Foundation Archon: Thalgrimore

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I've been trying out the different Foundation set cards that I received for completing the Splinterlands campaign. And aside from the water archon, Marlai Singariel, there's another one that I find interesting and that is Thalgrimore.

Thalgrimore has a high mana cost of six considering it is only one element, death, and that it only has one ability which is a minus one health debuff to all enemies. But I then realized, if you think about it, it also translates to dealing 1 damage to all enemies right before the battle starts. From that perspective, Thalgrimore's ability looks acceptable. So what if we make it 2 damage, meaning I include more cards that have the weaken ability?

First we have another Foundation card, Sorrow Harvester. It has a very high mana cost of 7 but I like that it already has weaken at level one and has 2 magic attack as well. I thought that since Weaken reduces health, it would be more advisable to use magic damage cards in order to take full advantage of this strategy.

Next we also have Executioner Kraan that is a good frontline card since it has high health of 8 and 6 armor. Kraan also has void armor which means it can even delay enemy magic attacks. The weaken ability though only unlocks at the third level which would require a higher level of Thalgrimore to utilize properly.

This card, Barashkukor, is probably one of my most sought after card from the Rebellion set. Even at just level 1, it already has 5 magic damage, making it a very destructive force in the battlefield. If we can combine it with the weaken ability, it's not impossible to one-shot enemy cards. It also demolishes taunt cards and other magic users.

Thraghun is also a card to consider for a weaken ability focused strategy. It can easily position well behind Executioner Kraan with the reach ability. Aside from weaken, Thraghun further lowers the enemy's maximum health using cripple. The defensive capabilities of this card is also good. The only thing that would be a problem is the high mana cost to use.

Here's an example of a battle that uses weaken to my advantage. Although it is only at the very lowest level of cards, you can see the strategy here. You can check the full battle here.

The battle has a limited mana cost of 31 and my opponent spends most of it in two frontline cards, Leolin Sifu and Bellowmancer. As you can see, they both have 8 health which is a very hard wall to break through given that I only have four cards of my own.

But thanks to the 2 health point deductions that I inflict to enemy cards, they are significantly weakened and the first card to fall is Bellowmancer.

It was also a close call for me as I lost two cards, Ujurak Brave and Fenmoor Gorgon. Luckily, Sifu was defeated next followed shortly by Owlkin Geodesist. Finally, Caravan Guard was the only card left on my opponent's field. It was no longer a threat to my two other units at that point since it has a range type attack which is disabled when in the front position. It was a short but evenly matched battle that ended in just under four rounds.

This is just a sample application of my strategy centered around the weakened ability. I may also have other cards to use when I rank up in the league and grow my card collection. I'll try to make an update to that when the time comes.