Hi Splinterlanders! I hope this post finds you well!
Edition: Chaos Legion
Element: Dragon
Attack: Melee
Abilities: Reach & Double Strike
I don’t play the Dragon splinter very often but when I do, I make sure that the Carnage Titan is in the line-up. He comes at the high cost of 11 mana, so I usually wait for a high mana match before I unleash him. I find his reach ability very important so as to have a second front-line damage dealer able to attack from the second position, in case the primary damage dealer gets wiped out early. Furthermore, the double strike ability from the second position can be a game changer under the right circumstance, so I always try to include him in my team. Sometimes I even take a slightly weaker front-liner so that I have enough mana left to bring the Titan.
Here are the stats:
My copy of the Carnage Titan is at level 1 with 2 melee, 3 speed, 7 shield and 8 health. With these stats alone, he is already a formidable force to be reckoned with. The abilities Reach and Double Strike are 2 of the most powerful abilities a melee tank can have, making this guy an absolute beast to send into the battlefield. At level 2 he receives a third melee attack, which is very inviting. At the current market price of $7.80 I prefer to wait and see if I can pull 2 more copies out of reward packs before I make the investment to level him up.
When fielding the Carnage Titan in a Dragon battle with high mana cap, I usually apply the standard strategy of selecting 2 beefy tanks in positions 1 and 2 and taking a chance with loading the mid-field and back-line with strong archers. I do this for two reasons: I expect the front-liners to hang around long enough to decide the battle and I pick powerful stealth monsters, predominantly snipers, who usually have a high mana price tag. In today's feature battle I have chosen such a strategy. The summoner I use is usually Brighton Bloom at level 4, as he is a standard inclusion on my rental list and my preferred Dragon summoner.
The battle I have selected to look at closely today is a Dragon/Death combination, the rulesets are Lost Magic/Stampede and the mana cap is 56.
The only choice of splinter to combine with Dragon was the Death splinter, which was very appropriate, as the purple deck has a number of big tanks and a few killer stealth monsters. The neutral deck was not excluded, so my card options were even more varied. The high mana cap of 56 basically meant that the buffet was open.
Here is my choice of team with my thought behind card and positioning:
When going purple, the first hero who comes to my mind is my favourite Rift Watchers card, the Night Ghoul. I am a big fan of the Taunt ability and this scary looking customer has tons of shield and health. He is a bit slow but when he strikes, he strikes hard. Considering the Lost Magic ruleset, I was confident the Night Ghoul would stand firm during the first two rounds.
Here is our boy Carnage Titan, ready to do what he does best: do carnage! Well protected by the Ghoul and own 7 shield, these two blokes deliver a possible 8 damage per round, giving any opponent a sizeable headache, while having lots of defensive resources against enemy attack. The Titan has all the attributes of a main tank, so once he moves to the first position, he is no less dangerous.
In third position, knowing that I would fill the remainder of the team with archers, I placed the Octopider L4. His job was two-fold: to stifle enemy melee and shield the backline with high health, should it move to the first position and become cannon fodder. As his demoralize ability provides additional protection to my tanks, I took that chance and besides, 3 range at 4 speed is nothing to sneeze at.
With a whopping 22 mana left, I looked around and decided to go with 3 stealth archers. First comes the Mantoid. This guy is on my top 3 list of most used neutral monsters and an automatic choice when constructing my midfield. He fits in most situations and is relatively cheap for what he can do and remember: do go to war without a sniper!
Next comes the one and only Lira with Snare and Opportunity at level 2. Whenever I play a high mana purple team, she is definitely there. With 3 range at 6 speed, she calls the shots with first strike. When there are no annoying fiends and chickens around, she usually makes a significant kill before we know it. With a bit of luck the first victim has no shield and bye bye.
Now here comes Mister Skyclaw, the new kid on the sniper block. As I don't play dragon teams too much, I don't have a feel for this dude yet. At 9 mana he seems too dear but as mana caps get higher all the time it seems, I need to pay more attention to him. So probably the most lethal sniper I know right now, this guy has amazing stats and placed in the last position to soak up sneak with his shield.
So this is how I like to use the Titan: heavy hitting front end followed by killer archers. Sometimes I put a magic card in third spot as a buffer for the archers but I prefer the kamakazi approach in case the front end collapses. Once you get to the third round there are usually only one-shot kills left to make and when your bases are loaded with stealth, you usually cant go wrong.
That leaves Sir Bloom. When I was a new player, my two biggest headaches were earthquakes and thorns. This summoner was my quick-fix for earthquakes for a long time so I learned to appreciate him. His flying ability to all monsters is amazing beyond his hold on the shakes. I often see the difference the 25% miss probability makes. I am kinda attached to this guy so dragons is usually Bloom first.
It looked pretty even during the first round and the Ghoul took a beating but taunt kept all others safe. Then snipers took out the Stalker and big Titan had a dab. Round 2 became a bit one-sided and first strike in round 3 took care of the gladiator, who was the only real danger in the opposing team. It was in round 4 that the Carnage Titan showed his true talent. He held on to protect his back-ups while hammering away at enemy tanks.
I think my opponent had a similar plan but chose not to invest in taunt. Thorns is effective, too, but it left his flanks open. My guys were able to chip away at his midfield and get the gladiator before he could take over the show. I like that new conscript summoner! Sir Bloom may have to step aside eventually.
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