How Can We Be Top 200 in Axie Infinity and Earn AXS Tokens?
It all boils down to understanding the nuances of the game. Similar to buying a watermelon, we can get away with picking the heaviest one available and praying that it is ripe and juicy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. One thing is for sure, we know for a fact that the watermelon isn’t underweight. The more information we know of sweet juicy watermelons, the more accurate we become at picking them.
It isn’t necessarily the case that we get perfect watermelons all the time, but it eliminates many different factors which may affect the undesired outcome.
For starters, we want to identify the watermelon’s field spot. This is the area where the watermelon was resting on the ground. If the spot is pale white, the watermelon isn’t ripe. What we want is for the spot to be creamy yellowish which indicates that the watermelon is ripe. Next, we want to tap the watermelon with our knuckles. If it is a dull thud, it is a sign that the flesh of the watermelon is obnoxiously soft or/and it lacks juice. What we want is to hear a hollow, drum-like ring. That is a sign of a healthy juicy watermelon. The watermelon needs to be heavy, coupled with a creamy yellowish field spot and produces a hollow sound. This is how we get ourselves a winner.
Details matter.
Picking the right team in Axie Infinity is similar to having the knowledge that we need to buy a heavier watermelon over a lighter one. This information is beneficial to the extent that it will propel us forward, probably in the Top 2000 range. However, in order to get better likewise to picking a healthy juicy watermelon, we need to know more specific aspects to have a better understanding of what will happen when we encounter certain situations. Here are some of the scenarios we need to be well-acquainted with to dramatically improve our gameplay:
Backdoor Cards
All skills are targeted at the closest enemy Axie. If the enemy positions their Plant Axie at the front, you cannot choose to attack the Bird Axie at the back until you have destroyed the front Plant Axie. In that case, there is no need for the enemy to cast any high defensive shield cards on his back Axies, until you have destroyed his front Plant Axie. Your attacks are relatively predictable. However if any of your Axie has a backdoor card, it allows your attack to be targeted at the Axies behind the front Axie. This way, the opponent has to guess when you’ll be backdooring him.
You can choose not to backdoor him and make him waste energy by casting unnecessary shields on his back Axies.
Similarly, if you’re against an opponent who has a backdoor card, you’ll need to take note of his energy count. If he only has 2 energy, chances are he wouldn’t be backdooring you as there isn’t sufficient damage to sweep off your back Axies. However, if he has 4 energy and has yet to use a single move on his Axie with a backdoor card, you can anticipate his upcoming move to backdoor your back Axies. The list of backdoor cards include: Little Owl (Dark Swoop), Tri Spikes (Spike Throw), Shrimp (Chitin Jump), Wing Horn (Smart Shot), Toothless Bite (Sneaky Raid), Perch (Spinal Tap), Gerbil (Gerbil Jump), Turnip (Turnip Rocket), Ant (Chemical Warfare) and Watermelon (Seed Bullet).
Debuffs (Fear, Stun and Sleep)
If the enemy has casted the Fear debuff on your Axie, your affected Axie’s next attack will miss. It isn’t a probability thing, you’ll definitely miss. This means that not only do you have to waste 1 energy to get rid of the Fear, you’ll also need to waste 1 card to get rid of it too. This is why top players tend to replace some of their high damage mouth cards with Cute Bunny (Terror Chomp). Not only does it deal 120 damage and give 30 shield, Cute Bunny applies the Fear effect for two turns. This means that the opponent will miss twice. If he only has two energy with no zero cost cards, he’ll be doing nothing on that round.
The list of Fear debuff cards include: Balloon (Balloon Pop), Cute Bunny (Terror Chomp) and Caterpillars (Grub Surprise).
If the enemy has casted the Stun debuff on your Axie, your Axie’s next attack will miss. It is similar to Fear. However, it is also important to note that if your Axie has been stunned, the next incoming attack will ignore shield. In the event that your Axie has 50 HP and you have casted 220 shield on yourself, the enemy can simply cut through your shield by casting Chomp (Tiny Turtle) followed by an attack that is 50 or more damage.
If you’re able to foresee the incoming Stun, it would be a wiser option to sacrifice that Axie and save up your energy for your remaining Axies.
The other debuff that allows the incoming attack to ignore shield is Sleep. If a Bird casts Doubletalk (Soothing Song) which puts you to sleep, his next attack will cut through your shield. In the event that your Plant Axie is left with 180 HP and you shield it up with 1 Pumpkin to give yourself an additional 110 Shield, a Bird can simply cast a 2-card combo of Doubletalk (80 Dmg) + (Any Card That Deals 100 Damage or More) to annihilate your Plant Axie regardless of how much shield it has. If you do not take the Stun debuff into consideration, you’ll be wasting plenty of unnecessary energy and cards to protect your Axies. Sometimes having that one or two energy might be what you need to turn the game around. It is not a coincidence that Kobe Bryant titled his show — Detail. Also, do you know he can narrate as well as or even better than Morgan Freeman?
