Not only since the introduction of the SPS Rewards, the Brawls are a highlight for many Splinterland players. There are many factors that make the Brawls a special experience.
Celebrating successes together and also going through defeats together to become better inspires and builds team spirit.
I still remember how confused I was at the first Brawls when the veteran opponents came to the field with cards that seemed to be completely overpowered!
From my point of view, the Gladius cards are one of the main reasons why the Brawls are so much fun.
Not only because they are very strong, but also because they are rare and it takes a long time to build up a good deck of them.
I'll be going over all the Gladius cards in a small series of articles and we'll look together at how and where they can be used. To keep it all organized I will go through splinter by splinter.
Here are the links to the other parts of this series:
With the latest update from Tuesday there is a new ruleset, which makes the Gladius maps playable in Ranked. So the Gladius cards will become even more important, sure for the Champion players this may not apply, but all players up to Gold or maybe even Diamond, will benefit from it.
Today we take a look on the water splinter!
The overview of the water gladiators shows that what was true for fire is also true for water. The cards are incredibly strong at the maximum level. For the water team, this is especially true for the two commons. The mana cost structure is balanced, with only one card available for under 4 mana. This is a limitation for Little League, for the otherwise strong Splinter in this ruleset.
There is 1x magic, 2x ranged, and 3x melee. Let's take a closer look at them!
Alva is a classic tank with average stats at level 1. The shield ability makes her well suited against enemy melee and ranged fighters. Her weakness is clearly her vulnerability to magic damage.
At level 5 she gets Retaliate, which is a strong boost for her. With a mana cost of 6, she is relatively versatile.
Rulesets in which the petite lady particularly shines are: Melee Mayhem, Super Sneak, Equal Opportunity or Up Close and Personal. She also benefits in matches like Return Fire, or Void Armor.
In summary, we are looking for a match for them where we can be relatively sure not to encounter too much magic damage.
Isgald is the 2 common card in the water Splinter. Her stats at level one are: 2 Damage, 3 Speed, 3 Armor and 4 Hit Points. With Opportunity she grabs the weakest targets of the opponent. All in all, a good card with a lot of potential for a decent snowball effect. However, it can only really unfold its potential from level 6, where it receives piercing and thus glides through the opponents like a warm knife through butter.
It benefits immensely from Inspire or Explosive. She can be used in many contexts, actually almost always when the opponent could play cards with low hit points. Her only weakness is the mana cost of 5, but with 4 she would probably be too strong in Little League, so that's okay.
The only low mana card of the Water Gladiators is Alfredo. His stats are fine for the cost of 2 mana. He gets close range at level 5. This makes him a bit more usable. With 5 hitpoints at level 5 he can be a good offtank in low mana matches.
Since he has no other defensive abilities, Armor helps him a lot. Otherwise he could become easy prey for Opportunity cards.
His area of use is where little mana is available. Good rulesets for him are: Explosive Weponry or Target Practice. Enrage can also be interesting, or Rise of the Commons.
Kelya is a good summoner for Alfredo, Lir Deepswimmer or Aquantus are also options. Overall, the card remains a niche card.
Cleaver is an apt name in this case. Relenor is the guy for the rough stuff, so to speak. 4 melee damage and Reach as an ability make him a deadly danger on the off-tank position. The damage increases further to 6 on max level! on level 5 there is Inspire.
Due to the high mana costs it is only used in Highmana matches.
The only weakness is the rather low hit points, but as an off-tank he is rarely directly in focus and has some time to improve his stats through Bloodlust.
He is good with all summoners, but especially the speed of Keyla helps him enormously. He can also be played well in many rulesets. It seems important to me that the appropriate tank strikes before Relenor. So you can increase the chance to trigger Bloodlust.
A dangerous beauty, that's probably the best way to describe Edith. The epic card has great damage potential. Already at level 1, it deals 4 damage, later 5, and at max level even 6. The hit points remain constant at 7. It has Bloodlust, Cleanse, and Strengthen abilities.
At 8 mana, it's also rather expensive and is suitable for battles with a lot of mana. Like Alfredo, it also likes the Target Practice and Explosive Weaponry rulesets. Speed and armor also help her, making her a good card for Kelya. All in all, a solid card, but unfortunately, due to its high cost, it's rarely seen.
Flagulon Reine is the only magic card in the Water-Gladius set. Explosive and magical damage is an absolutely deadly combination. Shatter is available from level 2 and Knockout from level 3. Like other cards, her weakness lies more in the mana costs than in the other values. Anything that improves magical damage helps her, and speed is an important factor. Lucky is the one who owns a Valnamor! Reine is made for him. The various rule sets do not restrict her much. Only the rules that generally weaken magic cards need to be considered. A great card that offers many possibilities.
I often play Water in the normal Ranked mode, and in my opinion, the Splinter is one of the strongest, especially in Modern. And although none of the Gladius cards are bad, the options are somewhat limited, and I play other Splinters just as often or even more often in Brawls.
I'm curious to see how things will develop with the new rule. With the Soulbound Summoners, two Gladius cards can even be played in a Ranked Match. Alva and Relenor together will definitely be cool, but we'll see where that leads.
Next week, the Earth Splinter is up, and it's an extremely strong Splinter!
I hope you enjoyed the post, and I appreciate your feedback.
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