Alright guys we got burned yesterday; It's time to sit and soak here: Today is the Water Splinter
As usual, we'll talk about my opinions, thus far, on playing with the CL Cards, how I feel about them in both a Modern and Wild context as well as some, small, opinions on the lore and art; It's time for Water, who may have had the biggest change up in its playstyle, Kelya changes Water's Melee and Ranged into a far more viable team, and CL brings some absolutely monstrous Attackers and Tanks to the table.
Consider these tiny little analysis pieces on these CL cards and how I think they'll do in each meta.
"Super Soaker"
LEGENDARIES
TORRENT FIEND | Chaos Legion | Legendary
Finding Nemo | Ooh, so pre- DEAD | 1 Fish 2 Fish, Dead Fish Doom Fish | Dis how a fish drink Water
- But he's not actually that squishy: Pair him with Kelya and he now has 1 Armor, 1 Melee, 3 Speed, and 1 Health, pretty nice. He also pairs wonderfully, I mean wonderfully with Lir
- You'll love him in Divine Shield, Armored, and Equalizer anywhere where you can increase the tankiness of this 0 Mana card, he's a great play. He's also solid as a throwaway in Opportunity
- Torrent Fiend is a great generalist card, but by being a 0 Mana, he's not specifically useful in any situation over another: If you have the space, you should put him in.
Torrent Fish is such a pretty card, seriously, it's a gorgeous, alluring, eerie... thing. It kind of makes you want to get close to it...
Seriously though, he's got some really cool art, with awesome glow across his body that makes him straight menacing. Give him 3 Melee guys; Let him punch things.
RIVER HELLONDALE | Chaos Legion | Legendary
Like a River, Like a River | Step Aside Legolas | One does not simply walk in Praetoria
- River is universally powerful in Water; Lir, Alric, and Kelya all love him, and Bortus, Xia, and Selacia all are at least fairly useful with him as well. He's a high mana card you can fit in almost any team, once leveled.
- River's resurrect makes him extremely powerful with cards like Alvar and Wavesmith, where he will resurrect an ally and remove poison, and give them back their initial armor, making some cards an absolute nightmare to face.
- He's especially good in Armored, where he ignores Armor Equalizer, where he becomes a tank, Super Sneak and Melee Attacks from Anywhere where he can inspire, and even works nicely in Poison, where he can resurrect your Healer/Cleanser before he dies, allowing you to heal/cleanse infinitely.
River, I think, is supposed to be a pretty boy, but the angle is not exactly telling; still, I love the dark olive complexion paired with that light orange hair and the blue of the card, it makes him look like a very striking, Legendary card. He doesn't do much melee himself; but he helps his allies quite nicely, like another certain elf.
BAAKJIRA | Chaos Legion Air Drop | Legendary
Wailord | WHALE then | B-b-b-baka! | Dis ALSO how a fish drink Water
- This monstrosity is Water's answer to anti-magic: You thought you were going to blitz through Kelya's armor and eat through them with your Earth composition? WRONG THINK AGAIN FOOL.
- This thing is a beast in Fog of War, Poison, Earthquake, Cut Arrows, No Melee. Honestly, really anywhere because of its low mana cost: The only time this guy is a little questionable is in Equalizer rounds. Do you really want to fight an army of Tarsa low mana cards with 11 HP? I don't.
- I'm still sad I didn't get this card from an airdrop, we finally have a Whale card though and it's exciting.
Whale then, you want my opinion on the art? WHALE I guess it's pretty amazing, and comes off as a little ghostly; but I would've loved if Baakjira were either more skeletal, true to its origins, or if it were more ghostly: I also think it could've possibly been a Death card, alas, wishful thinking. Bakekujira are pretty cool mythos to utilize in-game, and I hope we see more inspiration from these mythos, as they have some pretty radical characters.
You seriously thought I wasn't going to use that gif in here when you saw BAAK(a)JIRA? Ha, baka.
EPICS
NERISSA TRIDAWN | Chaos Legion | Epic
Olympic Gold Medalist | Poseidon Gender Swap | Cracks Nuts Between her Biceps | Flex on em
- Nerissa Tridawn is a very powerful pick for the obvious: Alric and Delwyn, but due to her very high health and purely stat focus; she is a great pick for Kitty as well.
- She's a more powerful, simpler version of Oshannus: No Abilities, more stats. Does this make her less specialized and powerful? Certainly, but it also offers a more generally powerful choice for non-magic comps, etc.
