Most legendary cards in Splinterlands are legendary for a reason. Yes, you may run into some that you don’t consider that special, but it often only means that you don’t really know how to play them efficiently or perhaps lack other cards to deploy them with. However, some non-legendary monsters can almost match the legendary ones. So when I run into the Lost Legendaries ruleset, I usually don’t have to adjust my strategy much. To make this post a tad interesting, I chose a battle in which four cards wipe out a full deck of six monsters. Sometimes numbers don’t have to be in your favor. And just like on Hive as a whole, quality matters over quantity. This battle demonstrates that!
I had a hunch I was going to face an Obsidian-led magic set. The opponent played this strategy in most of their previous battles, and with the Death Splinter unavailable, siding with the Earth magic makes sense. However, I countered it with Franz Ruffmane. Yes, I opted for a summoner whose buff is futile against the magic strikers. Or is it?
Not if your tank is Imperial Knight or any other monster with Void Armor. Thanks to the buff, the knight usually blocks one extra magic attack. Then the buff is perfectly worth it regardless if you are about to face melee monsters. Which was not the case anyway.
The other ruleset modification was Maneuvers, which grants Reach to every monster that makes it to the battlefield. Placing Drybone Barbarian in the second position effectively doubled my offensive potential. When the barbarian gets lucky with the Retaliate skill, he becomes a one-man army.
Then I picked Captain Katie as I am a fan of hers. I love how she snipes the foes one by one, turning into a bloodlust beast. As the Green magic strikers usually don’t boast loads of HP, I was sure she could snipe two or three of them by the time my front monsters perish.
I wasn’t sure if my opponent would deploy a sneaking monster or two. To make sure Katie would be safe, I positioned Gargoya Scrapper behind her. Knowing that there would be no sneakers at all, I’d likely have placed it in the third row. It wouldn’t change much, though.
The Battle
My opponent also adapted their strategy to the ruleset; otherwise, they would hardly place Palecor Mercenary in the second position. However, their tank was not well chosen. Xenith Monk cannot match many others in this role until it is leveled enough to get the self-healing ability. The magic set behind them was just what I hoped for – three low HP strikers, two of them actually buffed by Moxian Rebel, were just made for Captain Katie to snipe them one by one. Goblin Psychic at the rear position was then an easy target.
I had a bit of bad luck when Drybone Barbarian missed his first blow due to his low speed. Once he got enraged, though, he became unstoppable, so this twist of fortune did not help my opponent much. My tank lasted one and a half rounds, but by the time it fell, Katie had already dealt with two magic monsters and was getting ready to burst the other two. And then, with luck siding with me this time, Drybone Barbarian managed to hit the flying monster of my opponent twice – that’s something hardly any creature can survive. My victory was decisive; the superior strategy once again dominated the battlefield.