@saydie here, playing Splinterlands everyday!It's been a few seasons now since Escalation, a Conclave Arcana mini-set, was released, which introduced new cards and new abilities that once again shake the game's meta. The mini-set has consisted of 43 cards in total, with 12 commons, 12 rares, 8 epics, and 11 legendaries, not including the promo cards that can only be acquired by participating in the set presale and the additional Archons that will be airdropped through conflicts soon.
In this post, I want to take a look at all the fire units from Escalation.
The Escalation Fire units consisted of cards under different bloodlines, so defending based on what their bloodlines were, it is possible for them to be used by Archons from other elements and benefit from their Bloodline Dominion abilities.
Balilista Deadshot is a magic unit with the Orc bloodline, meaning that it gets the Void ability when paired with the Archon Fithe Bladestone, but it also benefits greatly when used with the Archon Lorkus, as it can get an additional magic damage, not to mention, by giving it the tactics abilities, it can gain more health with Life Leech and prevent the target on getting healed with Affliction. It can also be pretty deadly with the Archon Hanv, once it was given the Double Strike ability from tactics, allowing it to attack twice in a turn. It can just be a little tricky to use and RNG-reliant since it has the Scattershot ability that randomizes the attack of this card, but it can also be very beneficial as it can remove the status buffs of different opponent units with Dispel. Furthermore, it has the Pinpoint ability that gives sneak attacks 100% hit rate.
Another thing that can make the card a little harder to use is its huge mana cost. 13 mana makes it difficult to use on low and mid-mana battles, and it was automatically unusable when Little League and Junior Varsity were among the active rulesets, but that's justifiable given that it has good speed, health, and damage.
On the other hand, Emberscale Invoker was another magic unit from the Drakoshan bloodline with 7 mana. It also possesses quite decent stats with a maximum of 3 damage, which can be boosted when used along with Lorkus. And with its Ambush ability, it can immediately inflict 4 damage before the first round starts, but 3 damage can also be good enough when it is used with Hanv, and get the Double Strike ability, inflicting max of 6 damage per turn. Aside from that, it also has Phase, which allows it to evade magic attacks. Partner that with Enrage that will increase the speed of this card when received some damage, and it can be a very difficult to hit card. It also has the Snipe ability, so by default, it will attack the closest non-melee unit that is not in the first position.
Moving on with the rare units, we had Ashveil Tactician, which is a 4-mana non-damage unit, so the only way that it can attack was if it was placed next to a card with Weapon's Training ability. But even without attacking, this card can still be a good support since it has the Inspire ability that increases the attack of all melee units, Shieldward that gives the Shield ability that reduces the damage a monster receives from melee and range attacks, and Pinpoint that gives 100% hit chance on sneak attacks. Aside from that, it has the Magic Reflect that returns a portion of the magic damage that it receives back to the attacker.
Having Magic Reflect synergizes well with the Earth Archon Kaylia Silverblade that reduces the magic attacks of all opponent units, since they share the same Elf Bloodline.
Firebrand Ranger, on the other hand, was another magic unit with the Minaotaur bloodline, making it a good pair with the Death Archon, Brave the Bull, which gives all units with the same bloodline the Last Stand ability that will boost all the stats of this card when it was the only card remaining in the battle. That may be just be right for this card since it has the Shadowfocus ability that will only activate when it is in the last position by giving +1 attack to all allied units, and the Determined ability. Aside from that, it has the Painforge ability that will increase the attack of this card when its health is reduced by poison or burning, and when damaged by an ally.
Having Shieldward, though, makes it quite weird cause you might want to place this card next to your main tank, unless you placed it next to units with Taunt.
Shadowfocus -When in the last position, gains Camouflage, cannot attack, and all allied units gain +1 Power and Determined.
For the only Epic Fire unit, we have the range unit Tazagantha, which is another Minotaur unit with only 2 range damage, but it only costs 3 mana to use and can even attack in the first position with Close Range ability. Then, when you place this card next to a unit with Kindred Will, its Kindred Spirit will trigger and give adjacent units the Blast ability. Finally, it has the Bloodlust ability, meaning that, once it kills an opponent, all of its stats will increase by 1. Partner that with Brave the Bull and it can be quite a menace once it gets Last Stand.
Moving to the legendary units, we have Thambo Diamalo, which is a melee unit with the Ulund Bloodline, so it gains the Shield ability from the bloodline skill of Bella Ratajowlski. It does not have much health and damage, but it still deserves to be a legendary unit, since it does not cost any mana to use, and can attack regardless of its position due to its Charge ability. Aside from that, it has the Bloodline Pact ability, which is kind of similar to Bloodlust, but will trigger if any of the cards that share bloodline with this card defeat an opponent, which will increase the damage of all the cards with the same bloodline.
Bloodline Pact -Allied units that share this unit's bloodline gain +1 power when any of them defeats an enemy and take 1 true damage when any of them is defeated. If this unit is defeated, allied units that share its bloodline take 2 damage and lose all power gained from this ability.
And finally, we have the Avian unit Esper Shadowbeak with both melee and magic damage, which is very reasonable for only 9 mana, that can get the Charge ability when used with Elowen Sylphie, perhaps, even give to it the Resurgence ability to allow it to revive with full health, and the more important Trample that will allow this card to attack again if it defeats the target with melee attack. It's Kindred Will ability will give the adjacent unit with Kindred Spirit the Shatter ability that will break all the armor of the target, but even if no Kindred Spirit unit was next to it, it can still potentially damage the opponent since it has the Piercing ability and the Determined ability will also allow this card to attack again if it misses its target. During the Earthquake ruleset, this card will not receive damage since it has the Flying ability.
Aside from Elowen Sylphie, it also benefits greatly from Lorkus, gaining +1 melee and magic damage, while also gaining health from Life Leach ability.
Determined -Once per round after missing an attack, makes a second attack against the same target.
And that was it for my early assessment of the Escalation Fire units. All of the cards look really great and have some amazing synergies with the later cards. It's not an exaggeration to say that these new cards will eventually be adopted by more players and used them in their battles, with how strong this cards can be.
Thank you, and see you on the next post!
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