[krpeters]

I had another look at the replay. Definitely no elixir of life involved. It occurs during the spell phase. My mages are spamming Opposition repeatedly, then the red "85" shows up and he is left with 26 hit points. Then the troop phase commences and and I get lucky hits for another 8, 16, 11, and he dies. This is the Dominion RNG at its finest -- no damage at all for 10 rounds, and then all the good hits (a failed save & three awesome melee attacks) clustered together.

Because opposition can affect inanimate troops, it doesn't use the soul slay mechanic (999 damage). It looks like the mechanic it uses only does damage equal to the starting HP.