STONE GOLEM

For this battle challenge, we're tasked to talk about Stone Golem, a Rare Earth Monster from the Alpha/Beta set. Let me tell you, this was a difficult challenge for me, since Earth is the splinter I use the least. However. I've seen him in a lot of enemy teams, so I knew he was a good monster.

Lore

The Stone Golems that reside around the Crags of Maglar are quite terrifying to any stranger who wanders into their domain. In spite of the sheer power and weight of them, these Golems are surprisingly gentle and peaceful. A good day for a Stone Golem is one in which he did a lot of heavy lifting.

Stats

This monster has 5 mana, and at level 1, has 6 health and 2 armor, making him a good tank. However, he only has 1 melee and 1 speed, meaning that he won't deal that much damage.

His most relevant attribute is the Shield ability, from level 1. This ability reduces the damage from melee and ranged attacks, increasing his performance as a tank. Also, starting from Gold League, he gets the Stun ability, giving him a chance to stun his opponent, making him lose a turn.

Apart from that, he stands out since it is one of the cards from the base deck, meaning that you have access to this card right after you start playing! Although when Chaos Legion arrives, he won't be included anymore, so if you like playing with him, you could buy him beforehand!

The Battle

The Ruleset

• Equal Opportunity: All Monsters have the Opportunity ability, meaning that every monster can attack from any position to the monster with the lowest health.
• Healed Out: All healing abilities are removed
• Allowed Splitners: Fire, Earth, Life and Dragon.

The Team

For this battle, I decided to go for the Wizard of Eastwood, since my opponent used the Life deck recently, and that way, I would remove 2 armor from every monster, allowing me to defeat them in one hit (if they had low health). I also decided to go for a full Melee team, since those monsters dealt the most damage, and had the most health.

Little did I know that he would end up using Mylor.

Card	Description
	WIZARD OF EASTWOOD As stated before, he's a good summoner if you think the other team will use a lot of armor. Also if they use the Protect ability or in the Armored Up ruleset.
	STONE GOLEM Since he has Shield and low health, I decided to put him in the first position, so that he takes less damage from the enemy.
	NECTAR QUEEN With 4 melee damage and 10 health, the Nectar Queen was a must for this battle, since she would be able to deal a lot of damage, and last long, since she won't be targeted at the beginning.
	PELACOR MERCENARY As the Nectar Queen, he has a lot of health, and a decent 2 melee damage. And he also, like the Nectar Queen, has Flying, giving him a chance to avoid Melee and Ranged attacks.
	BICERATOPS The monster that I used with the least health. I put him in since i had 4 mana left after picking the rest of the team. However, his 1 armor is good, since it would allow him to survive a little longer.
	REXXIE Although Rexxie has low health, he has an amazing 4 melee attack, like the Nectar Queen, and has good speed. This makes him able to defeat quickly enemy monsters.
	WAR CHAANG He's a must in Equal Opportunity battles, since he has 2 melee and 1 ranged attack, so he can attack twice in a round! Also, with retaliate, if the enemy attacks him, he has a chance to attack back.

Let me tell you, when I saw that my opponent used Mylor, and I went with a Melee heavy team, I knew I had already lost, but I decided to still watch the battle.

ROUND 1

War Chaang and Rexxie were able to defeat the Battering Ram and Stonesplitter Orc quickly. However, the enemy defeated my Biceratops as quickly.

Then, the Nectar Queen and Pelacor Mercenary defeated the Sand Worm before he was able to attack. That was crucial to the battle, since he would have attacked Rexxie.

And thanks to Mylor's thorns, all of my monsters took damage.

ROUND 2

The enemy defeated my Rexxie and War Chaang, but not before they attacked and dealt a little more damage. Also, the Nectar Queen and Pelacor Mercenary defeated the enemy Stone Golem.

At this point it wasn't looking very good for me.

ROUND 3

Thanks to my Stone Golem's shield, it takes both of my opponent's attack to defeat him, since it halved their 4 melee attack, dealing 2 damage each.

Then, the Nectar Queen and Pelacor Mercenary defeated the Goblin Mech, leaving Rexxie alone.

ROUND 4

Luckily, thanks to the Flying ability of the Nectar Queen, Rexxie's attack missed. That allowed her and the Pelacor Mercenary to attack him, being able to defeat him in this round.

Other Recommended Cards

Card	Description
	MYLOR CROWLING We all know how good Mylor is. If you think your opponent will go with a lot of melee attacks, him with the Stone Golem could decimate the enemy.
	CAMILA SUNGAZER She gives -1 melee damage to all enemy monsters. This way, the Stone Golem won't take any damage from monsters that originally have 2 attack.
	WOOD NYMPH One of the disadvantages of the Stone Golem is his not that impressive health. Wood Nymph helps him in that regard, thanks to her ability Tank Heal, restoring health of the monster in the first position.

Final Thoughts

I'm still shocked that I won that battle. I didn't know it was possible to defeat Mylor with a full Melee team, but with the right monsters (and a little bit of luck), I was able to defeat him.

The Stone Golem was a great addition to the team. Thanks to his ability and his low health, compared to the rest of my team, he was targeted a lot and withstood those attacks.

Even though I liked using him, I doubt I'll use him ever again, since I don't like the Earth deck as much as the rest.

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Finally, I hope you enjoyed my review of the Stone Golem, and see you next week on the next Challenge!

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