Clearly the gods of Splinterlands want me to play with Iziar, because I got her on both of my accounts in the season rewards, and now have her at Level 3 on both! Level 3 is important because that's where Iziar gets Martyr, which, combined with Taunt should be extremely powerful! She's the only Martyr card with Taunt, making her totally unique in the game.
List of Martyr monsters currently available:
Here's a great video @bulldog1205 recently did on this exact subject. Definitely worth a watch - check out how powerful Kralus gets even though Bulldog hasn't maxxed it!
Actually on my main account I got her in the season rewards and then the next day landed 2 GFLs of her! Sorry to those whose luck I stole...
So how will I be playing Iziar? Well it's pretty simple and comes down to this:
- Stick her in second position.
- Put a ridiculous tank in position 1; either someone who becomes an indestructible god like Kralus or someone squishy but powerful like Desert Dragon or Jared Scar.
- Put as many revivers as possible behind, including Oshuur, Adelade, and Darius.
- Ever time Iziar dies, she'll grant the tank and whoever is behind her +1 on all their stats. This means that with 3 revives she'll die 4 times, and will grant +4 to all stats. That would mean a Kralus with 6/6 Magic/Melee, 7 base speed, and 17 max health (thus healing itself 6 HP each turn) along with extra armor. If the front Monster is Jared, he'd end up with 11 Melee damage (before his own bloodlusting)!
Obviously, this can get a little ridiculous. How would it get countered? The first thought that comes to mind is Dispel, though they'll need to get through Iziar first due to the Taunt in order to Dispel the monsters who get buffed. Another option would be Blast - given Iziar is sandwhiched between two other cards, it'll guarantee Blast hits two other units (but I'll be putting Oshuur next to her!). Finally there's Scattershot, which is probably the best counter to this rather cheesy tactic.
This will mostly be viable only in high mana battles (at least 40+). the lowest I could see myself using it is somewhere around 25-30, e.g. here's a lineup costing 26 mana that could be viable:
(thanks again @peakmonsters for the awesome Decks feature)
In this lineup, I end up with a ridiculously buff Vulguine up front who will likely dodge most non-magic attacks (especially once enraged) and a Stitch Leech who'll be leeching huge amounts of health each hit. There's only one revive so that's +2 on their stats, but that's already quite impressive. Finally, Lorna is the icing on the cake - a terrific low-mana summoner who pairs very well with resurrect thanks to the Divine Shield that comes back on when units are revived.
What do you think? Is this too cheesy? Is it OP? Or will it get countered easily? Let me know!
Let the Iziar Beast Mode loose!
