Melee Mayhem. Lastly but not least is Heal which very convenience to have for a 7 health card. With all the mentioned factors taken, this card is almost the powerful version of Truthspeaker.
LUCEHEIM DEMON
Life Splinter never lack alternatives for mid mana ranged cards. But under modern format, there's few ranged card departing from collection (Lone Boatman, Silvershield Sheriff, and Hero of Beyond). Luceheim Demon enter to balance the need for mid to high mana ranged cards. Luceheim Demon is more of Tanker card rather than Striker, considering it gained no damage growth. Nevertheless armor and health grow significantly until max level. Abilities seemed to contrary with the parameter. Cleanse and Triage put this card more suitable as Support card. In the end, the lack of speed, make Luceheim Demon damage less effective which thus it best to put it in the last as blocker on Sneak attack while keeping Cleanse running.
JANNI REBEL
Its another back row Tanker - Support hybrid. Janni Rebel is almost the equivalent of Luceheim Demon but for magic damage. This card gained major growth on health, but balanced with minor damage and speed. Deploying Inspire using this 9 mana card will be too costly. Other than that, as a magic card this card have more versatility between front or back row. Especially with Flank and Divine Shield, front row is the best position for this card.
SKYSPIRE LEOPARD
Skyspire Leopard is a very solid mid mana 'Tanker'. The main reason due to its Retaliate ability. Only few of modern format cards to posses that ability. War Chang used to be the one to possess Retaliate at very early level. Crystal Jaguar might be a close comparison, having equal armor and health, except that Skyspire Leopard posses much tremendous damage. Void Armor could be collateral defense against incoming magic damage. The only weakness come of this card is the imbalance between speed and damage, which make this card very vulnerable to missed its attack.
OLIVIA OF THE BROOK
Olivia Of The Brook is the first card to have Opportunity combined with dual attack type. Nevertheless this card useful at lower leagues. But on higher league, the fell behind from its insignificant growth on overall parameter. The only thing which make this card precious is that peculiar Mimic ability. But this ability is a wild card. We can't know for sure if an ability would be suitable for certain battle. Even so, the Mimic only works on 2nd round forward, which means this card more suitable on mid mana battle which could go on the long run. Reflection Shield are just a gimmick addition to the card.
FRIGID WOLF
Similar to all other splinters, Frigid Wolf is the 1 mana card addition to the collection. Fortunately this card possessed Charge It is one of the best target-altering ability, since its not affected under Fog Of War ruleset.
GALLICUS
Lastly the legendary reward card of Life Splinter. And single questions would come at once "Who would design Taunt into a 4 mana card?!". From Alpha to Rebellion edition, Wave Brood which cost 8 mana is the lowest mana card to possess Taunt ability. It need a card with bulky health and armor for Taunt to work efficiently. Whereas this card only posses 5 health at start and then again gained no growth at all up to max level! Fortunately there is Shield and Strengthen which buffer this card.
My only hypothesis, Gallicus was designed specifically for the Little League ruleset, since this card cost only 4 mana. And only under that specific conditions that this card could shone up (and that exactly what I meant early by inflexible roles).
VERDICT
In my own opinion, I would declare these are the pecking order of the cards above from the best to the least and considering their specialization:
- Nimbledook Explorer
- Frigid Wolf
- Skyspire Leopard
- Olivia The Brook
- Janni Rebel
- Luceheim Demon
- Gallicus
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