Hello, Hello!
Welcome to this weeks Battle Challenge with the Scavo Firebolt! In the following I'll go over my thoughts on the card, how I used it in this battle and my general strategy. If you would like to skip right to the action: Here's the full battle.
The Card
Living within the Realm of Silence, the mole-like race of Scavo were affected by the toxic gas from the Mountain of Ash. They became highly intelligent and worked diligently to protect their home from the blight. Scavo Firebolts were particularly changed by their proximity to the magma, developing the ability to summon and launch bolts of fire from their palms. They defend their home by launching these fire bolts from great distances. Approaching enemies don't even realize the danger until fire begins to rain from above. Those that are incapacitated are especially vulnerable.
(From Splinterlands Lore)
Scavo Firebolt is a ranged attack Fire card from the Chaos Legion edition. It only has one ability, Knock Out, which it gets at level 6. What's more interesting in my opinion though, are the stats. Right out the gate it has 2 Attack and 4 Health, which increase as you level it up.
Bronze - 2 Attack, 3 Speed, 4 Health
Silver - 3 Attack, 3 Speed, 5 Health
Gold - 3 Attack, 4 Speed, 5 Health (+Ability)
Diamond - 4 Attack, 4 Speed, 6 Health (+Ability)
The sweet spot here is definitely Silver league, where it gets a stunning 3 Attack, with decent Speed and good Health. Even though it has no abilities yet, for 4 Mana this is a very strong damage dealer. Since it is ranged you want to put it as far back in the line up as possible, so it doesn't get pulled in first position. Because of it's relatively high Health you don't need to be too concerned about Sneak either.
Rulesets where this card is particularly strong are Back to Basics, Little League and Rise of the Commons.
The Ruleset
As I'm back in Bronze, because of the start of the new season, the ruleset is fairly simple. Standard, 19 Mana and all Splinters available.
The Line Up & Strategy
Summoner 1. Position 2. Position 3. Position Yodin Zaku Living Lava Radiated Scorcher Scavo Firebolt +1 Ranged/Health/Explosive Shield - First off: I rented a Yodin, because I didn't want to feel the pain in Bronze.
Since there were no limitations and I had Yodin, I of course decided to play him. With only 12 Mana left there wasn't too much wiggle room, though. I went with Living Lava as my tank, because 1) it's a really good tank (duh) and 2) it deals really good damage (especially with the Blast from Yodin). I then put in my Scavo Firebolt because of the high damage and health, so I didn't have to worry about Sneaks, Snipe or Opportunity, like I would have had I put in Spark Pixies for example. With one Mana left I chose the Radiated Scorcher as an off-tank/meat shield in second position, incase Living Lava dies.
And that's it for the line up. Rather small and simple one, but sometimes it doesn't need to be all complicated. Or does it? Let's see how I did.
Round 1
My opponent went with a Pyre Fire team. On first glance I was relieved, because after submitting my team I realized it was very weak against magic. On second glance I was a little concerned, because of the Lava Spider with its Snipe and the Serpentine Spy with Opportunity, which together (with the Speed buff of Pyre) might be able to take out my Scavo Firebolt rather quickly.
First round starts with Serpentine Spy hitting my Scorcher, which survives because of the +1 Health from Yodin. This is exactly what I put him in for! Followed by Lava Spider attacking my Firebolt, but only for 1 damage. In return my Firebolt takes away the Living Lava's armor and takes out their Radiated Scorcher due to the Blast. Opponent's Living Lava attacks mine, but only hits armor, while my Living Lava hits their's for 2 and kills the Spy through Blast. (I hope you can follow this with all the mirror match cards)
Lastly the Xenith Archer dealt no damage to my Living Lava, because of the Shield ability.
Round 2
This looks a a lot better. Not very worried here, if I'm being honest.
Lava Spider has the first attack, again hitting Firebolt for only 1 damage and Xenith Archer again deals no damage to my Living Lava. Firebolt hits for 2 and leaving their Living Lava low enough to be taken out. It gets off an attack first, hitting my Living Lava for 2, but then dies to it. So does the Lava Spider, because of the Blast damage (I love Yodin).
Round 3
There's not much to talk about here, as Xenith Archer can't attack from the first position and Scavo Firebolt takes it out with one hit.
Conclusion
Was worried in the beginning, but luckily we didn't face magic. After the first round it was clear that my very basic strategy of Yodin + Talk + Damage Dealer worked. Like I said, sometimes it doesn't need to be complicated and the basic mechanics of the game work just fine. Yodin was obviously a big factor here, but I want to point out the strengths of Scavo Firebolt again:
- Great Damage and Health - doesn't need much protection
- Good Mana Cost - making it easy to fit in
- Currently very cheap - making it affordable for new players
I don't have a leveled up Fire deck and thus not a leveled up copy, but I think it is very similar to the Kulu Swimhunter from Water, which I do have leveled up and play quite a lot. Therefore I can say that I like the Scavo Firebolt a lot as it has the same kind of function of being a beefy, low mana damage dealer in Fire. On a last note we haven't talked about its artwork, which I think is amazing. I like the Scavos in themselves a lot, but this one throwing fire balls is particularly cool. Look at his little smug face as he's a bout to lit you up!
Referrals
If you're not playing already create an account over at Splinterlands.com and hop right into battle
Thanks to Carrie Allen for the amazing Markdown Tutorial
and to Chris Roberts for this Thumbnail Tutorial
Background Thumbnail image is from Pexels
Free image editing software used Canva
Check out my 5 tips for new players series: Part I, Part II, Part III
Hope you enjoyed the battle. Have a great day and until next time!
Pinkman45
