Enter the arena

Boy, are Brawls hard and meaningful! It takes forever to grow a good collection of Gladius cards, but if we don't get started and keep up the pace, we'll never own powerful gladiators able to compete in higher level brawls, or even gold frays in general.

All it takes is an Epic Gladius card to get stomped into the ground as something like Quora Towershead grows infinitely stronger from Position 2. I haven't even seen Legendary Gladius cards in action yet, and I'm thankful for that, since it would be easy to assume I'd have zero chance of winning that fight.

Over time, Brawls will become an essential source of Collection power, as we gain an increased amount of merits, specially in higher Arena and Store building levels. During my last brawl, I earned a whooping 2k merits, guaranteeing a new Gladius pack. However, as I grow in Brawls, I'll earn over 10k merits per Brawl I enter, as long as I've grown my collection enough - otherwise no advanced guilds would let me join them.

Guild discord: https://discord.gg/G4bEU4PU

I'm now constantly filling that fray and battling with my Gladius cards along with extra rentals just for that Brawl! We've all lagged behind an opportunity of investment, specially when it also consumes time and compromise, so you guys know how I feel right now. Growing as a guild isn't something I want to pass up, as I'm tired of wasting chances life has given me.

Speaking of which, I sold my guild, but I'm still participating in it as a member. In fact, in this current Brawl, I filled a bronze-level gold foil fray, which I'm standing at 2 wins and 3 losses with still one more match to go, even though I've already entered my team.

I want to show you guys how one specific battle went, because I took under account the fact that both sides had gladiators, so it might look more interesting to you from a Brawl's perspective.

For this match, slow and opportunity rules were set. After browsing what few cards I could use from the available splinters, I decided to go with Life Splinter, because that's the only Splinter for which I have a gold foil Gladius card.

Hugo Strongsword isn't anything special. He has the Shield ability, high health and some armor, but only one point of attack damage.

Using him on the frontline would be a waste, since he'd die without ever getting the chance to grow. I thought leaving him last would let him find some opportunities to trigger that lovely Bloodlust ability.

Other than this, I decided to fill the remaining positions with stallers, except for Stitch Leech at second-to-last position, so it could peck away. Hopefully, Hugo Strongsword could pick up a kill with this strategy - which he did. Just one kill, but that was good enough to win the match.

By the end of the battle, everyone except the two gladiators were dead. This was each player's last stand. It looked like I was going to lose. Just look at this:

The opponent's Alva the Crusher got two bloodlust boosts. She'd always hit her target because we're on the same speed. So worrying! But Hugo still had a lot of health and armor. Although barely, he did manage to beat Alva.

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Images sourced from https://splinterlands.com/