Every Splinterlands battle is a mix of planning, instinct and sometimes a huge, big amount of great luck. The modifiers you face can push you to think outside your usual strategies and the lineup decisions you make in those few seconds can make or break the match.
In this battle, I found myself up against an opponent with a very creative plan. It's one that could’ve easily crushed me if executed correctly. Instead, their own mishap turned the fight in my favor. Along with a win, I learned some valuable lessons along the way. Here's what happened.
Battle Breakdown
Modifier in this Battle:
- Target Practice - All units with magic and ranged attacks have Snipe (magic and ranged attacks target the first non-melee enemy unit behind the first position).
- Rise of the Commons - You can only summon rare and common units.
My Thoughts
- Rise of the Commons modifier limits the units you may use on the battle. You can prepare for this by using just Rare and Common units as your main core team and Epic and Legendary units for additional flavor. This way, even if Rise of the Commons arise, your core build can still withstand the limitation. Target Practice is also easy to handle. Expect that every range and magic attack would have Snipe. Snipe bypass any front tank and any the melee units. So, you just prepare a non-melee unit, place that in front of your squishy units that will act
Team Composition
Archon: Prophet Rosa
- Prophet Rosa is an archon that can bless either:
Shield ability: given to one unit to reduce melee and ranged damage by half.
+2 Range: given to two units for extra damage. - Prophet Rosa's strength lies in flexibility. Since the giving of the ability happens after seeing the enemy lineup, I can always adapt to either choose Shield for defense or +2 Range for more damage. For this match, I decided Shield was more valuable as the enemies have high melee attack. I don't want my tank to die and my lineup to collapse.
Units Chosen
1. Arcane Skinwalker - Makeshift Tank
- Can be used as a temporary tank because of the high armor. Arcane Skinwalker will be supported by Conclave Tracker so it's okay to use him as a tank.
2. Grimbardun Smith - Void Tank
- Due to Target Practice, everyone has Snipe. I am expecting enemies would be using a lot of magic attacks so I want a unit with Void on the 2nd position to block these potential problems.
3. Bludgeon Hucker - Range unit with Slow
- The Slow is useful to reduce the enemy's speed. The less speed they have, the later they act. This gives me time to attack first and restore my unit's armor before the enemy attacks.
4. Conclave Tracker - Defensive Support with Repair
- I use Conclave Tracker for the Repair. It's good because it can repair any unit's armor, front and back, unlike Tank Heal or Triage that can only heal your units on the 1st position or the back but not both.
The Battle
Opening Rounds:
On the opening rounds, my units quickly blasted through the enemy ranks with the help of Target Practice modifier giving all unit Snipe to bypass the main tanks. My Grimbardun Smith was placed very well on the 2nd position blocking all snipes and its Void played very well on this battle. My Arcane Skinwalker's armor with Prophet Rosa's Shield ability blocks the enemy melees while Conclave Tracker keeps him safe by repairing any damaged armor. This defense proved problematic to the enemy team despite them having more units.
Mid-game:
I saw a fatal flaw on the enemy strategy during the mid game which is the use of two units, Cavewise Wayfinder and Halfshell Seer. Both enemy units have Reckless debilitation. This is an ability that whenever these units attack, the units beside them will take damage. It was a good idea at first because Vicious Giraffe has Painforge ability which allows him to gain damage whenever he gets hit by his own team (the effect of Reckless). The problem is the enemy player gave Lorkus's Life Leech and Affliction abilities to Cavewise Wayfinder and Flame For Hire instead of Vicious Giraffe and Flame For Hite. Since Vicious Giraffe does not have any way to heal himself, the strategy they made just killed Vicious Giraffe by striking him with Reckless twice per round. Since Vicious Giraffe only have 4 health, even if I don't hit him, he'll die in 2 turns due to their own strategy. The loss of Vicious Giraffe is big because not only he serves as the second tank, but a good chunk of their damage also comes from him.
Final Rounds:
With the death of all their units that can deal damage, I technically won the game by round 6. The misplay on Vicious Giraffe, I believe, is the worst blunder they could have because due to this, my makeshift tank, Arcane Skinwalker, didn't even die. This meant that the enemy had a lack of damage that did not allow them to get past through my two tanks, Arcane Skinwalker and Grimbardun Smith. Grimbardun Smith's Void played a vital role here as it not only reduced Flame For Hire's damage but also the Life Leech it got. If I don't have a unit with Void, Flame For Hire would probably have 10+ health by the time their tank died and since I only have Repair, the magic attack would pass through the health of my units which would make me lose this battle.
👉 Watch the full battle replay here
https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_b55c8b70b472e0c64c59f18a33257e5d?ref=ashenova
Results & Reflection
What strategy I was aiming for:
Initially, I was planning to bless Grimbardun Smith with my arcane, Prophet Rosa's Shield ability to give it both Void and Shield. This would've halved all the damage it would get making Grimbardun Smith very sturdy. After checking the modifiers at the last minute, I quickly exchanged places of Grimbardun Smith and Arcane Skinwalker and gave Arcane Skinwalker the Shield ability as he would be facing melee attacks more. I could've changed him to a better tank but the lack of time got to me and I wasn't able to do what I should've. I was lucky this lineup still worked.
What surprised me:
I did not expect Lorkus with Painforge strategy. That was a very smart idea. Have units like Cavewise Wanderer and Halfshell Seer with Reckless debilitation to hit the unit with Painforge, Vicious Giraffe to stack damage. Then you can use Lorkus to give that unit Life Leech and Affliction. The higher the damage of the unit, the higher the health they can get from Life Leech. Fortunately, the enemy did not do this which allowed me to win the battle.
What I learned:
I need to focus more during the planning stage where I choose my units. I could've added a better tank unit than Arcane Skinwalker so I won't need to rely on luck to win battles. This mistake from me was overshadowed by my enemy's blunder but if they didn't do any misplays on this battle, I would surely have lost as Vicious Giraffe can just one-shot any unit I have with the combo of Reckless-Painforge-Life Leech.
Closing Thoughts
This battle was a lesson that I need to relax and give more time to myself. The mistake of using Arcane Skinwalker as a tank could've lost me the game if my enemy did not make a worse mistake. These kinds of blunders are simply lucky breaks and I could've lost as easily as I could've won but in the end, it doesn't change the fact that the biggest factor was the enemy’s mismanagement of Vicious Giraffe. I really believe that without that blunder, they could've won easy.
Sometimes in Splinterlands, victory isn’t about landing the most damage. It’s about letting the opponent defeat themselves.
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