This week's Share Your Battle challenge features Prismologist! I was thrilled to see Prismologist as the focus of this week's challenge, because it is one of my favorite Life cards in the Chaos Legion set. I often use ranged attacking strategies with my Life lineups, and Prismologist fits into those very well.
Prismologist is a heck of a ranged attacker - it isn't cheap, at 8 mana, but even at level 1 it hits for 3 damage, which is excellent for a ranged monster. On top of that it also has Blast, allowing it to hit an additional monster each time it hits. To top it off, I would not call Prismologist tanky by any measure, but it is not nearly as fragile as many other ranged monsters. With 2 armor and 4 health, it can stand up to a hit or two, which can end up making a big difference in battle.
If you wanted to jump right to the action, the Battle Link is right here. Want to hear some more about the lineup? Read on further!
Here is the ruleset for our battle. This is a particularly nasty ruleset because it has not one, but TWO rules which are potentially very punishing. Noxious Fumes means that monsters start off poisoned, which can quickly add up over time. And Briar Patch gives every monster thorns, which makes the going tough for any melee monsters. To top it off, we only have a single splinter to play with - Life.
For my summoner I went with Ilthain. It was a tricky decision for me, as I was working with a level 1 Ilthain and my other summoner options would have been higher level. But in a Briar Patch battle I felt that it was highly likely that my opponent would be bringing ranged attackers into the battle, which would make Ilthain's Return Fire extremely helpful.
I started my team with my tanks. Corsair Bosun is relatively tanky, with a solid 5 armor and 6 health. On top of that, thanks to Reflection Shield he won't be taking any Thorns damage. Soul Fiend was there to serve as a secondary buffer for the rest of my team. Looking at this battle now I realize that I actually should have put the Soul Fiend right at the front...I'll have to try and fix that next time!
I filled the middle of my lineup with some support monsters. Time Mage would help to give my team a slight speed advantage, which would be doubled thanks to Ilthain's speed buff. Venari Crystalsmith was there to get a couple of heals off while chipping in some ranged damage. My hope was for Venari Crystalsmith's healing to allow my Corsair Bosun to outlast the enemy team.
Last, but not least, came our guest star of the week - Prismologist! With 4 health, Prismologist should be able to get two attacks off before getting taken out by poison damage. Ideally, those two attacks plus their Blast damage would be enough to kill some important monsters on the other side of the field.
With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I am hopeful - I am at a level disadvantage, but as expected my opponent has chosen a team filled with ranged attackers. Return Fire should be able to play a huge role in this fight!
After the first round of the battle things are looking dicey - my Corsair Bosun goes down, and my remaining monsters are looking a little fragile. Luckily I am able to knock out my opponent's Pelacor Arbalest thanks to Return Fire. And Prismologist is doing a great job of attacking from the back position, even beginning to accumulate some Blast damage on War Chaang in the second position.
One more round and we're just about done - but the battle ended up being much closer than I anticipated. In round 3, after poison damage get applied, my Time Mage was able to land the finishing blow on my opponent's Venari Crystalsmith - with just a single hit point to spare! And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.
My strategy for this battle ended up being enough to pull out the victory, if just barely. My team was able to outlast my opponent's monsters and the Poison damage from the ruleset in order to eke out the win. Prismologist did an outstanding job in this fight, dishing out enough damage to knock out my opponent's front line before succumbing to Poison at the very end of the battle.
I am a big fan of Prismologist. It is one of the hardest hitting ranged attackers available to the Life splinter, and is a solid choice in any battle where you have enough mana to play with in order to surround it with a supporting cast. Prismologist will continue to see a lot of play in my battles in the future, and it is on my shortlist of card upgrades to work on!
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. Interested in seeing some more of my writing in the future? Be sure to give me a follow! In the meantime, if you'd like to see some of my recent posts:
Splinterlands Economics: Hedging - An introduction to the concept of hedging, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
A Shield with a Bite - Using Mycelic Infantry in Battle! - Last week's battle challenge, featuring Mycelic Infantry!
Splinterlands Economics: Capital - An overview of the concept of capital, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
Thinking about giving Splinterlands a try but haven't signed up yet? Feel free to use my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=bteim, and be sure to reach out to me if you have any questions!
All images used in this article are open source and obtained from Pixabay or Unsplash. Thumbnails borrowed with permission from the Splinterlands team or made in Canva.