Breathing Fire and the Smell of Death

The theme for this week's Splinterlands Share Your Battle Event has been posted and it's another interesting one. The theme for the week is Dragons!

I am expecting to see a lot of interesting battles and matches now because Dragons in the game are quite versatile and flexible like their tails. They are also unique and can be considered superior to your average Splinter monster.

There is only one Dragon card I own aside from the usable summoner. I rarely use it because I have put it up for lease and maybe it can see the battlefield under my command now, who knows, right?

As soon as I read about the battled theme this week, I picked up my phone and went ahead and started a battle. I was itching to try it because as I said, I rarely use dragons in my battles and I thought that doing this challenge will somehow make me appreciate the dragons in the game.

The Battle

As I started the matchmaking, the battle was decided to have a 22 mana cap and the rule sets are not stated because, yes, I'm on the starting rank again this week because the season had just ended.

The mana cap is at the mid-range and I opted to use the available Dragon Summoner on my deck.

Drake of Arnak is not related to Drake the rapper as far as I know. Instead of rapping with words, Drake of Arnak is known for wrapping his knuckles with the spiritual fire of the ancient world.

With a moderate 4 mana requirement, Drake of Arnak provides an armor buff to the monsters it summons. With this particular game, I chose the Death Splinters to accompany me with the mission. Mid-range mana cap is the perfect setting for Death Splinters, at least in my opinion.

I tagged the Cursed Windeku to lead the guys into battle.

With 9 HP, it's already sturdy and with Drake's armor buff, this vengeful tank is even harder to hit. With 6 mana points, it's a really useful tank because it also carries the ability of Thorns that will hit back a melee attacker that attacks it. Its attack is decent at 2 melee points too, and just like the wind, it's pretty fast too with 3-speed points.

The second position is filled up by Carrion Shade.

I learned to use this monster from some previous event too. I realized that it is really good support for the tank. It has also a fair speed-attack combination despite needing only 1 mana. With the additional armor from the Drake of Arnak, Carrion Shade becomes a little more of a threat than just a filler.

In the third position, I placed the Skeleton Assassin.

To start the lineup for the main attackers, Skeleton Assassin is a good monster to hit fast. It has 4-speed points and just 1 melee attack point. Although it doesn't hit that hard, its attack sneaks on the opponent because it literally has an ability of Sneak, which hits the backliner of the opponent's lineup. They will surely be caught off guard with that.

Next in line is the Life Sapper.

A damage dealer using a magic attack to have armor from the Drake? Why not? The Life Sapper becomes a little bit invincible as it sucks the life from the opponent's monsters at its hit.

To complete the lineup, Silent Sha-VI guards the rear.

Copying the good stuff from the Skeleton Assassin, Silent Sha-VI is a fair choice for a rear-guard because it boasts a high 5 HP. With the additional armor from Drake of Arnak, this menace became even more frightening.

The wheels began turning and the dice has spoken and the enemy has been chosen.

It's just my luck because just from the summoner's abilities, we totally negated each other. The other side has plus 1 melee attack which will be nullified by Drake of Arnak's plus 1 armor. But that's not all, the opponent chose Fire Splinters against my Death Splinters. Fire is a fierce opponent, but you know what kills fire? Death.

Round 1

The summoners drew their magic circles and with a short incantation, the monsters appeared in front of them. Each of us was able to bring five monsters to the fight. Going by sheer speed, my monsters were able to land the initial blows.

Round 2

After the first round, it became evident to both of us that the advantage of my lineup was clear. My monsters were able to take down two monsters from the opposing side. They took out the archer from the back and the decoy tank in front. The barrage of attacks continued.

Round 3

The second round ended with the opponent getting back at me and trying to level the field. It was able to take out the Carrion Shade from inside my defense. And for us, it was a positive thing too. The Carrion Shade did its job and it's a sacrifice that will not be in vain.

Round 4

The opponent was able to turn its luck around and he was finally able to catch up to my lead. We now stood on the battlefield with 3 monsters each. They took out my Silent Sha-VI but it was a calculated risk. With it covering my rear, the Life Sapper was able to take in more HP than it would ever need.

Round 5

The battle was finished in four rounds. The 5th round was just my remaining monsters openly mocking the corpses of the fallen. The fire warrior from the enemy watch the world turn as its head rolled on the ground.

Drake of Arnak stares down the enemy summoner as it kicks the poor lady into the pit despair as it was screaming "This is Sparta..." or not, "Another One..." Okay that's not Drake. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was a cry of victory. I can't translate it directly, I don't speak Dragons.

If you want to see the full battle with your own eyes, you can watch the short video I recorded here:

My strategy worked out like a charm mainly because the opponent chose to go with Fire Splinters. Their specialty of melee attacks was negated by Drake of Arnak's armor buff.

Given the same set of battle rules, I think that I'd do pretty much the same thing again.

It works.