I'm not a Splinterlands novice by any means. I've been in the SPL ecosystem since inception, have over 2 million collection power in cards and have reached as high as Diamond 1 with manual play (over 3,600 rating). That said, I'm by no means an expert at the game.
I DO want to get better at the game, though. "Spectacular Splinterlands Showdowns, Worthy of My Analysis" is a series that's aimed at improving my own play. The hope is that it can provide the same value for others, perhaps even yourself š
Without further ado,
Today we're looking at a Diamond 1 matchup between MROSEN94 and DAJOKER. The battle conditions are Return Fire and Healed Out, on 25 mana, w/ fire, water, earth and life to pick between.
Seen below are your chosen lineups (click on link to watch this epic battle):
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_331cd9fd320221c188e53f38d39896c7&ref=
Initial Thoughts on The Lineups:
First of all, it's not surprising that both sides opted for Mylor (3 mana for +thorns) paired with a Failed Summoner (2 mana for reflect, demoralize, strengthen), as this is a common go-to for high-level players in a relatively low-mana match. The same can be said for Epona (1 mana for strengthen, divine shield, immunity, repair).
It's hard to beat a team of thorns that has such a low cost, yet high HP tank up front (Failed Summoner), with a valuable debuff (demoralize) and a reflection thrown in as the cherry on top. Then you get the amplify for the thorns and the reflect from Queen Mycelia (4 mana for protect, amplify, rust, thorns) and it's no wonder why so many top players settle on this type of lineup for low mana matches.
Both opted for a reflection tank up front with a cheap Opportunity thrown in on Venari Scout and an OP Dr. Blight lining up somewhere in the back ranks. They're really more similar lineups than they are dissimilar, and they both make sense. Both lineups hedge against what type of damage may be incoming by having a tank up front that deals out Thorns, Reflect and, let's not forget, also Return Fire (a ruleset of the match).
They both have a big emphasis on defense (Epona, Queen Mycelia) w/ some damage dealers thrown in (Venari Scout, Gem Meteor). The one big difference I see is that DAJOKER has one more defensive type monster (Epona) to MROSEN94's one more offensive threat in Gem Meteor, although you could argue that his choice of a tank w/ Xenith Monk (4 mana for Tank Heal, Void, and Magic Reflect w/ 8 HP and 2 melee attack) is aiming more as a defensive play while DAJOKER's answer, in Unicorn Mustang (8 mana for Void, Reflect, and Piercing w/ 13 HP and 5 melee attack), leans more offensive, which would leave them both with about the same amount of defensive/ offensive leaning monsters.
All told, I personally prefer DAJOKER's squad, for two reasons:
1.) Its super OP Epona tagging along for the fun (w/ its super valuable Repair to play on Queen Mycelia's Protect, although it ended up being rendered useless, as that Protect was canceled-out by a Rust from the opponent).
2.) I see Unicorn Mustang as the FAR superior tank between it and Xenith Monk, with its much higher HP and attack (w/ piercing, no less). This is especially the case when considering that one of the rulesets (Healed Out) nixes what's arguably Xenith Monk's most valuable asset - its Tank Heal. Without having its Tank Heal it's clearly the weaker of the two tanks.
I can see MROSEN94's point about Gem Meteor, though. He can create a lot of havoc to those back ranks with its 4 ranged attack w/ Scattershot and Piercing, which is why I'm still left unsure whether DAJOKER's lineup will hold up, in the end.
Winning Odds:
Utilizing bubke's (@bubke) valuable tool, I'm getting hits of a win percentage between 68% and 82% in favor of DAJOKER, so statistics clearly favor that lineup.
Closing Thoughts/ Other Notes:
After watching the battle and taking a look at https://splintertools.io/, I got about what I expected, confirming my original suspicion that DAJOKER would pull off the W in this one.
I think it's worth noting the choice from both sides to place Failed Summoner in the second tank position, with an "attacking tank" in the first position. It obviously makes sense to put the "non-attacking" option in the second position, as you don't lose out on potential damage output by going that route (aside from any "reactionary attacks" in the form of Thorns, Reflect, and Return Fire, but you get that from both of the chosen tanks in this case, anyways), but I seem to catch a lot of people who like to hide a melee attacker, without reach or any other ability that allows them to attack from that spot, behind the non-attacking "damage sponge", which I think may work out favorably in some scenarios (especially if the "non-attacker" has offensive buffs like Reflect or Thorns that the chosen "attacker" doesn't), but I'm convinced that the odds generally favor opting for the attacker being put out front and, therefore, having the ability to utilize its attacks from the start.
Having the non-attacking tank come in after its defeated, to then act as the damage sponge, is likely to lead to more damage output, and , at least in THIS case, without losing out on potentially more HP, as Failed Summoner doesn't up the odds of a miss by starting up front over Unicorn Mustang (being that it only has 2 speed, to Unicorn Mustang's 4 speed) - it just ends up being a wall to one's own DPS, here.
Also, it seems to me that the choice of position for Doctor Blight played a bit in DAJOKER's favor, as the decision to have it in the last position allowed for it to really beef up in HP, while MROSEN94's choice of placing him in the fourth position perhaps led to his team's HP pool being depleted a little earlier than it could have managed, leaving his Doctor Blight as the tank a bit sooner than it could have (thus, with lower HP than it could have had, should it have been in position six). However, I don't think it would have changed the results (win %) by much to have placed him in the back rank.
It was a well fought battle by both sides, but the slightly favorable strategy wins this time. DAJOKER receives a well-earned W for choosing a beast of a team!
Comments?
Please, feel free to leave your comments or opinions about this match, or anything else related to Splinterlands that you'd like to discuss, down in the comment section below. Thanks for your time, and...
Toodles š
Catch you in the next one š
