Splinterlands Share Your Battle Weekly Challenge Goblin Shaman In Bronze 1

Back To Splinterlands -Starting back with the basics

As I impatiently wait for the new cards to drop to start building my way to having a stronger team I keep playing with what Untamed and new rewards cards I have. My short term goals is building a balanced deck with level 2 rare summoners.

While I still use so many Beta starter cards in most of my matches I have chosen to focus on playing in the new ranked games, and leave Alpha/Beta and Old Rewards behind me. Given that, I have the starter version of Goblin Shaman that I can select.

I am still grinding my way back up after the season reset. I have been having some difficulty putting a good win streak together. Not sure if I am playing bad, forcing splinters when I shouldn't, or if there are other better decks still around that need to advance first. I hope to be in silver in the next day or two.

Weekly Challenge

THEME: GOBLIN SHAMAN
Edition: ALPHA/BETA
Rarity: COMMON
Element: FIRE
Attack: MAGIC at level 3
Abilities: WEAKEN/Level 1/ SLOW at level 5

Overview and Thoughts of a Level 1 Goblin Shamna

I think the card is often overlooked even at the starter level. at first glance it doest not appear to do much for you as it has no attach yet, and still costs 3 mana. Most times I find my self targeting a lower mana card for a blocker, or picking something to do more damage. The only impact it has, is Weaken, which will reduce the health of all enemies health by 1, Unless they are already at 1 as long as the card is still in the line up.

If you think about playing in Bronze and Silver, there are a lot of cards that have very little health, and moving them down by 1 can have a huge impact, allowing the first attack to knock them out, or change what card is targeted by oppertunity, and hopefully will now attack a more important card first. Lets see how it plays out.

The Matchup

https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_99009d4be6059d91b47d9e86e8a6ce77&ref=senstless

• Rules - Odd Ones Out ( Only Cards with Odd Mana)
• Mana - 17 - Relatively Low Mana game
• Splinters: Fire, Water, Death

Strategy For Team Design - Speed and Reduced Health

I picked my often Neglected Pyre for the increased speed. Fire is already a relatively quick team, and this will only help make my entire team attack first. My goal is to knock out a few of their cards before they get a chance to do anything to me.

• First position Living Lava
  Yes - I know its not fast. But having a high heath, with 3 Melee Damage, and Shield can be a really long lasting tank. Given the low level I am playing it can be really troublesome to knockout

• Second Position Flame Monkey
  I had one odd mana left so I love using it with flame monkey. True it would be better with creeping ooze but I dont have one. It also can attack if and when it hits the front position. I most have it here to take any splash damage if they use it.

• Third Position Serpentine Spy
  Speed Demon - After the boost it will have 4 speed and should be one of the first to attack, while it has a native 2 melee damage it is a well balanced card.

• Fourth Position Goblin Shamna
  Nice rear tank to absorb some sneak attacks with 4 health, while reducing their health by -1.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

They chose to go with a classic death line up. This is one of the common teams you will see in low mana games. The -1 Melee from Zintar makes most melee card only do 1 damage. The self heal of Haunted Spirit is also a huge benefit in the lower leagues. The team also has a speedy Skeletal Assassin, Magic Sniper in Death Elemental, and 2 range attack in Huanted Spider.

At first glance I thought I was toast, they have so many attackers, and with my reduced melee I was feeling like I should have maybe played Malric to offset. The only benefit I had was the -1 health from Goblin Shaman brought everything in the back line to 1 health.

Round 1

Not sure if it mattered, but I got to attack first this time. Since I had 4 speed, my Serpentine Spy attacked first even though its speed was the same as their skeleton assassins', and after the reduction of health, it only took took the 1 melee damage to take it out. The next two attacks were for the opponent. Death Elemental sniped my Goblin Shaman for -1 Health, and Haunted spirit attacked Living Lava only doing 1 damage. the increased speed from Pyre moved Living lave up to 2 speed, and since it is a rare card it went before the common haunted spider dishing out 2 managed to Haunted Spirit before taking 1 Damage from Haunted Spider.

Round 2

Round 2 is going to play out exactly the same way. I attack first, taking out the next 1 mana card. then I get to go before Haunted Spirit giving it another 2 damage before it can heal. Haunted Spirt then heals to 4 health and does 1 damage, and I then take 1 damage from Haunted Spider.

Round 3

I think the writing is on the wall, I have seen the cycle. I will take out 1 health Haunted spider leaving them only Haunted Spirit. Every round from here for the next 6 Haunted Spirit is only doing 1 damage. Between living Lava and Serpentine Spy I will do 3 damage, and Haunted Spirit will only heal 2. Now that my speed is also the same or higher, I should hit every time and I should win.

I do win in round 5 at the very end with my entire team left, but it was close. Clearly reducing their health to be 1 was a major factor, It allowed me to clear 3 cards in only 3 attacks. I think the Weaken skill has a larger impact in Lower leagues, or in little league games. You should strongly consider how to play cards with Weaken to help eliminate your opponents lineup before it can do damage to you

~~@senstless