SHARE YOUR BATTLE Weekly Challenge! MYCELIC MORPHOID

One-mana monsters are often underestimated but sometimes a well-placed 1-mana monster could be the difference between a win and a defeat, and while it will never get the MVP spot, it is a true team player. One such monster is the Mycelic Morphoid, part of the the most "Eco-friendly" Splinter in Splinterlands - Earth.

Now before getting into the stats discussion of the Monster, let's have a sneak peek into its lore:

Mycelic Morphoids are in a constant state of growth and development. As part of Queen Mycelia's brood, Morphoids work to spread the growing blight on Praetoria. Infected themselves by the poison, they take root near streams and rivers, contaminating it with the blight. In turn, the waters feed them, and a second Morphoid sprouts from the original. Together, the two travel as one until they split and continue the process.

Twisted roots and poisonous pointed vines covered the ground of the Mugamp Bog. The botanist crouched down to take a sample of a single strange white mushroom in the underbrush. A fine addition to her collection. Since the disappearance of Doctor Alastair Lexington, the university had sent other explorers to Praetoria. One account was to locate him; the other was to get more plant samples.

Sudden movement behind caught the attention of the botanist. She circled around on the balls of her feet to catch sight of it.

“Must have been the wind.”

Turning around to collect more of the fungus, the botanist stared down at multiple where the one had been. “Peculiar. They seem to have sprouted instantly.”

She reached out to pluck a few more from the ground.

So, just by looking at the picture of the Mycelic Morphoid, I know immediately I would not want to be in its company. But now that I know it's actually part of Queen Mycelia's brood and its job is to spread blight and clone itself, I am even more determined to stay away from it. Having said that I would definitely not go for the vacant position the aforementioned botanist has left behind her after her inevitable disappearance. I am sure there is at least one job in Praetoria one can occupy without running the risk of being eaten.😝

Okay, now that we have a decent idea of what the Mycelic Morphoid is, let us have a look at its stats and abilities at the key different levels.

It starts off with a slight advantage against some of its other 1-mana brethren in having 2 life at level 1. Its 1 attack and 1 speed are typical for its mana cost.
Level 3 is where it gains its first and only ability - Thorns. The Thorns ability is actually pretty powerful in the lower leagues, so it is not a bad addition to its arsenal at all.
At level 7 it gains an additional attack point, which makes it even better for its cost.
Finally at level 10 it ends up with 2 attack, 3 speed, and 3 life which could enable it to take a couple of hits in some specific rulesets, and low-mana battles.

After having a look at its stat and ability evolution, it is definitely obvious that even at Diamond level, one cannot expect this monster to single-handedly win their battles for them, however, it still has its fair use in specific circumstances.

Now that we have gotten acquainted with the stats of the Monster and its abilities, let us have a look at the two battles (due to the fact that they are relatively short) I have chosen to showcase.

<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>BATTLE 1<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>

Let us begin with the line-up:

I play in Silver II, and frankly said, when I opt to choose the Earth Splinter for a battle, I always roll with my faithful level 3 Obsidian. It is no secret that magic spam is a dominant lower league tactic, so +1 Magic Attack provided by Obsidian is a huge deal, when you have the right setup, enabled by favorable mana constraint and ruleset.

The first spot of the line-up is reserved for one of my favorite cards from the Earth Splinter - Unicorn Mustang - I consider it currently the best tank in the splinter's line-up as far as bronze/silver leagues are concerned (and gold probably). It has a good attack value, a lot of health and its Void ability is great for countering enemy magic. Plus its speed value of 4, also makes it dodge melee and ranged non-magic attacks more often than not.

The second spot is reserved for the Regal Peryton - a flying magic monster - the reason I currently have it in this spot is that it is actually quite tanky if the enemy's team consists mainly of melee and non-magic ranged attackers. It has won me more games in the tanking spot (when the main tank dies) than I care to count. And it being a magic attacker also gives it the advantage of being able to attack from the said first spot.😉

The third spot this time around is for another personal favorite of mine - Mushroom Seer which is indispensable in an anti-magic line-up because of its Silence ability. Of course if you happen to be lucky enough to possess and be able to summon a level 7 Goblin Psychic, the Mushroom Seer becomes redundant, but until then it is a must in Obsidian vs Obsidian match-ups (or any other heavy magic line-ups for that matter).

Wood Nymph is a healer I often choose over the Goblin Psychic in lower mana matches, or in matches where I want to roll with a specific line-up. The fact that it costs 2 mana less than the Psychic really helps with that. Sometimes I roll with a double healer setup which includes both healers.

