Splinterlands Share Your Battle Challenge: CENTAUR!

This week we will focus on... is it a horse? No! Is it a man!? Nope! It's... both! It's a Centaur! Ahhh, quite a terrifying creature. Why is it that Centaurs are always archers? Not sure if the present readership has had experience with a little indie gem called Banner Saga, in which the centaur units are also ranged! All the same it certainly makes sense for guerilla tactics- moving in swiftly and back out. Akin to the historic usage of the nomad archers from the eastern steppes that comprised the Mongolian Army. The Golden Horde and its horse archers were famously terrifying on the field. I'm not sure of any mentions of any of their men being half-horse, but since Mongolian nomads learn to ride horses at age 3, they might as well be an extension of their bodies! Sorry I got a bit carried away here... let's check out the card art and a bit of lore surrounding this mystical creature.

First, let's have a look at the card art!

I mean... this guy can kick like Ronaldo! Whew!

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My opinion on the card design: Not that my opinion matters, but I think that this is a mediocre design. Listen, I don't like to be harsh, but sometimes we gotta be honest about what we think-- and it's also only fair to the other cards, the ones that really look great. I find this art to be very generic. I'm not saying it's BAD or anything, but c'mon, the colors are uninspired, the horse part is barely visible. I'll give it extra points for the hind legs of the horse part to be visible, and also for the bracers on the arms which are characteristic of professional archers (though usually made of leather or some smoother surface to allow sliding of the arrow along the surface). I just... I mean, I don't understand the outfit, I don't understand the hair, it is unlike a horse's, and it has no eyes. Why no eyes!!! If the eyes are the windows to the soul then... well, Centaur, c'mon my bro, where's your soul at?

My History with this card: This card was made available to me as a starter card when I began playing this game. The fact that it's sniper means it's something I would use back in Bronze days for my daily sniper quest, but at level 1 with just the 1 damage for 4 mana was not an ideal choice.

Official Lore: "The Stone Golems that reside around the Crags of Maglar are quite terrifying to any stranger who wanders into their domain. In spite of the sheer power and weight of them, these Golems are surprisingly gentle and peaceful. A good day for a Stone Golem is one in which he did a lot of heavy lifting." -Splinterlands.com

Unofficial Lore: Centaurs in Greek mythology are a race of creatures, part horse and part human, that inhabit the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia. They were traditionally descended from Ixion, the king of the neighboring Lapiths, and were best known for their battle with the Lapiths that resulted from their attempt to take away the friend of Pirithous, Ixion's son and successor. They lost the battle and were driven from Mount Pelion. In later Greek times they were often depicted pulling the chariot of Dionysus, the god of wine, or portrayed by Eros, the god of love, tied up and on horseback, alluding to their drunken love habits. Their general character was that of savage, anarchic and inhospitable beings, slaves to their animal passions. -Encyclopaedia Britannica

Stats from Splinterlands:

Looking at these stats, ...

Let's look at the level-ups and note any important milestones:

1. Base level Stats as seen on the card

2. An increase of 1 health.

3. An increase of 1 speed.

4. An increase of 1 attack. TYhe additional 1 attack is very important to put pressure on the opposing enemy's backline units, which are being targeted by Snipe. In rulesets that take away abilities, it will put pressure on the front line instead. This is a 100 percent increase in attack power!

5. An increase of 1 health.

6. An increase of 1 speed. ~ At 5 speed, we have entered a very high territory.

7. An increase of 1 health.

8. An increase of 1 attack. Here we get another attack. This time it is less significant of an improvement, but noteworthy nonetheless.

9. An increase of 1 speed.

10. An increase of 1 health.

Recommended level:

Taking these milestones into account, a minimum of level 4 of this card is STRONGLY recommended, since it represents a 100% increase in damage to the opposing team's back line. This can be very useful in eliminating key units.

The battle! Click here for the BATTLE!

Setting: Ranked match in Silver 3, month of December, 2021
Opponent: DADDTEJS, using Pyre! I sold my Pyre just a month ago! Maybe he's the one who bought it!
Ruleset was the following....

• Total Mana Cost Allowed: 40
• Splinters Allowed: Fire, Life, Dragon
• Special Conditions: Back to Basics, Lost Legendaries

Back to Basics is, in my opinion, the most interesting ruleset there is. In this ruleset, ALL MONSTERS lose abilities. Yes. All their abilities. That means no sneak, no snipe, no REACH, no shield, no void, no double attacks or explosions, no opportunity, reflect, no flying! no immunity! EVERYTHING is out. Now, you might ask why I find that the most interesting? Essentially, your summoner choice is the one thing you have left in order to influence the course of your battle. This game mode really makes a person have to change their thinking about the cards they're used to. All of a sudden, the famously brilliant Serpentine Spy is... useless! What about Sand Worm? Don't use! Creeping Ooze... are you kidding? There's no slow! Don't even THINK about using Lord Arianthius in the front, completely forget about Living Lava and why you would even consider Horny Toad when.... ok, ok let's be real you would never use Horny Toad anyway. Point is, you are re-thinking every card and considering it for its face value. This means that backrow melee cards will only be useful if they become the front line, so it puts a stronger emphasis on ranged and magic units. As you can see, I immediately made use of this by using a +1 ranged attack summoner. You need to re-think everything. I love it! One other thing is that raw stats and armor are king in this game mode.

