In the Bronze league, strategy can help but often there is a meta play to utilise. When I first began playing Splinterlands, the meta was Mylor Crowling with Thorns. With every new card added into Splinterlands the potentially different combinations can be quite exciting.
### Ruleset
Having seen the ruleset for the forthcoming battle, I had an opportunity to play a new summoner (kindly delegated to me by a Guild buddy). This summoner and ruleset presented a chance to negate my opponents potential option in attack.
With my opponent and I only having access to Dragon or Life summoners and the Close Range ruleset in play, I quickly scanned their recent battles to note no use of Dragon summoners and two uses of Life's General Sloan. With this in mind, I set General Sloan aside and settled on Ilthain.
### Ilthain - Summoner - Level 1
By using Ilthain, I'd have increased speed and this would be useful in ensuring my monsters took less hits in the case that I was incorrectly assuming General Sloan. In addition, it would ensure my monsters would have improved chances of hitting the opponent. Lastly, I aimed to strongly counter General Sloan and the Life deck's tendency to play ranged attacking archery. On a successful hit, my team would respond with a single shot dealing damage back to the opponent, targeting their backline immediately.
### Pelacor Conjurer - Mini Passive Tank - Level 2
I used this card to take advantage of the ranged damage coming in, the flying ability and 5 health which is pretty decent for two mana.
### Pelacor Arbalest - First Ranged Attack - Level 1
With the Close Range ruleset, there was minimal risk to playing this card close to the front line. I wanted to protect it from sneak to keep it alive for as long as possible. I would run the risk of opportunity attacks targeting this card first but I needed to take a small risk here as sneak was more likely. Double attack and two damage; this card could cut the opponent down quickly.
### Venari Crystalsmith - First Support/ Healer - Level 1
This card was the first card I selected. My intention here was to keep my Pelacor Conjurer alive for as long as possible and the Crystalsmith offered a tank heal which I could not refuse.
### Truthspeaker - Second Support - Level 1
Equally important as the Crystalsmith, this card offered protection for my entire line up and if my strategy was to be correct, would enable all of my team to survive long enough to put out additional damage. Second card I selected after the Crystalsmith.
### Stitch Leech - Sneaky Sneak - Level 1
At three mana cost, this card is cheap and effective. It's low speed is an issue but with Ilthain, I hoped to close the gap on my opponent. This would also allow me to attack their rear most monster and deliver a slightly different attack. I could have used ranged attack but felt a change to melee would be more effective.
Would my strategy pay off? Let's find out.
### Opposing Line up
General Sloan - Summoner - Level 1
Great for increasing range damage. This was as I expected. Hoping to sustain some heavy fire and return it straight back for free.
### Pelacor Conjurer - Mini Passive Tank - Level 1
At a lower level than my own copy in this battle, the additional health of mine will be useful. In the grand scheme of the battle, the single point won't make a huge difference.
### Venari Crystalsmith - First Support/ Healer - Level 1
I'm sure this was selected for similar reasons as my own. A good card that supports the frontline, keeping health up for team mates and damaging the opponents where possible. Sloan makes this a very good card.
### Xenith Archer - First Ranged Attack - Level 1
A good 2 mana card. Certainly adds to the impact General Sloan is aiming for here.
### Pelacor Arbalest - Second (Main) Ranged Attack - Level 1
General Sloan's best friend. Double attack and great damage. This is the card to take down early if possible.
### Time Mage - Second support / Ranged Damage - Level 1
This is a very typical card to be played with Life decks. The purpose is to slow the enemy down to ensure the hits land frequently. Placing this card at the rear is good as it allows the Arbalest to be in the middle of the pack, safe.
### The Battle
Link here: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_9285f7ac9a1dddd124d324ed83e25bb8&ref=holdeck
## Round 1
The battle started well with some big shots incoming from my opponent and Return Fire ensuring the opposing Arbalest and Xenith Archer would not survive the battle.
Whilst I lost my Pelacor Conjurer, it had dealth significant damage to the opponent's main damage dealer and had also been effective against their archer so I took this as a very confident sign of victory.
## Round 2
At the start of Round 2, their Time Mage got a good hit against my Arbalest, cutting through its armour before dealing damage to both the Conjurer and the opposing Crystalsmith and being rehealed to 2 health. The Xenith Archer took out my Arbalest and in return, the Xenith Archer was also felled. My strategy was proving to be highly effective, if at significant cost to my line up. Right at the end of the round, the Stitch Leech came in clutch removing the Time Mage off the battlefield.
## Round 3
With only the Crystalsmith on their side capable of dealing ranged damage and their Conjurer left vulnerable, the sweet taste of victory became mine..
### Final Thoughts
Overall, I am very happy with the outcome here. If I was to make any changes, I'd potentially think about including a Life Fiend to soak up a little extra damage toward the frontline to keep the Arbalest alive a little longer. But otherwise, I am very happy with the strategy here.
### To buy Ilthain or not to buy?
Ilthain has some good uses for certain. Would I purchase Ilthain?
Absolutely, I think this battle is a case in point for a new summoner strategy holding its own against the more established summoners.
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