Hello Splinterlands warriors and welcome back to my blog!

Ratbound Corsair is a rare Water unit from the Arena Vanguard cards. He is a Tideborn unit with a nine mana cost, inspired by the Splinterlands community member @mickvir. In today's post, we'll go over his lore, his stats and abilities as well as discuss his pros and cons in battle.

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Lore

Mickvir was a starving orphan rescued by ruthless corsairs, who grew up in the ship’s cargo hold surrounded by rats that became his only companions. Over the years, he transformed into a deadly marksman and skilled trident wielder, earning the name Ratbound Corsair because rats mysteriously followed him into battle. After disappearing into the black waters near Mortis, Mickvir returned transformed into a monstrous sea serpent infused with abyssal magic. Now, wherever the Ratbound Corsair appears, the rats gather and the tides begin to rise.

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Stats and Abilities

The Ratbound Corsair is a nine mana Water card. At maxed levels he deals three range damage, has five health and four speed. He has two abilities. Close Range complements his range attack. It enables him to attack with range from first position. Blast is one of the most powerful offensive abilties in Splinterlands that he gets at maxed levels.

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Pros and Cons

Ratbound Corsair is a unique unit not just in the Water splinter but in the Frontier.

Pros

Among the Arena Vanguards, Ratbound Corsair has the least mana cost at nine. Other cards have ten or more mana. It will be easier to field the Ratbound Corsair in battle since he will not take up much mana and allow other cards to play. The nine mana also means that he is not affected by the Giant Killer ability that will double damage to units with ten mana and above.

As for the Water splinter which is magic heavy, the Ratbound Corsair offers a range attacker with Close Range. He will be a key card in rulesets like Going the Distance.

Cons

Among the Arena Vanguard cards, the Ratbound Corsair is the only range unit. The others are the "preferred" attack types, magic and melee. Also, he only has two abilities compared to three owned by the Arena Vanguards.

In the Water splinter, as mentioned, it is magic heavy and the strategy when using Water revolves around magic. This is because the archon grants additional magic attack. It would take special rulesets to make the Ratbound Corsair useful in battle.

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Final Thoughts

I think the Ratbound Corsair is an interesting Frontier card because it gives Water something different from its usual magic heavy approach: a ranged attacker that can attack from the front and eventually deal Blast damage. It isn't necessarily an all purpose strong card, but in the right ruleset, especially Going the Distance, it can be very useful.

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Come Play Splinterlands!

Start your Splinterlands adventure today with my referral. You can play the game for free in the Frontier Mode or take your game to the next level by purchasing a spellbook. Buying a spellbook allows you to earn SPS tokens and use the market to sell in game assets. Also, we will both get 500 Credits which can be used top purchase cards once you buy a spellbook.