Low Mana Tanks - Beginner guide - Splinterlands

The tank position could be one of the most important, but you don't need to spend all your mana with a big boy that will hold the front line for ages.

The bigger, the better? not always

I know how tempting is to spend 90% of your mana on that big beefy boy, with their stats shinning at your eyes. It's tempting to go for the higher stats, after all this is a fighting game. or is it?🤔

Actually, Splinterlands is more like a resource game than fighting, this means that the winner will not be those with the strongest card will, but those who managed the resources better.

---

Play by the book

Understand the game mechanics it's essential in order to have an edge over other players, and simple mechanics like the shield 🛡, when played correctly can easily win most battles.

Whenever a player, which has a shield, is attacked the damage is done to the shield first, even if the damage done is higher than the shield. Unless if the enemy has the piercing ability, these mechanics allow a card with 1 shield and 2 hp to tank two attacks from a card with 5 damage.

The first attack will only destroy the shield, while a second attack is needed to kill the card. This means that a 1 shield 2 hp card can have the same survivability as a card with 8 hp fighting against a 4 attack tank.

Some examples of cheap tanks are:

• Skeleton Warrior
• Kelp Initiate
• Minotaur Warrior
• Enchanted Defender

---

Hit 'em on the back

Because your front line costed almost nothing, now you have a lot of mana to spend on your backline and rip your enemy apart before even the third round. Go for the high damage medium-cost card, which will tear their backline.

Glass Cannon

Be aware of the drawbacks of this strategy, and don't go into Splinterlands throwing 2 mana tanks everywhere, but have this in the back of your mind and you will find the right moment to play it.
This strategy works especially well in low mana battles but also can win mid-tier mana battles.

Conclusions

I hope this post could bring some new perspective and another look for those 2 mana cards that you have laying around in your deck.
this strategy has been tested on Silver II, my current Rank, if you have another tip for Higher tiers, let me know in the comments.