Gladiators Enter the Arena: Bloodlust, Glory, and... Witches? Halloween Special

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If you follow me you have been introduced to Gladius cards a while ago in a recent post, if you came across this post by chance, certainly consider following. This week (just in time for the Halloween festivities ) the spooky Witch of Warwick terrorizes my enemy lineup.

However THIS week, I not only encounter one of these famed gladiators in the arena but by stroke of fortune wrest victory from the maw of defeat.
Bloodlust is the ability that each gladiator card has. Any time a card with this ability kills any enemy it gains 1 in EVERY stat (and in reverse speed gets slower). They revel in defeating their opponents, so it only happens when enemy opponents are defeated by one of these historic arena goers. Keep in mind THE CARD WITH BLOODLUST NEEDS TO DEAL THE FINAL BLOW. This is not as easy as it sounds, there are a plethora of factors that could change your battle/damage order. Cards with bloodlust are new to the frays and many guilds aren't utilizing them yet due to them needing a lvl 2 barracks to be used at lvl 1.

Witch of Warwick: Terrifying Spellcaster

In the fight located here I fight against a Witch of Warwick, a strong COMMON gladiator magic card. An unexpected card played directly into the fray, that could have easily triumphed over MANY lineups utilizing cards for the Untamed only fray. Equalizer caused the creature to have hp equal to ALL other creatures, so the only weakness (low original health) of this otherwise strong magic user was no longer a factor. This card was an excellent choice by my opponent. A very lethal combination, but I would expect no less from a Praetorian.

This fight ends up coming down to the overall tankiness of 3 characters with 2 armor each that was greater than the enemies 2. Witch of Warwick's life sap was not enough to save her without another character to absorb the incoming damage.

Interestingly enough, if I had chosen a creature with ANY melee attack it would have caused a swift end to this battle due to thorns. The non-violent truthspeaker ended up saving the day with her armor buff AND absence of attacks. If she HAD attacked she would have quickly perished to the thorns present on the enemy position 1 tank. Thankfully the scorpion is held at bay, meaning in the sniping ruleset that the Witch of Warwick is bombarded by my remaining creatures.

This was an EVEN closer fight than it appears in the replay, BECAUSE if Witch of Warwick was the one to land the final blow on ANY card she would have been able to gain life at an increased rate and she would be able to CONTINUE to kill various small creatures after she grew more blood thirsty. This ability seems to be a good counter to spacers like the chicken (On no!) as the stat both is NOT worth the hit tanked in most cases. This fight was very close and would have been a loss if Scorpion hit my Thunderbird, by sheer luck it did not. This encounter with Gladius cards says ONE thing, they are not to be underestimated.

Talking Tidbits

Overall, as mentioned in the battle summary, Gladius cards aren't to be underestimated. And it is likely we will be seeing them in more brawl frays soon, expect the unexpected. These restricted frays now have wildcards, adding much more variety of play and strategy to ALL frays. It is likely some of these cards will change play within these brawls for everyone involved. Even though many of us can't use them... yet.

The lore for Witch of Warwick is rather interesting. Utilizing a more subtle and sinister magic than that of merely fireballs, she instead hides numerous trinkets in her hair to cast incantations and hexes. Likely inspired by real world witches using herbs and tinctures for incantations across various cultures. Now let's move on to the giveaways section.

Winners Winners Chicken Dinners: Past Winners' Summary

Congratulations @doctorcrypto , @cuddles143 , and @dlmmqb . Enjoy your randomly selected card delegation from entering giveaways in last weeks posts. May your creatures fare you well for 15 days.

Gladiators Enter the Arena Giveaway

To a random person who likes AND comments this post I will delegate a thunderbird for 15 days. Don't forget to obliterate that follow button for more content, giveaways, art, tournaments, and more. Happy Halloween everyone, don't forget to follow for more spooky surprises!
Keep Summoning and See You in the #Splinterlands