One of the great things about Splinterlands is that the ever-changing rule set keeps things interesting and forces players to adapt their strategy. However, the constantly changing strategies can also make it a little bit difficult to know what tactics to use. So, in today's post, I want to share a strategy that I used in a recent rule set with the thick skinned and beefcakes modifiers.
Explaining The Rules
Before I jump into explaining my specific strategy, I think it's important to explain what these modifiers actually do. The thick skinned modifier gives all units the shield ability, which reduces 50% of the damage that they take from melee and ranged attacks. Beefcakes modifier means that I was only able to summon units with 5 or more health.
The Strategy
Whenever I'm playing a Splinterlands match, my general strategy is to adjust my lineup to make maximum use of the rule set. With that in mind, the Thick Skinned ability makes melee units considerably less effective. So, my first consideration was that I wanted to avoid playing any melee units. However, deciding what not to play is only half the battle. I also realized that my opponent was probably thinking the same thing and would try to focus on units with a magic attack. Therefore, I used a two-part strategy. The first part of my strategy was to avoid playing melee units, but the second part of the strategy was to choose an Archon that would debuff magic attacks.
The Match
As soon as I saw the opponent's line up, I realized that my intuition was correct. Not only did they play a lot of units with a magic attack, they also chose an Archon that gave all of their units a plus one magic boost. Thankfully, I had anticipated this move by choosing Kaylia Silverleaf, who gives a minus one magic attack to all opposing units. Basically, the two buffs and debuffs offset each other, which increased the survivability of all of my units.
Analysis
Rather than giving a play-by-play recount of the entire match, I'd like to point out a specific example of how my opponent and myself tried to use the ruleset to our advantage. The first key point is that both of us played Mindless Thrall. This unit is a perfect fit for the ruleset because it has has a strong magic attack that can bypass the Shield ability that all units receive in the Thick Skinned ruleset. However, it also has the Phase ability which means that it can potentially evade some of the magic attacks that the opponent is likely to rely on. Thus, Mindless Thrall has both offensive and defensive abilities that are magnified by the ruleset.
Additionally, both my opponent and myself limited the number of melee monsters that we played. My opponent only played a single melee monster, Commander Slade, in the first position, and the only melee unit that I played was Halfling Refugee. However, I didn't play Halfling Refugee for its melee attack. It was mainly used as a one-mana damage sponge to soak up damage that would have been directed at my other units. Of course, I don't know the rationale behind my opponent's decision, but I suspect they chose Commander Slade primarily because it had a lot of health and armor and used it more as a damage sponge than for its melee attack value.
Could I Have Done Better ??
When I realized that my opponent was likely to play a team with a lot of magic units, my first thought was that I wanted to play a lot of units with magic reflect. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of those units in my collection. I would have loved to use Owster Rotwell as my Archon or Prismatic Energy as one of my units. Unfortunately, my modern card collection is a bit less powerful than my Wild collection, so I had to make do with what I had. Even though I won the match with Kaylia, this was a great reminder that having the right cards is important, and that I need to do a bit more work filling out my collection and obtaining units and archons that have the abilities to succeed in niche rule sets.
Join Me In Splinterlands
At the end of the day, the important thing is that my team secured the victory, the Glint, and the SPS! One of amazing things about Splinterlands is that I can use my in-game winnings to continue building my collection and creating a more powerful deck. If you like fast-paced trading card games and you are interested in the possibility of earning NFT and crypto rewards for winning matches, then I'd like to invite you to join me in Splinterlands using my referral link.
Disclaimer
As a US resident, I am required to disclose that I might receive a benefit, such as reward or incentive, if you join using my affiliate link. All image credits belong to Splinterlands. Nothing is financial advice.