A frighten expression paint the face of the Chaos Legion sergeant as he arrived in the castle yard. Piles of deceased body could be seen everywhere. And stood in front of the giant door, a lizard-like person, bathed in blood of the deceased.
"Madness!! This is madness!!"the sergeant shouted "He's gonna break soon enought, send another platoon to charge forward!"
A few dozens of soldier charge with the order of the sergenat. Grund observe them coming forward. "It was winter, the weather is cold, and I was supposed to spend my months slumbering in my nest. But now they come wrecking my homeland. Winter almost end and they still coming without end" Grund mumbling.
A glimpse of light slowly come from the east. It is the first day the sun rises this season, signifying the start of spring season. "You fool! You thought you could ambush us, forest dwellers in the winter, because we're resting and hibernate? I'll show your mistake!"
Grund quickly leap into the his left, dashing into a higher ground. The soldier are chasing him with much trouble. Grund then raise his war-hammers; spin them at their chain. Both war-hammers flashing with lights from the sunrise and dazzle the eyes of the soldier. Without any delay, Gruns charge while still spinning this war-hammers "Taste my fury! Whirlwinds of Spring!!"
From afar, an eyes watch with resentment. "I should behead that bastard sergeant after this mess. An incompetent imbeciles!" shout Alvar The Legionnaires. She grasp his sword, raise and point it toward Grund. "A duel between us would settle this matters once and for all"
The Whirlwind of Spring! The title suit very well to depict how energetic Grund could be. If used and positioned properly Grund could create a disaster into opponent formation by exerting its 3 melee damage and the Double Strike Ability. And supported with 3 speed, Grund have sufficient initiative and accuracy it needed. But Grund might be an overconfident figure. Grund need to take first position to perform. While past battles have shown that 10 health are barely enough for a Tanker - in a high mana battle condistions - to survive even to the 2nd Round. So lets take a closer look!
| 1. Powerful attack force coming from 3 damage combined with Double Strike ability. In addition, Grund will obtain Trample ability on later level, which will gain extra leverage from it. | 1. Grund is pure Striker type which have very high damage but fair health only. Since having melee type attack, Grund have to be positioned in the front row to optimize its attack. This condition could expose Grund to substantial damage and led to quick demise. |
| 2. Fair amount of speed support Grund to swing attack with sufficient accuracy and turn order. | 2. Grund cost 10 mana which limit the use to upper-mid to high mana cap battle. The 10 mana cost pose to be a high risk, especially considering the card have only 10 health. |
| *Reference for Archetype term : Striker --> Superior Damage / Tanker --> Superior Health / Ninja --> Superior Speed / Support --> A Lot Number of Abilities. |
Both foil price seemed to move in sideways trend in the past few month, although there's a troughs in the past 1 to 2 months. Price currently sit at $1.37 for regular foil, and sit at $11.99 for gold foil. For an epic type, this card priced quite high, ranked 6th (and 2nd for gold foil) among Epic cards of Chaos Legion editions. Calculating the total bcx needed to reach max level, the regular foil will cost $62.56 while the gold foil will cost $119.90. Considering the cost difference between both are not too far, purchasing gold foil would still be a reasonable alternatives.
Because Grund is more suitable for upper-mid to high mana battle where it will met by a powerful damage dealer cards. Therefore, in my opinion, health is the main liability of Grund, even if it has 10 health. Fortunately the progression steps has provided several number of health growth. The first one is at Level 2, which then followed by a very potent +1 damage at Level 3. Level 3 could be the first milestone needed to create a powerful wrecker card. At level 4, Grund will obtain Trample ability which much more useful considering Grund deal double attack each turns, which means double chances for a kill. Level 5 grant the next health growth.
And finally the ultimate level grant a double growth, which is equitable with the level-up cost. One from the health growth and the other one from the new abilities - Cripple. Cripple could be very useful against card with high health and Tank heal ability. But against cards protected by armor, this ability would be less effective, since Cripple only take effect when hit the health.
