Week 164 of my SplinterDiary๐๐. High Armour Equalizer Destroys Max Level Oppenents!
Hello to any of my readers and "Dear (weekly) Diary" ๐
It's that day of the week in which I find the most interesting Splinterlands experience I've had over the past week to share! That fits in perfectly with the theme of the weekly Splinterlands Social Media Challenge too!
But first, a quick look at what happened this week in the world of crypto.
We're just past the first week in 2025 and the markets haven't exactly sprinted out of the blocks, so to speak. It had seemed that BTC was going to surge past the 100+k mark again but the jobs and unemployment data which was released 2 days ago has led to more fears over red hot inflation again. That means a likely pause in the Fed cutting interest rates, and the ensuing flight from risk assets.
What about HIVE? It definitely reacted to the overall drop in the crypto markets, but has seen a slight surge today. Is this a result of the weekend Korean pumps? Or is it something that is going to be sustained? I have no idea to be honest. However, I am definitely noticing a pattern of strength and stability that wasn't present last year. This is a good sign for sure. Is this the last chance to buy BTC (and HIVE ๐ค) on the cheap? Who knows?
Of course, I could be completely wrong too, so, please do not heed my advice for your own investment purposes! ๐๐๐
A brief introduction before I start though...

Good Day to all Splinterlands players! (and people of HIVE! ๐) I've made it a point to blog about my weekly progress and experiences in Splinterlands/HIVE in my "weekly diary". Splinterlands & HIVE are what I'd consider to be my entry point into the World of Crypto, and I intend to use this as a means to look back on the path I've taken in the years ahead.โณโณโณ
This is now the 164th consecutive week writing in my Diary (of sorts) detailing my Splinterlands Journey ever since I started this game. I talk about what has gone on my personal Splinterlands playing experience, my weekly Guild Brawl Reports, and also any Splinterlands ingame news. ๐๐ฅณ๐
No week goes by in Splinterlands without some news event happening though. And here's my pick of some of the most interesting ones in my opinion. ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฐ

๐บ๏ธ๐งณโ๏ธUpdates on my Splinterlands Journey๐บ๏ธ๐งณโ๏ธ

This week's Social Media Challenge is all about sharing our remarkable Splinterlands moments. I'd have shared my daily and weekly activities in the past, BUT, usually, nothing really special really happens in my daily Splinterlands daily grind, so let's hope this is more interesting for reading?... let's get down to it! ๐คฃ
The winds of change are sweeping through the Splinterlands as the Chaos Legion era makes way for the new Rebellion reward cards. However, with all of that happening, my collection of new reward cards are still rather sparse and there doesn't seem to be anything in particular which stands out to me. So I guess we should just move on to the most exciting thing about Splinterlands โ the game itself!
My quest for more Gold Foil Legendary cards from my rewards chests "The New Glint Shop" continues on ("Greed is Good!" ๐). It's STILL a 0.008% chance, at base level, ridiculously low chance to pull a legendary gold foil, in case you were wondering ๐. Here's to more jackpot strikes in the future (i hope) ๐ค๐ป๐๐ค๐ป๐๐ค๐ป๐.

