It's Clobbering Time

There are a lot of posts that look at a whole splinter or at a specific card. I want to try and help out the newer players to the game with a look not only at a specific pair of cards but also where to play these cards in a battle line-up.

For this inaugural post I will look at Earth Splinter, and let's take a look at the all important "Tank" position.

Tank - Tank characters distract enemy attention and attacks toward themselves in order to provide protection or decoy for teammates. Since this role often requires them to endure concentrated enemy attacks and often suffer large amounts of damage, they rely on a high health pool or armor level, healing support by friendly healers, evasiveness and misdirection, or self-regeneration while simultaneously sacrificing their own damage.

There are a lot of great opening cards for the Earth Splinter but to be fair to the newer players I want to look at two of the relatively new cards. What makes these cards interesting is they are really on opposite ends of the spectrum but they are both quite effective.

Nectar Queen vs Minotaur Warlord

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First up we have the Nectar Queen. This is a common Reward card that was issued in the most recent round of Rewards. As of this posting it is available for the low cost of $0.027 per bcx. Let's look at it stats:

What I love about this card is that even at its Level 1 (1 bcx) you are getting a powerful tank with 4 melee, 2 speed, and 10 life. Depending on which summoner you are using this can improve. Plus you get Flyingwhich makes it particularly effective in Earthquake format. It's 2 speed means that in either reverse or regular speed you are going to get a good attack position. Furthermore its large life count means it is not uniquely vulnerable to magic versus range. Once you level this up to Level 6 (100 bcx) you are now going up to 4 melee, 4 speed, and 12 life with the added ability of Retaliate giving you an extra strike opportunity. At is MAX Level (400 bcx) you have a monster 5 melee, 4 speed, 13 life with Flying, Retaliate and Poison! Don't forget the poison can also be administered on a retaliate strike. For its 9 mana cost this is a formidable front line Tank in every league of play.

At the other end of the spectrum we have the Minotaur Warlord. This is a legendary Promo card that was issued in the most recent round. As of this posting it is available for a more commanding cost of $2.50 per bcx. This is a very different type of Monster. Let's look at it stats:

Immediately you can see that it only grows to a Level 4 with 11 bcx. For those of you newer to Splinterlands, this is because it is a Legendary card. At its Level 1 (1 bcx) this beast packs 4 melee, 3 speed, and 10 life. Unlike the other card we looked at, it does not possess Flying but instead has Magic Reflect. This comes in handy if your opponent is playing a Water splinter with a likelihood of heavy Magic damage. All this for 8 mana. As you push this to its MAX level (11 bcx) you see the more powerful stats are 5 melee, 3 speed, 12 life and Magic Reflect, Return Fire, and Blast. Return Fire is great in formats where you are going to be taking heavy Ranged attack. Blast is an all round great ability to inflict double the damage and take out your opponents "on deck" monster.

Two great cards to consider rotating into your Earth Splinter in the starting Tank position. Especially in the new formats coming up where those high life tally will come in handy.

Let me know what other cards you like playing in the Tank position from the Earth Splinter. For other staples such as the Stonesplitter Orc see my previous posts.

Remember to have fun and Play On!!!