Hello everybody! This is my first ever article on a topic which I hope will be helpful for a lot of Bronze and Silver players. Please feel free to give me any constructive feedback and ideas for further posts if you have any. I hope you enjoy reading or scrolling through this!
Before Chaos Legion, there was Alric the Stormbringer. Now there is Obsidian; a 4-mana cost Summoner which gives +1 Magic to all Monsters. This has led to Earth Magic being one of the most spammed decks in Bronze and Silver with a high win rate.
Today I am going to give my opinion on how every deck can counter this. I'll even name specific cards which I like or think are worth renting/buying if you want to beat the Earth Magic meta.
Pros and cons of Earth Magic
We need to first analyse the playstyle of an average Earth Magic spammer in order to formulate suitable counters.
Pros:
• magic attacks ignore armor and have no chance to miss
• Regal Peryton is is very elusive, with 5 speed and Flying at Level 1
• most of the cards are starter cards, even including a heal|
Cons:
• most of the monsters have low speed and low Health Points (HP)
• reliant on heals to sustain the big beefy tank in front
• most of the staple magic attackers do not have any Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity
General Strategy:
Your best friends will be Sneak, Snipe and Opportunity monsters. You can also try using Affliction, but I find that to be hit-or-miss because Affliction only has a 50% chance of triggering.
• ignore the tank in front
• you can bring Affliction if you want (to stop the healing)
• use monsters with Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity to take out the opponent's squishy backline
• use fast monsters
• use squishy monsters who deal a lot of damage (since they typically have no Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity)
Let's move into specifics.
FIRE DECK
The plan is to use Tarsa with a beefy tank and damage dealers behind it.
There are two, arguably three cards which you can use in the front line for your team. I recommend purchasing or renting the Grum Flameblade, Tusk the Wide and/or the Venari Heatsmith.
For the longest time, Fire has been weak against Magic. Well not anymore! I love love love this card. With 5 Void Armor and 10 HP, he can survive 1-2 rounds of punishment from any full Magic team while your monsters kill off the backline. I use him in high-mana games. At the time of writing, 1 bcx of Grum Flameblade costs $12.35.
Probably my most used card out of the three. Has high hitpoints, Void, moderate damage and costs a moderate amount of mana as well. At the time of writing, 1 bcx of Grum Flameblade costs $1.786.
Cheap tank; I rarely use him and only recommend him for low-mana battles. With 2 Void Armor and 2 HP, this card can soak up at least 2 attacks before dying. I recommend to level this up as much as you can if you are using it because it is one of the cheapest cards on the market (1 bcx costs $0.034 at the moment) and having more armor and HP makes it a better tank.
For damage dealers, I recommend the Serpentine Spy, Tenyii Striker and Kobold Miner.
Starter card, don't have to buy him. Amazing in conjunction with Tarsa + Tenyii Striker.
Starter card, don't have to buy him. Amazing in conjunction with Tarsa + Serpentine Spy.
At the time of writing, 1 bcx costs $9.714 to buy. Pricey, but so good in conjunction with Tarsa. 2 damage for 2 mana at Level 1!
WATER DECK
There are two routes here for summoners: Kelya Frendul or Bortus. Bortus is better 90% of the time but if your opponent is mixing up magic with melee/ranged attacks you might want to consider the former.
Combined with Bortus, these are the three recommended tanks. What they all have in common is the Void ability. This makes magic damage only tickle these monsters while your other monsters kill the mages.
One of my favourite cards in the game! People are sleeping on this card and I think $5.29 for it is an absolute steal. It has Void at Level 1 and at Level 2 in Silver, it even gets Phase, which allows it to dodge magic attacks with its high speed. Remember how many of the mages in Earth only have 1 speed? With 6 speed (Kelya +1), Djinn Oshannus gets to dodge so many of the magic attacks.
A new Chaos Legion legendary card. I have not played with this card before, nor have I bought it. However, in theory, this works the same as Oshannus. A huge amount of hitpoints for only 6 mana. With Void, magic attacks will take a long time to get through Baakjira. Plus, it even slows the enemy team, giving your monsters a higher opportunity to strike first and kill those pesky mages. At the time of writing, 1 bcx of Baakjira costs $12.28.
An older card, but still very strong. Has armor so it is good against melee/ranged/magic all at the same time. 4 damage at Level 1! It hits like a truck with Kelya; with Bortus it is nearly invincible. With Torhilo, you can deviate from the normal strategy of killing the backline first. With 4 damage (5 with inspire), you can even just focus down the enemy tank and kill it in the first round to get to the squishier magicians at the back. At the time of writing, 1 bcx of Torhilo the Frozen costs $7.97.
Monsters which I like for the Water deck include, but are not limited to:
One of the best Chaos Legion starter cards; levelling it up makes it even more deadly. Good damage, good HP, and good speed (goes up to 3 speed if you use Kelya).
