This is my submission to the Splinterlands Weekly Battle Challenge. This time it is featuring the Exploding Dwarf.

About the card

Like last week's Sea Monster the Exploding Dwarf is one of the first reward edition cards and belongs to the Beta meta gameplay. Despite it being a reward card it has been out of print for quite some while now. This is reflected in the price which has risen to almost 0.06 USD for a one BCX card despite the Dwarf being of common rarity. Interestingly the Exploding Dwarf is such a singular card that there was basically no change in its use-cases despite new editions like Untamed or Dice getting added to the game.

What defines the Dwarf is its high ATK its high speed and its minimalistic HP. With abilities like Blast, Pierce, Trample and Retaliate it can easily take out three of your opponent's cards before they have the chance to strike even once.

Card Use-Cases

The Exploding Dwarf is ultra-niche. With only 1 HP it can only efficiently be used with certain rulesets. Prominent examples are:

• Melee Mayhem and All Sneak: Hoping that your opponent does not use a Thorns card which would make the Dwarf kill itself, the Dwarf could be used in the mid-row. Slightly in the front for All Sneak and slighty in the back for Melee Mayhem to have it well protected between other monsters. Even if the Dwarf died by Thorns, there is a chance it might take out one or two of your opponent's monsters first.
• Equalizer: This is the ruleset where low HP cards with many abilities shine. The Dwarf is no exception.
• Low Mana: Low Mana matches often get you an opponent using many low HP cards or just one high HP card. If the Dwarf gets to strike first its high ATK has a high chance to cause several instant kills.

This week's match

Click on the video ^ to play or view the original match here.

This week I used the Exploding Dwarf in an All Sneak setting with Low Mana. Two ruleset attributes which really can make the card shine. In matches like these I like using many low mana cards and give them a speed and ATK buff from the summoner. This combination of fast and heavy hitters is what I call 'beatdown' strategy.

I chose the following line up:

1. Creeping Ooze: Slows down the opponent so my monsters get to hit first. Hitting first means killing first!

2. Serpentine Spy: Another mana-cheap, yet strong attacker. It comes with the Poison ability, so even if it couldn't kill its target with one attack, that monster might die the next round from poison.

3. Exploding Dwarf: The key card to this game and ultimately my win. I wanted to place it in the front-half of my deck so as to shield it from being directly attacked by the opponent's sneakers.

4. Beetle Queen: Gives an additional ATK buff. Together with the summoner's buff the Dwarf now has 8 ATK. The Beetle Queen has the nice addition of also being able to heal the front row card.

5. Enchanted Pixie: And with one more ATK buff the Dwarf is now blessed with 9 ATK points. Remember that the Dwarf has the blast ability, so this is a LOT of damage for just one attack!

6. Cocatrice: And to drive my opponent mad entirely I chose the Cocatrice as target for their sneak attacks. The bird is super fast and with Dodge can be impossible to hit. I'm certain this caused some heavy swearing on the other side of the arena.

Conclusion

The strategy worked out perfectly with my army of minions and dwarfs stampeding over my opponent's Legendaries. Ironically the winning blow was delivered when they managed to finally kill the Dwarf. This triggered Retaliate and using a final Blast the Dwarf killed my opponent's last two monsters.

Want to join the fight?

Create an account at the Splinterlands today and fight me in next week's battle challenge!