Hello everyone, it is I once again trying the challenge for this week. This week’s challenge features a monster from the Neutral Splinter. I thank everyone in advance for taking a couple of minutes from your busy schedules so as to spare a moment of your time reading this entry.

LORE

§þÌR̆ HÖÄRÐÈR
When the Chaos Legion unleashed the portals to invade Praetoria, they ruptured the fabric of time and space itself, drawing other realms into their cosmic vortex. An infinite number of creatures were inexorably drawn into Praetoria against their will, including the Spirit Hoarder. To this day, no one knows just where the Spirit Hoarder originated, but one thing is certain: Its wickedness MUST be banished from the Splinterlands!

The §þÌR̆ HÖÄRÐÈR is an enigmatic creature, with tales of it being almost dryad-like in its appearance. Its body is a deep, emerald green colour with striking aqua blue veins converging into jagged dorsal vertebrae along its back, and its head resembles fractured wood. Adding to its otherworldliness, it remains unclear exactly where this creature resided previously, though there is an indication its place of origin was aquatic - however, it is now clearly terrestrial. Its two bright, yellow eyes are often the only identifier of this faceless being.

The Vault of §þÌR̆ HÖÄRÐÈR stands before us with a docile-looking creature gripping a gnarled staff. But do not be fooled - for it holds a sinister, spinning orb of power that begets an unfathomable mystic force never witnessed before. Should you dare to glimpse within, you will find an abundance of tormented spirits trapped eternally in their misery. And that is why this Spirit Hoarder is SO TERRIFYING - not only due to its gravitas, but its apathetic nature as it scours this realm to fill its hoard of souls, be it Praetorians or Chaos Legions!

STATS

The image above shows the details about our featured card: the §þÌR̆ HÖÄRÐÈR from the Neutral Splinter. It tells us how many cards are needed to increase it to a certain level as well as what one should expect upon levelling it up be it a regular foil or a gold foil card. We can see that all its stats; ie, speed, magic power and health points are the same all through-out Levels 1-3. The only noticeable change comes when it reaches the max at Level 4 wherein it gains an additional magic power. Fret not, there is still something in store. Although there isn’t noticeable change from the stated stats, there is however a significant change in its abilities as its level increases. At Level 1 it has a TRIAGE ability which heals back-line ally monsters. At Level 2 it gains the DISPEL ability which is surely helpful in high level battles because it clears all positive status effects on the enemy it hits. And at Level 3 it gains another useful ability: BLIND where it makes enemy monsters with melee and ranged attacks have an increased chance of missing their target. It truly is a Legendary monster which like most other Legendaries out there is simply a must-have in your collections. You cannot go wrong with having at least one BCX of this card.

RULESET

STANDARD:No modifications to the standard gameplay rules and mechanics

LINE-UP

Click the image above if you wish to see how the battle played out.

§ÚMMÖñÈR: ÌMMÖR†ÄĻ

I chose this summoner because this one is more flexible to use taking into consideration that there isn’t any special ruleset in effect. First and foremost this monster will make my chosen ally to be tough against magic attacks due to VOID ability granted at the start of the game. Secondly, it will grant SHATTER ability to all my monsters rendering the armor of the targeted opponents useless right from the first attack. Thirdly, the icing on the cake is it will take or reduce one 1unit of HEALTH POINT to the opponents chosen monsters. The battle hasn’t started yet and each enemy lost 1 of their health point already. Now, isn’t that sweet….heheh…

GRÚñÐ

I picked this monster as my TANK because he is a perfect pair with IMMORTALIS when SHATTER ability is granted. His first attack should destroy the targeted enemy monster’s armor no matter how many units they have. One attack is all it takes to ruin them all and due to his DOUBLE STRIKE ability he is able to attack a second time directly damaging and draining the opponents HP with its melee-attacking power of 3units. This attacking power is enough to destroy most enemies since he strikes twice each round totaling the damage the target received to 6units.

QÚÈÈñ M¥ÇÈLÌÄ

I placed her in the 2nd Slot because I hoped that her ability will complement the VOID ability given by my summoner to my chosen monsters. Her PROTECT ability shall grant my line-up 2units of armor saving them from physical attacks of enemy monsters having melee and range-attacking abilities. This ability completes the protection I needed my monsters to have...toughness against magic attacks and armor protection from physical attacks. With this, I should have great advantage to the opponent since I also have SHATTER as well removing the enemy’s armor.

GÖßLÌñ þ§¥ÇHÌÇ

The 3rd Slot* is occupied by this HEALER. It should continuously heal my TANK while causing some minor damage himself during his turn to attack. I placed him there so he is somehow guarded against enemy frontal attacks should they be successful in eliminating my monster in the front. The HEALER should always be protected from attacks at all cost as well so he can do his healing duty as long as practicable during the entirety of the battle.

§þÌR̆ HÖÄRÐÈR

We now come to the protagonist of this week’s challenge. I placed him in the 4th Slot because that position is well suited for him as well since he is well protected against enemy monsters SNEAKmonsters. I don’t expect the monster in my Last Slot to last through the whole battle but this monster being in the field will delay the inevitable. He can make my monster which is receiving the most damage stay in the game a little longer by healing them through TRIAGE ability. This ability grants him to heal the back-line ally monster that has received the most damage from the enemy monster’s brunt attacks while he himself deals minor damage to the opponents during his turn.

