Splinterlands is a complex game, and it allows for various cards and strategies. Each fight is different as there are various rulesets applied, and this can give specific cards an advantage depending on how you use them. In this post, I talk about a great battle where I won because I used Sand Worm.
Sand Worm is a neutral splinter that costs 9 mana. This splinter starts with the sneak ability. Leveling up this card increases the stats of this monster, and it learns snare at level 5 and piercing at level 10. I use this card from time to time in Brawls because of its nice damage.
This battle is interesting because the different effects force you to consider things differently. Magic monsters aren't as effective, and the turn order is reversed. I can't use my usual setups, and I have to think more deeply.
| Splinter | Mana Cost | Position | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eternan Brune | 6 | Summoner | -2 armor |
| Living Lava | 7 | 1st | Shield |
| Chimney Wallstop | 10 | 2nd | Reach and Bloodlust |
| Sand Worm | 9 | 3rd | Sneak |
| Djinn Inferni | 7 | 4th | Giant Killer |
| Ettin Spearman | 8 | 5th | Piercing |
| Sarius | 3 | 6th | Bloodlust |
| Total Mana: | 50 |
My summoner is Eternan Brune for its -2 armor. My tank is Living Lava because it has the shield ability. After that is Chimney Wallstop with reach and bloodlust. Sand Worm is my third monster as a damage dealer. Djinn Inferni is my only magic monster with giant killer. Then I have 2 ranged monsters
The focus of this lineup is to keep my monsters alive while dealing as much damage as possible. All of my monsters can attack from their current position. Sandworm has low speed, so it can land its attack earlym and hit hard. The magic monster is used despite the arcane dampening because it will still deal 2 damage, but if its a high mana card, it can deal 3 instead. The ranged monsters are just there for more damage.
At first glance, I think that this match can go either way. My opponent has reduced my melee damage, but I have slightly more damage than my opponent.
My opponent is left with two monsters while I have three. However, my opponent only has 1 monster capable of attacking. At this point, this match is my win because my monsters are slower than me opponent. I won't be missing my attacks so there won't be anything my opponent can do.
I won that match later that round.
The battle this time went exactly as planned. It looks like focusing on damage was the right choice, and Sand Worm was good in that regard. It has high damage but low speed so it moves towards the start of the match. Bloodlust worked against my opponent because that extra speed hurts it in the reverse speed ruleset.
You can see my entire match here.
What did you think of my match? Was there anything you would have done differently? I think it is quite interesting to see how different players use the same card.
