Here are my thoughts on the current modern league water summoners, what gaps there are, and what the legendary summoner might offer. Fair warning it is a long read.
All of this is speculation and I have not played the game for more than a year but I am quite invested in the game. This brings me to thinking about what the next summoners could be and possible abilities or bonuses they may have.
If the lineup for the summoner airdrops is the same as the legendary monsters, then we will first be looking at the Water Splinter.
The current summoners for the water splinter share some similarities. These can be glossed over as defensive abilities but can also be quite offensive when the circumstances play in their favor. Bortus against a magic team. Vera against flying monsters in earthquake mode. Lir Deepswimmer against ranged monsters and slower creatures. Similarly, Kelya with her additional speed and shield. Amongst all of them, I personally would say Kelya is the most offensive summoner as speed meta is strong and many of the chaos monsters already have plenty of speed.
Now, what is missing? Maybe that is not the right word but what educated guesses can we make? The track record of the water splinter back in alpha and beta was magic heavy. Yet, in the modern league it seems that they distanced themselves from magic summoners and favored counters. I don't believe this trend will continue but we likely won't see magic in the water splinter, too, at least for a time. I speculate the legendary summoner will have benefits to ranged.
First, I will tell you why it won't be melee. It is because of two monsters:
These two monsters gain Inspire very early on. Demented Shark has this ability right at level 1, while River Hellondale obtains this at level 2. This can all be played at the Silver league, where most players try to be to gain meaningful rewards This is quite powerful when paired with Kelya and the mass amount of melee monsters in chaos legion.
So, why ranged? Chaos legion offers to us 4 ranged monsters from the water team, which doesn't seem like much but when you factor in Promo, Rewards, Untamed, Dice, and Chaos Legion, encompassing both neutral and water, then it amounts to 20 ranged monsters. That is plenty to choose from.
What about the abilities? That is more difficult as there are so many combinations in the game. If you are asking for my opinion, I would like to see +1 ranged, shatter, and close range. This would make a ranged team overcome its weaknesses of shields and not being able to attack when put into the first position. I am aware that there are some monsters like Axemaster and Wave Brood who get close range but that is just a select few. This combination also is not too overpowered. They still must use an attack to break the initial shield and are left vulnerable to the overall slower (moderate speed) nature of the ranged monsters.
Again, this is just my thinking and hopeful guessing, which is in no way affiliated with any of the creators for the card. Please include any of your thoughts on the upcoming water summoner! I would love to hear from everyone. If you like this post and would want me to continue going through the rest of the splinters, then please upvote,rehive,and comment! :)
This concludes my speculations on a legendary water summoner, thank you for coming to my SPL Talk!
Referall Link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=ascenshin
Very insightful post!!
Thank you for saying that! I will have a post out for future splinters!
Great insight! While I was hoping Water's Legendary summoner would get a +1 Melee boost, I can see from your example above why that isn't likely to happen. Perhaps if River hadn't have rececived Inspire it would have been possible, but it seems like it would be too OP if they did that now. I do like your conjecture on the ranged focus and I think you have put together a pretty compelling 3 abilities that could make a ranged Legendary summoner quite valuable. Close range and Shatter help reduce ranged monsters' main weaknesses. I would definitely be interested in a Water Legendary summoner with those 2 abilities along with +1 ranged damage! (crossing fingers)
Thanks Synist3r! I appreciate your feedback! Many people were excited by the idea of a melee blue summoner. That was the speculation for kelya but already water is so melee powerful thanks to chaos monsters. I'd be surprised if they do. If so, then it will be extremely powerful! I may not rule it out entirely as legendary summoners like yodin have been OP but fair game.
You raise several interesting points for what might be in store for Water in the future. I also happen to agree that a Close Range water theme makes sense both conceptually (waves of water) and thematically.
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Yeah! That's the perfect way to think about it. Though the waves can be seen from far away, eventually they crash against the shore! I love it! 😁
I wish it will be attack! It will work so well with inspire :p but i think you are correct.
Haha, yeah! I know many people were excited by the idea of melee water summoners before Kelya was revealed. Hopefully it will come in later editions but at the moment melee would play too similarly to Kelya. Not to mention, the ridiculousness of inspiring monsters haha. Thanks for commenting! Stay tuned for my next one on the Life Splinter :)
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