- She works as an excellent pair with Oshannus, with Oshannus sitting in the front, absorbing a lot of magic damage, and Nerissa holding down the backline from Sneak attackers.
- This is a card you wanna use in a few different rulesets: No Abilities is her shining area, where her pure stat focus makes her an insanely powerful pick. Likewise, Reverse Speed makes her particularly lethal at lower levels. Leveled, well, 5 Magic is absolutely insane.
She's ripped. Like, this is Djinn Apprentice and Ifrit Rising's personal trainer, whatever muscle magic they're learning, she invented it. Her muscles are so sharp you'll be bleeding if you stare at this art for too long.
WAVE BROOD | Chaos Legion | Epic
Brooding Intensifies | Hobbies: Spoken Word, Sulking in Corners | Played the Flood in Noah's Ark
- Wave Brood doesn't exactly synergize with any Summoner in particular, but benefits from Bortus, Kelya, and Lir. His real synergy comes from his relationship with Kelp Initiate and Angelic Mandarin and Armor Repair cards, such as Tortisian Fighter and Scavo Hireling.
- He's a great backline, frontline, or all around just manipulator of damage. He gets Void later on, which clears up his weakness to magic, and when paired with Bortus, can be an inescapable magic blackhole for magic spammers. Ooh, sorry guys.
- Favorite Cards to pair with him: Kelp Initiate, Angelic Mandarin, Scavo Hireling, Venari Wavesmith, and Tortisian Fighter
- Great in Blast Rulesets, you can manipulate the blast to hit only Void, or Shield monsters and mitigate it entirely, also works nicely in No Melee, but can really be used anywhere where mana allows. Not as useful in Fog of War.
This is the most fun Art on a card in all of Chaos Legion, and possibly all of Splinterlands: It's just fun. Look at that little almost toy like boat on him, this guy is MASSIVE, he IS a whole ass lake. He manages to mix a myriad of emotions/experiences: It's humorous, it's absolutely cool, it's pretty elegant, and visually pretty, all in a single composition that is very successful.
Also, he big.
IGOR DARKSPEAR | Chaos Legion | Epic
- Igor pairs best with Kelya and Lir in my humble opinion, and moreso Kelya, due to their lower mana requirements.
- +1 Speed and +1 Armor on a 2 Mana monster with 4 Health and 3 Speed at BASE LEVEL is a great tank for 2 Mana, and a chunky body to get through that deals damage. Add in Stun and an additional ranged attack, and we start to have a fierce card for 2 mana.
- Many people are sleeping on Stun: It is likely one of the best abilities in the game, and it's on a 2 mana ranged card with decent speed. You want this.
- Igor shines best, well, everywhere. With Kelya, Wavesmith, or Lir, he has enough Armor and health to last a decent amount of time (for the mana) in Earthquake, and he's an absolutely excellent addition to low mana Water, and for a more offensive 2 Mana card.
Igor is Aquaman but better, he's not as ripped as all those Muscle Magic boys and girls from before, but you know, without Magic you can only get SO buff. Throwing Spears isn't a difficult enough task in the Splinterlands universe, you'd best be reading books and practicing the occult to get muscles like THAT. Sorry Igor.
RARES
RIVER NYMPH | Chaos Legion | Rare
Disney | Wholesome Adorable | Reminds me of a SUPER specific cartoon, comment if you know idk the name.
- Pairs excellently with Delwyn and Alric but is a solid low mana magic pick for other summoners as well, my favorite use for her is in Poison rulesets as is, though, once she gets Amplify, she's a monster with Lir
- She has a lot of competition in 'normal' matchups in Venari Wavesmith and Ice Pixie, which may have you seeing her a lot less in low leagues, but in higher leagues, expect to see her often.
- Her low speed, Cleanse, and magic make her great in Reverse Speed, Poison, Equalizer, Little League, and No Melee
I love her tonal coloring, this card is very soft and smooth, designed similarly to Xenith Archer, and I love the visual appeal of them both. Gosh is she so adorable. I love her tendrils of hair as well. I'm not huge on the outfit, but that's okay; This one is a cuteness overload.
ANGELIC MANDARIN | Chaos Legion | Rare
THIS ISNT A MANDARIN | Okay maybe it is | But THIS is a Mandarin:
- He doesn't have a lot of synergy with any specific Summoner, but, like Wave Brood, has great synergy with the rest of his team
- With Triage, suddenly this monster is an excellent backline support, for Wave Brood, Axe Masters, Deeplurkers, and many, many more.