A cheaper version of the Deeplurker, albeit not as good in lower leagues without Scavenge. You could consider levelling it up as 1 bcx only costs $0.60 at the time of writing.
This is also one of my favourite cards in the game. Double Strike allows you to kill the enemy's tank/taunt monster really quickly. 2 damage x 2 = 4 damage per round; that's crazy! At the time of writing, 1 bcx of the Axemaster costs $9.74.
Affliction is always good against Earth Magic! If you go for this card, you might want to focus your fire on the enemy's first position; which means less Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity and just more raw damage to kill off the enemy's tank quickly while it is afflicted. At the time of writing, 1 bcx of the Captains Ghost costs $2.41.
Remember how I said with Bortus, your tanks are nearly invincible? Throw in a Merdaali Guardian and whatever damage your tank takes will be erased! Full HP while your other monsters wreak havoc! I've won games before without losing a single monster with the Djinn Oshannus + Merdaali Guardian combo.
My favourite Chaos Legion Rewards card! Good speed + flying, low mana cost, good damage! This is a beast sneak card, and ridiculously cheap too at $0.042 per bcx at the time of writing.
An older version of the Pelacor Bandit; serves the same purpose. Can be used together with it for Double Sneak. Since it is an older card, it is more expensive and costs $2.68 for 1 copy of the Level 1 card.
LIFE DECK
For the life deck, for the purposes of countering magic, the summoner actually doesn't really matter here. Feel free to play any summoner you like. The monsters are what are important here.
For me, the most important card in the Life Deck is the Venari Crystalsmith ($0.15 per bcx at the time of writing).
In Silver, once it is Level 4, it has good damage (even better with Sloan), good speed and HP. Most importantly, it will heal up your tank while your other monsters do damage!
There are two main strategies I use to counter magic with the Life Deck.
In high mana games, I go Clay Golem + Crystal Werewolf. Again, the focus is to mitigate that pesky +1 Magic Damage from Obsidian.
Although it is slow, it hits like a truck and has good survivability with the Void and decent HP. Paired with the Venari Crystalsmith, it could potentially survive for quite a long time. It is such a good card that it goes for $5 per bcx at the time of writing so you could consider renting this instead if you are having problems dealing with Magic.
Further cutting back on the amplified magic damage. The Silence ability combined with the Void ability of the Clay Golem means that they will not be doing little to no damage to you. Make sure you have the damage to kill the enemy's deck though. Even more expensive than the Clay Golem, the Crystal Werewolf comes in at $10.30 per bcx at the time of writing. Highly suggested to rent instead.
The second strategy costs less mana and is more fun but only applicable in Silver League and above. It is the Pelacor Conjurer (Level 4) and the Dax Paragon (Level 2).
The Pelacor Conjurer is a cheap ($0.04 per bcx) but very powerful card. At Level 4, it gains Magic Reflect, which reflects the Magic Damage back at the low HP monsters in Earth. It also has Flying and 4 Speed so it is good against melee attacks. But the next bit is the true magic to this combo (no pun intended)..
At Level 2, the Dax Paragon gains the ability Amplify, which amplifies all reflected damage. Once paired with the Pelacor Conjurer, each magic attack is reflected 100% back at the 1-2 HP monsters in the Earth Deck. As mentioned above, the Venari Crystalsmith, if used, will keep healing up the Pelacor Conjurer while you watch your opponent's magic damage kill himself. It is a hilarious strategy and so much fun to play.
P.S. At the time of writing, it costs $6.295 to purchase a Level 2 Dax Paragon to gain access to the Amplify ability.
DEATH DECK
Similar to water, there are two prime choices for my summoners here: Owster Rotwell or Thaddius Brood.
Owster Rotwell is the anti-magic summoner. It causes all your monsters to reflect back magic damage to its attackers. When playing Owster, just make sure all your monsters have high HP; don't worry too much about damage. I've even won games against magic decks by picking 6 melee monsters who die and take turns tanking/reflecting the damage back at the low HP magic attackers in Earth. It's hilarious and a lot of fun to play.
This is included in the starter deck. It nerfs Obsidian not only by taking away the +1 magic damage, it even goes the extra mile and gives -1 HP to all enemy monsters, making them easier to kill. For tanks, just use any high HP monster (Bone Golem and Cursed Windeku are my two favourites) with a bunch of Sneak and Snipe monsters at the back.
Just like water, we already know how strong -1 Magic Damage and the Void ability is. The Bone Golem will take a long time to die while your monsters go to work. A starter card, no need to be purchased.
One of the best tanks in the game in my opinion. A very strong Chaos Legion card; almost always a must-play in any Death deck. Also a starter card.
The star damage-dealer of the Death deck! Good speed, good damage, good HP, relatively affordable mana cost. Use this to strike at the backlines! Death starter cards are pretty good on their own.
More sneak! Kill them from the back! Included in the starter deck.
