Another week, another Share Your Battle Challenge. This time the Monster in the spotlight is one of the best budget tanks mana can buy across all splinters, at least in my humble opinion, namely the Antoid Platoon. The truth is I use it so often when I spam my Fire Splinter focus that I could potentially get accused of abusing it but it is so good in low to mid range mana battles that I just can't help it.
Now before we get into the stats discussion of the Antoid Platoon, let's have a sneak peek into its LORE
Wow, I did realize it was an actual antoid platoon as in a platoon consisting of ants but I have never given much thought about it until now. The actual thought of being chased and swarmed by a whole army of weapon-wielding fire ants gives me the hives...😁 So.. yeah.. you definitely do not want to mess with these "guys".
Alright, we've got some idea of what an Antoid Platoon is, after glancing at its lore. Let us have a look at its stats and abilities at different key levels now.
This time our Common Monster has additional abilities unlike a lot of its fellows of similar quality who often lack any abilities at all. It starts off with its most important ability at level 1 - Shield (reduced damage from melee and ranged attacks). Shield is so helpful it can actually be game-breaking for the opponent in low mana matches. Especially if you pair the Platoon with, say, a Disintegrator, since Monsters with 1 attack (melee or ranged) deal 0 damage to the Antoid Platoon.
At level 3 it gains an additional health point for a total of 4, which is pretty important for any tank.
At level 4 it gains an additional attack point for a total of 2 which is also appreciated.
At level 6 it loses 1 point in health but it actually gains an additional ability - Scavenger (gains 1 max health every time a monster dies)
Finally maxed out at level 10 it has 3 melee attack, 2 speed, 3 armor and 5 health. This is actually a pretty good package for a the really low cost (for a common tank with 2 special abilities) of 4 mana.
Now that we know what the card does (or doesn't do) at the different levels of play, let us have a look at the battle I have chosen to showcase.
The rulesets for this battle are Equalizer (the initial health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base health) and Melee Mayhem (melee attackers can attack from any position). Its mana restriction is a bit below average - 25. This means I have to be conscious of what Monsters I choose. I can't throw just anything into the mix. Having in mind both rulesets, the best approach is to use as many as possible low health melee Monsters, and hope that my enemy will boost their health by throwing in something with more health. I also expect my enemy to go with more melee monsters based on the matches they have previously played so I will go with our protagonist in the premier tanking spot.
The 2nd place in the line-up goes to a Monster I love playing whenever possible and this battle has the perfect combination of rulesets for that. The Exploding Dwarf is great for Equalize since it has 1 health, so it is instantly boosted with more health. Then the fact that it can hit from any spot in this battle makes it godly with its two abilities - Blast and Piercing.
The 3rd place in the line-up goes to the Radiated Scorcher. If it gets to hit a Monster with some armor left and Shatters it, that's enough for me to justify its inclusion in the line-up.
The 4th spot goes to the Scorch Fiend. It's just a filler Monster since I have no mana to fill in the last spot. It is always important to use your mana and spots optimally.
5th in the line-up is the Supply Runner. It's a Monster I have already blogged about so you can find more details about it in my post (links at the end). I've included it here because of its Swiftness ability -> +1 Speed to all friendly Monsters. It's great for battles where hitting first is specifically important.
The last spot is reserved for none other than Doctor Blight. If you have rented or, even better, are in possession of a level 2 Dr. Blight, you probably know that it can win you any battle. So it's pretty much a no brainer to include it if you have 4 mana remaining.
It is time for a quick round by round analysis:
The Summoner I am going with for the battle is Tarsa as I do not have any other level 4 Summoner you will likely see me play her in every Fire Splinter battle under the sun (at least for now). That's fine though cause I like her a lot. My enemy is rocking a level 3 Daria Dragonscale. I corretly predicted that they will mostly have melee Monsters in their line-up, and they also did me a favor by including higher health Monsters.
After 1 round, I have taken down the opponent's Diemonshark and it got revived right at the end of the round. Our band of heroes - the Antoid Platoon is still hanging in there. The Exploding Dwarf did a lot of work in the beginning of the round.
At the start of Round 3 I have managed to take down two of the enemy's Monsters. I am almost certainly winning the battle at this point.
Round 4 - the enemy's Deeplurker and my Scorcher as till battling it out but they will both exit the battlefield this round.
Round 5 - all that is left is for my team to mop the floor with the enemy's last remaining Monster. A successfully executed battle plan.
The Antoid Platoon is a great little (in terms of mana) Fire Splinter tank. It can be great both as a main tank or in last position as a means to defend your heavy hitters from enemy sneak attacks. It is specifically great for that from level 6 onwards due to its Scavenger ability. The Antoid Platoon currently valued at $0.06 per BCX, so there is literally no reason not to pick up as many copies as you need to get it levelled up to the appropriate level of the league you compete in.
