Greetings Battlemages!
This week, we go with my favorite Earth tank: the mighty Grund!
The card
Grund is an Epic Earth monster from the Chaos Legion set. He costs 10 mana.
He comes at level 1 with a decent speed of 3, a good Health of 10, and a powerful Melee attack of 3. That's already decent stats for a tank, and yet the best is to come! He comes at level 1 with the ability Double Strike, which means he launches 2 attacks per turn, making it an even more powerful 2*3 ! I think it is better on average than an attack of 6: you can get rid of the armor then hit, if you miss you have a second chance to hit. Even more useful, this ability can be taken advantage of in rules giving Sneak, Reach or Opportunity to monsters.
At level 4, he gets the ability Stampede, potentially 3 attacks a turn if he kills the monster!
At final level 6, he also gets Cripple, which combine well with the Double Strike to reduce the Health of the opponent.
All in one, an expensive but very powerful monster. He's often seen on the Battlefield, proof that it's a monster you want to count on!
The battle
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_eed0875b44a42865d34e7e265a40adfa&ref=engilhramn
The battle is played in Modern Silver. It is opened to Fire, Earth, Life, Death and Dragons. The mana cap is 52 and the ruleset is standard.
The lineup
After checking that my opponent didn't play Death recently, I opted for an Earth team, the quite infamous "double-heal" magic. So I picked:
Summoner: Obsidian, of course for the magic power
1st position: Grund! Well protected by a Taunt and a Heal, he is a powerhouse!
2nd position: Mycelic Slipspawn, for the Taunt. Taunt+Magic attack makes him probably the best Taunt
3rd position: Spirit Hoarder, to heal the Taunt
4th position: Queen Mycelia, for the Armor boost, may always be useful
Last position: Goblin Psychic, for the Tank Heal
5th position: Magi of Chaos, it's the best Magic attack that I own
There's 10 points of Mana wasted, but this team is powerful enough. Except against Death and more powerful Obsidian teams, it does pretty well.
My opponent chose an Obsidian magic team also, with:
Pelacor Mercenary as tank
Magi of Chaos, Queen Mycelia for magic attacks
Goblin Psychic for the Heal
Mycelic Slipspawn is in last position (I know I shouldn't place him in second, but it so rarely matter)
Spirit Druid Grog, with Resurrect, I don't like that
Seeing the lineups, I think I should be OK: the Spirit Hoarder should heal the Taunt and makes him live long enough to compensate the Resurrect. But we will see.
Round 1
Aya! My Splipspawn died before he could get healed by the Spirit Hoarder! Damn that faster legendary Druid Grog! I managed to kill his Slipspawn too, but as he gets resurrected, I start Round 2 with a clear disadvantage.
Round 2
This time, it's the other way round: my Goblin Psychic healed Grund and killed his Pelacor before he could get healed. Only a little advantage: Grund will be killed at first hit but he is fast enough to attack before the slow magic monsters, every point counts!
Round 3
After the Armor, 3 points of damage was just what was need for my Magi of Chaos to take down his. Well done, Grund!
Then it's about weak Magic monsters facing each others... RIP Spirit Hoarder, his Queen Mycelia bites the dust (without the opportunity to be healed), while mine get healed and the Druid, well, wasn't built for the first position.
Round 4
Takeaway
Obviously, with Grund in first position, the opponents will hit the Grund! (sorry, couldn't resist)
A happy victory for me, in these kind of mirrors, 1 point of damage or speed can turn the table. Maybe if the Druid was placed after the Goblin Psychic I would have lost.
In all cases, Grund did a good job, tanking as needed and putting some damages in! His speed was particularly welcome in this match! No surprise he is the tank of choice for Earth for many players!
See you on the Battlefield!
