Playing with Dragons (Splinterlands Weekly Challenge)

STRATEGY TIME

MATCH DETAILS

This match was fought with an Odd Ones Out ruleset. The mana cap to build our team is 23, and we can only use Life and Dragon Splinters in this match.

MY LINEUP AND TEAM PLACEMENT

Summoner

First position

Second position

| :------------------:|:------------------:|:--------------------:| https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/reward/Kretch%20Tallevor_lv3.png| https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/untamed/Gloridax%20Guardian_lv3.png| https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/untamed/War%20Chaang_lv2.png|

Third position

Fourth position

| :------------------:|:--------------------:| https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/dice/Grenadier_lv2.png| https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/beta/Air%20Elemental_lv2.png|

Summoner: Kretch Tallevor Kretch is one of my favorite Summoners. Despite being a Summoner without a buff, I love the flexibility it gives for my own gameplay. A huge boost is it is one of the cheapest Summoners to level up for a Max Silver deck.

Position 1: Gloridax Guardian I put Gloridax Soldier in the first position because it is the most decent tank that I have available. With only two Splinters available and Odd Ones Out ruleset in this match, my options were quite limited.

Position 2: War Chaang Since the options in this match are quite limited, I wanted to utilize a Monster that has a ranged attack and can be a decent tank once it moves up in the first position. For that, War Chaang is the most suitable monster. With 9 health, 1 ranged attack, and 2 melee attack, War Chaang fits well into the said description.

Position 3: Grenadier Now for the next monsters, my main focus is to have Ranged monsters that can deal decent damage. I chose Grenadier for the third position because of its cheap mana cost, and 2 ranged attack. I did not take Oppress into consider because it is usually negligible in Bronze League.

Position 4: Air Elemental Lastly, we have Air Elemental. As mentioned earlier, my main focus in the backline is to have monsters that can deal decent ranged attack damage. Air Elemental is perfect for that. The reason why I put Air Elemental in the last position and not Grenadier is because of the significantly higher speed. At Bronze League, Air Elemental has one of the highest base speed. This means that most sneak monsters have a chance of missing against Air Elemental.

MATCH RESULTS AND VERDICT

Before we watch this battle, let us provide some context first. This match occurred in Splinterlands Bronze Blunderbuss tournament, with Bronze League rules and No Legendaries ruleset. This is also an additional challenge (and sometimes an advantage) due to the limited cards that can be used.

Now that we have context for the match, let us watch Kretch in action!

Match replay link

It is tough to decide on first glance who will win. The most important part here is ir Elemental should have dealt significant damage to Silvershield Paladin before it gets killed by Feral Spirit. If it dies before putting the Paladin in low health, it might put us at a disadvantage because of Paladin's Shield ability and heal from Divine Healer.

Luckily, Silvershield Paladin died at Round 3, moving Divine Healer up front. After that, Air Elemental only received 1 damage from Feral Spirit, letting Air Elemental survive the entire match. This match concluded on Round 6, with all the monsters from my side surviving, thanks to Air Elemental's 3 damage, and Gloridax Guardian's shield ability.

Match Conclusion

It was extremely important for me to win this match. Prior to getting the results of this match, I was performing poorly on this tournament. Putting me at risk of not breaking even with my Tournament Entry fee. That is why I was so glad when I won this match, and with Kretch at that.

Despite not getting a lot of SPS from this Tournament, I still enjoyed the experience and the learnings from it. It has also taught me to become more flexible in my strategies, and with the rulesets at hand.

DRAGON SPLINTER VERDICT

I LOVE PLAYING DRAGON SPLINTERS. The first Summoner that I have leveled up is Kretch, so that says a lot. What I love the most with Dragon Splinters is how easy it is to use and pair with other Splinters. When playing with Dragons, it always feels like the possibilities are endless. Get a couple of good neutral and dragon monsters, then combine it with other Splinters, your team is already deadly.

In the future, I am looking to buy more cards to improve my Dragon deck (I see you Dragon Spirit and Naga Assassin). This simply means that I will be spamming my Dragon stack for a long long time. Most of the changes in my Dragon strategies will likely be in pairing with different Splinters and to account for possible synergies when Chaos Legion packs are released. I'm looking forward to that!

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed this match. In case you missed the previous replay link, click HERE to watch KRETCH TALLEVOR in action.

CREDITS

Splinterlands for the game-related images, game screenshots, and lore.
chrisroberts for the well-written and fun to read lore across Splinterlands
flauwy for the nice-looking dividers
Cover photo made in Canva

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