Good afternoon! This is going to be my second battle challenge... We just got a new weekly challenge, and this week is the turn for the neutral melee monster, the Grumpy Dwarf, so lets get to it!

Splinterlands

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Theme: Grumpy Dwarf

Lineup & Strategy

Summoner:

Zintar Mortalis

This death summoner reduces the melee damage of every enemy monster on the field, increasing my cards survivability against melee damage.

First Position:

Haunted Spirit

I really like using this monster as my tank against non magic strategies, I love the auto heal ability and the decent health and damage output for only 5 mana.

Second Position:

Grumpy Dwarf

Since this card has the reach ability, the only logical starting position for it would be the second position, so it deals some damage to the enemy's first position each round, and in case the first position fails, it buys me a little bit of time while the rest of the team attacks my opponent.

Third Position:

Skeleton Assassin

The Skeleton Assassin is a low mana and high speed sneak card, I like to use it to deal some damage to the back line of my opponent's strategy, although in this battle didn't do much, since the opponent's last position was a high health card.

Fourth Position:

Dark Astronomer

I use this card as a backline damage dealer, it deals 2 ranged damage each round and has 4 health, only downside is the low speed.

Fifth Position:

Twisted Jester

Another ranged damage dealer with 2 ranged damage, I put it behind every other card, with 3 speed and 4 health plus the snipe ability, this card is amazing for only 4 mana.

I didn't know what my opponent was gonna throw at me this time, he had a mix of different splinters and strategies from the 5 previous battles, so I decided to go for a self heal strategy, my first position, the haunted spirit, with enough health to tank and sustain itself with the auto heal ability, while the rest of my monsters deal damage over time, hopefully, taking down the enemy team in the long run.

Click here for the battle replay

Battle Conditions

Mana: 20
The conditions for the battle were Standard and it was a 20 mana battle with any splinter.

Round 1

My opponent used the Earth Splinter with a mix of melee, magic and ranged damage, with a high health card on the first and last position, plus the bonus to +1 health from his summoner, gave even the low health monsters on the middle of his strategy, some ability to withstand damage.
On the first round, my summoner reduced the damage of his melee monsters. The combo of the haunted spirit, grumpy dwarf and dark astronomer made me deal 5 damage per round, making it faster to reduce his tank's health, while the Twisted Jester attacked his midline monsters.

Round 2

My Twisted Jester defeated his Goblin Sorcerer (second position), and the rest of my monsters kept chipping away at the tank's health, nearly destroying it.

Round 3

His Goblin Thief killed my Twisted Jester this round, but my monsters killed his Unicorn Mustang. After the round was over, my tank was almost destroyed, but I knew I already had the advantage, I was confident I could still win because Grumpy Dwarf was on the second line in case my Haunted Spirit died.

Round 4

My Haunted Spirit attacked first, so it had a chance to heal leaving it at 3 health, I knew he wasn't going to make it past this round, so healing up first gave me the edge, because I could deal some damage and tank every damage from this round, protecting my Grumpy Dwarf. At the end of the round, Dark Astronomer defeated his Goblin Thief, but his Earth Elemental defeated my Haunted Spirit, as it was expected to happen.

Round 5

Starting round 5, Grumpy Dwarf made short work of Khmer Princess, leaving only the Earth Elemental standing, which is a ranged monster that cannot attack from the first position, making me this battle's winner.

Conclusion

I had never used the Grumpy Dwarf card, on the plus side, I like the 1 shield since I believe it makes it tank a bit more, but I kept trying to find a suitable strategy for me to actually make use of it (I lost, at least 5-6 times before I got a win with it).
The 2 health makes it very weak against magic, and the 1 damage leaves a lot to be desired, any tank with shield completely defeats this card too. I only see myself using it on mid mana battles where my opponent doesn't use a magic strategy or a tank with shield on the first position, and in my experience, it happens quite often.
That is why I decided to team it up with a self healing card, so I could protect him from harm. I guess It would be more useful if I combined with a +1 melee damage summoner or buff, like the one from the fire splinter. I lost against low mana fire splinter though, I feel like this card's mana is too high, maybe its just me, but as I showed here, I could summon 4 health and 2 damage cards with only 4 mana, so a 2 health + 1 shield and 1 damage card doesn't seem too attractive. I'm anxious to see what the rest of the community says about this card and how they combine it in their strategy, hopefully I'll learn a few tips.
Thanks for reading, and if you found this interesting, please leave me an upvote, thanks!

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Posted by Draicor - 2021/08/27

Splinterlands Weekly Challenge - Grumpy Dwarf