A Gem That Is Whipping Bones

Hello there! @saydie here, playing Splinterlands everyday!

Grim Bonewhip.png

With the continuously growing cards in Splinterlands, it's not uncommon to overlook the potential of some cards, especially with the Conclave Arcana rewards, which were released not even a month ago, along with the increased cost in Glint that makes it a lot harder to level each card, so players will just prioritize leveling the cards that they think will become part of the game's meta. However, there are some cards that you can only see their worth once you actually play them in the battle under the right conditions.

That is why, for this week's Community Engagement Challenge, I want to bring the case of Grim Bonewhip as a hidden gem that could shine when used correctly.

Skyspire Leopard

Edition	Conclave Arcana Reward
Mana Cost	5
Element	Death
Bloodline	Dwarf
Rarity	Common
Max Armor	-
Max Health	6
Max Speed	3
Max Melee	3
Abilities/Debilitations	Lvl 1 - Reach Lvl 3 - Rust Lvl 5 - Swiftness Lvl 10 - Execute

Grim Bonewhip was a death unit that was part of the Conclave Arcana Rewards, which, since it was just recently released, most players have not had the opportunity to use as much, especially at the highest levels, unless maybe if you were one of the players a Black Foil or Arcane version of it during the weekly draws. Fortunately, I won this card during the very first week, and since then, I have been experimenting with how to use it.

At only 5 mana cost, it was not that powerful with 3 melee damage, nor that fast with 3 speed, nor that beefy with 6 health. But that is because it was supposed to be in the second position, where it could attack the opponent using Reach. It is also a good support card with its Rust ability that reduces the armor of all opponent units, as well as Swiftness that increases the speed of all its allied units. And when you get it at max level, it will have Execute, which allows this card to attack again after a successful attack that left the target with 2 or less damage. Since this is a Dwarf unit, you can also use this card with the Fire Archon, Fifthe Bladestone, and get the Void ability from its Bloodline Dominion.

Compatible Rulesets

For most of the time, these combinations were good in many battles, but I think they shine the most in the following rulesets.


^{Armored Up}	All Monsters have 2 Armor in addition to their normal Armor stat.
^{Fog of War}	Monsters lose the Sneak, Snipe and Opportunity abilities.
^{Might Makes Right}	You can only summon units with 3 or more ranged, magic, or melee power.
^{Need For Speed}	You can only summon units with 3 or more speed.
^{Rise of the Commons}	Only Common and Rare Monsters may be used in battles.
^{Up Close & Personal}	Only Monsters with Melee attack may be used in battles.

Battle Showcase

Battle 1:

In this battle, we got the Equal Opportunity ruleset, so it does not really matter where Grim Bonewhip was placed, but more on who can attack first. That is why its Swiftness ability enables my team to attack faster and reduce the opponent's armor by its Rust ability. That said, Grim Bonewhip was still able to do some work by attacking Cavewise Wayfinder and finishing it with an Execute.

Battle 2:

This time, Might Makes Right ruleset was available and also Equalizer, so adding Grim Bonewhip makes more sense since it will have the same health as all the cards, and again, with the support of Swiftness and Rust, my team was able to attack more effectively as well to dodge certain attacks. Still, it was always great to see when Grim Bonewhip delivers those Execute attacks towards the opponent.

Battle 3:

For the last battle that I would like to share, you can see that the opponent uses the archon Fifthe Bladestone, which gives the opponent units +2 armor, but thanks to the Rust ability of Grim Bonewhip, it cancels out the opponent's armor while allowing my units to attack faster. And when there was only one opponent left, it was once again to inflict the finishing blow by activating its Execute ability.

Closing

So while Grim Bonewhip was not necessarily the strongest card in the Conclave Arcana rewards set, you should also not look down on it, because if you do, it might bite back at you and use execute on your units. As of the moment, it is currently my most-used Ca reward card, given that it is at the max level and is giving me a sweet 20% bonus in ranked battles for being a Black Foil Card.

Thank you, and see you on the next post!

Splinterlands Free Assets

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