Community Engagement Challenge: Battlefield Breakthrough - Flank - Allows Your Front Strikers Some Protection Before Showing Up

Prelude
Hi all, good day to all of you. It's time again for Community Engagement Challenge. Today's topic is on battlefield breakthrough where we look at a battle that taught me something new so that I can use them in future battle. Apologies, I am a day late from my usual sharing so lets get right on with today's sharing.

Flank

I realized that flank ability is something that is not as much discussed as others so today I wanna share more on this ability on how it can be a very useful ability to bring to the battle field.

The ability is as such:
Flank - When in the first position, the unit in the second position gains Reach.

Essentially, this can allow cards that do not have reach to attack from the 2nd position. And many a times, there might be some squishy cards or cards that need some time to get stronger before coming to the front to strike and punish your enemy with some protection from the front as usually, card with Flank tend to either have higher health or much more armour.

Take for example, Ulundin Overseer, Anyu Huntswoman or Drybone Megalodon. All coming with flank and able to give the position 2 card some protection and allowing the position 2 card to shine.

Let's find out through going through a match.

Battle Sharing

Reference Battle
Battle Link: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_d3ba9111a85633b9412801e196d3dcd8?ref=vaynard86

Ruleset: Are You Not Entertained?
Mana Limit: 89

Selection Analysis
In the matchup, we have 4 splinters available for selection, namely water, earth, death and dragon. Tonnes of mana and with the ability to use a Gladius, it will not be tough to guess which Splinter I will choose. Yes, it is Earth because of a special Gladius cards. So right to the lineup.

To lead the lineup, I call upon Kaylia Silverleaf, earth splinter elf bloodline archon which reduces magic by 1 and for elves to have additional attack when striking something already low on health with execute. Leading my lineup as a tank is Anyu Huntswoman which has flank and allow the next card in the lineup to strike from 2nd position and at the same time, having decent armour, health and speed. And next will be the one that will strike fear and at the same time having an additional tank in front of it yet, able to have both melee and magic attack to be attacked from 2nd position to allow it to grow and get bigger due to blood lust. A high mana match, we will need to have something to sustain the line, so having Quora coming at 2nd position, improves its sustainability with its already crazy abilities consisting of healing. The next 4 cards are all elves, so what they can do is to ensure we can further punish opponent lineup with execute. I do hope I have bigger mana elves at my disposal. So for each of them, Silverleaf Warlock with the 2 magic attack, Thanaloarian Blade with the opportunity, Sorrow Harvester with the weaken to reduce health by 1 and finally Silverleaf Mage that has taunt. This combination is what I designed for my opponent.

Opponent apparently used the Mariel Singariel for the additional magic attack buff which will benefit a couple of the cards in his lineup. Leading the lineup will be Commander Slade which is has fantastic health and good attack stats with dodge. Next in the line is Relenor Cleaver with reach and blood lust. The next card is Great Bear Druid which will benefit from the archon +1 magic as well. Next card that will cause me problem will be Daarg Deadblast which will give swiftness and also a strong magic attack. The last 2 cards are the best cards from the foundation set Mystic Scaleweaver and Saltwater Mage which prove to be really strong attackers.

A definitely stronger lineup than what I have in terms of fire power, but with my protected Quora supported by an array of elves, is there a chance to overpower my opponent? There is only one way to find out.

Round by Round Synopsis

Round 1 - So many magic purple fumes flew past and strike my lineup, Silverleaf Mage managed to sustain through. And with all the impact unleashed from my side, the execute from Sorrow Harvester managed to take out Commander Slade.

Round 2 - Way more casualties seen this round, Silverleaf Mage taking a whole load magic attack fell which was followed by Anyu Huntswoman who also fell. Without this layer, Quora might not even have survived sufficiently. Next are Relenor Cleaver and Daarg Deadblast that got taken out by the rest of my elves.

Round 3 - Quora start to grow while opponent take out my Sorrow Harvester. With the engine start, time to take over the game.

Round 4 - A powered up Quora just start eating up the remaining cards on my opponent lineup and bring us the victory.

Battle Summary
This is an interesting adoption that I do recently with regards to have an extra flank card as a tank and also hiding some big hitters like Quora, Warborn Chieftain with the intent to protect from big barrages that can potentially take them out and cause problems to us and at the same time, cause us to lose our advantage. Key is to protect these cards and let them unleash when they really have to be in the driver seat. Have tried this a couple of times and it worked well. Do give it a try.

Wrap Up
Thank you for coming by my post and walking through with me on how to hide things using flank to allow them to grow and then slowly dispose off your opponent lineup.

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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