Splinterlands Weekly challenge: Dragons and how I play them.

Hi all,

Welcome to another weekly Splinterlands challenge. This week we will talk about DRAGONS. I hope that you are excited as I am. And yes, we can choose any card we want. Dragon cards are a bit pricey and that is a reason why I don't play Dragons often. I use only a few Dragon cards to tweak other Splinters. That way I can be more flexible and I don't have to invest a lot of money to cover every Splinter.

Dragons are amazing because you can combine them with any other Splinter and cover for some weaknesses that Splinter could have. For example, you need a cheap tank, Gloridax Soldier is your card. Do you need to deal with annoying Flesh Golem and his heal? Try Serpentine Mystic. And so on. One such card that I often use is Daria Dragonscale (it sounds like a Marvel superhero 😎).

Why I like Daria Dragonscale?

I am absolutely amazed by the flexibility of Dragon cards and Daria Dragoncale is no exception. My favorite Splinter is Water and it is no secret that this is because of the Magic attack. But Dragon Splinter, in this case, Dragon summoner Daria Dragonscale can add another extra dimension and unexpected problems to your opponent.

		Daria Dragonscalse is an epic summoner that belongs to the Dragon Splinter. Her ability is +1 attack to all melee monsters. While playing with Daria you can summon level 2 common monsters.

Daria Dragonscale and other Dragon summoner cons

The big con of Dragon summoners is the mana cost of the cards. Daria Dragonscale costs one more mana than Fire Splinter summoner Malric Inferno while they have the same ability, +1 attack to melee monsters. Other summoners do have an even greater mana cost, like Delwyn Dragonscale. But as I already said, you can play some unexpected setups, like melee Water, magic Death, and so on...It is not recommended to play these summoners with low mana caps (like 12 mana cap) because in that situation every mana can be difference victory and defeat.

Let me show what I am talking about in my battle with Daria Dragonscale and Water Splinter. You can see the full game here.

The Battle

Ruleset
Weak Magic: Magic attacks hit armor before reducing Health.
Mana Cap: 27

Bellow, you can see the team that I have chosen for this battle.

For my tank, I chose Sea Monster. Amazing attack boosted with my summoner Daria Dragonscale and then brought down by enemy summoner, Zintar Mortalis. My other monsters are all low on health so I put Crustacean King in the second spot. That way I wanted to buy some time for my other minions to do the damage. On the third spot, I used Sabre Shark where I counted on 3 attack, but Zintar did his job. My plan was to put some pressure on the opponent's back line. As my Range attack monster, I chose Axemaster because of his ability to attack 2 times. Ice Pixie was just a filler as I got 2 mana left. Furious chicken is on the last spot as a defense from "Sneak" attack.

What I could do better
Ranged monsters can not attack from the first position. This game was not that close but we should optimize everything we can. It would be probably better if I switched places of Ice Pixie and Axemaster. On the other hand, Ice Pixie's Flying ability helped her to dodge Sand Worm attack. Maybe after all that was a good call?

Why I picked those monsters?

		This card is really THE monster. Four attacks is an amazing attack and when boosted by the summoner, it just rips through enemy lines like through butter. On top of that 9 health and heal ability guarantees for survivability.
		When paired with Sea Monster what you get is monstrous heal. It makes Sea Monster even tougher to kill. Scary right?
		Decent attack minion which purpose is to attack opponents backline. When you consider what you are getting for 3 mana its awesome cards, of course, when buffed by Daria Dragonscale.
		An amazing damage dealer. His ability enables him to attack 2 times which means 4 damage in a single turn. Speed and health are not bad either, so overall good card.
		Ice Pixie was just a filler but her "Flying" ability proved helpful once again. Ice Pixie successfully dodged an attack from Sand Worm and did some damage. Not bad for a 2 mana monster.
		If you have a free spot, use your Furious Chicken. One hit could be the difference between victory or defeat. Don't forget about your chicken. A must-have card.

Daria Dragonscale overview

I call this setup THE BIG DAMAGE. I like to play Daria with Water and Life Splinter as she boosts my attack and my opponents do not expect that. It is scary to see 3 or 4 attack Sneak monsters in the enemy team and Dragon summoner can enable that for you. The next thing that I will try will be Daria + Death Splinter and maybe you should do the same.

Summary

When I saw Zintar on the other side I was disappointed because there was no BIG attack for me. But my Dragon summoner did her job and restored my original attack. I don't believe I would win without Dragon's help in this game. It was not a close match, but hey, a win is a win. I hope that this challenge will awake creativity in your upcoming battles as it did in mine.

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HAVE FUN AND SEE YOU ON THE BATTLEFIELD