Community Engagement Challenge: Hidden Gems - Thanalorian Blade, Reward Card With Great Value

Prelude
Hi all, good day to all of you. It's time again for Community Engagement Challenge. Today's topic is on Hidden Gems. And it will be based on a card that we can all get from spending some Glint and do some card draws.

Rebellion Reward Cards

Many would often argue that cards from main sets will always be much better than those that we can get from rewards pool or even the foundation sets.

But today, I would like to feature a card from the Rebellion Reward cart set that we should garner more attention on. And with the launch of Conclave Arcana and releasing of bloodline, this card is joins the rest of the elves and stand strong with them in the elves bloodline.

Here is the card of focus for today - Thanalorian Blade

This is the card that we first saw the execute ability where it will perform another strike if opponent card is at 2 health or less after it get struck. This ruthless ability is what makes the elves bloodline so deadly now after its bloodline archon is released in Conclave Arcana.

And today the focus of this post will be surrounding the execute ability which Thanalorian Blade showcases when it is at level 1 with the help of the archon. And from this, it will show why a card when having opportunity and execute is such a crazy thing.

Matchup

Battle Link: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_3755ad8407ce192d67ddd87efaa96485?ref=vaynard86

Ruleset: What Doesn't Kill You
Mana Limit: 36

Selection Analysis
We have 5 splinters available for selection - Fire, Water, Death, Earth and Dragon. Loads of possibilities but for me, I have decided to go with Earth splinter for this match.

So here is my selection of the lineup. This match I will be using Conclave Arcana Elf Archon, Kaylia Silverleaf which enables me to use all elf cards as long as it is in the available splinters in this match. The main ability is to reduce magic attack by 1 and for elves, all of them will gain execute. And every elf will just get an upgrade to become deadlier. And for Thanalorian Blade at level 1, it will compliment the opportunity and make it so much deadlier. On my tank selection, it will be the best value Halfling Refugee that only cost 1 mana with really good stats. Next in the lineup is a non elf as well in Harlaran Huntress with flying and charge. And next is where Thanalorian Blade is with the opportunity and the execute. The next 3 cards, we have Ash Archer, Blackmoor Wild Elf and Silverleaf Elf, all 3 are bruisers in this lineup and I do hope with execute, they will be able to help me push through some good damage. Of which Silverleaf Elf does come with taunt to help handle some of the incoming damage while the rest of the lineup do their thing.

On my opponent end, my opponent used the double coloured archon Zeddica which allowed the use of both death and water splinter cards. To my horror, I saw that my opponent cards are really scary. Leading the lineup we have Daigendark Surveyor which is there to let magic attackers have a taste of their own medicine. Next is one of the biggest pain to face, Barashkukor which strikes for 5 magic attack and can clear almost anything that stand in its way. This card is followed by Ulundin Overseer that has a huge stats on it and while it looked like it had no damage, Daarg Deadblast is there and gave it magic attack together with swiftness to the whole lineup.

To be honest, while initially I was hopeful with what I had placed in my lineup. But looking at what my opponent fielded, all hope look to be gone. It is going to be a real uphill battle. So let's get right on and see how each round goes.

Round by Round Synopsis

Round 1 - While I did sufficiently enough to clear off Daigendark Surveyor, the massive rampage on my backline is a sure difficult situation to swallow with both Blackmoor Wild Elf and Silverleaf Elf both fallen to the crazy damage from my opponent. Not good, things are getting tough for this match.

Round 2 - Woah, while Barashkukor smashes hard on Halfling Refugee, the return hit created an opening for Thanalorian Blade to do its magic with a double strike on a weakened Barashkukor and execute it to take it out of the game. Things looks a little better now that previous turn.

Round 3 - Thanalorian Blade doing some work there with Halaran Huntress holding the front line, Blade went to Daarg Deadblast and shake down its health well. No further casulaties this round.

Round 4 - If only Harlaran Huntress survived one more turn, we would have the window to take out Daarg Deadblast but unfortunately, we couldn't and we have to endure from the front which worries me because of how thick Ulundin Overseer is.

Round 5 - I am really worried now because Thanalorian Blade is really low on health right now and Ash Archer will just become a sitting duck if Blade falls. So we need to hang on. 2 health left, are we able to sit this out?

Round 6 - We had just enough juice for this with Thanalorian Blade opening the round with a kill and Ash Archer took care of the rest to bring home the victory.

Post Match Discussion
As you can see, it is really integral in terms of the abilities, the stats and the opportunity that Thanalorian Blade has. The execute that was given due to the archon before Blade learns it at level 2 is critical here in reducing the health of many cards in my opponent lineup. This card will be crazier with other Archon at level 2 or higher, striking fear into those that she faces. Every card that is low on health will have no chance to survive.

And here's how strong this card it, overturning a match with an overwhelming presence from opponent's giant cards that look crazily fierce especially during the opening round.

Wrap Up
Thank you for coming by my post and look at the match I shared today. Hope you had a good read and use more of this card that I introduced today.

I am currently part of PIZZA, an active gaming and creative arts crypto community on the HIVE blockchain and part of PIZZA guild. Popular cryto games such as SPLINTERLANDS, RISING STAR and HASHKINGS are actively discussed in this community.

Many events are being organized from time to time. Join the PIZZA DISCORD. This is a place filled with 💰🍕🎁GIVEAWAYS & AIRDROPS💰🍕🎁 and most definitely consisting of a friendly community to be in.

Till my next battle sharing, take care, stay safe and happy battling!

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