Byzantine Kitty: Don't come for her when she's angry

She's cute, she's fluffy, but the Byzantine Kitty is a dragon through and through...you don't come for her on the battlefield.

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You don't come for a dragon when he's angry. That's me paraphrasing King Lear's line in the first act of Shakespeare's King Lear.

And when it comes to Splinterlands' list of Dragon Summoners, the Byzantine Kitty is one summoner you don't want to get caught in crosshairs of. Because while this cute dragon-kitty mix may seem nice and fluffy on the screen, she is fast, her sharp claws never miss a target, and she has nine lives.

How does she fare in battle? Let's find out in my entry for this week's SHARE YOUR BATTLE WEEKLY CHALLENGE over at Splinterlands.

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Dragons: Byzantine Kitty

Dragon summoners are a versatile group in the Splinterlands. Not only do they play nice with all the splinters, so you can pair them with any group of cards, but the 13 Dragon summoners also provide monsters a wide range of buffs and debuffs to build exciting team lineups and strategies.

One of these summoners is the Byzantine Kitty. Considered to be one of the strongest summoners in the Dragon splinter, and arguably across all the Splinters, the Byzantine Kitty may appear cute and fluffy on the screen but can be a deadly foe on the battlefield.

As a 7-mana summoner, the Byzantine Kitty gives all friendly monsters a +2 speed buff and the True Strike ability, plus it is also the only summoner with the Tank Heal ability.

Thus, not only will monsters summoned by the Byzantine Kitty be faster, but they will also never miss a target even if the enemy team has the Blind ability active. And what's most important is that the monster in the first position will always restore 1/3 of their health at the beginning of each round, even if that monster is stunned or even during battle conditions where all abilities are inactive such as during the Back to Basics ruleset.

Of course, using the Byzantine Kitty as a summoner has a downside—it doesn't boost its team's attack power. Thus, unless you use monsters that can increase attack power or monsters that already have high attack points, to begin with, you run the risk of wasting your speed advantage. After all, what good is speed or accuracy if you don't have the power to eliminate the enemy?

With that in mind, let's see the Byzantine Kitty in action.

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The Battle

For this battle, the gameplay was limited by the Earthquake and Broken Arrows ruleset and a 44 mana cap with all splinters except Death active.

Given the battle conditions, I decided to build a team with Flying monsters to avoid damage from the Earthquake. Thus, I used the Byzantine Kitty as summoner with the Fire Splinter. I then chose the Living Lava as my main tank, followed by Elemental Phoenix, Dragon Jumper, Fiendish Harpy, Spirit Miner, and Naga Fire Wizard to protect the backline.

With this lineup, the Elemental Phoenix with his blast, and the Dragon Jumper and Fiendish Harpy with their Opportunity ability, serve as my main attackers. They are supported by the Living Lava's Rust ability, so they can hit monsters directly, and the Spirit Miner's +1 speed boost, which together with the Byzantine Kitty means an overall +3 speed boost to the entire team.

The mix of Flying monsters and monsters with Shield also limits the effects of the Earthquake on my team. This way, the Flying monsters will remain unaffected by the Earthquake, while the monsters with the Shield ability will experience only minimal damage.

The opponent, on the other hand, chose the Scarred Llama Mage as summoner with the Flesh Golem, Prismatic Energy, Sand Worm, Khmer Princess, Gelatinous Cube, and Spirit Shaman for his team.

Here are the battle lineups after the buffs are applied.

Based on this lineup, it seems that the opponent's main strategy is to force Fatigue to set in so that the Gelatinous Cube's Last Stand can outlast everyone late in the fight. Meanwhile, the Flesh Golem and Prismatic Energy will protect the opponent's team against magic attacks in the early rounds. Finally, the Khmer Princess' Tank Heal and Triage, which will restore the health of both the tank and backline monsters, will prolong their survival.

The opponent's strategy is a sound one. In fact, by the end of Round 4, with the Gelatinous Cube's Last Stand taking effect, it looked like the battle will go into Fatigue, where Gelatinous Cube is likely to win.

After all, with the elimination of the Spirit Shaman in Round 4, the Gelatinous Cube's life was increased to 34 points. Thus, I will need 13 damage points every round in order to neutralize the 11 or 12 heal points that the Cube's Self-heal ability will restore every round.

This is a problem because with only the Elemental Phoenix, Dragon Jumper, and Fiendish Harpy left on my team, my total attack damage was only 8 points (the Elemental Phoenix's damage is reduced due to the Void ability).

How did my team overcome the Gelatinous Cube's overwhelming life points?

It's another dragon to the rescue, specifically, the Dragon Jumper. By Round 5, the Dragon Jumper's Stun ability came into play, which prevented the Gelatinous Cube's Self-heal. Thus, my three remaining Flying monsters were able to chip away at the Gelatinous Cube's 34 life points over the next three rounds, handing me the win in Round 8.

Here is a link to this battle.

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Dragons flying about

Because most Dragon monsters in the Splinterlands possess the Flying ability, they are a good choice when faced with the Earthquake ruleset. Paired with the Byzantine Kitty's +2 speed and you have a lineup that is both difficult to hit and immune to the ruleset's negative effects.

However, the Byzantine Kitty was not the only Dragon that played a key role in the fight. It was the Dragon Jumper's stun, which prevented the Gelatinous Cube's self-heal that gave the team the edge it needed to win.

After all, when it comes to rulesets like Earthquake where monsters incur damage every round, the Gelatinous Cube is a must. However, if it is not available, there are other choices—prevent the Gelatinous Cube's self-healing or outlast him at his own game. In this battle, dragon monsters through the Dragon Jumper and the Byzantine Kitty achieved both.

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