Splinterlands | Social Media Challenge | Minotaur Warrior

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AbunEnt

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3 years ago

In community: Random Articles(a45d)

Topics: Splinterlands, Games, Gaming, Blockchain

Introduction

When I started playing Splinterlands about a year back, I remember using the Minotaur and putting it somewhere back in the lineup. Since I did not understand what the reach-ability could do, I just placed it in the lineup like any other monster. Needless to say, I saw the Minotaur do nothing and eventually gave up on it.

It was only after a month in the game that I realized what the Minotaur was really worth its weight in gold. Of course, I did not have a gold Minotaur (😉), but I understood its ability. It was a pretty good monster standing in the second position. It allied with my main tank and therefore made itself a very useful monster. I remember a phase when I always used the Warrior.

Back then, facing lower-level opponents made it easy to use the Warrior. The Minotaur also comes as a custom card from the game. What do I mean? I mean, it is available for players to use even if they don’t own the card. That way testing out the card is simple and easy for everyone.

My love for the Minotaur started to wane when I saw opponents using Snipe monsters, almost always targeting second positions. The Minotaur’s armor would help stay alive, but if there were more than one snipe monster, then the Minotaur would be done for even before it could attack. That was the challenge.

But then, won’t you want to see the Minotaur in action? I am sure you want to. So, let’s go. However, let’s take a moment to understand the Splinterlands game where the Minotaur is found. It would help the potential players.

Here we go.

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 that you can play or guilds that you can join.*

*Just to give you an idea of how lucky you can get in Splinterlands - read my story of getting cards worth $327 for buying few packs worth $20 only.*

Got Cards Worth $327 for $20

And this is just a small number. I have witnessed people getting uber-expensive cards in their pack and selling it for as high as $6500. This means the game has interested buyers for your cards too. In fact, there is a whole Splinterlands marketplace.

Now, if all that interests you and you want to try out the game, then I am leaving a link below for you to join.

Scroll down, quick. 😊

Minotaur Warrior | Good Reach Attacker

There was more good about the Minotaur than bad. However, there still were some not-so-good points and since they were fewer, let’s look at them upfront. For starters, I was unhappy with the Minotaur having the health of just two. This opened it up for magic attackers taking it down even before it could attack. That said, since it was in the second position, the focus was not on the Minotaur until the tank perished. So, a small problem in the scheme of things.

Now, the good part. The Minotaur is one of the few monsters to have armor from the word go. That helps a lot, especially in staying alive despite the possible range and melee attacks on the Minotaur. The reach-ability is definitely a clincher in testing the opponent’s tank, and the Minotaur does it at a good speed of three. That means, most of the time, it would be the first attacker.

Also, starting level six, the Minotaur gets the piercing ability. This has to be an awesome ability for a monster with reach. So, the opponent’s tank would be tested quite a lot by the Minotaur. Here is the level-up chart of the Warrior.

The Warrior reaches a peak speed of five at level eight but then drops down to four at level ten. The armor remains at one, but the attack value improves to three while the health goes up to six. As a leveled-up monster, the Minotaur is quite good for low and medium mana battles. I am sure not many monsters can substitute for the Minotaur in low or medium mana battles. In that sense, it is quite good.

I guess it’s about time we proceeded to the battle. Let’s go.

Minotaur Warrior in Battle

The game that I decided to take the Minotaur along with was a high-mana battle. Although the Minotaur fits well for the low and medium mana battles, the high ones are not bad either. The problem was that I was getting into a battle with the earthquake rule in place as much as reverse speed. The Minotaur scores were pretty much bad on both counts. But then again, I had to try it out.

If the Minotaur remains unattacked in round one, then the earthquake rule will only take off the Minotaur’s armor. As such, it could continue to fight out the next round. At the moment, though, I am only guessing. It all depends on what monsters that my opponent has selected.

Let’s jump on to the battle. Shall we?

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The Face-Off

One look at the face-off screen made me think that I could win this game. After all, I had three self-healing monsters and two flying ones. But then I noticed that the opponent had quite a few monsters at speed one. That meant that those monsters will always attack first, and chances were that it would be a continuous attack before my monsters could heal, let alone retaliate. The initial thoughts notwithstanding, let’s look at both the teams' monsters and summoners.

We will start with the opponent’s lineup.