An opportunity monster or two is always good. This is a starter card so you do not have to spend any money unless you want to upgrade it.
Same goes for Snipe. Remember, we don't want to be hitting their tank. We want to be hitting the other monsters. This starter card will hopefully kill the pesky healer behind the Earth tank.
DRAGON DECK
Dragon isn't exactly a deck on its own because most people select a Dragon summoner and go back for monsters from other decks. Nevertheless, I would like to point two monsters and strategies which I think are quite interesting and could potentially solve the Magic Damage problem.
First strategy: Void Armor + Repair
I first learnt about this strategy from a top Splinterlands content creator called Bulldog1205. His guides have been invaluable to me as a new player and I've learnt so much from him. 10/10 would recommend.
This monster effectively has 11 HP against Magic and only costs 6 mana. The ability Void Armor means that unlike other monsters, magic damage will first hit its 7 armor before its 4 HP. Combined with a "Repair" Ability, this monster can prove to be quite survivable. Examples of monsters with the Repair ability which you could use are the Armorsmith or the starter card Scavo Hireling. 1 bcx of this card only costs $0.468 at the time of writing.
Although it is cheap at 2 mana, 1 bcx of this card now currently costs $4.09! If you don't already have this card, I recommend the next card.
This card is free because it is a starter card AND it can be used together with any deck because it is a neutral monster.
Second strategy: Void + Healing
A Legendary monster which I think is severely underrated. At Level 1, it has 5 speed and Flying, making it almost impossible to be hit by melee tanks (Living Lava I am looking at you 😂). What it lacks in damage it makes up for in survivability. Just pair it with a healer and your front line should last a while while your other monsters kill the opponent's. Examples of healers I like are the Venari Crystalsmith from the Life Deck and the Merdaali Guardian from the Water Deck. 1 bcx of this card costs $6.07 at the time of writing.
NEUTRAL CARDS
Here are some very versatile cards which can be used in conjunction with any deck and could help you destroy annoying Earth Magic users.
A cheap neutral sneak monster, can be paired with any other sneaks in other decks. If you place it in the last position, it is also decent at protecting against sneak because it has armor. 1 bcx of this card only costs $0.65 at the time of writing, although I would recommend levelling it up to Level 2 to gain 1 extra damage.
A more expensive 9-mana sneak monster with monstrous damage. I play this when the mana cap allows for it and especially when my opponent plays a Mycelic Slipspawn. The 5 damage at Level 1 is more than enough to chew through the taunt ability quickly. At the time of writing, 1 bcx of the Sand Worm costs $1.78 to buy.
You also have Opportunity monsters in the form of the Battering Ram and the Parasitic Growth, but I think those are far too expensive to justify buying at this point in time, especially since they are not very good until you level them up. You can perhaps consider a Mantoid (a starter card) for the Snipe, but the Centaur ($2.498 per bcx) and Dwarven Wizard ($32.99 per bcx) I would not recommend buying.
Last but not least, I would like to say that I have experienced some degree of success using Dr Blight for his affliction ability, which stops the Goblin Psychic from healing the tank (usually the Unicorn Mustang) and he does deserve an honorable mention. However, affliction only has a 50% chance to trigger and if you are unlucky, his tank will continue healing and decimating your team. For more consistent counters, use any of the other strategies I have mentioned above. It is also worth mentioning that Dr Blight is an extremely expensive promo card, coming in at $107 per copy at the time of writing.
GIVEAWAY
I am nothing but a small player in this game trying to have fun and write about a game I really enjoy playing. As this is my first post, I will give away one of my favourite cards which I think is severely undervalued: 1 bcx of the Pelacor Conjurer!
To enter the giveaway, just:
• upvote the blog post - 1 entry
• comment anything under the post - 1 entry
• provide feedback in the comments section below - 1 entry
• reblog my post - 1 entry
• provide ideas for future blog posts - 2 entries
As you can see, you can earn up to 6 entries in the giveaway by completing one or more of the steps above! The winner will be selected using this wheel .
Thank you for reading my first article. I really hope to improve my writing skills as well as the cards I might be giving away next time. Until then, I hope this post was informative and/or entertaining.
Are there any other strategies that you use to deal with Magic spammers? Did I give any wrong information? Feel free to leave feedback in the comments section. See you next time; peace out!
Count me in, upvoted
@davideownzall
I noticed the same thing, obsidian Is the new alric but Monsters are really slow so alric Is Just way Better and Always wins, imo water with oshannus Is the best counter
For future you could set strategie to deal with lama kron low mana or zaku
Count me in @amaillo-m
First post, huh, usually people preffer to make a introductory post (those are good voted), but anyways, welcome
Comment: Thanks! @relf87
Feedback: This article is useful and I noticed that I have avoided using Earth magic too often these days.
Future Idea: How about analysing how to counter Life Range (especially with Pelacor Arbalest)?
Upvoted too!
@henruc
Count me in! @onefapman
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