Splinterlands Weekly Battle Challenge: Spirit Hoarder (LEGENDARY BATTLE AGAINST ALMO CAMBIO)

Edition: CHAOS LEGION
Rarity: LEGENDARY
Element: NEUTRAL
Level: 4 (MAX)
Attack: MAGIC
Mana Cost: 3 POINTS
Abilities: Triage, Dispel, Blind

Battle Rules (MODERN DIAMOND LEAGUE):

• Odd Ones Out: Odd Mana Monsters only
• Broken Arrow: No Ranged Monsters
• Briar Patch: All Monsters have Thorns ability
• 53 Mana

Strategy:

• Splinter options are Water, Life, and Death
• Given ranged are out and melee would be damaged by thorns, it is very likely the opponent would be magic heavy
• Water splinter: I do not have odd mana magic tank, so water splinter is out
• Death splinter: my main attackers are ranged (not usable), and melee (which takes Thorns damage), not ideal
• Life splinter: I have Grandmaster Rathe that gives Void Armor and the Uriel The Purifier and Adelade Brightwing combo is odd mana, this is the most ideal splinter

• I am going with the endurance setup
• Double Armor Repair for the main tank
• Double Triage for the Taunt tank (Coeurl Lurker)

Position #1: Main Tank - Uriel The Purifier

• The entire setup revolves around this card
• Flying for increased chance to evade physical attacks from monsters without the Flying ability
• Recharge with 4 attacks, will deal 12 damage (3x) every other round and negates Forcefield, Uriel will only get Thorns damage very other turn when he attacks
• Heal with a decent 12+1 base health will restore up to 4 health every turn
• 6+1 Armor total with Void Armor from the summoner, and up to 2x Repair every turn to replenish armor from Adelade Brightwing and Junker, will make this a formidable tank that will last a long time against both physical and magical damage. As long as the armor is up, health will not be damaged. Even if health is damaged, Uriel is able to heal himself

Position #2: Junker

• This turned out to be one of my most used cards from the Riftwatchers expansion
• Reach allows him to attack from the second position
• Repair restores the armor that took the most damage, which is likely to be Uriel, or another monster if Uriel is at full armor
• Junker will take damage every time he attacks, in this set up I have two back lane healers to spare a heal here and there as needed. Armor repair on himself also negates Thorns damage

Position #3: Taunt Tank - Coeurl Lurker

• This is an amazing Taunt tank from the Riftwatchers expansion
• Taunt combined with Dodge and Phase make it a very difficult target to hit
• The purpose for this card is to draw damages away from the main tank, while getting healed by Djinn Renova and /or Spirit Hoarder every turn
• The +1 armor from the summoner plus Repair allows it to absorb an extra attack every turn

Position #4: Adelade Brightwing

• This card is a must to support Grandmaster Rathe and Uriel the Purifier setup
• This is the second Repair in this setup
• Resurrect give a monster the second chance
• Swiftness increases the speed by 1 for all friendly monsters
• Flying and Immunity are not really consequential in this fight

Position #5: Spirit Hoarder

• Triage to heal back lane monsters, like Junker and Coeurl Lurker
• Dispel cancels buffs from the enemy monster
• Blind increases the chance that the enemy melee monsters will miss

Position #6: Djinn Renova

• This is the second Triage in this setup
• This is also one of my main damage dealer with 4 magic attack
• Strengthen adds one health to all friendly monsters

Conclusion:

• This was a very drawn out battle
• Once I got through Almo Cambio TWICE (the opponent also has a Resurrect), it is game and match
• Almo Cambio is very tough when it is supported by 2 healers and 1 armor repairer. Its Phase and Magic Reflect gave my team a lot of trouble
  
• This may not be as easy without Spirit Hoarder dispelling the 1 extra health Almo Cambio received from Strengthen
• The burst from the Recharge attack for 12 damage after Djinn Renova landed her 4 damage sealed the game (total 16 damages in succession)
• 2x Repair and 2x Triage made the difference. There were a lot of returned damage in this game, my team wouldn't have survived without heavily invested in endurance

Link to the video: Click here for the battle play back!