Hello Splinterlands Summoners! Since the Conclave Arcana set started, the Earth team and the elf bloodline has been my favorite. Kaylia Silverleaf's bloodline dominion ability of Execute is my favorite and my strategy often revolve around it. For this reason, I like to add more elves in my card collection. One missing card is the Silverleaf Mage so I bought one today and tested her in battle.
I was curious why she's a mage but her damage is ranged. It can be explained from her lore that she uses her magic to create leaves that hit like arrows. Her other abilities of Taunt, Corrosive Ward and Poison Burst has also an origin in her lore.
The mages who serve under the Silverleaf family study in quiet reflection, away from the marble halls of the noble houses. They use their spells to advance the strategies and political maneuvers of Rathlorien Silverleaf, the family鈥檚 patriarch. Their magic manifests not as aether or flame, but as a tempest of whirling leaves that strike with the force of sharpened arrows.
Only a handful have been sent into the Broken Lands alongside Kaylia. Their role is clear: draw fire, hold the line, and keep the enemy's focus long enough for the elven fellowship to strike. So they surround themselves with a shield of enchantment and answer with a hail of razorleaf projectiles. Those who attack them find their armor corroded, sloughing away. Should a mage fall, they do so in an explosive curse of poison.
At maxed level, the Silverleaf mage deals four ranged damage and has four speed. She has three armor and thirteen health to complement her Taunt ability. Her other abilities have synergy with her Taunt ability making her a great unit. She has Corrosive Ward which decreases the armor of her melee attacker. She also has Poisoned Burst that will apply poison to her attacker when she gets defeated and also has a chance to do the same to the units adjacent to the attacker. Finally she has a Divine Shield making her ignore damage once in battle. With Kaylia as archon, she will get Execute which will complement her high damage output.
As a unit with Taunt, her role in battle is clear: to draw enemy fire and make them suffer for hitting her using her other abilities of Corrosive Ward and Poison Burst. She is best placed in the last position since she is a ranged unit. She can be used in Going the Distance ruleset where her high damage will be crucial.
I immediately tested her when the ruleset allows it. Here is a battle where she helped me win. I chose this one because it shows how archons and units can counter each other's abilities which makes Splinterlands a fun game.
In this battle, I was against a Water magic team which was unfortunate for my enemy since Kaylia decreases magic attacks. My team was composed of the following:
These two units is my go to combo in the Earth tank position. With Folen's flank ability, it allows me to use another powerful tank in second position. Warborn Chieftain takes that role. He's great in second position, dealing four melee damage and ready to take the first position when Folen falls in battle.
The Thanalorian Blade has a regular spot in my Earth team. She has Opportunity ability which synergizes well with her Execute ability. She hunts the lowest health among the enemy and hits them again should their health goes down to two and below.
The only Foundation card that I frequently use in Modern. She deals two magic damage and has Weaken ability. Being an elf, she will have the Execute ability from the archon.
The Silverleaf Warlock deals two magic damage and buffs my team with additional speed. Good thing that I had him in the team since one of the enemy units slows my team down. The Silverleaf Warlock counters that debuff.
The Silverleaf Mage's role is to draw fire helping sustain my tanks. Her large defense gives my tanks time to do damage to the enemy tank. She's no slouch in the damage department herself, being able to deal three ranged damage to enemy targets.
The enemy team is anchored by two tanks but it seems he made a mistake in positioning his first and second units. I would have put the unit with Flank ability in first and Commander Slade in second position. In third he has a legendary Foundation card that slows the enemy down. This card will be overpowered with the Water Foundation archon in Frontier mode. In fourth, another strong Foundation card. In fifth, he used a double edged unit. The Shock Trooper deals a lot of damage but also damages he's own team. In last position he had a unit that adds to his team's health. This unit counters my Sorrow Harvester's debuff.
The battle is a perfect example how archons and units counter each other. First the Water archon buffs his team with magic attack while my Kaylia debuffs it. Second my Silverleaf Warlock buffs my team with speed but his Mystic Scaleweaver offsets it with Slow and third, Sorrow Harvester decreases the enemy health stat but his Razorhound increases it.
Silverleaf Mage absorbed damage from the enemy team while dealing damage of her own. My team also eliminated one enemy unit while decreasing the tank's health. In the second round, Silverleaf Mage got defeated but it was enough. The enemy tanks health were decreased while the enemy backline was also getting decimated. The Execute ability was crucial in this battle as it helped eliminate low health enemy units and didn't give them a chance to hit my team in the next round. Soon the enemy was left with his sturdy tank but I had a lot more units to bring it down.
