Hello! This week's challenge is the Supply Runner - a card that is peculiar in the sense that it is extremely mediocre or even bad for as long as you have it at level 4 or lower. This means that in Bronze, you will rarely ever want to play it. Then you look at its level 5 and it becomes amazing! Swiftness is one of the most powerful abilities, being essentially a better Slow. Supply Runner is a common card that can apply it to your team at Silver level, which makes it just so extremely strong. So let's dive into my weekly battle. Sadly, while I have it at level 5, I do not have a summoner that can use it, so.. here's a much less exciting version of Supply Runner.
It is a high mana battle with a lot of restrictions. First of all, it is silenced summoners, which is actually why I played Life - but I'll get to that in the next part of the post. The lack of ability to play melee monsters also takes out a large amount of possibilities. Finally, no Water, Fire or Death narrows it down even further.
You can find the battle right HERE
Here's a screenshot for whoever doesn't feel like watching the whole thing!
In the end, I went for Life, as I felt it loses less due to Silenced Summoners than Earth would. On top of that, with no magic buff from Obsidian, I was confident I could outdamage Earth if it was chosen.
My frontline for this battle was absolutely pathetic. I do not own any cards in Life nor neutral that could play the role of a high-mana frontliner in a game like these, where Keep Your Distance is an active ruleset. Something like Cornealus, Prismatic Energy or even Warrior of Peace would be great to have.
I was, however, forced to use Pelacor Conjurer as my frontline. Its high speed and Flying meant that if the opponent chose to go for ranged units, I'd have some chances to get lucky with dodges. On top of that, it does have 6 health when accounting for the Djinn Renova buff, making it.. an acceptable, yet disappointing choice.
The supportive cast were two magic attackers, which were not really there for their attack. Instead, they both have abilities that affect whole teams, making them a great addition to a lineup that seeks to deal a lot of damage, as fast as possible. Time Mage's Slow is an ability that can make a big difference, letting cards like Pelacor Arbalest and Prismologist attack before the opponent's monsters.
Djinn Renova and her Strengthen, as well as large health pool lets it act both as an offtank, as well as a protection against potential Sneak attackers, Opportunity monsters, and simply making the frontline that tiny bit beefier. As you can see in the battle, it worked out to my advantage!
Finally, here is the damage part and we can find the hero of the post in this part of the team. Supply Runner, with its high speed, guarantees being able to attack quite a lot and potentially taking down the opposing frontline unit before it can make its own move.
Pelacor Arbalest and Prismologist are both lower speed, but high damage units that are key to victory and simply need to be able to survive in the backline for as long as is needed for the enemy team to perish. The Double Attack of Arbalest makes short work of most enemies, while Prismologist's Blast counters Queen Mycelia's Protect perfectly. In the end, it turns out to be enough in order to win the difficult battle.
Swiftness of course is a fantastic ability that fits pretty much everywhere - well, except Reverse Speed of course, but you wouldn't want to use Supply Runner there anyway. Strengthen is the same, but I mean.. I'm not getting to diamond/champion anytime soon. There are hardly teams that don't want to see Supply Runner there - in most splinters, it is the best 6-mana ranged unit at Silver cap. Some of the biggest competitors would be Hunter Jarx or Azmare Harpoonist, at least in modern.
The biggest problem with Supply Runner is of course its uselessness in Reverse Speed. It is also completely unusable in Choosing Sides, as it is neutral - so what is normally an upside, turns into a crippling downside in that one. Another big deal is that it is way weaker pre-5, so you do need to invest in the summoners - whether purchasing or renting - in order to play it to its potential.
Overall though, a great card that is fun to play with - the Swiftness really makes a difference, especially when combined with other speed altering effects, making the opposing team unable to act before they're all gone.
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