Prelude
Good day to all, how are all of you doing? Hope all of you are doing good. I am back again to do another battle sharing with the community on some special and memorable matches that I encounter as I play Splinterlands throughout the week. Today's match is a little interesting where I see how important taunt ability can help us to win a match that is tightly contested.
To help recap a little on what taunt ability is:
All enemy Monsters target this Monster (if they are able to). And the only time when this doesn't work is where we have scattershot
Taunt is good but it also has its own counters such as ferocity. However, based on my encounter thus far, not many people play cards with ferocity. In today's battle sharing, it also included the importance of having Taunt to combo with Triage to further ensure survivability of the taunt card. So let's get right on to the battle.
Battle Sharing
Reference Battle
Battle Link: https://next.splinterlands.com/battle/sl_bfdc20ae59ba9f85de1eba3fac870201?ref=vaynard86
Ruleset: Target Practice, Briar Patch
Mana Limit: 48
Selection Analysis
For a 48 mana match which has snipe and thorns enabled, we are most likely to expect magic or range attacks. And now onto my team selection considerations.
For me, I still wanted to ensure I have some boost to Quora as I used her in second position, I planted a Marksrat in order for Quora to take up the martyr boost and make Quora more effective in killing and growing. Following which is a card that I like to use more often after getting a copy of it which is the Night Reaper. This card is a nemesis to flying cards as it will always target flying cards first with its Wingbreak ability. Next up is my triple card combo which consist of 2 healers and a card with taunt. The first being Goblin Psychic which heals the front tank and the next being Spirit Hoarder which give Triage to heal the taunt card which I put right at the end of the lineup The taunt card used for today's lineup is Mycelic Slispawn which is a very good high health taunt card.
Opponent played a dragon summoner with life splinter as base. On tank, it is a Drybone Barbarian with Retaliation followed by a Corsair Bosun which is good for negating the thorns damage. Opponent also played a Night Reaper probably with the same reason as me. One card that I know Life Splinter will always play is Captain Katie which is a beast to face everytime as she hits really hard. Opponent also had a tank heal in the form of Venari Crystalsmith and finally to anchor the backline, Halfling Refugee was selected as a backline meat shield.
A very different team that my opponent put up that included more melee cards but with equally strong magic attackers that I know from past battles will not be easy to handle. However, as I mentioned earlier, the taunt portion that I setup is what set apart my lineup from my opponent. Let's battle!
Round by Round Synopsis
Round 1 - What a fast and furious round where there were so many exchanges and cards falling. Both Night Reapers exchanged blows but eventually from a snipe ruleset match, all the non melee attacks will start bombarding it and opponent's Night Reaper was taken out. In the same round, Marksrat was taken out and gave Quora a boost in stats. Otherwise, damage for my end all went towards Mycelic Slipspawn.
Round 2 - Another exciting rounds where my Quora wasn't enough to handle the melee bombardment of Drybone Barbarian with 8 damage and Corsair with 4 damage. The sniping continue as my lineup takes out Captain Katie before she grew out of hand. I am starting to worry a little on whether I can handle the front bombardment with high melee attack. Battle goes on with Gladius card on both side out of the picture.
Round 3 - I struck faster on Drybone Barbarian but couldn't kill it. However, it being a melee, after striking my Night Reaper, it was killed by thorns. Thankfully Corsair missed its hit and Night Reaper survived as I have backline that absorb all other damage and heal themselves up accordingly. Down to the last 2 cards on my opponent.
Round 4 and 5, we needed 2 rounds because Halfling Refugee is a little thicker in health and we disposed one card per turn to secure the victory!
Battle Summary
The double big outburst frontline that my opponent had was no easy feat to handle. Thankfully as mentioned, I have a backline that had Taunt and Triage to cycle the damage and ensure the backline is health to give support to other cards in the front to do their damage and bring home the victory. This backroom support to divert away all the ranged attacks with triage to heal back and keep the backline safe help to give me a strong sustained lineup which is ready to pounce once frontline is exhausted.
Wrap Up
Taunt and Triage is a very established combo and from today's sharing, event when faced with a strong frontline and even a lurking Captain Katie, we were able to handle it and keep the backline healed up and healthy to support the frontline cards. Do consider using this combo in your battles and see how well it sustain the lineup.
See you next time!
I am currently part of PIZZA, an active gaming and creative arts crypto community on the HIVE blockchain and part of PIZZA guild. Popular cryto games such as SPLINTERLANDS, RISING STAR and HASHKINGS are actively discussed in this community.
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Till my next battle sharing, take care, stay safe and happy battling!
If you are keen on playing Splinterlands, feel free to join me via this link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=vaynard86
