If you're tuning in for the next installment of the @Splinterlands Survival Prep series TANKS very much! then you're in the right place. Stay tuned...

In this installment of the Survival prep series, we'll cover the best deals out there on earth tanks.

First though, searching for hidden-value earth tanks got me thinking about this new web3 game called #BattleForest. Before getting to Survival prep, I want to show you a teaser from that game first...

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Is he always going to do this?

You might be thinking 😤--"Will he ever just get RIGHT to the stuff advertised?" Or am I always going to bait and switch, and ask you to read something random about scifi books or otters or something else first, before getting to the advertised stuff? Umm... the latter. For sure, the latter.

Look, Survival advice is key. If you think Survival is going to survive, and you want to survive Survival, then I absolutely recommend buying the cards highlighted in the second half of this post. But I'm always going to try to throw in something random too. Something fun. Something unexpected. Hopefully, something interesting for you! Today's it's a BattleForest teaser...

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BattleForest Teaser

#BattleForest is a brand-new blockchain-based card battling game similar to Splinterlands in some ways. But instead of multiple one-off battles, it's one "season-long, ongoing battle" that takes places in an immersive muti-player environment. A forest! Kind of more like an ongoing multi-player version of Risk. Land plots are involved. The goal is to align with other players and conquer as many forest plots as possible before the end of the season.

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Two creature type teaser...

Mean Rosies

Fast and free-moving mutation of the rose plant with vicious thorns attack. Come in various sizes and strengths. Get a group of them together? They become pretty impenetrable!

Slimey-Ohs

Slow to spread to neighboring forest plots, but extremely difficult to remove once established. Slimey-ohs comes in varying levels of toxicity depending on factors like plot type and slimey-oh level. Once established, slimey-ohs will usually infuse various toxicity debilitations into neighboring, unaligned forest plots---making them more vulnerable to attack.

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Okay, I'll play BattleForest!

Oh sorry no. It's not real. Like, at all. Just something I literally just made up.

😠--"What? Wait, are you kidding now? Or...were you kidding... before?" Not kidding NOW. It's really not a real game. NOT. REAL.

😠--"Not... what? Not real?! Star you #%@!.. WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Because... it could be... It could be real. Wanna make it real? I do.

Let's do it. Just kidding... Kind of. Idk. I'm in brainstorming mode lately. I have a desire to do something fun like this. I always have. If it's not BattleForest then something. I'll probably throw some ideas out there from time to time. Maybe one day, one of them will light a spark and catch fire. More likely, they'll fizzle in the abyss but either way, I will have them gotten OUT of my brain to make room for new stuff. And that... is really all that matters to me with these posts 😅

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🌳 Best value earth TANKS for Survival

Okay enough of that fake game #%@&! 😠--"Btw I hate you now star!" Sorry! Let's get into our next installment of Survival prep, so you can forgive me. Earth is another element known in Splinterlands for its tough, hard-to-kill tanks. A deep bench of them will be critical if you plan to survive Season 1 of Survival!

In the this section we'll look at a few of the best, most undervalued 🌳 earth tanks on the market today! Earth tanks are some of the toughest, and best in the game.

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Pelacor Mercenary

This is another instance of an overprinted card that looks worthless when considering price alone. $1.90 for a max copy? It must suck, right? But for Survival. You can't just look at price alone. You have to look at price IN RELATION TO ACTUAL VALUE. What does "actual value" mean here? It means winning battles and staying alive. If you're looking for a super cheap tank that you could literally get 10x max copies deep with less than $20, then there's nowhere else you should be looking before Pelacor Mercenary.

Pelacor alt art (still needs final cleaning and polishing)

The last time I checked the lowest price was $1.90 for a max copy, but I've seen them drop even lower. Jmo anything below $2 is going to pay off if Survival survives. This guy has good speed and flying to dodge ranged and melee attacks, plus has that retaliate for return damage. The big key here is heal. As long as you have someone in the back who can cleanse this guy on debilitations like affliction, this super cheap tank can menace your opponents on an extreme budget.

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Mycelic Infantry

I tend to feel like a broken record sometimes when doing these analyses, but in some ways that's a good thing for you! It means there are so many good tanks out there, for such good deals, that it's just sometimes hard to call these cards "B-list". For example, Pelacor Mercenary is STILL played in many top champ battles despite the dominance of Tofu teams and the pesky thorns return damage for melee tanks. Here, we have another card that (personally) I would NOT characterize as B-list. Maybe it's not A-list either? Idk, it's like B+ range.

I'll leave the card ranking systems to bravetofu who is really good at it! My point here is simply that... even though you can get a max copy of the rare earth element tank MYCELIC INFANTRY for only $2.53 the last time I checked (screenshot below), that is not a two dollar and fiddy cents card 😅 In another place? In another time? On another parallel wave function of the universe? That's a $20 card at least, maybe more like $200 card. Idk. Based solely on how good it is. The problem (is it a problem?) was the overprint. Btw, yes it WAS a problem! But don't dwell on that now. If you want to play Survival, and actually survive, take advantage of the overprint. Load up on this guy while you can.

Mycelial Infantry alt art

Look, if you play the game, you know this dude is tough. Don't let that slow speed throw you off. First of all, reverse-speed battles are all the time 😑 And also, even in regular speed he gets faster and stronger when enraged. That shield makes him durable as long as he's paired with a good tank heal and the giant killer might seem useless sometimes, but other times it wins the entire battle singe-handedly, so... I like giant killer, especially with so many powerful high mana cards these days. It gives this guy a chance to be your cheap, survive-on-a-budget, earth tank.

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Hill Giant

Finally. Okay here is an actual B-list tank. I don't think anyone would even try to argue that Hill Giant is an A-lister. Definite B-list tank. Also though, he's somehow more expensive and I don't think anyone would say he's worthless either. For only 3 mana, that 9 health can be huge in low mana battles. Think of this guy as your cheap, hidden-value tank option for low mana and little league battles. It's kind of crazy that a max Hill Giant (common) is more expensive that a max MYCELIAL INFANTRY (rare) but we've seen that before. Don't fight it. Jmo, it's more because the latter is priced way undervalue, NOT because the former is overpriced. They're both amazing deals. Deals that won't last if Survival does.

Hill Giant alt art

Not gonna lie, this giant is slim on the abilities. Plus he has no armor. No shield. Not your typical setup for a tank, but... that 9 health for 3 mana sure can come in handy in little league battles, or when you just want a meat puppet tank to take some damage while the rest of you better cards survive. Don't sleep on this low mana giant.

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Conclusion

In the next installment, let's get down and dirty with death splinter tanks 💀 You're probably not always thinking death splinter when you think tank, but you should be. There are some srsly good hidden gems there to discover.

In the next installment, we'll look at a few of the best, most undervalued death splinter tanks on the market today!

Until then my friends, go out and grab these earth tanks. If there's any great deals I missed for Survival, post in the comments. Until the next installment... Until tomorrow then... Survive and stay alive! 💪

P.S. - As always, all images were generated by me using photoshop w/ firefly generative AI prompting.