This Match Was Not So Radiant - Using Radiated Brute in Battle!

This week's Share Your Battle challenge features Radiated Brute! Finding a good battle for the challenge this week was a little bit of a learning process - while I use the Fire splinter often, I don't usually use Radiated Brute in my lineups. One of the nice things about Radiated Brute is that it is in the starter set of cards, so at least I didn't have to go out and rent one.

Radiated Brute is a melee monster with reach, which synergizes well with lineups that boost melee attacks. At level 1 it hits decently hard with 2 points of damage, but you don't want it taking on too much damage itself, as it has a middling 5 HP with no evasion or damage mitigation to speak of. Luckily, with reach you can use it as your off-tank - just put it in that second spot and have it hit away!

If you wanted to jump right to the action, the Battle Link is right here. Want to hear some more about the lineup? Read on further!

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Here was the ruleset. This was a decent ruleset for using Radiated Brute. Usually with a high mana cap I would prefer to go with the Water or Earth splinters, but the Odds One Out changes things up - there are a lot of great Fire splinter cards with odd mana costs. And also, I was looking to squeeze Radiated Brute into a battle, so I just went with it.

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I knew that I wanted to go with a melee lineup in order to take advantage of Radiated Brute's melee attack, so I choose Tarsa as my summoner - thanks to her, Radiated Brute will hit 50% harder, and she'll boost the rest of my melee monsters too! (spoiler alert: that includes almost all of my lineup)

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I started my team with my tank and secondary/off- tank. Living Lava is an excellent tank against all physical (melee or ranged) damage. Radiated Brute is our star of the week, and was placed in the second position. My plan is for Living Lava to stay alive with its Shield ability for as long as possible and to take advantage of Radiated Brute's Reach to mow through my opponent's frontline monsters as quickly as possible.

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The middle of my lineup had a whole lot of indirect damage. Tenyii Striker can hit my opponent's back line, and Serpentine Spy's Opportunity will allow it to pick off any weak or damaged monsters in the enemy lineup.

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I finished off my lineup by trying to spend as much mana possible while getting some big damage in. Sand Worm and Lava Launcher both hit extremely hard. Sand Worm can with with Tenyii Striker to take out back line monsters, and Lava Launcher can combo with my tanks to hit the front. Lava Launcher is fairly beefy with its combination of shields and health, and pulled double duty as my backline tank.

With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I am concerned - my opponent has picked a lineup that looks as though it may do fairly well against mine. Not only did they also bring a Living Lava up front like I did, they also paired it with a Disintegrator which debuffs nearly my entire team. On top of that, they also brought a Djinn Apprentice for some magic damage which will bypass my Living Lava's shields...definitely not what I was hoping to see on the other side of the battlefield!

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Once the battle begins and the first round is played out, things begin to look slightly better for me. My tag team Sneak squad of Tenyii Striker and Sand Worm is able to immediately knock out my opponent's own Striker, and my Serpentine Spy takes a good bite out of their Fire Elemental. My tank duo at the front seems to be losing the battle there, but my opponent's damage is also getting taken out relatively quickly.

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One more round and disaster strikes - my front line tanks are both taken out! Living Lava and Radiated Brute both go down, but they have done some decent damage to the enemy Living Lava and bought valuable time for my back and mid-line monsters to put in some work. At this point, the opposing Sneak and Blast damage is all gone, and the enemy Lava Launcher is starting to look a little squishy with all of its armor gone.

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More carnage ensues in the next round, and it is looking like it is going to be a close one - there is still a lot of damage left on my opponent's team. On the bright side, I'm about to take out that pesky Disintegrator, meaning that all that will be left is the squishy Djinn Apprentice and damage Lava Launcher.

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As predicted, it was a slugfest that came down to the wire. When the dust settled, all that remained were our two Lava Launchers. Luckily, mine had just a bit more health and I was able to pull off the victory! And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.

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While the battle was a lot closer than I would have preferred, my overall plan of attacking the enemy lineup from the front and the back simultaneously ended up working, if just barely. I'm not sure if I am the biggest fan or Radiated Brute. However, being able to hit with double melee attacks at the front does seem to have it's uses, particularly since the Fire splinter has a solid melee summoner. It does seem to be a serviceable off-tank, and may be worth a look - especially in the upcoming Modern format.

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. Interested in seeing some more of my writing in the future? Be sure to give me a follow! In the meantime, if you'd like to see some of my recent posts:

• Splinterlands Economics: Moral Hazard - An introduction to the concept of moral hazard, and how being aware of it can help us in Splinterlands.

• No Disinte-, Actually, I'll Allow It - Using Disintegrator in Battle! - This past week's battle challenge, featuring Disintegrator!

• Splinterlands Economics: Externalities - An introduction to externalities, and the insights they can give us into Splinterlands.

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Thinking about giving Splinterlands a try but haven't signed up yet? Feel free to use my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=bteim, and be sure to reach out to me if you have any questions!