โ๏ธ๐ก๏ธMy Battle Showcase๐ก๏ธโ๏ธ

The removal of League Level limits in battles allowed some really interesting matchups. No longer are "low level" players protected by their league limits. This often leads to some very lopsided battles. However, there is also the opportunity here to punch above your weight and secure a David VS Goliath win. As always, let me once again showcase some really great underdog victories I have achieved this past week!
Let me present a battle (or some battles) I fought recently in which I managed, against all odds, to win these players who out levelled me on an order of magnitude that I couldn't imagine. Victory or defeat would lie in the small details. ๐ฑ
I would say this was a fight of epic lop-sidedness! ๐ฑ
If it wasn't bad enough that I was facing a MAXIMUM level SUMMONER opponent VS myself at just a "puny" level 6, I was also using mostly level 1 units. That meant despite my "mid ranged Summoner level", my team was actually a lot lower in level in reality. Simply put, it was more akin to a level 1 VS max levels! ๐ฑ
The opponent was using a max level deck with his MAXIMUM Level 8 RARE summoner Thaddius Brood from the Chaos Legion edition while I was ONLY using a Level 6 RARE Helios Matriarch from the Rewards edition. And if that wasn't enough, his units were maxed out with far superior levels to mine! This battle of "Death VS Dragon/Life" had me at the clear disadvantage as I was going to lose out to the opponent purely to sheer power and level.
At the end of the day, there were a few factors which resulted in my unexpected win.
Firstly, the rulesets EQUALIZER/FOG OF WAR meant that my opponent would be, in all likelihood, be restricted to only Ranged/Magic and Low Cost/Low HP units. This would also infer the probability that his unit choices would be restricted to said units and that I should focus on fielding as many "cheap glass cannon units with high DPS" as possible in order to take advantage of such a ruleset.
This inadvertently also benefitted my lineup as I could then just focus on just quantity over quality, instead of trying to fight on multiple fronts, seeing as I would have suffered an overwhelming disadvantage just based off the difference in our levels.
In fact, to throw the opponent off guard, I would completely defy his expectations by focusing on just RANGED AND MAGIC DPS units in a glass canon build, so to speak, in order to throw him off guard to allow my plan to take effect.
My strategy would be to depend purely on lasting as long as possible using some frontline units AND ALSO high armoured units like the Nimbledook Explorer with it's PROTECTION ability and the Clockwork Aide with it's insane amount of armour, to absorb the brunt of the initial damage. To further enhance my strategy, I would depend on the Gladius Bloodlust abilities thanks to my Gladiator unit, Larissa Kerato, to enhance my "Ranged/Magic DPS Team". This would be a risky move as a similar move by a higher level opponent with superior unit stats would have derailed my strategy completely.
Next thing of note was the MANA COST RESTRICTION of 47 mana. This meant that even though my opponent would be able to unleash his full arsenal of heavy hitters with a vast array of abilities against me, I would likewise be able to strategise with the best possible team available to myself.
Of course, this was not going to be a walk in the park as the opponent still had the obvious advantage of much superior levels.
Fortunately, and surprisingly, the opponent played right into my hands by arrogantly deciding to field some high HP units in his team (thus inadvertently boosting the health of my entire glass cannon lineup), thinking that he would be able to blitz me through sheer force of his superior DPS.
He also (likely) made a mistake by fitting in a SNEAK unit in a ruleset (FOG OF WAR) that removed such abilities, thus rendering it completely useless.
Making the most of such restrictions would turn out to be advantageous to me.
This turned out to be my saving grace in the end as my hyper focused gambit succeeded in gaining an advantage against the opponent's superior levels, eventually wearing him down. Even though my units were seriously lacking in levels and stats compared to my opponent's, my unit choices managed to absorb the brunt of the damage as I had hoped for. This allowed my RANGED and MAGIC DPS units to simply DPS him by letting the prevailing conditions and ruleset do the dirty work for me! I guess this was akin to a desperate roll of the dice hoping for that 1 in a million jackpot win! ๐คฃ
In the end, all I can say is that luck was on my side. ๐
Who would have guessed that my lowly teams would have been able to pull off such David VS Goliath upset wins? I guess nothing is impossible and sometimes, all you need is some luck and great strategy!

๐ญ๐ง๐ญEnding Thoughts๐ญ๐ง๐ญ

I definitely can appreciate how utilising the most of your deck's strengths can lead to unexpected outcomes. This is one of those situations in which Davids can beat Goliaths if surrounded with the proper team. The role every single carefully selected unit brings to the battlefield will give a player the edge in squeezing out every tiny advantage to get the win. ๐๐ป
For any players who feel daunted with the new battle level changes, I hope this article has given you some insight into the potential of every single card regardless of it's level. ๐


๐ค๐ฐ๐Added Bonus of PIZZA Token๐ค๐ฐ๐
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๐ฃ๐SHOUTOUT to HivePizza๐ฃ๐
The guys over at PIZZA DISCORD have been very helpful throughout my Splinterlands journey. I strongly recommend that you guys check it out if you haven't already done so.
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Here's to wishing everyone all the best for the upcoming week ๐๐.
To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK๐.

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