Small Army, Big Trouble: Surrounding the Opponent in My Splinterlands Battle of the Day

Hello, Splinterlands warriors!

Welcome back to Battle of the Day. This time, I want to tell you about a battle that looked pretty simple at first. There were no ridiculously expensive mana monsters, and no formation that looked like an entire royal army had marched onto the battlefield.

Quite the opposite.

I used a small army.

And it turned out that this little army could make my opponent struggle until they had practically no room to breathe.

For me, one of the biggest advantages of having monsters with a low mana cost is flexibility. Cards like these may not always be the stars of battles with a huge mana cap. But once the mana cap gets reduced, they suddenly become incredibly valuable.

If you ask me what mana cost I consider ideal, I personally like monsters around 3 mana. They're cheap, but they can still contribute meaningfully. Some of the cards I often rely on in situations like this are Halfling Refugee, Thunderhoof Nomad, Ujurak Elder, and Blackmoor Jinx.

And this time, I also included Spirit Hoarder because the Outsider ruleset opened up a wider range of Bloodline options. Spirit Hoarder is interesting too because its support abilities can keep the backline from simply becoming spectators. Under the right circumstances, a unit like this can actually become a lifesaver when the frontline starts falling apart.

Two Small Monsters That Secretly Make the Whole Team Bigger

There is one combination I particularly like in this formation: Thunderhoof Nomad and Ujurak Elder.

Both have the Strengthen ability at higher levels. That means they aren't simply two extra monsters I added just to fill empty slots.

They actually increase the durability of the entire team.

Two extra points of Health for the whole army in a low-mana-cap battle are not something to underestimate. One or two points of Health can sometimes be the difference between a monster dying before it gets a chance to attack and a monster surviving long enough to land one final hit.

That's why I enjoy bringing cards like these.

Small in cost, but not small in impact.

My final formation consisted of Halfling Refugee, Thunderhoof Nomad, Ujurak Elder, Blackmoor Jinx, and Spirit Hoarder.

I wasn't trying to build an army that looked terrifying.

I was simply trying to build a team that was strong enough to survive one round longer than my opponent.

And in Splinterlands, sometimes that's all you need to win.

On the other side of the arena, my opponent came in with Archon Kaylia Silverleaf.

Interestingly, they only brought three monsters: Halfling Refugee, Blackmoor Wild Elf, and Goblin Psychic.

At first glance, I actually felt a little relieved.

Not because those three monsters were weak. In fact, Goblin Psychic can be extremely annoying because of its healing ability. But in a low-mana-cap battle, a single monster that consumes a significant amount of mana can prevent an opponent from filling their remaining slots with additional units.

And that's exactly what happened.

I had the numbers advantage.

Five monsters against three.

If you think about it, it's like a soccer match where one team shows up with five players while the other only has three. It doesn't guarantee a win, of course. But at least we have more legs available to run around and cause trouble.

Round One: The Halfling Refugees Refuse to Die

Round one got interesting immediately.

The Halfling Refugees on both sides became the center of attention.

Their attacks didn't immediately result in a kill because both were still able to use Heal. So the whole thing turned into something like two stubborn people who had already been punched several times but kept saying, “We're not done yet!”

On my opponent's side, Goblin Psychic also helped keep their lineup alive.

This was where my Blackmoor Jinx quietly started doing its job.

With Snipe, it didn't have to bother attacking the tank in front. It could target the Goblin Psychic in the back.

And in my opinion, that was a pretty important decision.

In a low-mana battle, we don't always have to destroy the tank first. Sometimes it's much more effective to remove the monster that is making the tank so difficult to kill.

Goblin Psychic was one of those monsters.

Round Two: The Numbers Start to Matter

By round two, both Halfling Refugees finally went down.

The enemy Goblin Psychic moved into the front position.

And this was where I started to see the advantage of bringing low-mana monsters.

The two Strengthen abilities from Thunderhoof Nomad and Ujurak Elder gave my entire team additional Health.

Sure, it was only two points.

But those two points felt like spare change in your pocket when you suddenly need enough money to get home. It may not look like much, but at exactly the right moment, it can save the entire trip.

My team still had more monsters on the field and a thicker overall defense.

My opponent was starting to run out of options.

Round Three: One Against Five

The beginning of round three was probably my favorite moment.

My opponent was down to just Blackmoor Wild Elf.

Meanwhile, most of my army was still standing.

At that point, I could feel the battle becoming heavily one-sided.

Blackmoor Wild Elf could still attack, but facing several monsters at once was clearly no easy task.

And this is exactly why I've always liked monsters with low mana costs.

They don't always have spectacular statistics.

But when the mana cap allows us to bring five monsters while our opponent can only afford three, numbers themselves become a weapon.

Blackmoor Wild Elf was eventually surrounded.

There was no more big drama.

No sudden surprise.

One attack after another came in, and eventually the battle belonged to me.

👉 LINK BATTLE 👈

Closing Thoughts: Cheap Doesn't Mean Worthless

This battle reminded me once again that Splinterlands often has a simple way of teaching us complicated lessons.

I came into the battle with a small army.

My opponent brought Kaylia Silverleaf and three monsters that looked pretty solid.

But I had one simple advantage: numbers.

And those numbers became even stronger because the two Strengthen abilities made my entire army more durable.

In the end, Blackmoor Wild Elf was left standing alone against a crowd.

I almost felt sorry for it.

But hey, this is Battle of the Day. Once we step into the arena, we have to leave our sympathy outside.

Sometimes victory doesn't belong to the strongest army.

Sometimes victory belongs to the army that is cheap enough to bring five monsters to the fight.

Talk about Splinterlands,
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It's free, but you'll need to invest in a beginning deck or buy gaming cards to gain real assets like cards and tokens.

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