ÇLÖÇKWÖRK ÄÌÐÈ

I placed him in the 5th Slot because, considering that there isn’t any special ruleset in effect, the opponent might chose monsters with physical attacking power like melee and ranged monster. He being there will grant my ally monsters with increased speed. Increased speed increases the chance of dodging physical attacks. He will also guard my SPIRIT HOARDER from SNEAK attacks in case the enemy monster killed my MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN. Although this monster is not granted with any attacking power, his high unit armor will protect those monsters preceding him which will allow those it protects to stay longer in the game enough to cause some damage to the opponents which usually leads to victory.

M¥ÇÈLÌÇ §LÌþ§þÄWñ

I chose and this placed this monster in the Last Slot because I intended him to be the initial receiver of most attacks coming from the enemy monster. With him in the field, the attacks from the back-line of enemy monsters will be focused on him due to his TAUNT ability. All able monsters from the opponent will attack him directly. This saves my Tank from receiving grave injuries in the early stages of the battle. This, in turn, gives my Tank ample time to wreak havoc continuously until the monster in the Last Slot is defeated and removed from the battle. The Last Slot is the ideal position for monster with such ability so in case one of the enemy monster has BLAST ability the damage received will be contained only within the last two back-line monsters.

THE BATTLE

Click the link above if you wish to see how the battle played out.

When all the monsters from opposing sides took up the battlefield, I realized immediately that the SHATTER ability will be useless this time since the opponent didn’t use monsters with armor nor monster granting the same. The granted ability by my summoner that will be used in the battle is the VOID and the additional HEALTH POINT. The increased speed grnated by CLOCKWORK AIDE will not be helpful in dodging attacks as well since the opponents go heavy on magic attacks and, yes, such attacks cannot be dodge. Also the enemy monsters is quite speedy as well.

As the battle unfolds during the Initial Round the two TAUNT monsters from the opposing sides took the full force of each other’s attacks. The opponents summoner granted their monsters with an additional magic attack power but since my ally monsters was granted with the VOID ability, the granted additional magic attacking power of the enemy monsters is rendered useless. It’s like the enemy didn’t gain any power-up at all. On the other hand, my Tank greatly benefitted from the VOID ability because the opposing Tank can only barely damage his Health Points while mine can attack head on at full force draining the opponent Tank’s Health Points.

Meanwhile, while the two monsters with TAUNT ability duke it out, they suffered great damage to their HP but mine was healthier since I got in my line-up a HEALER the back-line while the opponent didn’t. The opponent’s MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN barely survived the 1st Round. Having two types of HEALER in the battlefield surely makes such a great difference.
That said, the round ended with my monsters in full health except the MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN which incurred some damage and the opponent with a complete line up as well but with 2 of them barely surviving to fight through the next round.

In the early to middle stage of the 2nd Round the opponent immediately lost 2monsters. The Tank and the MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN.

The enemy monsters kept pounding my MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN but it wouldn’t budge. It really helped that it is granted the VOID ability plus my SPIRIT HOARDER tirelessly heals it. The damages my TAUNT monster is receiving at this stage is significantly reduced since some of the enemy monsters are killed and removed from the scene. This allows MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN to take it a bit easier this time. Before the round ended the enemy monster once more lost one of its ally leaving the opponent with only 3 monsters left while I still have a complete and healthy line-up.

The 3rd Round is a breeze for my monsters. They dominated this round much easier than the preceding rounds since the enemy monsters numbers have dwindled and their attacking power lessened to a great degree. This makes my HEALER monster’s job easier since there isn’t that much damage that is being received from the opponent. At the end of the round my Tank is back in full health, my MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN mostly regains vigor from the damages receives in the previous rounds and the enemy is left with only one monster that has only 1unit HP.

The future looks so dark there...🤣🤣🤣

The Final Round started and ended in the blink of an eye.

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I completely dominated the entirety of the battle since I have chosen the better summoner and ally monsters as well. Both the opposing side’s monsters are powerful and packs a punch…the deciding factors are the ability granted by the summoners and the availability of HEALER monsters in my team.
Having a match without a specific ruleset is sometimes as confusing as the match with existing rulesets. Although not always feasible, it sometimes helps to check the last battle logs of the opponents and the monsters they used in such battles. From there you can have a hint of what type of monsters you may face in the battle to come. With the help of faint idea from the last battle logs, you can then select the proper summoner and the monsters to suitably match the possible choices of the opponents. Doing this will give you a great advantage in the battle that will ensue.

I liked the outcome of the battle since I gained victory over the opponent. However, seeing that the opponent go heavy on magic attacking monsters, I can’t help but think that the game should have been won faster and easier have I opted to use another monster in the 5th Slot with attack-type monster as well.

There goes my entry for this week. Hope you liked it. Thank you once again for visiting…Till next time..Stay safe always.

All the images used are owned by Splinterlands...

P.S. Some of you may notice that the account used in this battle is different fom my registered name here. I used my alternate account in playing this match. Anyone may challenge for me in the comment section for a battle or two to prove the legitimacy of the account used. Thank you