A nightmare with Immolating Ant Miners - Splinterlands Battle Challenge

Last week I had to work with the Grumpy Dwarf and it's no wonder he is always angry as he is always on the bench! This week battle challenge is a real treat ... the Ant Miners! Just thinking about giant red ants with immolation aura that can walk on two just to use the pickaxe makes my skin itchy! 

Moving the creepy scenario even further, imagine a dream where you are chased in underground burrows by this fire ants ... with scavenger! That will be a real nightmare! Can't help it but every time I talk about ants this songs starts playing in my brain ... play and read!

In Splinterlands the ants go marching one by one ... and the Ant Miners are leading the troops! The Ants Miners can be found in Reward Chests as a common fire monster. It has the Scavenger ability at level one and will gain Shield at level 6. It costs 2 Mana for 1 Health Point, 1 Melee Damage, 1 Speed and Scavenger which in my opinion is good value. This card is one of my favorite cards in the game because of the low mana cost and I had some great battles in the past, where the Ant Miners took the spotlights.

I usually use the Ant Miner in the 3rd position, after a strong tank and another monster with Reach to give time to build up the health. In low mana battles I use it in the second position as off-tank and in quick fights it can make a difference. The choice of summoner is Malric Inferno in 99% of the cases so the Ant Miners will have 2 Melee Attack and growing health from scavenging the fallen.

Battle 1 : Hunting Rexxie

Battle Details and Line-up: Mana cap 15 with normal battle-rules. The opponent chose Earth Splinter and his summoner gave -2 Armor to my team, a team with no armor! 

Summoner: Malric Inferno +1 Melee to all friendly monsters

• Cerberus: Main tank with Heal
• Ant Miner: Off-Tank Melee with Scavenger
• Serpentine Spy: Melee with Opportunity
• Kobold Miner: Melee with Sneak
• Furious Chicken - Decoy
• Creeping Ooze: -1 Speed to all enemies

Was a quick fight as Rexxie was just a Scoobie-Snack for my Cerberus. Looking at his set-up, my opponent expected to encounter an armored mage! The Failed Summoner brought no advantage in this battle, same as his summoner. See the full battle here!

Battle 2 : Demon v Holy

Battle Details and Line-up: Mana cap 14 with normal battle-rules.  Similar line-up like last battle minus the Creeping Ooze. The opponent chose Life Splinter and his summoner gave 1 extra Armor to his team.

• Summoner: Malric Inferno +1 Melee to all friendly monsters
• Cerberus: Main tank with Heal
• Ant Miner: Off-Tank Melee with Scavenger
• Serpentine Spy: Melee with Opportunity
• Kobold Miner: Melee with Sneak
• Furious Chicken - Decoy

The chicken must be furious as he was the first victim. The Divine Healer kept healing the Silvershield Paladin but the Light doesn't work so well in the darkest tunnels. 

The Paladin's Shield reduced the damage but was no match for Malric overpowered team of freaks. Left alone, the Divine Healer tried to heal himself but was no point for that with all melee monsters already defeated. See the full battle here!

Battle 3: Equalized Ants!

Battle Details and Line-up: Mana cap 20  means a medium choice pool and the Equalizer ruleset means that the Ant Miner will start with more health then usually. The opponent chose Fire Splinter as well and a team with higher HP then my one so I had the initial advantage.
Summoner: Malric Inferno +1 Melee to all friendly monsters
Cerberus: Main tank with Heal

Magma Troll: Melee with Reach
Ant Miner: Melee with Scavanger
Serpentine Spy: Melee with Opportunity
Kobold Miner: Melee with Sneak
Goblin Fireballer: Ranged

All monsters started with 6 Health Points, matching the Living Lava. All my monsters have 1 or 2 in normal battles so Equalizer worked well for my team. I was predicting a game where the Cerberus will hold but this wild dog and the Magma Troll were taken down before the end of Round Two. Only the Ant Miners remained to defend the other was there to take the heavy hits. 

I was unlucky to miss so many hits in the early game and I was thinking I will lose the game. The Ants were taken down in Round Four, even with enhanced life and even 7 health points.

Luckily, the gods of war gave me a boost and my opponent started to miss killing blows. The equalizer ruleset played in my advantage as my monsters have low health in standard conditions but this time I was able to survive more and make a come-back. See the full battle here!

Battle 4: Monsters from the Deep! 

Battle Details and Line-up: Mana cap 13 with Lost Legendries ruleset, meaning no legendary monster can be used in the battle. My line-up is full of monsters from various mythologies and the angry chicken

Malric Inferno (Summoner): +1 Melee Damage to all friendly monsters
Cerberus: Main Tank with Heal
Magma Troll: Melee with Reach
Ant Miners: Emergency Tank with Scavenger
Furious Chicken: Decoy for Sneak

Fire versus Water feels like a battle between good and evil. My opponent played Bortus to reduce my spell damage but the summoner ability had no effect on my team as no casters where selected. After the weaklings were defeated, was time for a top fight between the Serpent of Eld and the Ant Miner. At this point, I has hoping to land the killing blow and avoid a silly missed attack.

The Ant Miner delivered the fatal blow and then made the Ice Pixie burn. This fight was won by the Scavenger ability and the summoner's ability. The extra Health Points and the extra Melee Damage created the perfect synergy. The Scavenger ability is a game changer in both short and long fights and the Ant Miners card is versatile. See the full battle here!

Conclusion: The Ant Miners is one of the top cards in Splinterlands, mainly because it costs 2 Mana and can't reach an absurd level of health. Used in conjunction with Malric Inferno will have 2 Melee attach and turn the tides of the battle in my favor. My Ant Miners are upgraded to level 2 and I wish I had the idea to upgrade it more before the  DEC price surged. I still have hope as this card can be found in the Reward Chests.

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