Splinterlands Battle - Grumpy Dwarf

Hello everyone!

Welcome to another weekly challenge. This time we are playing with Grumpy Dwarf. This is a card that you don't see in many games so it will be a challenge to include him in our lineups.

If you are new here, #splinterlands is the amazing #NFT trading card game with #play2earn model. That means you can have a lot of fun AND you can earn money (DEC - Dark Energy Crystals) at the same time. If you don't have an account yet consider registering with my link.

https://splinterlands.com?ref=ashgarn

About Grumpy Dwarf

Grumpy Dwarf is a common Neutral monster that belongs to the Beta edition. With his melee attack and his Reach and Enrage abilities, he can be a very good option when paired with the right cards.

Lore

Having run from a great terror on the other side of the world, the Dwarves are new to the Splinterlands. They don’t take kindly to strangers, and since they are now surrounded by strangers, the residents of the Splinterlands have taken to calling them Grumpy Dwarves. They are quite fierce with axes.

The Battle

This time I will not write about every last thing that happened in battle. You can see that by yourself if you click on the link below. I will spare you and me some valuable time. Instead, I will focus more on the cards that I was playing and why. I think that this will be more helpful to all newer players as they could feel the strategy I was aiming for. I hope that you will appreciate this approach. 😎

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

Before picking cards for my next battle I like to check what my opponent is playing and I at least try to counter him. Of course, I always take into consideration the ruleset of the upcoming game. This time I decided to go full melee. It was a great risk because if my opponent somehow anticipated that I will play melee team he could easily counter me. My plan was to add as much damage as I can and I accomplished that by playing Daria Dragonscale and Silvershiled Knight. Those two cards added +2 attack to all my melee monsters and that is a LOT of extra damage.

Did it work?
Since I won and earned +21 Rating and +9.121 DEC I would say it did work. I am still testing if is it better to go, for example, full melee/magic or to mix it a bit and cover different options.

Would I change anything now?
Probably. My Herbalist and Elven Cutthroat died really fast. Maybe Silvershield Assasin or Lone Boatman would be a better option. I can't be sure if this would be a better option, only time and testing will tell.

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 own role in the battle.

Daria Dragonscale - An epic Dragon summoner. Dragon cards give you an opportunity to twist other splinters in a direction that your opponent may not be expecting. When playing against Life Splinter you would expect monsters with a lot of health, armor, healing, armor repair, and resurrections. You don't battle against heavy attack Life Splinter very often, don't you?

That is why Dragon Splinter is so amazing. It can change how you play any other Splinter and that is why I used Daria Dragonscale as my summoner.

---

Silvershiled Knight - I absolutely love this card. I often use this card as a Tank. I know that this is very risky but I can't stand when my cards just sit there in the number two position and do nothing. I am a strong believer that this is a complete waste of mana. Health on Silvershiled Knight is decent and +1 armor can help with tanking.

Inspire - Gives all friendly Monsters +1 Melee attack.

His ability is why I love this card. The buff of +1 melee attack is priceless and it can give a big damage boost to your melee monsters. I often use Silvershield Knight with some Sneak monsters. He really shines when paired with Silvershield Assasin because of his Double Strike and Sneak abilities.

---

Grumpy Dwarf - I really love the graphic design of this card(yes I love Dwarfs). On the other hand, stats are not so great. Four mana for one attack monster with one armor and 2 health is expensive. For that mana, you can get some way better monsters like Peacebringer, Light Elemental or Defender of Truth(leveled up with Protect ability).

Reach - Melee attack Monsters with the Reach ability may attack from the second position on the team.

But like any other card, Grumpy Dwarf can shine when played with other cards like Silvershield Knight and Daria Dragonscale. Plus two melee attacks turned this card into the beast on the battlefield. Reach gives him the ability to attack from second place and armor gives him some protection from melee and ranged attacks. Due to low health, you should avoid using him against magic teams.

---

Feral Spirit - One of my favorite Sneak cards. A big plus is an outstanding speed which can even help you to dodge an enemy attack. On other hand, a low attack often means that you can't count on one-shot cards in the back.

Sneak - Targets the last Monster on the enemy Team instead of the first Monster.

When paired with Daria Dragonscale and Silvershield Knight this card is an absolute beast. High speed almost guarantees that Feral Spirit will attack first. Most of the time he will either one-shot enemy monster or at least destroy his armor.

---

Cave Slug - I didn't like this card at all until I wrote my first battle challenge for Splinterlands. Oh boy, I was wrong. Once you discover how to use Cave Slug you will use him all the time. Two basic attacks are not bad, but when buffed to four attacks, absolute beast.

Opportunity - Monsters with the Opportunity ability may attack from any position and will target the enemy Monster with the lowest health.

Opportunity ability is a great way to knock out those annoying cards in the back. When combined with Feral Spirit and his Sneak ability Cave Slug is amazing. First, Feral Spirit destroys the monster's armor and then four attack Cave Slug finishes the job. Amazing combo!

---

Elven Cutthroat - A slightly worse version of Feral Spirit, only due to lower speed. I often use Elven Cutthroat as this card has a low mana cost in spite of the fact that Neutral Splinter cards have worse stats than cards from other splinters.

Sneak - Targets the last Monster on the enemy Team instead of the first Monster.

I use Elven Cutthroat in the same way as Feral Spirit. It is an awesome card to clean up the enemy backline. With two Sneak monsters, it can only go faster.

---

Herbalist - In this game, I used this card only as a filler. On higher levels, this card is pretty good because of his Cleanse ability

Cleanse - Removes all negative effects on the Monster in the first position on the friendly team.

---

Cards that would be good with this setup

I could do some things differently and I could drop Cave Slug and Herbalist and go for Silvershield Assasin. When buffed she would have three attacks. When you pair that attack with her Double Strike ability it is absolutely amazing. Six damage per turn in the Bronze league is just wow!

If this was a Silver league match I would definitely include Lone Boatman because of his good damage and his Repair ability. This would increase the survivability of my Silvershield Knight due to armor repair.

Summary

I really enjoyed this game. It was a close one and it could go very differently if there was a miss or two. To be honest Grumpy Dwarf is not the best card in the game. He would be a way better option if his cost is three mana. But as I said earlier, every card has its place in the game and it can be good if used correctly. Give our Grumpy Dwarf a chance a start using him a bit more, maybe you will be pleasantly surprised.

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 strategy that will maybe help some players.

Have fun and see you on the battlefield!