Mimosa Nightshade

I am playing a bit of steemmonsters lately to take my mind off steem related politics, and I am really enjoying the game. People related to @splinterlands are well aware that the new hype in the game is the Legendary Death Summoner Mimosa Nightshade. She was airdropped just a few days back and is the subject of a lot of discussion:

I must say the lore is wonderful! This is just the beginning of the lore, and it is wonderfully written I think.

Years ago, Mimosa was a poor shivering child, all alone in the alleys of Beluroc. She was five years old. She remembered her name, but little else. Mimosa’s parents had been vaporized before her eyes in a great battle of Witches, and she was now abandoned, an unwanted child left to fend for herself on the cold streets of a dark world.

I only ever bought about 119 total untamed pack I think, so chance of me getting one was always slim, and of course I didn't get one from the airdrop. So I had to buy it. I think at the very beginning there were some sales in the $22-$24 range around Tuesday the 10th of March, but the prices quickly stabilize around $10 range. At the time of this writing it is trading in the $9.8 range/BCX. I am no expert on card pricing (especially this early on), and Mimosa Nightshade have unique properties; first summoner to have abilities! Not only it reduces enemy range attack by 1 (nothing new, CONTESSA L'AMENT, the untamed death summoner had it already); but also Mimosa gives void ability to all friendly and affliction ability to all enemy monsters. Both are BIG DEAL as I will show in some battle results.

The green ring around the Void ability means that she will grant the Void ability to ALL friendly Monsters, and the red ring around the Affliction ability means that she will cast the Affliction effect on ALL enemy Monsters at the start of the battle

Where Mimosa Nightshade is most Effective?

It was widely speculated that Mimosa will be most effective against Earth and Water splinters.

1. Earth is the most used splinter with lot of hard hitting range attackers, and especially with Prince Rennyn's boost; they dominate the game under the right circumstances
2. Water also have some good range attackers and in addition majority of the high end attackers; which get boosted by both rare and legendary water summoners Alric and Valnamor
3. But Affliction work on them all! It shuts down healing. We all know if your team can heal and opponents can not, it is often a one sided battle in favor of the one who can heal.

It was also widely speculated that Mimosa will be most useful in the high mana battles. Actually max mana cap was increased from 38 to 50 with the introduction of Mimosa. I generally agree with this statement, but I intend to show that Mimosa can be useful in the mid-mana (low to mid-20 level) battles under special circumstances. It can be used quite effectively against death splinter itself, even on low mana battles as long as you have a healer.

Battle Example: Against Earth Splinter

Link to the Battle vs. Earth Splinter

• It has to be Earth!
• It has to be the Prince Rennyn!
• It has to be high mana battle; where else can Mimosa's power will be tested!

The battle above has it all, and I think its a classic Mimosa Nightshade vs Prince Rennyn ..... the way it is meant to be!

If you look at the line-up; I am sure you can see that with identical team, even with CRYPT MANCER; I likely would have struggled. Even with the 2 mana gain I could have with CRYPT MANCER (likely I would have chosen Unded Archer in the place of Furious Chicken); I think I would have lost.

Let is look and analyze the battle arrangements for this 34 mana battle with Unprotected and Earthquake rules:

• First thing I see is the Prince and with it 4 range attackers in position 3-6! Formidable!
  • Cornealus at position 3 and Spirit of the Forest at the back with healing
  • Gobin Chef and Swamp Thing is the middle of the range pack in support role
• Chicken is in the front to take the first damage
• Flesh Golem at position 2 to follow the Chicken after it has fallen

I must say, that is an intimidating line up, especially against death and this rule-set.

Now lets see what happens after the Buffs-Nerfs etc :)

Now it is intimidating! But in my favor!

• I have Mimosha Nightshade off course! LOL
• Lord of Darkness in the Front for heavy melee hitting
• Corrupted Pegasus at position 2 for Reach, and tank heal; also flying get no damage from Earthquake
• I have Fallen Specter next; only 2 mana, with 4 abilities! Enough said!
• I have Darkest Mage next, I have it maxed, thanks to my teach @xawi; check her write up to find out why!
• Dark Ha'on is next; with 5 abilities; especially scavenge and taunt, its an obvious choice in high mana battles
• Then I have the Chicken as a read guard

With the buff and the fact that The Spirit of Forest can't heal and have only +1 range attack. I knew I have the WIN even before the battle started!

Battle Example: Against Death Splinter - Melee Battle

This is a very usual battle and I had no idea that this will turn up like this. I was just trying Mimosa randomly.

• Frist of all this is a low mana battle (21 mana), and my first thought was Mimosa won't be suitable
• If you look at the battle rules it is melee only and both players used Death splinter
• Both players used same main hard hitters; Lord of Darkness and Corrupted Pegasus
• Since my opponent used Zinter Mortalis which is 3 mana summoner; against my choice of Mimosa Nightshade which is a 7 mana summoner; the opponent has a 4 mana advantage over me
• In a 21 mana battle, that translates to 2 whole monsters; Skeleton Assasin (one of my favorite) and Cocatrice (excellent choice for its dodge and flying abilities); and also the chicken to take at least one hit
• So I thought, I opponent had an advantage

As the battle started:

• I opened with the Slimeball at position 1 for its redemption ability, as I wanted to hit all opponents with 1 damage as the Slimeball was taken out
• I followed with Lord of Darkness and Corrupted Pegasus as a healer at the back

Link of the Battle against Death Splinter

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This is the status at the start of the battle

This is the status after the buff-and-nerfs

• Results are quite amazing actually, a convincing victory for me
• But even at the start, Zinter Mortalis takes out 1 melee damage from my main attackers, which Mimosa doesn't do anything to opponents attack stats!
• However, in the end, the difference was in the ability for my Lord of Darkness to heal but as Affliction was cast on all enemy monsters by Mimosa, they can't be healed
• Void didn't have any effect, as there were no magic attacker

So in summary: Mimosa Nightshade can be successful even on low mana battles!

Price of Mimosa Nightshade

As I am writing this price of crypto essentially crashed. BTC currently trading in the $5000 handle. Although steemmonsters cards are priced in US dollars, still cards are getting cheaper by the minutes. As I expressed before that I use MonsterMarket for all my card purchases (they give a nice cash back), here is the status of the price of Mimosa Nightshade on March 12; 10:21 PM CST

It took me a long time to write this article and now I am seeing prices in the $7.9 - $8.0 range. I am no expert of card prices, also I consider myself a noob on the game itself; but I can argue that Mimosa Nightshade is perhaps a more useful death summoner compared to Crypt Mancer, which is currently priced in the $13-$15 range. I already maxed my Mimosa and I do not regret it a bit. I think below $10 for Mimosa is a great deal. But my friend @reazuliqbal says "but there are no players"! He is a wise man! So I think there will be long term pressure on the price of the cards in general.