- Divine Shield, later on, paired with the Armor bonus of Kelya or Lir, can make this monster incredibly tanky.
- Use him in Poison, or really, any composition once he gains Triage.
He looks kind of Frog-ish, but he also perfectly nails the MAndarin Fish that he's based off of, love it. He's pretty and reminds me of the decorative effects of a Monarch Butterfly or erm... you know. A Mandarin Fish.
DIEMONSHARK | Chaos Legion | Rare
It's not enough to be a Demon | DIEMONSHARKKKKK | Add Sabre and it's SHARKNADO
- Like the other tanks for Splinters; this tank is very clearly made for Kelya, and by extension, Lir He benefits from high speed and armor.
- Pairs amazingly with Scavo Hireling: If they don't kill your hireling, and they don't have enough magic damage, you're in trouble.
- Use him in Stampede, No Abilities or Lost Magic and watch him have an absolute FEAST.
His art is pretty cool, though not very shark-like. Bonus points though because He also gets his picture pose from Kiss:
MERDAALI GUARDIAN | Chaos Legion | Rare
Ariel looks a little strange | What IS she? | She guards by healing and repairing armor
- She gets more survivability from Kelya, but can really be paired with any summoner to great effect. Put her with Kitty for double heals, or triple if you wanna use Crustacean King. WHY STOP THERE? Add Kelp Initiate, Sea Monster, and Angelic Mandarin! OVERHEAL.
- Play her in Poison/Earthquake where she will last one round longer than Crustacean King!
- This one doesn't have much: I think that Merdaali Crustacean King will be a great combo in WILD, where her Repair synergizes excellently with Crustacean King's Protect, and all for 6 Mana combined!
She has a very awkward/funky "Tail" with its extra fins, and extremely large size, but maybe it's just the angle of the art. I am quite fond of her otherwise, even her strange, cat-like face. She's a very interesting race/creature.
KELYA | Chaos Legion | Rare Summoner
She's ALSO a bully | She's got white hair | She's psychotic? | I like her!
- She really benefits everything and anything: You have enough Void Armor that magic doesn't really matter, and enough repair to back it up.
- Some favorites for Kelya: Scavo Hireling, Frost Lion, Legionnaire Alvar, Venari Wavesmith
- Kelya does have a few weaknesses: Do NOT use her in Poison or Reverse Speed, this is primarily because modern Water lacks the sustain and health for Poison, without Wood Nymph cleansing something like, say, Sea Monster. That being said, Kelya is a solid pick for almost every other situation, especially Earthquake
She's my favorite Summoner of Chaos Legion: That's right, not Tarsa, not Obsidian: Kelya. You got a problem with that?
COMMONS
KULU SWIMHUNTER
Keeping it COOLu | Fish Juggler Extraordinaire | Cthulhu Jr. | Fish Javelins?!
Again, love the art, the art has really stepped up in this recent expansion; I can see the amount of time and effort going into each piece, and each piece appears to be designed lovingly by a head artist, who creates a style for each monster. This one is an eerie, glowy, LoveCraftian vibe. I almost wish his background was black; and I'd love to see unique background art for cards in the future!
For now, see ya Kulu, I'll be using you more in a few days, when I can level you up to Gold >:D
CRUEL SETHROPOD | Chaos Legion | Common
No Ability Squad | The Roughest and Toughest | One Chunky Sethropod
- Great with Lir and Kelya (are you seeing a trend here?) He's a chunk of damage to get through, much like the Hill Giant in Earth, though Hill Giant takes the win here due to his pure health allowing him to tank magic and melee more effectively.
- Sethropod is a monster who looked at the metas of the game, saw everybody going Speed and Attack, and went, you know what? Nah. I'm gunna pick uh, Health. Armor. Health. Armor. This little shrimp can take a hit at all levels.
- Throw him in Little League, Melee Only, Lost Magic and really anything Low Mana, he's also quite good in Reverse Speed
I love this card, it fuses Shrimp aesthetics with a Lobster-like Crustacean, and then gives it a Lamprey mouth: My only disappointment: He doesn't get Life Leech! Gosh that would be a game changer for this little 3 Mana tank. Of course, then, he'd probably need to be a Rare card. Now that would be cruel.
FLYING SQUID | Chaos Legion | Common
Doesn't Actually Fly | Not Flying | Jumps out of the Water: again, DOES NOT FLY.
