Centauri Mage - Battle Challenge

Hello everyone!

Welcome to another weekly challenge. This time we are playing with Centauri Mage. One of my favorite cards when playing Earth because of Return Fire ability.

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About Centauri Mage

Centauri Mage is a rare Earth monster that belongs to the Reward edition. With her magic attack and her Return Fire and Repair abilities, she can be a very good option when paired with the right cards.

Lore

The magic of the Centauri people of northern Anumün is so secretive that it is a wonder their Mages make any demonstrations of their powers in the Mount Mox Arena at all. The audiences are always thrilled to see their magic attacks, especially at dusk and sunset, when they create a chillingly beautiful (and deadly) green light show. Not only does this magic rain green fire onto the enemy, but with proper concentration from the Mage, it also refortifies the defenses of the friendly team. Among the Centaurs, those who practice these ancient ways of magic are extremely rare. They spend most of their time close to Kron, protecting him from all the wild creatures outside his Citadel.

The Battle

You can watch the whole battle on a link below. Further down I will try to explain why I picked cards that you can see in my team. I will not go through events that happened in the battle as you can see that easily by yourself. I hope that my point of view will help new players in tailoring strategy for upcoming battles.

You can watch the battle on this link.

My Lineup

If you don't want to watch my battle you can see my starting lineup below.

My Strategy

Earth Splinter is slow and tanky and that is how I like to play my Earth battles. I do not have the luxury of playing level 3 Flesh Golem or Llama + Kron combination. But there are also other team setups that are very good even without top cards. I decided to go for big health monsters with decent attacks and for a summoner that will buff health even more. That way I planned to outlast my opponent.

Did it work?
Since I won and earned an I would say it did work. Strategy with high health monsters is good, especially in lower leagues where it is hard to set up a team with high damage. Abilities like Void and Shield can help a lot with that approach.

Would I change anything now?
This team setup is way better with Mylor Crowling as a summoner. Mylor will give Thorns ability that will counter enemy melee team while your Unicorn Mustang is counter for magic and Centauri Mage for ranged. Really interesting strategy, you should try it as well.

Cards that I used and why?

I already explained my strategy and now I will try to explain why I use each card. All cards have some positive and negative sides. In the end, the only thing that matters is if you win or lose. This is determined by the synergy between your cards. Every card has its role in the battle.

Lyanna Natura - A simple summoner that gives +1 health to all your monsters. I like this summoner as it buffs the already high health of Earth splinter monsters.

This is working well with monsters that have Heal ability as it makes it even harder to kill those monsters due to increased health and healing.

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Unicorn Mustang - I love this card. I often use this card as a tank due to the great stats that Unicorn Mustang offers. Good health, speed, and decent attack are amazing for eight mana cost.

Void - Reduced damage from Magic attacks. Same effects as a shield but for magic damage..

I like his Void ability, especially when played with Mylor Crawling. Mylor's Thorns will counter melee attackers so I often use Unicor Mustang as his Void ability will cover magic attackers. That way my front line is exposed only to ranged attacks.

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Centauri Mage - I don't see that Centauri Mage is used often but I like this card. I often use it as an off-tank due to her big health pool and when I expect that enemy will use Snipe monsters. That was also the case this time, I wanted something tanky in the second spot and I decided on Centauri Mage.

Return Fire - When hit with a Ranged attack, Monsters with Return Fire will return reduced damage to their attacker. Equal to damage of attacker/2 rounded up..

On higher levels, Centauri Mage even gets Repair ability. The only downside is that Earth splinter is more focused on health than on armor so it is hard to get full advantage from this ability. Only a few monsters could benefit from that like, Stone Golem, Stonesplitter Orc, Pelacor Mercenary...

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Beatrix Ironhand - One of my favorite Earth cards. I love level 2 Beatrix for that increased damage. Sometimes I like to play her in the second spot due to her decent health pool and her Close Range ability. There is no fear that she could not attack from the first spot due to her Close Range ability.

Close Range - Monsters with the Close Range ability can perform ranged attacks from the first position..

On higher levels, she even gets Thorns which makes her even more suited for an off-tank role. I often use her in 20-ish mana cap games. Really amazing cards.

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Khmer Princess - I used Khmer Princess only as a filler in the last spot as I was left with two mana. I would often use Failed Summoner as an additional tank but with Unicorn Mustang and Centauri Mage, there was no need for Failed Summoner. Khmer Princess is a really good card on higher levels when she gets Tank Heal and Triage ability.

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Cards that would be good with this setup

I would do some things differently if I had some more luxury cards like Mylor Crowling, Flesh Golem, and so on...I often like to play Mylor Crowling as a summoner, Flesh Golem as a tank, Centauri Mage on the second spot to soak that Snipe damage, and of course healer and ranged damage if possible. Sometimes I like to put Failed Summoner on the first spot so he can soak some damage and reflect some magic attacks. There is a lot of strategies with Earth splinter, especially in lower leagues and if you have few luxury cards.

Summary

I enjoyed this game. It was a close one and it could easily go in another direction. I like Centauri Mage and I use this card very often whenever I predict that an opponent could go for ranged damage. Big health pool makes Centauri Mage a perfect off-tank for the second position in your team. The only downside is that is hard to include Centauri Mage into the team because of the high mana cost.

P.S.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this content. If you would add something extra please let me know in the comments. I am trying to write this content so there is not only battle but also explained the strategy that will maybe help some players.

Have fun and see you on the battlefield!