Lost Legendaries simply means that legendary monster are banned from the match. Pretty straightforward. NO Fiends in this one!

Battle Plan

It's always important to take into consideration a variety of factors when it comes to choosing your team. However, before that, I must preface this by saying that I am heavily biased toward picking a team that would allow me to include this week's unit, the Centaur, as is the case every time that I prepare to create a match in which the weekly unit is to be featured! This means that, for me, I am naturally inclined to look for something that creates a synergy either with Snipe, its primary ability, or with ranged attack, its attack type. OK. Now to the next consideration. We are in Silver League, and in my opinion, I find that the weakest faction in the silver league is Death! That is my bias! Don't hate me! By the same token, I find that the rest are all equally strong. So, in this match up, we see that we may pick between fire, life, and dragon. I don't currently own any dragon summoners or have any rented, so I will stick with the two splinters that are available: Fire is the melee specialist, since three of its summoners specialize in increasing melee attack! Life, on the other hand, specializes in defensive properties and now, thanks to General Sloan, also in ranged. Well... I'm trying to use a ranged card here... so I'm going to go with General Sloan. Let's go Angry Hippo!

View of the Battlefield

Battle Lineup

Summoner: General Sloan. As I mentioned before, our ranged units will be of special importance here, so it made sense to me to use a Summoner that amplifies the damage done by ranged attacks. General Sloan also has a pretty good synergy with the Life faction in its current state.

Position 1: Goblin Mech! A card with massive raw stats. I just went for the most bang for the front row buck, due to the high mana cost of this battle. If I had Kralus, I would've put that instead. Goblin Mech, still, is a wonderfully useful unit, especially considering its rarity.

Position 2: Djinn Renova: Normally I would consider putting a Reach unit here, since Melees are tankier and have no problem falling to the front line. However, since we're playing with all skills negated, I would need something that can attack from the backline, but also not be vulnerable if it ends up being the frontline tank. A Ranged unit would be unable to attack if my tank dies, and a melee would be unable to attack if my tank lives. Therefore, the best choice is magic. Since the Mana limit is very high, I opted for what happens to be my highest power Magic attack card in Life Splinter.

Position 3: Air Elemental: A true classic. As far as raw stats per Mana, this is one of the best cards in the game. It has incredible speed and decent amount of health, as well as two attack. I put this one first because it has the same amount of attack as all the rest, but is most likely to survive longer if it comes to it being the tank for a while, due to its incredibly high dodge chance with such high speed. A solid card.

Position 4: Portal Spinner: A solid stat card for its cost, and one that will contribute to the frontal attack since it does not have scatter shot enabled due to it being Back to Basics.

Position 5: Peacebringer: Solid stats for good mana cost. A strong choice for a ranged card. It has no abilities anyway!

Position 6: Centaur: Our featured card. Normally I would consider it questionable to have one card alone do the job of Sniper. However, due to the ruleset, it will act upon the frontline together with everyone else and this is the crux of my plan.

Did it Work?

It absolutely worked wonders. The idea here is that all the cards will hammer the frontline and take their cards down one by one. Normally these ranged cards would have targets of their own, but the brilliance here is that they all go directly to the tank, and this allows them to be taken down very quickly and very efficiently. In the case of this battle, my opponent did NOT consider the ruleset as well as they should have. Living Lava without its shield ability is a waste of Mana. Furthermore, Lava Cannon will be unable to attack when it gets to the front row, since its Close Range ability is nullified by the Back to Basics ruleset! It is very important to read and be careful when you want to win in this game!!

What did our Weekly Unit do?

It was one of many that swiftly dispatches our opponent in this battle, a very successful bout and a strong card in this match. Well done!

Based on this information, let's have a quick look at the current market value of this card in our COST ANALYSIS for a Level 1 Stone Golem:

Beta Version:

Current Low price (1card): $3.300
Current Best price (per BCX): $2.720
Current High Bid: $2.657
Current Market Value: $2.720

Beta Version GOLD FOIL (lvl4):

Current Low price (1card): $80.00
Current Best price (per BCX): $80.00
Current High Bid: $45.00
Current Market Value: $54.566

Recommended Usage

Summoner(s): General Sloan, Selenia Sky, Yodin Zaku.. This should go without saying. These three summoners boost the ability of ranged cards. I would recommend the usage for Yodin less than the other two, simply because there are better cards for the job in the Fire Splinter specifically. However, for the other two, you can't go wrong, Amplify the damage type that you're working with like we did here!

Not Recommended when...

Firstly, I never recommend using a range Sniper unit by itself, unless there are extenuating circumstances such as this week's specific battle with Back to Basics ruleset. Secondly, it is not entirely recommended when the focus is on additional armor.

Conclusions

Our half man half horse was the Centaur of attention and I'm glad it got its moment in the sun. It looks very flashy in the beta gold, so I don't regret spending a bit extra for that rental.

Personal Opinion

I would use this card in certain situations, but overall its stats are a bit on the low side, and it does not get any additional abilities at higher levels! Starting at level 4, though, it is a solid unit that can be combined with other ranged units to snipe away at the backline!

Be sure to join Splinterlands if you enjoy a TCG that allows for a myriad of battle tactics. If you're interested, I invite you to utilize my referral link:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=letsjam