Explosive Executions - A deadly combo

This is part of the Community Engagement Challenge: https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-community-engagement-challenge-favorite-strategies-sqkhvm

Prologue

Explosive Weapnry and I have a complicated relationship. Depending on availabe splinters, I have no problem with it (for example Dragon, Water and Life due to Night Reaper/Constantia, Tide Biter and Corsair Bosun). But when those aren't available? I struggle. I usually go for big time magic, and just ignore all armor. Well, and if magic is not available? I remembered a battle that I lost against basically one monster with: Execution.

The Card - Thanalorian Blade

The strategy can also work with other Execution-Monsters, like Night Stalker which has Explosion as ability when it reaches max-level. But for today, let's stick to the Blade.

It's an Epic-Rebellion-Reward card that can be found in chests or epic-draws. It has opportunity on level one, and gets Execution on level two, Lookout on level three. At max level there's trample as well to make it more effective and would definitely help my strategy.

Now, with Explosive Weaponry, the Blade hits the monster with the least LP, plus the monsters next to it - if one of those monsters is left with 2 or less LP, the Blade attacks again, causing another explosion - this could in theory spike a chain reaction, multiplied by trample (I don't know for sure yet, since I still haven't got it on max level... might be a good opportunity to try the new challenges...). As a showcase, I brought this Bronze-Level-Tournament match - Rebellion and Untamed only.

The Set-Up - Click here for Battle Link

Explosive Weaponry, no magic, no legendaries, 52 Mana - Fire and Earth splinter.

I hate battling against Rebellion-Legendary-Summoners, so I wasn't amused by the first glance. Big shark in front, Pallus second with extra shield from the Warden, High-Damage Opportunity monster and then two ranged. A nice set-up by my opponent. He was counting on Pallus and Torch Vizier getting extra-life through leeching, as they get extra damage, too. Luckily, they do not get extra life from damage made in explosions.

I went for a thorny unit in front, then as well Pallus, and a big buffer in the middle - the Overseer. Then came the Sand Worm which I boosted with +2 melee, so its explosion damage would cause 4 damage! And the Blade got +2 damage as well, making its explosion worth 2 damage points and to increase the chance of a chain reaction. Satha at the rear to heal the tanks.

Round 1

The cards are dealt. 17 melee damage and 1 ranged on my side, 12 usable melee and 6 ranged damage on the opponents side. Pretty equal.

After Satha, it's three times the opponent attacking, and they basically destroy all the armor in my team, but all my units stay alive. And then comes the Blade - it takes out the Mana Warden in one blow. Since the Torch Vizier takes two damage, it is viable for Execution - and now both Pallus and Ironhood take 2 extra damage, as well. Very good start!

The enemy does take out my Thorny One, but the Sand Worm takes out their Conjurer and the rest of Ironhoods armor.

Round 2

Looking good! Thanks to execution, the enemy is quite decimated and what's left is already damaged.

Satha heals my Pallus and kills the enemy shark, which makes Ironhood the next target for the Blade - guess what? 5 LP against 4 damage calls for - Execution! Only thanks to the shield from the Mana warden, the other Pallus takes only 2 explosion damage. It survives this round, leeches some extra life from my Pallus - but takes 4 damage from the sand worm, and in the next round the Blade takes it down, even without execution.

Conclusion

I honestly was surprised by the effectiveness of the combination of Thanalorian Blade with +2 damage in this ruleset. It took out 4 of the 6 units, which is a strong signal.

The Blade is not the best card out of the Reward-Set, but it definitely has its glorious times - here's another example of how it bringing a bonus to my team, this time with one Execution and more importantly the Lookout-Ability that it gains on Level 3 - Click here for battle link.

I'm happy to use it from time to time, and will hopefully be able to test it at max level, soon 😀

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it at least as much as I enjoyed writing :-D If you have any comments or feedback - please let me know! And don't forget to leave your own posts for me to curate. Thank you very much!

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