Not only since the introduction of the SPS Rewards, the Brawls are a highlight for many Splinterland players. There are many factors that make the Brawls a special experience.
Celebrating successes together and also going through defeats together to become better inspires and builds team spirit.
I still remember how confused I was at the first Brawls when the veteran opponents came to the field with cards that seemed to be completely overpowered!
From my point of view, the Gladius cards are one of the main reasons why the Brawls are so much fun.
Not only because they are very strong, but also because they are rare and it takes a long time to build up a good deck of them.
I'll be going over all the Gladius cards in a small series of articles and we'll look together at how and where they can be used. To keep it all organized I will go through splinter by splinter.
Here are the links to the other parts of this series:
Feel the wrath of nature
When you think of Earth Splinter's Gladius cards, you think of Quora Towershead. And admittedly Quora is so strong that there is before and after. Before you have a Quora in your collection, you hate her. Once you have the card, you love her and can't wait to play her again. At least that's how it is for me personally.
But the Earth Splinter offers more than just Quora and here all cards should be regarded.
Earth has 3 pure melee, one ranged and 2 magic cards to choose from. Among these 6 cards there is something for every mana range, but let's look at the cards one by one.
Bertrol Gobson
The first of the two Gobsons, Bertrol Gobson, is a nasty little fellow. With a cost of only 2 mana and opportunity, he is a good choice for low mana battles and Little League.
He has good attack speed and is always a threat with Opportunity. From level 6 he has Poison, which helps him against Armor. With Armor he can be countered relatively easy.
He gets along well with many of the Earth Splinter summoners, but Immortalis and the Wizard of Eastwood deserve special mention.
Katrelba Gobson
Katrelba is the second Gobson and no less deadly than her brother. With the combination of Sneak and Double Strike she belongs to the kind of cards with very big potential. The attack speed is good and so is the damage, only the defense is a bit weak. But the card would be too strong otherwise.
From level 5 there is another counter against flying enemies with Snare. A really good card, but with a cost of 6 mana not as often to play as you might think.
For cards with Sneak, rulesets like Unprotectet or Explosive Weaponry are good. She also work well with Immortalis and the Wizard.
Cutter Brieze
The only Gladius card for only 1 mana has rather unspectacular stats at level 1. From level 3, however, already 2 damage at 5 speed. Later Cutter gets the ability Shatter. In general, the card is rather average, but for only 1 mana sometimes a good choice.
All rulesets that favor ranged fighters also help this card. Earth has 2 summoners for ranged fighters with Prince Rennyn and Fernheart, these two are especially good for Cutter. But also the Wizard is helpful.
Palidon Rakk
Earth also needs a guy who can hit hard. Here his name is Palidon Rakk. He has a high number of hit points and moderate melee damage. At level 4 he also gets the Stun ability. In my eyes an average tank. The mana cost of 7 seems fair for the stats.
For Palidon, rules like equal opportunity, super sneak and meele mayhem are good. Since he only has 2 attack speed, he also benefits from Aim True, thanks to Stun additionally from Knock Out.
In general, he is a candidate for matches in which no magic cards can be used.
He is helped by summoners that strengthen his defense, such as Immortalis or Mylor. Also a good card, but often others are better suited.
Quora Towershead
Well, Quora would actually be worth a separate article. Hardly any card from the Gladius set is as dominant as she is, even though she is "only" Epic. The healing paired with 11 hit points make it a very strong tank. Once she has a kill on her account, she is almost unstoppable. From level 3 she has immunity and there is almost no weapon against her. The best strategy is to take her out in round 1, but that is easier said than done. Especially with the new Matyr cards, these can be used as triggers for the Quora Snowball.
Their only weakness is the high cost, but sometimes it is enough to play only one card in a low mana battle, at least if it is Quora. She can be played with all summoners. There are few restrictions on the rules as well, only back to basics is not her favorite rule.
while we are on the subject of Quora I don't want to miss to mention that since last week I am one of the proud 376 owners of a Gold Foil Quora! Fancy, isn't it?
Jini Guise
Enchanting Jini is also an interesting card. With a mana cost of 4, it's perfect for Little League, but it's also quite useful elsewhere. Unfortunately, she only gets her debuffs at level 2 and 3, but Protect, which she already has at level 1, is also useful. Together with Queen Mycelia you can upgrade your board with 4 armor.
It is not as dependent on the ruleset as other cards and can therefore be used often. Unfortunately it suffers from the dominance of Quora, but with the New Summoners and the new Gladius rule it might be used more often soon!
Summary
The Gladius set of Earth Splinter, as mentioned, is dominated by Quora, but there are also good cards in this set besides her. With the new summoners and the Gladius rule, it will be possible to use multiple Gladius cards. Then we may also see the other cards more often.
Finally, I have a small demonstration of Quora's abilities for you... just in case you have never had the pleasure yourself.
Pictures
Splinterlands.com
Splintercards.com
pixabay.com
Translation