Gloridax Soldier Vs Hydra

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Hello friends,
the protagonist of this post is a battle of the most famous game on Hive: Splinterlands.
In the battle of this post, the monster card Gloridax Soldier, a card with very low economic value, is forced by its owner (me) to face a powerful multi-headed monster in battle: the fearsome and valiant Hydra.

The battle also provides interesting reasoning about Splinterlands' game dynamics.

In the Splinterlands game the cards have different economic values and have different game characteristics.

Are the cards that are priced high on the market also the strongest cards in the game?

The battle of this post is a valid answer to the previous question because it sees two cards clashing in the front line with a very different economic value.

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Gloridax Soldier (David) Vs Hydra (Goliath)

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Gloridax Soldier is worth 0.078 $ while Hydra is worth 69.58 $.
It seems the gaming remake of the biblical battle between the little shepherd David and the giant and violent Goliath.

Even if we consider the total dollar value of the two card formations in play there seems to be no competition.

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My 6 cards deployed in battle have a total market value of $ 19.24
The 5 cards deployed in battle by my opponent have a total market value of $ 203.31

This battle contains all the beauty of the Splinterlands game: the monetary value of the cards does not always correspond to victory in a battle.

Every battle is different from any other because:

• each battle has different rules to respect
• each card has weaknesses and strengths
• strategy is essential to win a battle.

Before showing you the result of the battle I introduce you to the topics covered in this post.

Topics

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• Card: Gloridax Soldier
  • Description, Statistics and Abilities.
• Cost, Levels and Evaluation
  • Level considerations
• Fighting rules favorable to Gloridax Soldier
  • Melee Mayhem
  • Super Sneak
  • Reverse Speed
  • Equalizer
• A battle with Gloridax Soldier
  • Battle rules
  • Initial Statistics.
  • My battle formation.
• Battle Sequence
• Gloridax Soldier considerations
• Final Considerations

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Card: Gloridax Soldier

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Description, Statistics and Abilities

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Gloridax Soldier is a card from the Reward collection, is a Rare card and is a card of the element Dragon.

Gloridax Soldier level 1 has the following statistics:

• Has a average mana cost (5)
• Has 1 attack point
• Has 4 life points and 1 armor point.
• Has a low speed (2)
• Has two abilities: Flyng and Shield.
  
  

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Cost, Levels and Evaluations

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The cost of Gloridax Soldier is 0.078 $ (level 1 - 17 July 2020)

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In the following image you can see the most interesting levels of Gloridax Soldier and the relative cost:

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• Level 3: Compared to Level 1, it increases its life points (4 -> 5) and increases its attack points (1 -> 2).

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• Level 5: Compared to Level 3 it increases its armor points (1 -> 3), increases its life points (5 -> 6) and acquires a new skill: Oppress:

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• Level 8 (Max level): Compared to Level 5 it increases its life points (6 -> 8), increases its attack points (2 -> 3) and increases its speed points (2 -> 3).

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Level considerations

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The level that I think has the best benefits / price ratio is fifth level.
Gloridax Soldier level 8 has two life points and one attack point more than Gloridax Soldier level 5 and it is a great advantage but spending $ 8.97 for a card that attacks only from the first position does not seem very convenient to me also because there are better cards to buy at that price.

Now let's see the combat rules that favor the use of the Gloridax Soldier card in battle.

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Fighting rules favorable to Gloridax Soldier

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In the game of Splinterland the fighting rules are very important.

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Not paying close attention to the rules of combat often equates to losing a battle.

Below are the combat rules that favor the choice and use of Gloridax Soldier in battle.

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Melee Mayhem

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There are many cards that play better than Gloridax Soldier in first position.
When the battle rule is Melee Mayhem, Gloridax Soldier can attack from any position and therefore can become a possible and more likely choice.

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Super Sneak

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According to the battle rule Super Sneak Gloridax Soldier can attack from any position and will always attack the card that is in last position.

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Reverse Speed ​​

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By battle rule Reverse Speed​​:
The speed of the cards in battle is reversed.

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In this circumstance Gloridax Soldier loses one of its major flaws (low speed) and acquires a speed equivalent to 5 (instead of 2) and can easily dodge a greater number of attacks.

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Equalizer

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Gloridaz Soldier has only 4 life and when the battle rule is Equalizer its life will most likely increase.

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Now let's see how Gloridax Soldier behaves on the battlefield and let's evaluate its possible use.

