Fire Opportunity sneaked upon us

Hi fellow Mages.

It is your boy VjekIch with another post. The Riftwatchers expansion is out and new cards hit the market. Hype is obviously here as I am selling summoners for 7 or 8 USD per BCX which is too expensive if you ask me. But like with every other Splinterlands expansion hype will call down and with it, prices will go down. Then it will be time to acquire new cards to bolster your ranks slowly. Well, at least this is my plan.

But you already know all that and you are wondering: "Fire Opportunity"? What are you talking about Vjekich?

I am talking about a new card that recently came to the Splinterlands and into Fire Splinter. Yodin is no longer the only star. I will go through a few cards that I think would make a perfect Fire Splinter deck(in my opinion) and you tell me if my idea is good or not.

Summoners

Conqueror Jacek - from the day this card was released I was hyped and I knew that I must have that card. I am even selling my Grandmaster Rathe and some other cards in order to get a Gold league Conqueror Jacek. Why? Plus two speed is everything you need. We learned that from the example of Kitty. Speed makes such a huge difference as your cards will attack first most of the time. Since Fire Splinter monsters already have amazing attacking stats, speed is actually all that you need. But Conqueror Jacek goes even further and adds Piercing to that. It makes your cards like Grum or Forgotten One even scarier. Conqueror Jacek is scary and with some new cards and with new balance in mana caps it could do wonders for your ranked matches. I will definitely put this guy into my deck!

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Tanks

With new mana caps for all leagues (new rulesets) there is suddenly more opportunity to play higher-cost tanks and oh boy does Fire Splinter delivers here. I will go through some, if I forget about something good, please let me know down in the comment.

Antoid Platton is a card for those matches with lover mana caps or when you want to save mana for your other cards. It will die from magic attacks pretty quickly so you better play it when you know that your opponent is not going for those magic attackers. I like it because of Scavenger ability that can create a serious tank, especially when you are attacking first due to Jacek's speed buff. So not the best option, but it could be a viable one.

If you notice that your opponent might play magic team, Tusk the Wide is your tank, especially if you need to save some mana so you can't play the "big boys" (we will come to them later). Void is amazing as it will reduce incoming magic damage and Inspire is the real reason why you will play this card. Most of your team will be created of melee units so Inspire will be amazing in this setup. The big health pool means that you will be able to take some hits until your backline is doing its part.

Now we are at the "big boys" and the first one is Forgotten One. All you need is him on level 4 with 5 damage. Piercing from Jacek will do its part and his attack will hit like a truck. Oh yes, did I mention Retaliate ability and that it will have 4 speed (5 with Countess Sinash - and yes we need her too)? It's a real beast and all that for 9 mana which means it won't be affected by Giant Killer ability. Crazy right?

What is crazier than Forgotten One is a real beast in the Fire Splinter. Yes, you guessed it right, it is Grum Flameblade. 4 damage per turn with 4 speed and Bloodlust ability will make this guy into real beast real quick. The new expansion, Riftwatchers, added some mana-wise expensive monsters. That means he could quite often hit for 8 or 10 damage. Don't forget the Piercing ability provided by Jacek. If he was a beast before, now he could be unstoppable.

Coeurl Lurker - is a new card that I must talk about. Seven speed with Dodge and Phase could be devastating for the opponent's team. 4 or 5 damage is also no joke and it should be taken seriously. If Blind ability could be added this guy could evade a lot of attacks while dealing serious damage. If you add quite a big health pool, he is a real beast. Evade/dodge meta is a bit risky as it will only work if people don't go for a lot of speed, and we all love speed so it may not be the most reliable way of tanking. Still, something to consider!

Damage dealers

There is not a big choice of damage dealers in the Fire Splinter. At least not melee and yes this is weird a bit but that's why I am here to help you out.

Let's start with an obvious choice - Radiated Brute is a pretty good card for its BCX cost and mana-wise. Almost a no-brainer for that second position, especially if you expect Blast damage as it will benefit from it due to Enrage ability. With this setup, its speed will go all the way to 7 which is really good. Don't underestimate Brute, he's good!

Now, one of my favorite new cards - Mordeus. It is exactly what I needed for my team as I was missing that one card that would fill the gap when I need some decent damage. And here it comes. Opportunity, Stun, and 6 damage. When into this team he would have 5 speed, which is not a lot but it is decent and it will allow him to attack just in time. The Piercing ability will go through that annoying armor and it will certainly get you some kills. I will wait a bit in hope that it will go lower in price. I am looking for at least 5 USD per BCX. Let's hope it could go lower as it is really an underrated card.

Countess Sinash is everything that Fire teams needs. Opportunity ability that works well with Mordeus. Sinash will deal 4 damage and it will place an almost perfect setup for Mordeus to do a killing blow on that target. Swiftness is very valuable as it gives you that extra speed which is the most important stat if you ask me. On the higher levels, it even has Blast ability that will get rid of that armor, or it will even kill monsters with low health. I would say that this is a must-have card for this build and it is not that expensive at the moment so I recommend picking one up.

We love Opportunity and Sneak, that's why my next pick is Tenyii Striker. Buffed with +3 speed and Piercing this guy is a real beast. With 6-speed and Dodge ability, he can be that tank in the last spot that will evade everything or almost everything. Just like that, it is promoted in one of those amazing cards that you will include in every match.

We learned that it is not a good idea to attack a position with only one monster. That is why we need to add Uraeus. With 4-speed he is already fast and when buffed he is just amazing. What I like about Uraeus is his Poison ability which often helps to kill targets with high armor. Yes, Piercing is included in this build, but still, 2 additional damage per turn can't be bad. Well, it can, when attacking monsters with high armor and Enrage ability but that is a problem for another post.

And if you have the extra money in your pocket, then you should add Serpentine Spy to this team as well. This guy really shines on higher levels but even level 2 or level 5 could be worth it, in combination with Sinash and Mordeus. Really nice card, too bad that it is so expensive, so it is not for my pocket.

Summary

This could be a really interesting setup with lots of speed and damage. Of course, you will need enough mana in the ruleset but as you can see some cheaper cards could be used as well. Jacek and Sinash are core cards, followed by Mordeus, Tenyii Striker, and Uraeus. Tank is a spot with the most choice and it could be tweaked depending on available mana. Grum and Forgotten One are obvious choices but sometimes Platoon, Xenith Monk, or Alvar could do the job. What are your thoughts on this build? Could it work? At this point, it is all in theory crafting, but it seems to me that it could be just fine. Let me know your opinions in the comments.

It is the perfect time to buy some cards and rebuild your deck. Packs are not selling as fast as expected so prices are stable. I expect them to go down even more once we sell more packs. But there is always a possibility of new players joining and buying tons of cards, so be careful. If you are not playing #splinterlands yet, now is the perfect opportunity to join while you can get all those amazing cards at special prices. Come and join Splinterlands Discord and find out more.

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If you are new here

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Have fun and see you on the battlefield.