The fifth position is for another card I put a lot of faith in, namely the Goblin Sorcerer it is great at targeting the enemy backline and can cause a lot of trouble there with its Sneak ability. And being on the receiving end of a sneak magic attack amounting to 3 damage (when Obsidian does her thing) is not a great position to be in.

And last but not least, we have our despicable thorny friend in the last spot. Its job here is to protect our back line from 1-2 hits. If the enemy's sneak monsters have low health and no shield, they might as well kill themselves by hitting the Morphoid, which could completely disrupt the enemy's battle plan.

And now for a quick round by round analysis:

As we can see my opponent has also chosen to use Obsidian but she is level 1, so I have an advantage off the bat. This is so since it's more or less a mirror match but his monsters are just significantly weaker than mine across the board, even though they have also opted for a magic line-up, and they even also have a Mycelic Morphoid of their own in the same spot as me. 😄 However, my biggest advantage is that I have a Mushroom Seer, and they do not, which basically means that they are doomed as we will see in a few seconds.

At the beginning of the 2nd round, I have managed to take down my opponent's Mycelic Morphoid (it did its job - it took a hit), and my Unicorn is almost at full health, while theirs is at half health. This is due to the fact that all enemy monsters with 1 magic attack do 0 damage to the Unicorn due to its special ability I mentioned in its introduction.

Midway through the 2nd round, all my monsters are alive and kicking while they have lost their tank, and their Peryton will try to save the day but my magic attack line-up will shred it like yellow cheese. 😄

Start of R3, my Goblin Sorcerer has taken down the enemy's Psychic, and what's left for my force is to basically finish up the battle.

Last monster standing for the enemy team and the battle is done. A flawless victory for my "Earthlings"😁.

<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>BATTLE 2<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>

Let us begin with the line-up again but this time I will not repeat myself but just point out why I have put the Monsters in the spots they are in:

I've opted for Obsidian again as she is currently my go-to Summoner for Earth as I have already mentioned.

As you can see this time I've got the Mycelic Slipspawn in the tank position because of its Taunt ability. A lot of people play it in the backline but I always play it in the front when I run 2 healers which is the case in this battle. I decided to put it into play in order to counter the Opportunity part of the ruleset, as the Earth Splinter's back line is really susceptible to enemy opportunity attackers to to the generally low health of the casters and the total lack of shields (unless you run Queen Mycelia).

The Mycelic Slipspawn is followed by the hero of this blogpost. I just have it in this spot as fail safe if the enemy manages to break through the frontline.

In the third spot I have a neutral monster this time around - the Creeping Ooze. I hope its slow ability will enable me to have at least one of my healers go before some of the enemy's attacker since the healers are generally slower, and if the enemy has a huge burst potential they might kill the taunt monster before it has the chance to receive any healing.

The 4th spot is reserved for my favorite healer in the game - the Goblin Psychic - you can actually read what I think about it in detail HERE 😜 Heal + Affliction at level 4 - enough said.. 😁

The 5th spot is reserved for the Wood Nymph.

Last but surely not least is the Regal Peryton. I have put it here as a last resort, if my general strategy fails.

And now for a quick round by round analysis:

As we can see my opponent has chosen to use his Level 2 Tarsa, and they have opted for a basically 100% melee line-up, trying to take advantage of the Opportunity ruleset. They also specifically have 2 Sneak monsters. This is exactly what I was preparing to face, so let's see how it goes.

A few actions before the end of the 1st round, you can see that my line-up managed to take out 3 of their backline monsters while I have lost just our friend - the Mycelic Morphoid (or it did its job in other words 😃). The taunter is alive and kicking thanks to the kind help of our two healers, and the fact that the slow is doing its thing.

At the beginning of Round 2 my taunter is in danger of dying but most of my monsters will act before those of the enemy, so let's see what will happen.

Round 3 - the taunter managed to survive, and now all that is left is for my team to sweep the floor with the leftovers of the enemy team. 😝

The last monster on the enemy team is about to die. I managed to pull off my plan this time around. 😀

And so, we can see that even 1-mana monsters have their place in the line-ups of the armies battling across the lands of Splinterlands. One thing is absolutely certain though, if I were you, I would avoid the bogs at all cost for that is where our thorny Mycelic Morphoid lurks, and you just don't want to be at the receiving end of its blighted wrath. You can still include it in your own line-ups though.😁

GhostlyBG, over and out
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You can check out some other stuff from my recent Splinterlands blogging venture: