Over the past few days, I have played numerous "Low Mana" battles. I’m not sure why—perhaps it’s just how the matchmaking algorithm works—but the mana cap for most of these battles has been consistently low. Regardless, having played so many of them, I’ve gained a significant amount of practice; now, I approach Low Mana battles with just as much excitement as any other match. It is true that these battles tend to be less action-packed, but there isn't much we can do about that—aside from playing with a flawless strategy. Just two minutes ago, I played what was likely my fifth such battle of the day—one characterized by an extremely low mana cap. To top it off, the "Lost Magic" ruleset was in effect, which effectively preempts the most common strategy players typically employ in such low-mana scenarios. Since everyone in a Low Mana battle naturally wants to build a team around magic cards, that approach wasn't an option here; however, thanks to the practice I’d gained from so many previous battles, I was fully prepared for this challenge. The primary—and most pivotal—role in my strategy was played by my Dragon unit, Archon Akane. You see, a Low Mana battle implies that the likelihood of encountering expensive, high-stat cards on the battlefield is quite low. Consequently, if you can somehow manage to execute the first strike—or even land a double attack—on the enemy, there’s a good chance that the opponent's cards won't even survive long enough to retaliate.
For this task—specifically in a low-mana scenario—I had "Akane" of the Dragon Element in my deck. The moment I selected her, I knew that I needed to utilize her Ambush ability rather than her Lookout power; for this particular battle, my objective was not to prepare my cards to minimize incoming damage, but rather to enable them to launch earlier and more frequent attacks. Cards possessing the Ambush ability are capable of executing an attack even before the actual battle officially begins; subsequently, once the battle is underway, all cards proceed to attack normally during their respective turns. Thus, in a sense, you could say that cards with the Ambush ability possess the power to execute an extra attack—a capability that proves immensely useful in low-mana battles such as this one.
In these battles, there is a consistent pattern regarding card selection: everyone aims to secure at least one low-Mana card that can be positioned to protect the team's primary attacker cards, rather than serving as a traditional tank. Consequently—due to the low Mana cap—you will typically find that the few cards positioned behind the frontline are precisely those that serve as the team's main attackers. Capitalizing on this fact, I included a card with the "Sneak" ability in my team specifically to target that key attacker card. A card with the Sneak ability targets the card positioned at the very end of the opponent's lineup; since the Mana cap is low, there won't be many cards in play, so—in all likelihood—the card at the rear will be the very one poised to inflict the most damage upon you. To maximize the utility of this Sneak-ability card, I assigned it one of my Archon's two "Ambush" buffs—the devastating impact of which you can now witness.
The opponent had chosen a good archon as well, one that boosted the attack power of their cards by +2. However, as I mentioned, in these low-mana battles—especially—it is not just your heavy attacks that matter; you must also plan to strike first. The opponent's primary attacker was knocked out before the battle had even officially begun; consequently, the enemy's lone remaining Tank was left helpless against my three cards, and it, too, was knocked out in short order.
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!