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A battle of mine with Gloridax Soldier

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If you want to see the battle you can do it from this link: https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=3eb45c24b402b8632c2e0097034300839e75bb4a&ref=libertycrypto27

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Battle rules

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In the battle of this post I had the following conditions to respect:

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• Equalizer: The health of all monsters deployed in battle is equal to the value of the card that has the most life.
• Lost Magic: Cards with magic attack cannot be used in battle.
• Mana Cap: 20.
• Usable summoners:
• All except for the summoners of the Life element.

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Initial Statistics

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In general, I always choose a balanced battle for the Share your Battle contest.

In this battle, however, I start with a good initial advantage relative to the attack points of my battle formation.

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I have 7 more attack points than my opponent.

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I get this initial advantage thanks to the combined use of the Daria Dragonscale summoner and the Brownie card.

In fact, both Daria Dragonscale and Brownie have the ability to increase the melee attack of friendly cards by one point.

For this reason Gloridax Soldier acquires a three point attack instead of a single point.

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If I hadn't used Daria Dragonscale and Brownie I would have had an initial disadvantage related to the total points of attack.

Since my opponent has five cards instead of six, I also have a total advantage: life + armor (+ 11).

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When the battle rule is Equalizer I always try to deploy the maximum number of cards that can be deployed (6).

Although the initial statistics are in my favor, the battle is still interesting because my opponent and I adopt different strategies:

• my opponent chooses to bet mainly on cards with ranged attack
• I choose to bet on cards with melee attack.
  Furthermore, having an initial statistical advantage does not always lead to a victory ...

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My battle formation

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The maximum number of cards that can be deployed in battle is 7 (1 summoner + 6 monsters).
I chose to deploy (in order of position):

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Gloridax Soldier - Manticore - Brownie - Screeching Vulture - Halfling Halchemist - Creeping Ooze
Daria Dragonscale (Summoner)

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First position

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Gloridax Soldier (Level 1).

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Why did I choose Gloridax Soldier for the first position?

It is the only possible position in which it is possible to deploy Gloridax Soldier because it is a card that attacks only from the first position.
In the first position, speed is important and Gloridax Soldier basically has a speed equal to 2.
Cards capable of changing speed such as Brownie or Creeping Ooze are very useful to be used alongside Gloridax Soldier. In fact, thanks to Brownie his speed increases by one unit.
The equalizer battle rule was also decisive for the choice because it eliminates a Gloridax Soldier defect: the few life points.

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Second position

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Manticore (Level 4)

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Why did I choose Manticore?

Manticore is a really strong card and its ideal position is precisely the second position because the Reach ability allows it to attack also from the second position.
It has excellent statistics:

• Has a really low mana cost (4)
• it has 8 life points which are many for a card that costs only 4 mana.
• Has an average speed (3) that becomes 4 thanks to the combined use with Brownie.
• Has three excellent abilities: Flying, Reaching and Thorns

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Thanks to the Flying ability, Manticore is more likely to avoid melee and ranged attacks.

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Thanks to the Reach ability Manticore can attack from second position instead of only first.

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Thanks to this ability, every time he suffers a melee attack he can attack the card from which it suffered the attack and subtract two life points.

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Third position

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Brownie (Level 4).

Why did I choose Brownie?

Level 4 Brownie has two excellent abilities.
The Switfness ability allows it to increase the speed of himself and a unit's friendly cards.
Thanks to the ability Inspired increases the attack of friendly cards by one point.
Given its very low cost in terms of mana it is a truly valuable card!
I always try to deploy Brownie in the middle positions (3-4) to protect it.

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Fourth position

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Screeching Vulture (Level 6).

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Why did I choose Screeching Vulture?

Why it's a good card and why it has a low mana cost (3)
It has three skills.
The Opportunity ability allows it to target attacks towards the weaker opponent card.
Thanks to the Scavenger ability, it increases its life by one unit each time a card (both opponent and friend) is eliminated.
Thanks to the Flying ability, it's more likely to avoid ranged and melee attacks.

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Fifth position

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Halfling Alchemist (Level 1).

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Why did I choose Halfling Alchemist?

It's a really useful card and the Halving ability allows you to halve the attack of the card that is hit by an attack.
t is a card that I deploy almost always in the penultimate position because it has only one point won and I want to protect it a little bit.
In this battle, thanks to the equalizer rule it loses one of his weak points and gets 10 life.

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Sixth position

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Creeping Ooze (Level 4).

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Why did I choose Creeping Ooze?

It is a very useful card for two reasons:

• costs only one point in terms of mana
• has the Slow ability that allows me to reduce the speed of the opponent's cards by one point.