| Ruleset | Strategy |
|---|---|
| Granting armor is the first best way to enhance Grund's survivability. Armored Up could stop major damage from directly depleting Grund's health. | |
| Any Target Altering abilities (like Opportunity and Sneak) will allow Grund to fill middle and back row, which will optimize Grund damage output for the long run. | |
| Since Blast ability provide indirect damage based on rounded-up value of the main damage; thus Grund at Level 1 could exert a full 2 blast damage times 2, while having only 3 melee damage. | |
| Trample is a rare ability with only few monster owning it. And having leverage from Stampede rulese and Double Strike ability, Grund could be the best user of Trample ability having higher activation chances than the rest. |
Here's one of my battle experience with Djinn Biljka in my formation (Click Here https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_b3052417a4b85a485c83bf450fa4ceac&ref=kid.miniatures for the battle link). The battle has 99 mana cap, with Standard ruleset. For my formation, I used:
| Position | Card Name | Level | Mana | Health | Armor | Speed | Damage Type | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summoner | Obsidian | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st Row | Grund | 1 | 10 | 10 | - | 3 | Melee | 3 |
| 2nd Row | Arkemis The Bear | 1 | 12 | 10 | - | 2 | Melee | 3 |
| 3rd Row | Myscelic Slipspawn | 1 | 9 | 10 | - | 2 | Magic | 2 |
| 4th Row | Suidae Shaman | 1 | 8 | 6 | - | 2 | Magic | 2 |
| 5th Row | Uloth Dhampir | 1 | 9 | 8 | - | 2 | Ranged | 3 |
| 6th Row | Gobson Bomber | 1 | 7 | 3 | - | 2 | Ranged | 2 |
My opponent formation:
| Position | Card Name | Level | Mana | Health | Armor | Speed | Damage Type | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summoner | General Sloan | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st Row | Shielbearer | 1 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 2 | Melee | 2 |
| 2nd Row | Djinn Renova | 1 | 7 | 6 | - | 2 | Magic | 2 |
| 3rd Row | Time Mage | 1 | 4 | 3 | - | 4 | Magic | 1 |
| 4th Row | Gargoya Devil | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Ranged | 2 |
| 5th Row | Venari Crystalsmith | 1 | 4 | 4 | - | 2 | Ranged | 1 |
| 6th Row | Pelacor Arbalest | 1 | 6 | 2 | - | 2 | Ranged | 2 |
In this battle, the main key to victory is to maximize the mana cap. And currently I managed to deploy cards with a total 59 mana, while my opponent only at 40 mana. The mana differences bring much advantage to my formation. My formation also didn't lack any firepower, while my opponent looks under-powered; with General Sloan deployed, their ranged cards got a quite powerful damage boost. I put Grund in the front row with confidence, considering there's armost boost from Arkemis's Protect ability and most importantly there's Mycelic Slipspwan which will absorb the damage with its Taunt ability.
At the start of Round 1, Time Mage engulfs my formation with Slow surge which put all my cards into the last order. All the back row of the opponent formation launched attacks which all hit into Mycelic Slipspawn, eliminating it in single round. Pelacor Arbales was total dangerous with its Double Strike ability. My formation didn't do much as Suidae Shaman and Gobson Bomber only accumulate their attack, meanwhile Grund with its Double Strike managed to only broke down Shiledbearer's armor.
Opponent firepower is strikingly painful, as their second charge now target Grund and put him in demise within second. Now Arkemis take the front row, but already has to sustain two incoming attack, leaving it with only 8 health remains. Fortunately I got the precise timing of my backrow. Suidae Shaman cast a critical spell causing 9 damage to Shieldbeare, and then Uloth Dhampir follow up to finish the job. Gobson Bomber having only 1 speed managed to hit right into Djinn Renova which followed by Arkemis to score a kill. Two birds fallen down within a round.
And the fight continue to Round 3 where the artillery again blast their attack and bring down Arkemis for good. The battle turned bad, when Arkemis gone so does the armor buff. Suidae Shaman now has to take the front row and take damage from Venari Crystalsmith. But again its was luck which save my formation, Uloth Dhampir which 3 speed short from Time Mage successfully landed a killing blow into her. Now the battle back to its balance with 3 cards against 3 cards.
Starting from Round 4. With Time Mage out of the battle, all cards returned to their normal speed. Its a matter of RNG since all cards now have an equal 2 speed. Again luck is on my side as Suidae Shaman leads the act, and cast a fatal spell into Gargoya Devil. This act put Venari into the first row which seal its attack. Pelacor Arbalest interfere with its attack against Suidae Shaman and put him in demise. Gobson Bomber save his act for the last dance to blow away Venari Crystalsmith for good.
With only Pelacor Arbalest remaining and standing in the first row, the fate is sealed for my oppponent. And victory is upon me.
The battle doesn't turn as how I predicted. Lower speed caused my formation to act far behind, costing me 9 mana (from Mycelic Slipspwan). And then having two Recharge ability was burdensome, as again in the 2nd round, I lost Grund which costing me 10 mana. By this point my remaining cards accumulate a total 40 mana which in par with my opponent. A lot luck factor, especially in regard to attack accuracy and attack timing, have allowed me score kill each time. Grund doesn't show its full talent as it only able to strike once and it only destroyed Shieldbearer's armor. But the battle show, even at 40 mana cost, the opponent pose a menacing threat toward the front row. If not for Mycelic Slipswan, Grund might be perished at only Round 1.
I seldom used Grund since the card more suitable for high mana cap battle. Its too risky to put Striker card into the front row directly without additional protection. But having 13 health at max level allow Grund to be a versatile Tanker which able to sustain not only melee and ranged but also magic attack. Take for example Carnage Titan which the equivalent of Grund; the card owned not only Double Strike ability, but also Reach and Shield ability, while having 7 armor and 8 health. Carnage Titan might be a more powerful Tanker than Grund, but still have its own vulnerability from magic attack.
