Introduction

Today we will be looking at a card instead of a rule or ability. The card that I would be talking about is the Defender of Truth. The Defender of Truth is one of my recent acquisitions when it comes to cards, and I am glad I bought it. It is a magic attacker and one that I required for the Life Splinter. Why? Because magic attackers are a rarity in my Life Splinter collection. So, the Defender was good to have.

It is interesting that the card has just 2,300 odd in circulation and belongs to the Alpha and Beta editions. Of course, most of the 2,300 would also include those cards which were combined. But the fact that most cards have availability in multiples of thousands makes these cards a rare one to get your hands on.

The good thing about the Defender is that it comes at a mana cost of four. This makes it effective to use in low mana to medium as well as high mana battles. In fact, it also fits into rules which limit monsters to four or lesser mana cost. As such, the Defender is not limited in use when it comes to battle.

But how would it fare in a battle? Would it be a useful card?

Let’s find out. But before that, how about getting to know the game that the Defender of Truth represents. Yes, I am talking about Splinterlands. Let’s take a few seconds to get an overview.

What Game is Splinterlands?

Well, it is one of the earliest blockchain-based collectible games. Though I started playing the game relatively late, I should have had gotten going early in hindsight. Anyway, no need to despair. There are so many opportunities no matter when you start.

Splinterlands is a digital card game that allows you to collect, trade, battle, rent, and even earn on the cards. It is one of the most generous games that I have seen where cards, potions, Dark Energy Crystals (DEC. Cryptocurrency) are given out every day to thousands of players for just playing and winning daily quests. And there are tournaments or guilds that you can join.

Just to give you an idea of a few of the uber-expensive cards, take a look at this recent purchase of Prince Julian at USD 3500.

Card Purchase Contract: Gold Foil Prince Julian

Did you go to the link and see for yourself? I hope you did. And I hope that gives an overview of the game. I just love the game, and those interested can go to Splinterlands’ site and join. If you want a link to join, I will leave one at the end of the article, which you can use.

Scroll down, quick. 😊

The Defender of Truth | A Worthy Addition to the Lineup

Now, the Defender has a lot going for itself, even in the base version. It comes with a magic attack which is a plus as it can damage even fast and dodging monsters. It has armor that protects it from melee and ranged attacks. It also has an impressive speed of three, making it one of the firsts to attack in battle. So, most of the things go in favor of the card.

However, it is the health of the Defender that worries me a bit. I mean, if the opponent has magic attackers, then it wouldn’t take long for them to pierce through the Defender. We may argue that the Defender would come in the middle of the lineup and hence safe, but what about monsters with the sneak, snipe, or opportunity ability? Worst still, what about the opportunity rule in play? Would the Defender fare well under such rules? A bit tough, I suspect, but then that boils down to the individual strategies too.

Let’s see the Defender in battle, shall we?

The Defender of Truth in Battle

While I personally feel that the Defender would be more suited for low and medium mana battles, I went beyond my own apprehensions and chose it for a high mana battle. What’s more, the health-equalizer rule and the armor rule were in play. More than the armor rule, I was enthused by the health rule as it would prove to give a fillip to the Defender’s unimpressive health.

The question was if it would be good enough to make the Defender one of the best in the battle? Why don’t we find out together?

Let’s go.

The Face-Off

Now, with the health-equalizer rule and the 42-mana cap, I was expecting monsters with big health on either side. It wouldn’t be unfair to expect at least one monster with a health value of 10; after all, it is a high mana battle, isn’t it?

Well, I surprised myself. The highest health on either side was just six. How could both my opponent and I select monsters with such low health? 😊

Anyway, the face-off screen showed that both of us chose more monsters than a few high health ones. Made sense. I had obviously gone with the Life Splinter and had the Goblin Mech as my main tank. I then added three magic monsters and two ranged attackers to the lineup. One of the magic attackers, Bila the Radiant, was also a life-leech. That meant that it would go above the equalized health with each attack.

The opponent, too, had some neat monsters in the lineup. The Living Lava, with its reduced attack from melee attacks, was a great tank when going with the Fire Splinter. Thereafter, the opponent used two magic attackers and two ranged attackers. But his/her lineup’s potency seemed a bit better than mine. The Zalran Efreet was a life-leech too, and that kind of neutralized my Bila’s presence. Besides, the Pyromancer was a blast monster, and therefore, would hurt two or more of my monsters simultaneously. With these in play, winning would be tough for me.

Let’s see how things progressed.

Defender of Truth | Taking Down the Living Lava

Well, the tanks did not last for too long.

Just by the first round, both the tanks were gone, and the second position's monsters came forth. The barrage of attacks from the ranged and magic monsters was proving equally fatal, and it was all about who would last longer. Before long, the Defender was in the first position.

At this point, the battle seemed well balanced. Both of us had two magic monsters. I had two ranged monsters while the opponent had one ranged and one melee attacker. The Spy was a difficult opportunity monster for my lineup. It could be the factor tilting the battle in favor of the opponent.

The Battle Races to Conclusion

Interestingly, the Defender was still holding fort by the next round as the opponent was reduced to just three monsters.

However, with the barrage of attacks from the opponent’s arsenal, I did not expect the Defender to stay there for too long. And that is what happened. The Defender perished, and Bila took his place.

Well, that’s as far as the opponent would go, as Bila would not let go of the hold on the first spot. As Zalran perished, the other monsters would soon follow suit.

I won the battle. But have to admit that it was Bila more than the Defender that tilted the game in my favor.

The Defender | Not Bad

I suspect the high mana battle pitched the Defender against monsters it would not witness in the low mana or medium mana battles. That could be one of the reasons for it appearing ineffective. Besides, the base-level monster was going into a big battle, so chances of success would be limited.

Of course, as a strategy, the Defender of Truth still won the battle, but its own impressiveness would improve as we level up. The Defender gets the “protect” ability at level three and has an improved attack value of three, speed of four, and health value of four at the very top. Interesting stats, though I would still be unhappy with the health.

That said, there are enough and more rules which would make the Defender impenetrable, so we need not fret. My parting thoughts are that the Defender does well in battle, and I guess it becomes quite strong when the combination of a low or medium mana battle coupled with leveled-up cards are thrown in. So, yeah, keep a watch for the Defender of Truth. 😊

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Image Courtesy: Splinterlands