Thanks to the card speed changes by Creeping Ooze and Brownie I get a small lead in battle as almost all of my cards attack before my opponent's cards.

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Summoner

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The summoner I chose is Daria Dragonscale - Level 4.

It is one of the summoners I use most.
Allows me to summon level 7 community cards, level 5 rare cards, level 4 epic cards, and level 3 legendary cards.

I wrote an in-depth post on Daria Dragonscale: https://peakd.com/hive-140217/@libertycrypto27/daria-dragonscale-vs-malric-inferno-considerations

Thanks to his ability all my melee attack cards get one more attack point.

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Battle Sequence

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ROUND 1

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At the end of Round 1 the clash between Gloridax Soldier and Hydra becomes much more balanced and my Gloridax Soldier seems much less the "Goliath" of the battle :)

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The situation in first position has completely reversed.
The powerful Hydra is now much less dangerous:

• Halfling Alchemist's Halving ability has halved its attack power.
• Creeping Ooze has decreased its speed (4 -> 3)
• Gloridax Soldier's "Shield" ability still reduces his attack by one unit.

The little Gloridax Soldier surprised me too and it behaves very well in the first round managing to avoid even two attacks by Naga Windmaster and Crustacean King.

At the end of Round 1 the difference between the total (life points + armor points) between me and my opponent decreases (goes from +11 to +7) while my advantage relative to the total of attack points increases (+9)

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ROUND 2

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At the beginning of Round 2 my opponent loses Hydra which is eliminated by the attack of Screeching Vulture.

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ROUND 3

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At the start of Round 3 my statistical advantage is now very large.

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I have 11 more attack points than my opponent

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Furthermore, in the continuation of Round 3 my advantage increases considerably because in the first position comes Naga Windmaster.
Naga Windmaster is unable to attack from the first position and my opponent remains with only 4 effective attack points.

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ROUND 4

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At this point the battle is basically decided.
My opponent remains with only two attack points of Crustacean King while I still have all the cards in play.

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ROUND 8

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The battle ends in Round 8 and in the absence of Gloridax Soldier who is eliminated in Round 4..

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The battle ends with my victory but @yotis was a great and brave opponent.

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Gloridax Soldier Considerations

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Gloridax Soldier is a card that I have never used before participating in this week's "Share Your Battle" contest.

The reason?

Has three major flaws:

• attack only from the first position
• has a low speed (big defect for a card to be deployed in first position)
• has few life points (another major flaw for a card to be deployed in first position)

The low speed together with the few life points make it a very fragile card to be deployed in first position and unfortunately the first position is the only position from which Gloridax Soldier attacks.

I have better cards to deploy in first position like Frost Giant and Living Lava:

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But

Gloridax Soldier level 5 thanks to the ability Oppress can be very useful against cards that have no attack.

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It can also be very useful when the battle rules are: Equalizer and one between Melee Mayhem and Super Sneak.
It has a relatively low cost in terms of mana (5) and when there are few mana available it can be a good choice.

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Final Considerations

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I wrote a more detailed and longer post than usual.
I did it because the battle I shared shows how cool Splinterlands is and how fun it is.

Winning against opponents who have cards of higher economic value is difficult but not impossible.
The strategic factor makes Splinterlands a truly addicting game.

To choose in the best way the cards to be used in battle it can be useful to look at the cards that the opponent sets up most frequently.
You can do this by taking a quick look at the screen that precedes the choice of cards to send in battle:

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For example, if your opponent frequently sets cards that have no attack in first position, using level 5 Gloridax Soldier in first position might be the right choice to win a battle.

After 9 months from my registration to the Splinterlands game I still enjoy fighting like the first day :)

Congratulations to the game developers who did a really good job.

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Splinterlands On & Hive On

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With this post I participate in the weekly Splinterlands contest entitled "Share Your Battle".

I really like to participate in this contest and if you are registered in Splinterlands you must absolutely participate too.

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Haven't you registered on Splinterlands yet?

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You are missing out on a more unique than rare opportunity to enjoy yourself and at the same time to earn tokens and cards.

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Splinterlands is a beautiful game but it is above all an excellent investment (my personal opinion).

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If you are not yet registered on Splinterlands and have decided to register, you can do it from this link:

https://steemmonsters.com?ref=libertycrypto27

obviously if you like to use my refferal link ...

If you liked my post leave a comment, an upvote or do a resteem.
See you on the Splinterlands battlefields.

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Unless otherwise indicated, the images in this post are screenshots taken from the site:
https://steemmonsters.com/

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