Olivia strategy: When One Ability Isn’t Enough
Good day everyone and splinterlands community, Today, I’ll be sharing another interesting battle from the modern format, this time highlighting the strategic use of Olivia of the Brook, a life element card known for her ability-copying strength. In this match, I’ll guide and share you how I effectively utilized Olivia in a specific rule set that suited her role perfectly. I used my main account, zactian, deploying a mix of cards I own and a few carefully chosen rentals. Since renting an entire full color lineup can be quite expensive, I opted for a more budget friendly approach by selecting affordable but impactful cards that could synergize well with Olivia’s unique ability. Despite the limited card pool, smart positioning and ability optimization helped me create a decent/solid combo, effective once again that strategy often beats mana stats difference or high cost lineups.
Olivia of the Brook is an epic Rebellion card from the Life Splinter, known for her unique hybrid offense that combines both melee and magic attacks. According to her lore, Olivia is a mage who unleashes magical attacks, while her faithful companion, Cloudy the Leopard, delivers swift and powerful melee strikes. This fusion of attack types makes her a highly versatile and dynamic unit on the battlefield. Olivia is equipped with Mimic, Deflect, and Opportunity abilities that enhance both her offensive and defensive presence. She enters the battlefield with 1 magic damage, 2 melee damage, 3 speed, 1 armor, and 6 health, offering a solid blend of utility, survivability, and pressure. Her Mimic ability allows her to randomly copy the abilities of opponent units, making her unpredictable and highly adaptable, while Deflect offers a layer of protection against ranged attacks like Blast. Opportunity enables her to zero in on low health enemies, making her ideal for quickly eliminating support units or finishing off damaged foes.
This card hybrid nature becomes an asset, and her Mimic ability makes her even more powerful by allowing her to copy and reflect a wide range of enemy skills. Even though I only have this card at level 4, still far from max, she’s proven herself a overwhelming power on the battlefield because to Mimic already being unlocked at that level. Despite not being fully powered, her unique set of abilities and hybrid damage make her a valuable high winning chance and interesting addition to my strategy lineup.
Into the battle: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_399db133cf754dd899f25e78cbaa1173
In this battle, the rule sets were Equalizer and Up to Eleven with a 32 mana cap, and only the Life and Dragon splinters were available. I chose Chuul Jujinchi as my summoner primarily because it was the only max-level summoner I had available for the active elements in this match, and it only costs 3 mana, making it a budget-friendly yet strategic option. For my lineup, I placed Halfling Refugee in the first position to serve as my frontline tank, followed by Nimbledook Explorer in the second slot—positioned as both a secondary tank and a primary melee attacker due to its Armored Strike ability. Janni Rebel played a supportive role with Flank and Inspire, boosting my team’s melee damage. Meriput Magician was included for magic-based healing support, while Olivia the Brook served as my primary damage dealer thanks to her versatile hybrid attack and Mimic ability. Gallicus rounded out the team in the backline, acting as a taunt tank to draw hits away from key attackers. The overall composition was built to synergize with the rule sets, especially maximizing value from Equalizer and Up to Eleven by balancing durability and offensive output.
On the other side, the opponent selected Bella Ratajowlski as their summoner and deployed Halfling Refugee, Nimbledook Explorer, Moxian Rebel, Harbinger of Chaos, Olivia the Brook, and Meriput Magician in that order. While the card choices and lineup mirrored mine in structure and intention—balancing frontline defense, support, and hybrid damage—it appeared their cards were of a lower level, which gave me a significant advantage in stats and abilities. Despite the similarity in tactical planning and positioning, I had a strong expectation of victory due to the level gap and my optimized use of synergy between units and summoner.
If the opponent had used a max-level version of their cards particularly Olivia the Brook it might have been much more difficult for me to secure the win, as those higher level abilities could have turned the tide. I also noticed that their Nimbledook Explorer managed to copy all the same abilities as mine, which made it tougher to eliminate and slowed down my progress in the battle. However, I still held a significant advantage since I had more surviving cards in play, ultimately leading to my victory. This season, I’ve observed that many players are using lower level cards more frequently, likely due to changes in the rental market or shifting strategies. This trend has worked in my favor, making it easier to climb the ranks and increase my rating. It often comes down to rental costs when prices soar, players tend to rely on cheaper, lower-level cards just to stay competitive.
A Big Thanks! For supporting me, being here, and coming this far. I hope this strategy assists you with some of your battles with these rule sets in modern format conclave and rebellion sets.
I haven’t written a blog in the past two weeks, but I’m hoping to still catch up on the latest Splinterlands updates and join in on the ongoing discussions.
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Credits:
Edited the Design photo Splinterlands Modern League using PicsArt
Screenshot In-game splinterlands
Thanks for sharing! - @zallin
