Battle Mage Secrets - Is Gargoya Devil Underrated?

The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Holy Protection ruleset this time! This means all units gain the Divine Shield ability which reduces the damage of the first attack received to 0. Divine Shield will be re-applied when a unit is Resurrected. Blast damage will remove divine shield.

It's not always easy to get the specific ruleset, but if you play hard enough, you definitely can find one! This time I was lucky enough to have one - woohoo!

So here's the interesting battle that I encountered.

Anyway, I thought it would be still be interesting to introduce some useful cards and show how their strengths can be maximised especially with a particular ruleset. In this post, the featured card is a Rare Neutral card, Gargoya Devil!

Gargoya Devil is a very special card to me, because this was the first card that I have actually gotten from playing Splinterlands. Back in those days, cards could come from chests and while starting in the Bronze leagues, I finally clocked the daily chest and Gargoya Devil appeared!

I didn't think too much of Gargoya Devil because it costs 7 mana which was quite massive and the stats aren't that impressive, with just 3 HP (so squishy). Over time, I realised it's a pretty niche card and its strengths are really Close Range and at higher levels, Deathblow can be a strong ability to have. With Flying and high speed, it's definitely not that easy to hit accurately on this card as well.

As usual, here's the lore for Gargoya Devil for your reading interest:

The living stone creatures known as gargoya are an especially unique result of battle on the other side of the world with the Chaos Legion. Years ago there was a great stone tower, far away from the Splinterlands and taller than any of its buildings. It was the former tower of a conquered lord, empty and protected only by the dozens of magnificent gargoyles that adorned its architecture. When the Chaos Legion first approached from the rift in the stars, great glowing meteors fell from the sky. They crushed the tower to rubble, but the gargoyles were somehow left unscathed. Not only that, but they were now alive; still stone, but alive. They took off as a tribe across the sea to find a new home as their world was essentially destroyed behind them.

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Battle Type & Team Lineup

Position	Card/Level	Mana
Summoner	General Sloan	4

This was a tricky ruleset because only Neutral cards are allowed. Opted for a Ranged lineup and called upon General Sloan to be the summoner. As most of my stronger cards were in Water and Death, my General Sloan is just a Level 1 card. But we will make do with this and field the best possible lineup.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
1	Creeping Ooze	1

As Ranged cards cannot attack from the tank position, I tried to pack as many filler cards as possible in the front but with 20 mana available, it's not much. Creeping Ooze stands in as a filler card and hopefully give my cards a chance to hit first, if not earlier.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
2	Venari Marksrat	3

Venari Marksrat is actually more like a filler card as well, and its Martyr ability is reserved for the biggest card in the lineup, i.e. its adjacent card.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
3	Gargoya Devil	7

There are not many strong Neutral cards for low mana fights and I have seen horrifying fights involving a Martyr boosted Gargoya Devil, and hence I decided to try this out too. A big gamble considering this takes a huge chunk of mana.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
4	Xenith Archer	2

Not many options left with the remaining mana, so Xenith Archer comes in to deal some damage.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
5	Scavo Hireling	3

Scavo Hireling is an unusual choice but I hoped it can help to repair some Armor from Gargoya Devil to keep it alive for as long as possible. After all, that's my strongest card in the lineup.

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• Pre Battle: Hmm I was quite hopeful when I saw the lineups because my opponent only fielded 2 cards. There's HOLY PROTECTION!!! So other than the initial scare of the Level 3 summoner, I think my Level 1 summoner stand a good chance.
  

• Rounds 1-2: The first round went by and it was uneventful due to Holy Protection. The second round saw my team losing 1 card and it was down to 4 vs 2.
  

• Round 3: We have basically won this because the opposing Gobson Bomber cannot attack from the tank position!
  

• Rounds 4-5: Hehe one last swipe from Gargoya Devil and we won this!
  

If you are interested to watch the battle, you can find it here.

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Post Battle

Did my strategy work? I cannot emphasise how important strategy is when it comes to tricky and restrictive rulesets like these. Of course, it's great to have a strong deck of high level cards, and there are instances where a Level 1 team is better than force feeding high level cards just because they have better stats. General Sloan is not a summoner that I often used, but it was the best fit and gave the best shot at winning in this battle, and I picked it ahead of other more powerful summoners.

What's the Battle Mage Secret? Gargoya Devil can be a deadly card when played right!

So that's all I have! What are your takeaways from this battle? Feel free to comment below, as I am always keen to learn and improve!

As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!

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