Give a hoot, don’t be a brute! Let the Radiated Brute do the brute-ing for you!
This week’s “Share Your Battle” feature is the Radiated Brute. I willingly admit that the Radiated Brute usually doesn’t find its way onto my fire-splinter teams. That’s probably not too surprising. The fire splinter is full of powerful sneaks, opportunists and blasters. By comparison, the Brute’s reach ability, while handy, isn’t quite as versatile. However, there is at least one time when this radiated tough guy always makes the cut. But more on that in just a bit.
First, let’s take a closer look at this fire-splinter bad boy. At level one, the Radiated Brute starts out with a snail-like 1-speed, a respectable 2-strength melee attack, a robust 5-health but a thin-skinned 0-armor. It also begins with the reach ability allowing it to attack from the second position. As the Brute gains levels it gains speed (maxing out at 4), attack power (also max 4) and health (topping out at 6.) At level 6 the Radiated Brute also gains the enrage ability which allows it to gain speed and strength when it takes damage, so it becomes a fast bruiser once it's attacked.
I was lucky enough to catch a Grum Flameblade in the bonus airdrops, and since then fire has been my goto splinter for max-mana matches. And as it turns out, the Radiated Brute is also on my usual max-mana team.
At the end of last season, I was assigned to a 99-mana battle. Even though I was playing in the Bronze-II league, the match had standard rules and all splinters allowed.
For my max-mana strategy I play a game of “hide the Grum,” and throw everything I have (including the kitchen sink) into my team. The main goal is to do enough straight-ahead damage to weaken or destroy my opponent’s tank or taunt so that when my Grum finally comes to the fore he has an easy opportunity to get his first kill. And Grum is the ultimate snowball, once he starts rolling down that hill, he gets stronger and faster until he becomes an irresistible force.
As I imagine is often the case with max-mana, fire teams it’s all about bringing overwhelming force to bear. As such, I used Tarsa with her +1 melee damage as my summoner. The +1 health buff is an added bonus since I suspect my opponent is going to be able to do plenty of damage as well.
For my tank, I used the hulking, thick-skinned Living Lava. While the Lava works better against non-magic teams and many bronze league 99-mana teams are based on Obsidian-led, earth magic, my Lava is also more of a false tank. Even against magic, this fire-fighter can absorb a turn’s worth of magic while my backline softens up my opponent’s team enough to let my Grum roll.
In second position is this week's guest of honor, the Radiated Brute.While I certainly hope and expect that my Brute will be able to give the enemy tank at least one 3-damage smack before it falls, this card is really the second layer of my false front. Like the Lava before it, I really just want my secondary tank to give my backlines a little more time to tenderize my opponent’s team. That the Brute has the reach ability makes it perfect for this role as it can still possibly deliver a shot from the second position if my tank survives long enough that the Brute is not front and center by its turn to strike at the end of round one.
Lining up third is the legendary Grum Flameblade. As I have noted, Grum is my true tank. But even Grum can’t withstand a full on frontal assault from a max-mana team. So I keep him in reserves—ready to enter the fray when the opposing herd has been thinned a bit.
Next is the Tenyii Striker. This card is used more for the Tarsa-adjusted seven points of health it brings to my team than its three points of sneak damage. While the sneak attack is great, the rest of my team are forward facing, so my main aim is not to go gunning into my opponent’s backfield. However, I do want to keep my next card from ever reaching the frontline.
My penultimate team member is the Fire Elemental. With a fast 2-damage ranged attack and the blast ability, the Fire Elemental fits right into my strategy, softening my opponent’s tank and his second row as well.
Covering my six is the Lava Launcher. I was lucky enough to pull this card as a reward at some point, and it fits very well into this team. Its armor and health provide ample protection from sneaks and its 3-point, close-ranged attack works both to prepare my opponent’s frontline for Grum and to save my bacon if my opponent can destroy the rest of my team.
Earth with Obsidian. No real surprise there. But my team usually fares very well against bronze-league earth magic. So bring it on.
Not exactly the standard max-mana, earth-magic team but the calculus runs the same. With eight points of damage aimed at the enemy taunt it will fall at the start of the second round with his poor, little princess blasted away and his magical steed damaged as well. Then with much of my team still acting in round two his healer falls having only fired once and his first tank takes a tenderizing from my Launcher.
On the other side of the ledger, my tank is reduced to lifeless slag in round one without ever acting. And my Brute takes a 3-point magical blast as well. My brute gets one crack at my opponent’s tank at the end of round one but hit or miss my Grum has a 70 percent chance to hit the ground running by taking out the opposing Knifer at the end of round two. Even failing that, at worst round three will see my fresh-as-daisies back-four facing off against his damaged front three, and I really like my chances in that fight.
How did it all play out? See for yourself here.
Go! Brute, Go! My Radiated Brute gets his shot in at the end of round one…
…and Grum starts his power surge with a hit at the end of round two. With both hits it’s the best case scenario and my back-four winds up facing a severely depleted, two-member earth team.
And while Grum did get a second power-up for smacking down the overmatched Unicorn, it was my Tenyii Striker that had the honor of delivering the deathblow.
There is little doubt that I had more than a tiny-boy share of luck when I caught my Grum Flameblade, and it has been fun learning how to use it effectively. For this 99-mana team the Radiated Brute plays just as important a role as any other team member. By playing blocker and also helping to weaken my opponent my Brute helps create a new adage: Radiated Brute—Don’t play Gurm without it! (My apologies to the writers of that old AMEX slogan.)
