Share your Battle Challenge

Today's featured Card is the new Chaos Knight! I really love this card, so I loved to do this battle challenge!

Check out the official post from @splinterlands , including the rules, tips and infos: here !

THEME: CHAOS KNIGHT
Edition: CHAOS LEGION
Rarity: COMMON
Element: LIFE
Attack: MELEE
Abilities: Shield

My Battle

https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_161db4b7a4bbe3f5de5841d7daa81985&ref=andy-plays

Well, why take Yodin to a Blast Rule Set?
But other than that - I was just too fast. And that double shield was also deadly.
The Rule Set was 50 Mana with only Fire and Life being allowed and Close Range and Explosive Weaponry - so Ranged cards can attack from first position and everyone has the Blast ability.

This was going to be an interesting battle.

Lineup

Summoner:

Since it was close range, I went with a mostly ranged deck and which Summoner fits better, than the new Chaos Summoner General Sloan.

Being a rare Summoner, this level 4 Summoner allows me to bring all cards up to Silver cap.

This helps me to use my Chaos Knight already at level 4 - if I had a level 5 one, even this would be possible. And also use the Swiftness on Supply Runner or the Deathblow on Gargoya Devil! And by the way, it is the cheapest summoner at the moment, with a BCX price of under $3. That is definitely a cheap card, especially compared to everything else!

First Position: Chaos Knight

I love this card! It is a great tank against Melee and Ranged, since it has the shield ability. Of course he goes first in a likely ranged heavy lineup.
The Chaos Knight is, as mentioned above a Chaos Legion common life card.

I would love to get mine to at least level 5, since it gets Giant Killer than. Although Level 9 would also be awesome. That inspire can be really handy. Other than that, I already got his maxed attack strength - except for the abilities. It is strong against Melee and Ranged, with the Shield ability and 3-5 shields plus a decent amount of health, but has problems with Magic, since it has not a lot of HP and neither Void nor Void armor.

Lore

Chaos Knights are most often found at the front line of the Chaos Legion's invading forces, although they are sometimes enlisted to defend garrisons, leadership, and other high-value assets. They are heavily armored and wield massive battle axes that are able to cut down even the mightiest of foes.
Those of the Order of the Silver Shield stood waiting as the Legion of Chaos closed the distance between the two armies. The Shieldbearers in the front rank planted their shields firmly in the earth and set their feet, while archers and mages readied their bows and their spells. Those wielding melee weapons tightened their grips on their hafts and hilts, ready to charge once the Shieldbearers had born the brunt of the initial assault.

At the head of the column opposite them, Chaos Knights led the charge, the throng behind them screaming and jostling to be the first into battle. The heavily armored knights hefted battle axes that were impossibly large, and those of the Order of the Silver Shield eyed them warily.

Arrows flew. Spells were flung. At last, the two armies met, clashing together with a violent ringing of steel on steel. The Shieldbearers leaned into their shields, preparing to give those in the rear as much time as possible to inflict their lethal ranged damage. But when the Chaos Knights swung their mighty battle axes, the Shieldbearers could not hold the line. They staggered backward. Another swing, and the Order's front rank broke.

Then the Legions of Chaos swarmed over them.

Second Position: Chain Golem

To be honest, I overlooke the Chain Golem in the beginning. Being an Untamed Legendary it was not too common in Bronze and Silver league. But it is an awesome tank as well. Having the Shield ability from the start makes him resilient against Melee and Ranged, with 4 shields an 7-8 HP. At level 2 it gets void, which also helps it against magic. Piercing and Stun make him a better offensive tank.
Why does it go good with the Chaos Knight? Well, under normal circumstances it wouldn't. But in this Blast Rule Set, it helps to further reduce the damage taken, making my front line almost indestructible against Ranged and Melee attackers. This is also the reason to put it on my second position.

Third Position: Gargoya Devil

THe Gargoya Devil is a rare reward card of the Chaos Legion Rewards set. I loved this card early on. The main selling point of it, is its close range ability, which wasn't helping since it was a close range rule set. But it is still a good ranged attacker, with 3 Ranged attack, plus an additional one from General Sloan. Even against a Chaos Knight or Living Lava it has two remaining Ranged attack. So it goes good with Chaos Knight, since it is the damage dealer, that Chaos Knight is protecting. And the Damage output is even higher, when the Devil is attacking the last remaining monster. Double Damage with 8 damage, was a lot more than Cornealus could take (at least in addition with everything else, that was coming).
The flying is a more defensive ability, which helps to evade attacks, which it did. This was also the reason to put it on my third position and first not melee attacker position - so it would have a high chance to avoid Snipe-Cards.