Summoner: Contessa L’ament | Death Splinter | Ability – Decreases opponent’s range attackers’ attack value by one

Monsters:

Position 1: Haunted Spirit | A melee attacker with an attack value of two and self-healing ability.

Position 2: Sand Worm | Melee attacker with an attack value of five. Mostly will attack the last monster in the opponent’s lineup.

Position 3: Phantom Soldier | Magic attacker with an attack value of two. It is a flying monster and best suited for the earthquake rule.

Position 4: Ancient Lich | A strong magic attacker with an attack value of three. It has the life-leech ability and thus grows in strength through the battle.

Position 5: Dark Astronomer | Ranged attacker with an attack value of two.

Position 6: Cornealus | Ranged attacker with high health and attack value of two. The monster is self-healing and hence difficult to take down.

My thoughts were that the opponent also had a decent lineup. The Ancient Lich, Haunted Spirit, and the Cornealus could easily survive the earthquake rule.

Anyway, on to my monsters.

Summoner: Wizard of Eastwood | Earth Splinter | Ability – Reduces the opponent’s shields by two.

Monsters:

Position 1: Flesh Golem | Melee attacker with an attack value of two. The monster can self-heal.

Position 2: Minotaur Warrior | Our champion. I had a level four one and hence two attack value and four health.

Position 3: Nectar Queen | Melee attacker with an attack value of four but would be dormant in this position. It would survive the earthquake rule since it is a flying monster.

Position 4: Kron the Undying | Strong magic monster with an attack value of three. It can self-heal.

Position 5: Screeching Vulture | Melee attacker with an attack value of two. It has opportunity ability and hence can attack from this position. It is also a flying monster and hence impervious to the earthquake rule.

Position 6: Cornealus | Ranged attacker with an attack value of two. It has self-healing ability.

At this point, since I have a melee attacker, a ranged and a magic one with self-healing capability, I had reasons to believe that I could survive. Besides, the Nectar Queen would remain shielded and come to the fore after a few of the monsters on the opponent’s side are down. This should work in my favor too. At least, that is what I think.

Let’s see how it goes.

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The Battle Begins

As the battle began, the opponent’s lineup got going first. That was as expected.

But the Flesh Golem’s high health helped in staying alive while the Haunted Spirit was gone. The only monster other than the Flesh Golem which sustained attacks was the Cornealus. The Sand Storm had caused my Cornealus’ health to plummet by five. But it wasn’t looking that bad either. All my monsters were still standing.

The start of the next round saw one more barrage of attacks on the Flesh Golem. The Golem perished, bringing the Minotaur in front facing the Sand Worm.

The earthquake rule took away the Minotaur’s armor in the previous round, which made it face the Sand Worm in a rather precarious situation. In fact, that was the point where the Sand Worm finished off the Minotaur. ☹

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The Battle Races to Conclusion

Despite the Minotaur’s departure, the battle looked pretty much in control for me.

The Nectar Queen and the Phantom Spirit soon came to the front. Being flying monsters, both could survive the earthquake rule. The barrage of attacks took the Nectar Queen and the Spirit to their end too. However, the Nectar Queen just survived long enough. The good part for me was that Kron the Undying and the Corealus remained strong, while the opponent’s Ancient Lich wasn’t doing so well.

Strangely, the Queen survived into round four.

With the opponent’s Cornealus in front, there would be no more casualties from my side. That was how the game ended. The Screeching Vulture took down the Cornealus and brought the game to an end.

Just for the records, I won! 😊

Minotaur Warrior| Decent Monster with Reach Ability

While the battle wasn’t the greatest example of showcasing the Minotaur’s ability, we can judge how it would perform in a low or medium mana battle. The advantage over there would be the Minotaur facing much lighter opponents in terms of attack value. That would certainly give it an edge.

The Minotaur works well for the newbies in its base level or should be completely leveled up to be relevant, in my opinion. Anything in between leaves the player with the option of opting out of the Minotaur. So, the question is will I use the Minotaur instead of a stronger attacker? Maybe not.

However, when the Rexxie is in play, the Minotaur takes the attack to a whole new level. I haven’t seen it in battle, but I have heard that the Minotaur hunts Rexxies. Hmm. Wonder how that plays out. Some day, I am hoping to see it in action.

For the time being, though, the Minotaur is not bad at all. I hope you all enjoyed reading the article. Have fun!

😊