The call by the Lord of Darkness was clear Hunt the Chaos Legion and destroy
The highly intelligent creepers of darkness manoeuvred their way toward their prey, using pheromones to slow their targets while they devour their live prey.
Rule Set
I am very happy with the range of options here with regards to the Splinters available. I am recently enjoying the Dragon deck and I have a good idea for the rest of the ruleset as well. This should be a fun battle to use the Cursed Windeku in.
Speed and HP is the trick here: higher speed will let you target enemy's low HP monster first, opening the way for your slower monsters to deal damage to higher HP enemy monsters. Keep lower HP monsters in front. Monsters who have two attack types should always be preferred.
Increases Magic Reflect, Return Fire, and Thorns damage to all enemy monsters by 1.
This seems like an excellent opportunity to use the Amplify ruleset to increase Thorns damage for the Cursed Windeku.
The Battle Challenge:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sm_on8fBmSCiqBhc9fkYRVX&ref=holdeck
Quix The Devious
By reducing my opponent's speed and archery damage, I am hoping to increase my chances of getting opportunity attacks out faster and where possible, removing the opposing monsters before they get to cause damage to my lineup. This will be essential to the Trample ability I want to utilise.
Cursed Windeku
This card is an excellent option for many lineups in Bronze in particular. Thorns is one of the best abilities available to any Bronze player and one that is often hard to play right at the right time. By using the Thorns ability on the Windeku in first position, I plan to allow their tank to damage themselves whilst the remaining lineup focusses on the weakest possible opponents. By combining Cursed Windeku with Quix The Deciever, I am hoping to avoid too much archery damage which can be a bit of a weakness for Cursed Windeku.
Carnage Titan
As I have only recently been using the Carnage Titan, I have begun to notice some key spots where it can really excel. At times, it makes an excellent support for a tank and it helps to whittle away at the opponents armour or health. The double strike and reach make this an awesome support. When you combine 8 health and 7 armour, you have a beastly tank. The double attack with good speed makes it even stronger. A nasty foe to come up against, I am just glad Carnage Titan is on my side.
Void Dragon
I selected this card for its high speed, and flying ability mostly. Having Void helps to reduce any incoming magic damage that may have managed to strip through the other, lower health members of my lineup. This is one of my favourite new cards that I have only just begun to scratch the surface with. I hope this card can help to finish off opponents and get their health to whittle down. Worst case, this card is a nightmare to hit for slower opponents and using Quix The Devious should prevent them from getting too many hits due to the reduce speed ability.
Chaos Dragon
This is a card I get to play very rarely due to its high mana cost. 3 magic damage and 10 health are real highlights of this beastly card. Flying makes this 3 speed dragon a challenge to hit. One thing that could be trouble for me is the random nature of the Scattershot ability. By selecting a random target on the battlefield I may not always get the opponent I want it to hit. Hopefully it'll take out any healers pretty promptly. But, realistically I expect this card to be on the battlefield the longest if it comes to it and in an eventual first position, this is a solid card.
Desert Dragon
This is one of my favourite monsters and one I do not yet own on this account. But the main reason I have selected this card is for the opportunity attack combined with trample. Recently a guild mate of mine used Desert Dragon in a Stampede ruleset and Desert dragon singlehandedly won the battle. So I am pretty excited to try this one out a bit here. Whilst creating this lineup I had to consider the health of each of the monsters to ensure that this card was not targeted too early. To combat this I went for the fastest possible card in the rear of the lineup to aid with protection as best possible.
Silent Sha-vi
I chose this card, not for the stealth ability which allows it to attack the rear most opponent but for its relatively low health and good speed. Ideally I wanted something difficult to hit, could deal decent damage if needed and also fast. This card met the criteria and made sense for these reasons. This is the only second level card in my line up as I am mostly using legendaries (rented). I am glad I made this investment to second level as this card gets regular use in my Bronze lineups. My alt account has this card in Gold Foil and it was certainly a good investment should anyone be on the fence about that.
Opposing Lineup
Grand Master Rathe
I got extremely lucky in the airdrop of these cards and managed to snag one with 11 packs purchased. Liek I said, extremely lucky. I did sell that card at the time for an increase in available funds which did help to take my account to more than one summoner at Level 2. - that being said back to the battle.
This card is an excellent option for the life team as it negates most magic damage, forcing you to break their armour down. The amplify ability is an excellent choice as it makes abilities such as Thorns and Magic Reflect much more dangerous. Something to be aware of for certain. Seeing this card, I'd expect to see high armour from all opposing monsters to capitalise on the Void Armour ability granted by Grandmaster Rathe.