Fourth Position: Supply Runner

Mr. Speed. I love to play with the Supply Runner. Another Chaos Legion common card of the neutral splinter, this card give Swiftness from Level 5 on, making everyone faster. This helps the Chaos Knight to evade opponent attacks and my damage dealers, to go first. It also helped my Gargoya Devil to be more evasive. At max Level it would give Strengthen, which would give one health to each of my cards.
Since the speed is very important at the beginning but gets less important later, it was on fourth poition. So if my opponent would snipe or got his way through my main damage dealers on five and six would still be safe.

Fifth Position: Pelcor Arbalest

The Pleacor Arbalest is another Chaos Legion Card, this time a rare life splinter card.

It is another damage dealer, that is protected by my Chaos Knight. Since it has double strike from level 1, it gets a big buff from General Sloan getting to hit for three ranged attack every time it his.
It gets flying at level 5 and another attack at level 7, bringing it up to three ranged attack for each strike - or four with General Sloan. That would give it 8 (!) attack each round.
Really a beast!

Sixth Position: Prismologist

Last but not least: The Primologist. At level 1 his main advantage is Blast, which was not needed here. Still it is a high damage dealer, with 3+1 damage.

Since the mana wasn't a problem, this was still a great choice. Other good choice would have been e.g. Silvershield Sheriff or Evangelist, but with great damage out put.

Why put it on last position? Even though I wasn't counting on Sneak cards, it has a higher health then my Arbalest and therefore I placed it as a protection against sneak.

The Battle - Did my Strategy work:

Short answer: Yes it did. 😂

Longer answer: Yes it did and it worked quite well, as shown below in my round by round recap.

Already after the first round, I could get his tank and off tank down, while he did destroy a few shields and got some HP down. Since I was a lot faster, I went first most of the time. The Gargoya Devil, being faster and a flying card, could evade a few attacks and so my backline didn't take a lot of damage. And my front line was still intact, with both my tanks still having enough HP left. While my Chaos Knight lost its shields, my Chain Golem still had a shield left.

And yes, it was decided a round later. With the end of the second round only one card was left: Cornealus. While this could be troubling in other circumstances, not so much here. I had a lot of damage to hit on it and I could land most of it, before it even had the chance to heal itsef.

So, while my opponents cards got erased, my line up was still standing. With no one missing.

So Yodin left without killing any of my cards - I would say, that my strategy worked quite well. Short and quite. Speed is really one of the major assets in a blast rule sets. Going first and already eliminating some of my opponents cards, or if not evading their attacks, can be crucial to one's success.

I have seen this many time in other battles and I was proven right again: Speed is King!

But also the strong and shielded front line was a key factor. Chaos Knight and Chain Golem did work perfect and kept all of his attacks away from my fast, but not so HP strong, damage dealers in the back. Without this great front line, it would probably have ended different.

And of course it was great to keep my winning streak alive! On my way to Gold I again!

Further Analysis

What will I do different next time?

Well a higher level Chaos Knight would be great or a Gold one, to get more DEC. Even though the only card, that would have been affected by Giant Killer was Cornealus, it could have made a difference, especially since it was a 50 mana cap battle and one could except one or two 10+ Mana cards in those battles. Maybe next time I could have added a Cornealus myself.

Maybe also some more magic protection would be great, so probably a Level 2 Chain Golem could have helped, with Chain Golem on my first position and Chaos Knight at my second position. It was not crucial this time, but could be the deciding factor next time.

Also a higher level Prismologist would be of help, since it gets another ranged attack at level 3 or another even bigger damage dealer, like Evangelist, Silvershield Sheriff or Air Elemental (and of course others as well).

Do I like the Chaos Knight?

Yes! I really love this card. Especially in Rule Set like this one or Lost / Weak Magic, it is an amazing tank, but even with magic it can be a good choice, athough being his biggest weakness. With Giant Killer it could shine even more, let alone inspire.

Another minor problem is the missing synergy with General Sloan. Since Sloan is as of right now, the more used of the both Starter Deck summoners, it would be better if the Chaos Knight also had some help with Ranged.

Cheers,
@andy-plays