This week's Splinterlands Challenge of the Week was to showcase the Ant Miners from the Fire Splinter.

I like the low mana, I like scavenge, but then we have a dismal set of treble 1s for melee attack, health and speed, meaning this is a challenging card to use, even in low mana battles.

Still, a challenge is a challenge and this novice league battle features the Ant Miners at least contributing to the victory!

The Rule Set and Line Up

• Mana cap 25
• Standard Rule!

Summoner - Malric

1. Cerberus - a reliable tank lower down the leagues with heal.
2. Prismatic Energy - worth the mana for the magic attack and high health/ reflect as a second tanks
3. Ant miners - the challenge card - in third to allow scavenge to do something!
4. Serpentine Spy - probably half the reason Fire is such a popular choice in Novice League!
5. Sand Worm - very high damage down here, obvious choice for higher mana battles!
6. The Chicken - to soak up sneak!

Did my strategy work?

Beautifully, to see it in action click here!

• Round 1 - The Ant Miners are the first to go down, but they save my Spy who takes out my opponents spy, luckily Cerberus heals between my opponent's two attacks, and the Sandworm takes down the Pyromancer
• Round 2 - It's all over, I take out the Lava, with no further losses.

Carnage!

How important were the Ant Miners?

Well they soaked up an attack from the Serpentine Spy, but other than that they didn't do too much, my three higher health and damage cards were far more important.

There was also the significant factor that my opponent didn't use all his mana allowance, a fatal mistake, quite literally!

Final Thoughts: Ant Miners - worth buying?

I think this card really needs to be taken up to Level 6 where it picks up the Shield ability, then it could be useful in equalizer rulesets as tank, or in Melee Monsters can attack from any position, given its scavenge ability, it could be quite useful in third position maybe as a third tank, to give that scavenge time to build the health up a little!

HOWEVER, it's a very niche card and probably not worth focussing on - I think every other card in my line up in this battle would be a better investment!

If you don't yet play Splinterlands, why not give it a go?

Anyone using my referral link will receive a free rare card!