- He pairs excellently with Lir at low levels, and Kelya nearly all the time, as he gains Blind eventually and becomes a little redundant with Lir.
- Blind is an amazing, underrated ability and you're going to cry when somebody has Flying Squid / Giant Squid on their party with Kelya and something like Serpent of Eld up front.
- You'll see this squid in any mid-high mana battle with a melee focus for sure, and honestly, you should see him more frequently than that, he's a Fineas Rage for Water!
- Throw him into your Mid/High Mana battles, and use him in rulesets like Earthquake OH WAIT HE DOESN'T FLY. Moving on: Melee Only, Lost Magic, Odds, Poison he plays nicely in all of these rulesets due to his health.
It's a well draw squid, it's pretty, and the colors are pretty vibrant for a white squid; but he's a squid. That's it. Not the most exciting art. That's okay though it's a common. Sorry Squid boi, don't kill me in your self titled game.
DEEPLURKER | Chaos Legion | Common
Deep Lurker is undisputed champion of just sheer power and tankability. As if that wasn't enough, this absolute beast gets Demoralize and Poison. That's right, new Water card to join the Poison gang. I'm surprised he doesn't have Sneak instead of Opportunity, but I like it!
- Probably hands down, arguably the best Water card to be added purely off its own Merits; And then also one of the more powerful cards, when paired with Kelya, Demented Shark, and River Hellondale
- Get used to this thing, you're gunna see him almost as frequently as Serpentine Spy, and just as frequently as Tenyii Striker
- Reminds me, same rules apply here: Try using Deeplurker as a tank sometime in low mana, put a few 1 manas up front and watch him demolish before he hits slot 1.
- Don't use him in Opportunity or No Abilities, but he's a solid pick anywhere else, my favorites include Melee Only, Lost Magic, Fog of War, and Unprotected and, if you're leveled to Poison: Armored. That's right, he's one of only a handful of cards I'd recommend in BOTH Unprotected and Armored.
Deeplurker is the weirdest looking creature I have ever seen, and I absolutely love it. I LOVE these fantastical creatures that completely deviate away from living creatures and simply takes inspiration from them. They are WILD. You go Deeplurker, lurk in that deep.
He probably tastes kind of like Flounder. I skipped breakfast okay?!
FLYING SQUID | Chaos Legion | Common
Doesn't Actually Fly | Not Flying | Jumps out of the Water: again, DOES NOT FLY.
- He pairs excellently with Lir at low levels, and Kelya nearly all the time, as he gains Blind eventually and becomes a little redundant with Lir.
- Blind is an amazing, underrated ability and you're going to cry when somebody has Flying Squid / Giant Squid on their party with Kelya and something like Serpent of Eld up front.
- You'll see this squid in any mid-high mana battle with a melee focus for sure, and honestly, you should see him more frequently than that, he's a Fineas Rage for Water!
- Throw him into your Mid/High Mana battles, and use him in rulesets like Earthquake OH WAIT HE DOESN'T FLY. Moving on: Melee Only, Lost Magic, Odds, Poison he plays nicely in all of these rulesets due to his health.
It's a well draw squid, it's pretty, and the colors are pretty vibrant for a white squid; but he's a squid. That's it. Not the most exciting art. That's okay though it's a common. Sorry Squid boi, don't kill me in your self titled game.
Who's your favorite Water Chaos Legion card?
Let me know in the comments below!
My favorites are Deeplurker, River Hellondale, and the man, the legend, the Kraken Slayer: Hardy Stonefish. I also plan to get a Gold-Foil of Kelya and I'll pray for an Igor ASAP, for 10-20% Bonus DEC in any match!
Surpise Giveaway: One of you who comments will be receiving a copy of Hardy Stonefish, the greatest card in existence and a Flying Squid, who DOES NOT FLY, let's keep celebrating the upcoming release of the General Sale with these "surprise" giveaways!! Okay so they're not really a surprise if they're on EVERY one huh?
𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟 𝕌𝕡 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕊𝕡𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕨!
Wanna collect these and MANY more Water cards? Are you having this overwhelming feeling to buy ALL the cards Flooding over you? join Splinterlands and Get in on the Neutral cards while they're cheap, buy the Chaos Legion Packs for General Sale on January 17th! That's right TWO MORE DAYS
if you use my link, here:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=jakkal
I'll send you 100 DEC when you sign up and get a spellbook, (as long as you show up as referred) which should help you get started via renting! Also, feel free to message me, I can answer any questions, give tips, etc.