For today's Pit Challenge, I once again selected "The Big Leronski" as my opponent. Although I had defeated him previously, another player had mentioned that these giant opponents often appear with different stats and abilities each time. This adds an exciting element, ensuring the challenge remains truly thrilling; even if you’ve beaten a giant opponent before, there’s no guarantee of victory next time. While you select them based on a specific difficulty level, the exact stats and abilities they bring to the fight remain a surprise. After all, that thrill is essential to the gaming experience, and it is precisely this feature that makes the challenge both unique and formidable. This time, "The Big Leronski" boasted 7 Melee Attack power, 7 Armor, 3 Speed, and a staggering 62 Health Points, along with "Phase" and "Blast" abilities that made his attacks even more devastating. To be honest, seeing those 62 Health Points and the "Blast" ability made me feel that winning this battle would be incredibly difficult.
But this time, the deck offered something different. Previously, one could choose from Archons representing the four standard elements, but this was the first time a legendary Dragon-element Archon—Aurendrak—was available. It was the first Archon to possess two distinct powers: 'Flank,' which granted the 'Reach' ability to the card in the second position (allowing a chosen melee card to attack even from that spot), and 'Void,' which reduced the impact of magic attacks by 50%. Although the 'Void' ability wouldn't have been useful in this specific battle—since the opponent relied solely on melee attacks—the 'Flank' ability offered great potential, especially given that neither 'Flank' nor 'Reach' abilities are typically found on cards from the Foundation set. With the Dragon Archon selected, it was time to assemble the team.
The changes to the deck weren't limited to just the Archon; they extended to the cards themselves. For the first time in the Pit Challenge, I could summon cards from the 'Extras' set alongside the standard Foundation set. As I mentioned in my previous post, these 'Extras' cards are incredibly powerful—far more so than the basic Foundation set cards—and deliver exceptional performance. You also get a full 60 minutes to assemble your team for the Pit Challenge, giving you ample time to carefully select elements, review the available cards, and devise the best possible strategy. Since I had to prepare extensively to face 'Big Leronski' this time, I couldn't rely solely on direct attacks; I had to incorporate 'Thorns' and 'Retaliate' abilities into my strategy. I positioned a non-attacking card with the 'Thorns' ability at the very front to shield Leronski from my attackers for two rounds. Behind it, I placed a heavy melee attacker that also possessed the 'Retaliate' ability—offering a 50% chance to strike back at the enemy with equal power. Although this card couldn't attack during the first two rounds due to a lack of 'Reach,' it would step up as the next tank once the lead tank was knocked out; at that point, both it and the card behind it could finally take action.
For this battle, I selected three other special cards: a ranged attack card with the 'Double Strike' ability; a magic card with the 'Inspire' ability to boost my melee attackers; and another magic attack card that was a complete package—featuring 'Flying' to evade 25% of melee attacks, 'Demoralize' to reduce the enemy's melee power by 1, and 'Life Leech' to boost its own health. With this formidable team, 'Big Leronski' had lost half his health by the end of the second round, whereas my team was still standing firm.
And then, even before the fourth round ended, 'The Big Leronski' was knocked out. Before the battle began, I didn't think I could win, but as the rounds progressed—especially during and after Round 2—it started to feel like defeating Leronski wasn't all that difficult; by the next two rounds, victory was assured. Until now, I had only ever seen the 'Foundation Extras' set cards used against me; this was the first time I used them myself, and the experience was truly great. I’m not sure if these cards are part of the rewards system, but I’m going to look into how I can add them to my own collection.
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!
