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Hello everyone, today we will be looking at some of the high win rate cards in Wild Gold to analyze why and how they are great at that level. With the newly added function on the SplinterStats website, I traced down data from the previous season.
Criteria
First off, I have established some criteria as to how I pick the cards:
- Fair amount of usage %: Higher sample size is important to gauge if a card is truly great.
- Ignoring rating index: I sorted by rating index and I find myself disagreeing with some of the card's rankings.
- Ignoring popular fodder cards: I am also ignoring cards like Furious Chicken that are played a lot as fodder/filler.
- Wild Gold: I use stats from only Wild Gold leagues to include the entire card pool.
Top 5 Cards
Doctor Blight
Usage%: 22.82%
Win%: 59.07% (6616-4584)
Price per BCX: $45
It doesn't matter what metric I would use to gauge the cards, Doctor Blight ends up as the undisputed, best-performing card in Wild Gold. I do agree that Doctor Blight is at its best in the gold format. At level 3, it packs 2 damage which is crucial as it only has 1 in silver. You might think it's only 1 damage in difference but having 2 damage makes a lot of difference. Damage reduction can only get it to 1 instead of 0 so it will still deal damage most of the time. Furthermore, it gets the scavenge ability at the gold level which sort of eliminates its big weakness in low health.
After we go through everything, it makes perfect sense that this is one of the winningest cards at that level. A very affordable 4 mana card that can hit for 2 magic damage and grows in HP is very scary in a lot of teams. This card being neutral also means it can be used in every match when the rules and mana count are right.
I think this card is so good that you can plug it into most teams when you want a 4-mana card and it will do good. I would personally place it in the middle of the squad to take advantage of the scavenge ability and protect the backline.
It is a very expensive card though due to its limited supply. I guess it being a great card at the higher level also keeps its price high -- such a great card for both collectors and regular battlers alike.
Ruler of the Seas
Usage%: 13.38%
Win%: 58.17% (3980-2283)
Price per BCX: $35
An old-school powerhouse, this was already a very powerful card back then in the Untamed era when I first started. At the gold level, it unlocks its silence ability which is a great ability in a magic-to-magic matchup. This arguably makes this one of the best magic monsters in any blue lineup. Its biggest weakness is the mediocre HP. You are screwed if the opponent can find a way to take it out very early, like within two turns. Besides that, this is a card that can do serious damage with the blast ability and its solid speed gives it plenty of chance to take monsters out before they can act.
I would personally put this card in the 4th-5th slot most of the time. I would avoid risking it being exposed to sneak at 6th and I want to keep it alive for as long as possible as it is a big finisher. Also, the swiftness buff is a team-wide buff and we usually keep monsters with team-wide buffs in safe positions.
This is another card that is very pricey but powerful. There aren't a lot of budget players with this but its usage rate means that a lot of the good players do have this in their arsenal and they are wrecking the gold level with it.
Phantom Soldier
Usage%: 6.18%
Win%: 57.93% (1812-1316)
Price per BCX: $3.09
Finally, we have a card that is far more affordable than the entries above. I am also starting to get the idea of what makes a card good in the Wild Gold format. This is yet another card with magic attack and an anti-magic ability. At the gold level, this card gains void -- pair that up with its silence ability and you have one of the best anti-magic cards in the black color. If we run the summoner that cuts down magic along with this card, we can inflict a total of -2 magic damage to our opponent, which is a death sentence for most magic teams.
I think one of the best things this card has at the gold level is versatility. With the void ability and decent HP, we can actually put it up on the 1st slot as a tank card. This is not common among magic monsters. Black does have Djinn Miurat, a tanky magic card by design and we can run both of them at once. Place this at the 2nd slot and Miurat up front and we can likely out-tank anything in a magic duel.
One key ability that gets ignored is flying. I think a lot of players overlook the dodge rate flying monsters get against non-flyers. There are many times when one or two dodges change the result of a battle. It also makes Phantom Soldier a very strong card in the Earthquake ruleset.
Screeching Vulture
Usage%: 5.97%
Win%: 57.91% (1749-1271)
Price per BCX: $0.17
Hey, we have ourselves an extremely affordable card right here. A common rarity winner like this is great to have in anyone's arsenal. This is also the first non-magic card we have on the board -- but it does share some resemblance to the other cards on the board. Like Doctor Blight, this is a low mana card with the scavenger ability.
In this case, we have a small opportunist melee monster that can take out easy targets in the middle or back and grow in time. Personally, I usually run this monster in the middle as there is usually a much better monster to keep protected in the backline. I just want this monster to tank a few hits after it grows.
One can never underestimate the power of opportunity. It really keeps the low HP monsters in check and can sometimes take out wounded, slower monsters before they can hit back. It's one of the best commonly seen abilities in my opinion and what makes this monster such a strong card.
Adelade Brightwing
Usage%: 8.39%
Win%: 57.06% (1749-1271)
Price per BCX: $6.27
Okay, this card certainly has many qualities that the top cards have in common. It flies, hits for magic, and possesses support abilities. Aside from its weak attack at 2 and rather low HP at 5, this card has a lot of utilities on its side. The resurrection ability is especially useful in higher mana battles. When it comes to resurrection, we want to avoid having weak monsters in our lineup because they might get sniped or targeted and then the resurrection is wasted on it instead of a big tanker. The high mana battles are the place where it shines.
At the gold level, it has immunity, which is crucial in one of the most annoying rulesets in my opinion: Noxious Fume. When it comes to Noxious Fume, a lot of the battles come down to the side having a lot of immunity on his side to not take damage. It's even better if we pair up Martyr and Immunity to create some of the biggest monsters that are immune to the fume.
One issue with this card is that it is also a rather expensive entry. It's quite cheap for a legendary if we compare it to the top 2 cards, but it is still a steep buy for a lot of players. For the players who are happy to load up on a gold level account, then I'd definitely recommend this card.
Verdict
And there we have it, folks. With the data we gathered, we can be certain that big magic flyers and small scavengers are very strong in the Wild Gold meta. I am definitely looking more into trying more of these setups in my gold level battles, building flying teams with a focus on magic and scavenger-heavy low mana compositions.
Thanks for reading and I will see you all in the next blog entry!
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Disclaimer: Most screenshots are taken from the Splinterlands game itself. All other images are properly credited. All rights reserved.
