The Sand Worm is a Neutral Monster in Splinterlands, a trading card game on the Hive Blockchain. At Level 1, it has the Sneak ability, has 1 speed, 5 attack and 5 health. The lowest gold card has an additional sped and health.
The sneak ability makes Sand Worm target the last enemy monster, and thus be able to attack a ranged or magic attacker that is sitting pretty, or perhaps a healer that is restoring the frontline's health. Either way, a strong 5-attack to any backline unit is going to be powerful, and that's why you will see a golden Sand Worm in many comps.
As part of @Splinterlands Weekly Challenge, I used Sand Worm in one of my matches. A recording of the match can be found here: Match Replay
My strategy with water decks is to have tankier units in front (such as Frozen Soldier and the very low cost Keep Initiate) to take damage, while my backline units, like the Magic Captain's Ghost and Sand Worm deal damage. The Crustacean King at the back helps prolong the game by healing the front unit, giving my damage units more time before they become vulnerable.
The strategy worked as intended. Even though the sand worm missed an early attack and then got blocked by armor, the game was still won due to our two front units soaking damage. The crustacean king also healed sufficiently, and its 1 armor helped it last one more turn (although the game was already won by then)
Sand Worm's biggest advantage is that it's a neutral card, and thus can be played in all types of decks. It's one of the most commonly played golden cards (against me at least), and for good reason. The sneak ability is... sneaky, and it can definitely surprise and undermine specific tactics (such as mine). However, it does cost 9 mana, which can be quite risky and unusable in lower mana games.
Overall, I would recommend people to buy Sand Worm, due to its versality in different decks.