Chaos Knight
The Chaos Knight is a very strong tank capable of reducing incoming melee damage through the Shield ability. Its good armour will pose a problem for my Magic dealers but I do not expect a massive problem from this card as lots of the focus will be here at least initially by both the Cursed Windeku and the Carnage Titan.
Magi of Chaos
The Magi of Chaos is an incredibly strong magic dealing card. I was a little surprised to see a card without armour in this position as that would have bolstered the opponents protection. Whilst Grandmaster Rathe offers 1 additional Armour to all cards, it will only resolve a single attack before my lineup gets past the armour.
Gem Meteor
I was very happy to see archery here with the Gem Meteor. Whilst this card is not really impacted by the reduced archery damage of Quix The Devious, it does bode well that this card will be slowed as it has decent speed of 4. 5 Health means it will take two attacks to remove from the battlefield but overall I am not concerned. I feel there would have been better options for this card.
Supply Runner
The only card levelled to 3 on the battlefield. A good choice to level as it benefits from both an increased speed and increased health. Matching health with the Gem Meteor means this card will likely be on the battlefield for longer, dealing more damage. Well that is, except for the counter of Quix the Devious who has come in clutch reducing the opponent's damage for the Supply Runner. I am very happy to see this card.
Portal Spinner
Now the opponent's plan is becoming a bit clearer and it would appear I have countered their plan pretty hard in this battle. Unfortunately for them, the extra armour on the Portal Spinner is not going to pose much of a problem as I decimate their ability to use archery damage. I am becoming increasingly confident here.
Pelacor Arbalest
The opponent's final card and honestly the card I wanted to see. Double attack is usually a problem but in this instance I am not concerned due to the summoner counter I have played. Low health means this card is a serious target and I wonder if a Prismologist would be better due to the armour and higher health.
Pre Fight Thoughts
I am very confident in victory having seen the lineups. Before I discuss the attack of the opponent, I have them beaten on speed which means my monsters will target their weakest links very quickly. The reduced damage for them is a serious bonus and although this was not a purposeful counter, this has worked well.
The Battle
Post Battle Thoughts
I was very happy with the overall conclusion of this brawl. The hard counter by Quix the Devious really stole the show and the Trample of the Desert Dragon went off the way I intended it to which was awesome. I finally realised that the Opportunity rule overcomes the Reach ability so the Carnage Titan joined in and bullied their backline which made it that much more awesome. Overall I am delighted with the result.
The opponent's strategy
...was a pretty decent one. They tried to counter magic damage but to no avail. They were overcome when their archery was reduced to minimal damage overall and the use of Grand Master Rathe whilst a Amplify ruleset was in place was just a duplication. They may have had more success with General Sloan but in all honesty, Quix The Deceiver just countered their idea entirely. Which can happen at times, unfortunately for the opponent. Otherwise, for the opponent, I'd consider levelling the remainder of their cards up which can help to improve damage, speed and abilities. One example is the Pelacor Arbalest who would benefit from additional health and for those experience players among us, we know that one point can be all the difference - in my case usually against me but that is just my luck!
Anything I'd change?
I am not sure I'd change anything about my line up really other than taking my Cursed Windeku to the highest levels possible for my summoners. This would mainly just increase base damage to 3 and increase health by an additional point, neither of which would have impacted this result but could help in the near future of other battles. But that is something for down the line. I am currently working on some very specific goals and Cursed Windeku will feature there shortly.
Buy The Cursed Windeku?
Yes or you'd miss out on one of the most awesome Thorns capable cards in Bronze and Novice leagues. A very worthwhile investment for sure. I am working on levelling mine up currently for my Alt account to get it full earnings in Silver. Ideally, I'll pick another one up for this account and perhaps I'll push for Gold Foil too just to make the rewards better in the long term. Overall an excellent card especially one that can also utilise the Amplify ruleset. Amplify increases the damage output and impact of abilities such as Magic Reflect and Thorns, which can make these abilities quite devastating if used to good effect.
Join Splinterlands:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=holdeck
Join Splex
...and rent out your cards for some juicy DEC rental fees. Save yourself the hassle of listing and relisting and let the Rental Golem take over for you:
https://splex.gg/?ref=3s5haoqkjteadpf8
How to invest without FIAT in a bear market? : https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@holdeck/how-i-am-investing-for-after-the-bear-market
Setting and redefining goals in a bear market: https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@holdeck/setting-and-redefining-goals-in-a-bear-market
Splinterlands Earth divider by freeztag
Splinterlands Icon Divider made by holdeck and available here
All card, icons, Splinter images and stats courtesy of Splinterlands
Ability and Ruleset blurbs taken from Splintercards
Splinter Element Icons taken from Splinterlands
I have reformatted them into PNG files which you are welcome to use here
