Community Engagement Challenge: Battlefield Breakdowns - Sheng Xiao - A New Card To Figure Out How To Defeat

Prelude
Hi all, good day to all of you. It's time again for Community Engagement Challenge. Today's topic is on Battlefield Breakdowns where we look at one of the recent matches that I had, looking at how I do up the lineup and what worked and what didn't.

In this battle that I will be sharing, it will be on a match that I've lost and against an Archon that I am still figuring out how to overcome, much like in the past when we had Scarred Llama Mage and Yodin whom were just too difficult to defeat. And looking at how the match went and where I can adjust my lineup or selection choices to possibly defeat it in the future.

Battlefield Breakdowns

In today's post, I will do a little reverse in terms of the sharing. It will consist of the matchup sharing itself with the various explanation of how I wanted to setup my lineup, running through the step by step synopsis then finally trying to see where I can do better and find ways to overcome my opponent.

Matchup

Battle Link: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_48d69d9dea95ae3e8adf147f6b8b7407?ref=vaynard86

Ruleset: Are You Not Entertained
Mana Limit: 27

Selection Analysis
In terms of splinter, it is only life and dragon. So to get the better deal, selecting dragon will be a good choice and we can harness the goodness of life splinter cards to complement the whole lineup. The only difficult thing to handle is the low mana available for this matchup at only 27. Furthermore, there is an option of picking a Gladius card which will also eat up a fair bit of mana if I decided to use one. But typically, it will be foolish if one choose not to use it since these cards can really grow huge upon triggering blood list.

Now for my lineup, it will be Kavor Skarn to enable the use of dragon splinter. And the best thing is that it is just only 3 mana, which leaves quite a bit of mana remaining for other cards. For the low mana, I use Halfling Refugee as the tank since it is only 1 mana and have a great deal of stats just that it has weary as something that reduces its efficacy. The next card will be Janni Rebel that boost up the melee attack of the lineup and hits for a good 2 magic damage. Follow Janni, it will be Olivia of The Brook, the pity is that my summoner is only at level 1, to get more out of this card, it will need level 2 where it learns of abilities from cards on the table to make it a crazier card. Last card on my side the is the Gladius card Larissa Kerato which double strikes with 2 magic damage. And this card is my hope that will be able to get me the required advantage I need once she gets her momentum and grow through blood lust.

My opponent used Dragon Archon Sheng Xiao which gives either poison burst or corrosive ward to 2 cards. Leading the frontline is Frigid Wolf that has charge. I am surprised why this card with charge still goes to the front ahead of Halfling Refugee which stands at the 2nd position. Halfling Refugee serve the same for my opponent, a low cost big stat line card. Following will be the Gladius card Marisol Contuma which can strike really hard with a card in front of it. Last card on my opponent end is Night Reaper that is the nemesis for all flying cards and thankfully I have none, but still a 3 damage attack is gonna hurt big.

So let's move on to the match itself and see how things progress during the rounds.

Round by Round Synopsis

Round 1 - Because Sheng Xiao is a battle tactics archon, it is able to grant the abilities right at the start of the match with Frigid Wolf and Halfling Refugee chosen to get poison burst. And because when cards with poison burst dies, it spreads poison to the one that kills it and now I understand why Frigid Wolf came at first position. And because I killed off both Frigid Wolf and Halfling Refugee, I had 2 cards being poisoned. And to make matters worse, my Halfling Refugee fell and I am off to a very bad start.

Round 2 - Janni after taking the effects of poison got smashed with just one hit from Marisol and Olivia was easily taken out by Night Reaper. And by the end of round 2, this match is already a goner even if Larissa was to strike first in the next round which is not going to happen.

Round 3 - Just as the round started, Marisol just send Larissa a fatal blow and win the match for my opponent. A match where my lineup was totally devastated and did not stand a chance.

Post Match Discussion
This match was a good lesson learnt for me. There was a bait setup and using that bait, poison was unleashed upon the card that killed it and incidentally were all my bigger health cards.

This bait poison burst combo is such a pain and with lower health cards that get hit with poison, it will be easily taken out after round 2 when the poison is applied. And this is how Sheng Xiao enables my opponent lineup to make them so hard to defend against. And because of weakened cards, Marisol can easily just pick up the scraps with its high attack and high speed. A very strong setup by my opponent that definitely needs more thought how to counter it.

How To Overcome This Combo?
At this moment, I do not have a way as it is a little hard to predict if an opponent will be using this card.

Some foreseeable methods could be:

• Get a Sheng Xiao myself and use this combo
• Consider using Elias Max Pruitt for the cleanse battle tactics
• Field cards with rearguard cleanse such as Jicarilla the Rime, Zarin The Scorch or Sanctus Vicar

All of the above are not tested but I will see and try out in challenge/practice mode to see the effectiveness. I really like how there is so many more combos out there for us to discover and try to think how to overcome them.

Wrap Up
Thank you for coming by my post and look at the match I shared today. Hope you had a good read and the strategies I shared when you next have a back to basics ruleset match.

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.

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

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