Hello Splinterlands warriors and welcome back to my blog!

In Splinterlands, team synergy almost always beats raw card strength. A lineup of individually powerful cards can lose if the cards don't complement one another, while a cheaper or "weaker" team that is built around a specific strategy can defeat them. Abilities that affect the whole team or debuff the enemy team has great value. The combined effect of several abilities is often worth more than a single legendary monster's stats.

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Featured Battle

To illustrate, I'll show one battle where I'm against a stronger enemy. The enemy archon was the legendary Elowen Sylphie.

She has the powerful ability of granting Resurgence and Trample to two units. Resurgence seems a broken ability since it resurrects the unit who has the ability once per battle with 100% health and armor. In addition, all buffs are reapplied while debuffs are removed. One unit in a team to have it is already an advantage but two units give the team a huge chance to win.

Among the enemy units were gladiator card Quora Towershead, Gramel the Hunger and Kron the Undying.

Quora Towershead

Quora Towershead is an epic gladiator card who is one of the best. She is already strong with dual attack of magic and melee, twelve health and healing ability as well as bloodlust. In this battle, she was also given the Resurgence ability making her almost impossible to defeat.

Gramel the Hunger

Gramel the Hunger is a legendary card and the only one with triple attack of magic, melee and range. He can attack with all three from any position due to his Charge ability. He was also granted the Resurgence ability along with Quora.

Kron the Undying

As if the other cards were not enough, the enemy also has a level three Kron the Undying. Kron is one of the strongest cards in the Untamed edition and his Undying title is no joke. He has eleven health, can self heal and his most broken ability is Last Stand. If he is the only one left, all his stats will be raised by 50%. Together with his healing ability, it makes him almost unbeatable.

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My Team

I had my usual Earth team and also had Quora for my gladiator card. I had Doomshield Warden as my primary tank. He has excellent defensive stats and has the Flank ability. It allows the second position unit to gain Reach. That was why I placed Quora in second. This means she can use her dual attack from this position. To help the duo attack the enemy tank, I had Ironwing Juggernaut in third. It's Charge ability allows it to attack with melee from any position. Fourth, I had Silverleaf Warlock whose Swiftness ability speeds up my team. Next, I had Frontier card Sorrow Harvester. Her Weaken ability decrease the enemy's health by one even before the battle has started. Last, I had another Frontier card Ash Archer. His natural speed and two range attack will help defeat the enemy frontline. My archon also grant the Execute ability to three of my units. It's a strong ability that can counter Kron's healing by defeating him before he can heal.

All my units attack are concentrated in front. If I had a Sneak or Opportunity attacker, it would have been wasted because the enemy's Kron can heal himself and another unit has Triage ability.

My team was quicker and immediately disposed of two enemy cards. This was my advantage in speed taking effect. Now, the enemy Quora takes the tank position. The battle could get difficult from this point.

My team defeated the enemy Quora and she resurrected. The enemy defeated two of my units but his Quora's health was diminished. Here, my Sorrow Harvester will defeat the enemy Quora with the help of her Execute ability.

A few rounds later, the battle was two against two. My own Quora has triggered her bloodlust a couple of times and is ready to defeat another enemy unit.

Finally the battle was Kron against two of my units. Kron's health has increased to seventeen and his speed and attack was raised by one. Normally, he can solo even multiple units because of his healing. However, he is faced against Quora who has a healing ability of her own and she has a higher damage output than Kron.

Finally, the enemy is defeated and I take the victory with pleasure.

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Final Thoughts

This is why I like Splinterlands. The best collection doesn't always win, the best strategy does. Careful team building, understanding abilities and the ruleset and anticipating your opponent can allow a well built lineup to defeat a stronger team. I'm kinda proud of this win. It shows that planning and synergy can overcome superior card rarity and raw stats.

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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.