Gargoya Scrapper: Everyone's Favourite Tank

Sometimes you have battles in Splinterlands which are really all about brute strength, and at other times, you have battles which are more about frustrating an opponent. When I think of the latter, I like to think about how I can use Gargoya Scrapper as a tank in order to frustrate my opponent's offensive, whilst using my backline to gain significant advantage. Join me in this blog as we work through why this seemingly useless card, just might be amazing!

To do this, let's start with GARGOYA SCRAPPER:

On it's surface, this is a pretty average card. This is largely due to the fact that it only costs 1 mana, so I suppose we really need to ask, 'What did you expect?'. That 1 mana buys you some decent stats then. My card is Level 4 and so it has:
+1 Melee.
+2 Speed.
+2 Health
0 armour :(

But he does have a special skill whereby he takes reduced damage from magic attacks. This void skill has the potential to be quite useful when coming up against Obsidian teams - particularly since he'd need a +3 bolt to knock him out. A +2 magic bolt becomes useless!!

This guy certainly has the ability to be amazing, and in this blog I will show you how to pair him with the summoner LORNA SHINE in order to get some real bang for your 1 mana buck!

My card is Level 4, and it is leveled so I can make use of it in in my Silver league battles with a Level 3 Lorna Shine, but I did want to check out it's complete stats, just for some perspective.

In the end, I was a bit underwhelmed. He eventually gains a second melee attack point, but you'd need to be in the GOLD league to be able to utilise this level - and, you'd need to be in the CHAMPS in order for his health to be able to stand up a little higher. Overall, I wanted more - but I keep having to remind myself that this guy is only 1 mana!!

To gain insight into how the market values this guy I went to the store - and I note he's sitting at 4.3 cents per card. I'd actually consider this decent value. The cheaper cards in the market are all reward cards with MASSIVE print runs. This guy is part of the CHAOS LEGION set, and so his numbers are limited to the number of packs being opened. As SPLINTERLANDS as a game matures, I can only imagine that this card will be pulled together - and, if you combine 400 cards over and over, the market supply will certainly reduce.

Back to the original proposition then. Making this guy into a freakin' awesome tank! And to do that, I of course need the help of an awesome summoner, and I've picked LORNA SHINE to pair with Gargoya Scrapper. Let's have a look at her:

The first thing you'll notice in a summoner is her skill, and LORNA'S is great. She gives each card in her team DIVINE SHIELD. This means that the first hit on the card will be absorbed - essentially, providing you with a lot of extra opportunity to frustrate an opponent, as all your cards have increased longevity.

This will be important for Gargoya Scrapper, who is actually in a position where he might die in 1 hit. By having the DIVINE SHIELD, he'll need to take at least 2 hits to be able to kill him! I know what you're thinking, this GARGOYA SCRAPPER just got a whole lot stronger!!

So let's get into BATTLE MODE! Check out the ruleset I found for this awesome card:

In this ruleset it's all about survival!

• The poison ruleset means that every single card on the battlefield will take two damage at the end of the round. The only exception will be if you have a healer in your team who can remove poison from the tank. There is the option for my opponent to do this if he plays WATER or LIFE. The other way to stop poison is with the summoner SCARRED LAMA - but in this battle, you don't have the option to play that card.

That said, I had an additional card up my sleeve, so to speak. Behind my amazing shield, GARGOYA SCRAPPER, I play KRALUS as my off-tank. The reason for this is really simple. He can shoot magic bolts from the second position - and I know the battle ruleset is that no one can heal. But more importantly, he has the IMMUNITY skill which means he will not take any damage from poison. In a battle where it is all about out-lasting, this guy is my secret weapon!! Evil Laugh!

To complete my line up - keeping in mind I have only 19 mana to play with, and KRALUS greedily takes 12 of it, I decide to play the FERAL SPIRIT on the rear. The reason for this is his speed - I want him to attack my opponent's rear line. If my opponent is playing a 3 or 4 health card at the rear, by taking 2 damage in the first round, I will be able to allow the poison to kill him at the end of the round. Additionally, FERAL SPIRIT's 3 health means he will get hits in the first 2 rounds, with some protection with his DIVINE SHIELD. He's a super offensive asset.

This is how the battle gets underways. I am actually a bit nervous at this point because my opponent has played a really dangerous summoner in Alric - and his magic damage adds up to 9. He is going to seek to do some massive damage, and quickly. At this point in the battle, I didn't feel particularly confident.

Ok, let's have a look at how the battle went, have a look at this video. Trust me, it's an interesting video.

By the end of Round 2, and by the time all the poison hits have occurred, I find myself in an interesting position. My opponent's BLAST Ruler of the Seas was ineffective in Round 1, as he hit first and my DIVINE SHIELDS blocked his +6 combined damage. Meanwhile, My FERAL SPIRIT has been attacking first, and this has damaged my opponent's backline significantly. At this point, the battle feels a lot more open.

By the end of Round 2, and with the applied poison - this battle looks even closer. It's 5 health vs 5 health. But it's not simple - my opponent's LOBSTRADUMS is REFLECTING my magic bolts, while his SHIELD is reducing my melee attacks to 1. This is a knife-edge battle.

And indeed, it came down to the wire. We continued to trade hits in the battle, and I was lucky that POISON was doing a good job of hurting LOBSTRADUMUS - because otherwise, I wouldn't have held on by the skin of my teeth. You see, by the end of the battle, the only thing separating the teams was 1 health! Now, I would have attacked first in the next round, that's true - but the magic would have been reflected, and that would have meant I would have died and the battle would have been drawn. Lucky, eh?

So what's the verdict?

• So often you come across accounts which are necessary for a battle plan. For me, that account was GARGOYA SCRAPPER. While it looked like my KRALUS actually won this battle - it was all set up by my GARGOYA in the TANK position. He actuallly absorbed +6 magic damage. The first 4 bolts he ignored with his DIVINE SHIELD, then a +2 which his VOID reduced to +1. This meant it wasn't my opponent's who took down the final blow on GARGOYA, but he died at the end of the round from poison. If I played my KRALUS first - my KRALUS would have DIVINE SHIELDED the +4, but he would have taken +2 damage from LOBSTRADUMUS' hit, and I would have lost.
• So who's my man of the match: GARGOYA SCRAPPER!

Thanks for joining me, for another Splinter Chat! This blog was put together as part of Splinterlands' weekly 'Share-Your-Battle' challenge. Have you put yours together yet?
LordTimoty

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