This season, I have added a brand-new Archon of the Death Element to my deck. This is a Legendary Archon belonging to the Arcana set. It grants the "Last Stand" ability to its supporting Bloodlines—the Djinn and the Minotaur. This means that if a card possessing this ability is the sole survivor remaining on the team, all of its stats are boosted by 50%. For instance, if a card originally had 2 Attack Power, 4 Armor, 6 Health, and 4 Speed, and it now stands alone on the team, its stats will increase by 50% to become 3 Attack Power, 6 Armor, 9 Health, and 6 Speed. Additionally, this Archon allows you to bestow the "Armored Strike" and "Execute" abilities upon any two of your cards.
Today, utilizing this very Archon, I have assembled a team for a Brawl Battle. My strategy centers primarily on leveraging its "Armored Strike" and "Execute" abilities; to this end, I have strategically included two additional armored cards in the team, alongside my main Tank.
Since the battle's ruleset was "Opportunity," the weakest cards on both teams became prime targets for one another. I, too, had included a weak card in my lineup—simply to fill a slot; however, through its sacrifice, that card managed to absorb and waste an enemy attack, thereby granting my primary attackers the complete freedom to launch powerful strikes at the opportune moments. I have explained in detail in a separate post why utilizing every single slot in your lineup is advantageous; be sure not to miss checking out that post as well!
Well, right after this—as soon as it was time for my cards to attack—you’ll see how the enemy was knocked out by a single 'Armored Strike' alone. However, let me also address a different scenario here: suppose the enemy you are facing is itself a card with impressive stats. Don't you agree that an attack boasting 7+7 Attack Power is more than enough to bring even the most powerful cards to their knees? And this is all thanks to the base stats of this Gladiator card, which—with the aid of 'Bloodlust'—continue to steadily increase after every successful kill.
—stats that rose from 7 to 10, while its speed also doubled from 3 to 6. Now, let's understand the strategy behind the positioning in this battle. Regarding the Gladiator Set, this Legendary card—Xulax Nightwind—is a heavy melee attacker. Without special abilities such as Charge, Snipe, or Opportunity, it cannot be placed in an attack-ready position anywhere other than the first slot. However, I wanted to place it on the frontline while simultaneously shielding its armor from being the enemy's primary target. Therefore, instead of a standard "Tank" card, I positioned a card with the "Flank" ability in the lead slot; this allowed Xulax to remain slightly shielded from the front—occupying the second position—while still comfortably executing its attacks. The presence of a card ahead of it ensured that its own armor remained largely intact, enabling it to fully capitalize on its "Armored Strike" ability. This effectively nearly doubled its attack power—a force that, under normal circumstances, would spell utter devastation for any opposing card.
Note:
English is not my first language. So sometimes I use 'Google Translate'. Please don't think that anything I have written in this blog has been copied from somewhere or is AI-generated.
Paragraph Dividers and all the photos are from #Splinterlands.
All the other content images and words are mine unless otherwise stated.
Have a Happy and Blessed day!
