Watching great players

If you want to make the most out of your Splinterlands collection, you have to play it yourself and win! That's what's going to make the most bang for your buck. But if you want to win, you have to study the game, otherwise you'll do nothing but waste your time, all while not earning as much as you could.

That's what we're doing in Bronze TOP BATTLES Studies: we analyze three battles from the highest MMR players, learn their strategies and try improving upon them. That's how we're going to become great players that make more money. Let's begin.

@annabrown vs @mpow (link)

Can you see what @annabrown was trying to do here? Screeching Vulture was supposed to kill off something in the first round. I don't see it being helpful. Monsters were only stalling until Kron would reach the frontline, but they weren't doing anything meanwhile.

If Screeching Vulture were used behind Regal Peryton, it would live long enough to kill Fungus Fiend at the very least. Positioning was awful. If you don't have that many cards rented, then you should at least try to make the most out of the ones you do have available.

Nevertheless, @annabrown is really high MMR. Top 20 ranked bronze players get at least 2000 DEC as a reward at the end of season. She's ranked 14. This shows how players can get very far in the leaderboard without a lot of cards.

@mpow is ranked top 4. I love their flying Flesh Golem strategy. It shows you don't need to rely on legendary summoners all the time. Double heals along with extra chance to dodge on a monster that's already quick enough for its league is great defense.

@zephamar1s vs @yaiza111 (link)

Both teams seem very even, and I dare say @zephamar1s's would have won, had they chosen Swamp Thing instead of Acid Shooter. Positioning Halfling Alchemist as the backliner would have helped against potential sneak attackers.

But, unfortunately, @zephamar1s did choose Acid Shooter, spreading damage randomly, which isn't enough to kill any of @yaiza111's monsters. That's because of their Queen Mycelia, a great pick to protect a team from sneak attacks, scattershot and even opportunity.

Since Acid Shooter was chosen, maybe focusing on a more enduring tactic would have been better, like picking brownie and creeping ooze instead of Zenith Archer, greatly enhancing their Flesh Golem's survivability through dodged attacks.

If you don't follow a single strategy, you're going to lose against someone who does have a well thought out plan.

@zephamar1s vs @goddessfaith (link)

@goddessfaith takes advantage of the might of the Ruler of the Seas and high magic damage to disintegrate a Xenith Month that's trying to stall for @zephamar1s' ranged damage. However, it does a terrible job, since it's just so meek for a regular battle, having only 6 health.

Meanwhile, even though @goddessfaith has no healers on her team, Djinn Oshannus is very capable of taking and dodging a beating. Very high health along with high speed means it's a great monster to run on the frontline.

Ruler of the Seas splashes damage behind enemy lines while also ignoring their armor, ending the battle really early on. We're left thinking what could possibly stop Oshannus and Ruler of the Seas together?

There's actually an easy answer: Grund or Kron with Llama! Except there's no Earth Splinter available. We've got the melee mayhem rule set, a high-ish mana cap for bronze, and the Water, Life and Dragon splinters. Again, I ask you: how could we beat Oshannus and Ruler of the Seas?

There is none. After going through all the cards, I'll tell you no other team is as efficient in this match's rules. You might be able to think of a very specific counter, but that counter would likely lose against any other team, so it would be a very risky choice.

Image sources: https://splinterlands.com/ and @nane-qts/free-splinterlands-graphic-resources-20