The Death Splinter is currently one of my less favourite splinters. Most of this aversion to playing the deck is due to the fact that there isn't a decent tank that I enjoy playing and also stems from the lack of a healer in my deck as well. This means that I generally have to play the Neutral Lord Arianthus or the Gelatinous Cube in the tanking first position instead of fielding a monster that is native to the splinter.
It is a bit of a pity, because there is quite a bit depth in the rest of the monster lineup in my deck for the Death Splinter... with a heavy emphasis on the Ranged monsters and some serious enemy team debuffing!
Now, the Phantasm is here to make a claim on the tanking first position against the native Haunted Spirit. Perhaps it is worth taking a look at?
Now, the downside of the Phantasm is the lack of a self-healing ability which the Haunted Spirit possesses. However, the return fire ability is a skill that I haven't used in a deck before... I will be curious to see how that plays out!
The Battle
This featured battle had the Close Range battle condition which meant that I could field a Ranged heavy team without worrying about them being neutralised in the front tanking spot. It might have the side effect of making the opponent field a ranged heavy team as well, just in time to play the Return Fire card!
So, the Phantasm is in the front tank spot... to make use of the Melee ability and to be the target for any Return Fire possibility. Magic would be something that the Phantasm would be susceptible to... but the Flying ability might give some extra dodging ability against Melee attacks. So, the rest of the team would be focused around de-buffing the enemy team as much as possible to give the Phantasm as much time to survive as possible!
So, the Octopider and Phantom Soldier provide the Magic and Melee Debuffs, whilst the Undead Priest docks the health of the enemy team. Melee is also reduced from the Summoner Skill, so I should have some defence against the Melee monsters at least! Meanwhile, the ever present Vampire and Twisted Jester are really great value for mana, especially when there is the Close Range battle condition!
You can see the pretty hefty effects of the debuffs on the enemy team! They have a huge string of debuff symbols above their cards!
So, the first round starts with the enemy Clay Golem getting Aggro-ed and that makes him quite dangerous with a 5 Melee attack! I hope he goes down before he takes a swing... or that would make short work of the Phantasm!... and thankfully, he goes down fast... the Slowing that the Undead Priest inflict on the enemy team is really worth it!
Unfortunately, the Phantasm doesn't survive the first round as the combination of Magic, Melee and Ranged attacks from most of the enemy team are just too much to bear. However, the Return Fire ability triggers twice, and makes for a much weaker enemy team in the Ranged department!
The Slow debuff means that my entire team fires their attacks before the enemy team.. and this really makes a difference in the second round as the enemy team loses two monsters before they line up their attacks! The Octopider is one hell of a tanking Ranged monster! I absorbs the entirety of the enemy attacks in this round and still stays standing...
After this, the game is wrap as my monsters steamroller the rest of the enemy line.
Conclusion
The Phantasm is an okay tank... but it is a very risky play. It relies on the ability of the rest of the team to debuff the enemy team very strongly. Even still, the Phantasm is incredibly vulnerable without a self-healing ability. The return fire is nice... but it needs you to be hit!
Unfortunately, the maximum Phantasm level that my summoners can field is a level 8, which is short of the next skill that the Phantasm gets at level 9. However, the Retaliate ability at level 9 suffers from the same problem as the Return Fire ability... you still need to be hit!
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Thanks for sharing! - @xawi
hey I liked your strategy. Yes Phantasm has return fire ability so it can be best in close-ranged rule Nicely done
Thank you for the support!
#posh