When Earthquake Became an Ally

Greetings, Splinterlands warriors!

For me, every Brawl always has its own story. Sometimes we enter the arena with our chests puffed out, confident that our strategy is solid, our cards are neatly arranged, and all we have to do is wait for the opponent to surrender. But sometimes, after just one round, we start asking ourselves: “Was I the one who built this team, or did my opponent build a trap specifically for me?”

That was more or less my experience in this Brawl with ClaNFT.

Overall, the result was quite sweet. Our guild finished in second place, with 122 wins and 22 losses, earning 335 points. The rewards were also pretty nice: the guild received 48 Crowns, every fully participating member received 2,550 Merits, and players with a Spellbook received 32.645 staked SPS.

For me, a result like this is certainly something to be grateful for, especially in the middle of Brawl competition, where things can sometimes be difficult to predict. Some guilds look incredibly strong, some suddenly put on an amazing performance, while others seem to have taken an extended vacation and leave their frays completely empty.

Speaking of frays, my friends in ClaNFT once again trusted me to guard Fray 12. Maybe I've become too comfortable in this particular seat, or perhaps my guildmates simply haven't had the heart to move me. Either way, Fray 12 now feels like my permanent address.

This time, there were four automatic wins because our opponents didn't fill their frays. After that, I had five actual battles to fight. The result wasn't exactly perfect: two wins and three losses.

So my total contribution came to 6 wins and 3 losses, contributing 18 points to the guild.

Looking at the win count, it certainly sounds impressive. Six wins! But don't applaud just yet. Four of those came because the opponents didn't show up. It reminded me that numbers on the scoreboard sometimes have a much longer story behind them than simply winning or losing.

This time, though, I want to talk about one particular victory that I found especially interesting.

When Earthquake Was No Longer Scary

This battle used the Earthquake and Born Again rulesets.

For players who have spent enough time playing Splinterlands, Earthquake is certainly not something to take lightly. Every round, monsters without the Flying ability take damage. So choosing the wrong monsters can make us lose not because of the opponent's attacks, but because the ground beneath our own team seems to be angry.

I then thought about it quite simply: if the ground wants to shake, don't stand on the ground.

So I chose War Pegasus and Pelacor Conjurer, two monsters with the Flying ability. Both were very sensible choices against Earthquake because they could avoid the damage caused by the ruleset.

But I didn't stop there.

I also brought Iziar, equipped with the Taunt ability. Iziar became something of a magnet for enemy attacks. Rather than letting my more fragile monsters become targets, I figured it was better to let Iziar deal with those unwanted visitors.

Its additional two points of armor were another advantage. At least for one round, my team could breathe a little longer before the damage really started to matter.

And as it turned out, my prediction was correct.

My opponent entered the battle without a single monster with the Flying ability.

That's when Earthquake changed from a threat into an ally.

Every round, the opposing team had to pay its damage tax to the earth. Meanwhile, my War Pegasus and Pelacor Conjurer could stand there calmly, as if nothing unusual was happening in the arena.

👉 LINK BATTLE 👈

Battles like this always make me happy. Not simply because I won, but because I could see the relationship between the ruleset, monster abilities, and team formation working exactly as planned.

Four Wins Without Really Fighting

There's another interesting thing about this Brawl.

The four automatic wins aren't really something I can brag about as strategic victories. Our opponents simply didn't fill their frays, so the system awarded us the wins.

Still, those victories have value for the guild.

And this reminded me once again that Brawl isn't just about individual ability. The readiness of every guild member also plays a major role in determining the final result.

I could win every single one of my battles, but if other members don't fill their battles, the guild's overall result can still be affected.

On the other hand, a player might not have a great personal result, but their contribution can still be important simply because they showed up, filled their fray, and tried to earn points.

That's what makes Brawl different from an ordinary ranked battle.

In ranked, I play for myself. In Brawl, I play while carrying the name of my guild.

Closing Thoughts

This Brawl ended with a pretty enjoyable story for me.

Personally, my result wasn't perfect: 6 wins and 3 losses, contributing 18 points. But as a guild, ClaNFT secured second place with 335 points, 122 wins, and 22 losses.

For me, that's more than enough to keep a smile on my face.

And there's one small lesson I took away once again: in Splinterlands, victory isn't always determined by the most expensive cards. Sometimes what's more important is reading the ruleset, understanding monster abilities, and choosing a formation that makes the game's rules work in our favor.

In this battle, I only needed to do one simple thing: when the earth started shaking, I chose monsters that could fly.

Simple, but apparently effective.

Now there's only one job left: opening 10 Gladius Packs.

Hopefully, what's inside won't leave me with nothing more than a bitter smile. 😄

Talk about Splinterlands,
If you haven't tried out this fantastic game called Splinterlands yet, I invite you to Join.
It's free, but you'll need to invest in a beginning deck or buy gaming cards to gain real assets like cards and tokens.

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