VENARI CRYSTALSMITH : SAINT OF ATONEMENT

The images is not my original work, and was created using Midjourney Bot.

Certain Venari choose the path of pacifier. They held to philosophy that violence and war won't solve any strife. So instead raise their arm, they study in the arts of healing. They rather mend their wounded comrades in the backline, rather than desecrate their hand with the blood of their enemies. But their feeling for compassion have push them further to treat even those who have been captured as prisoners, knowing they are the enemies which have drawn blood upon their brothers and sister. The injured saw them as an angelic person. They feel unprecedented mercy as if they are under the Saint Of Atonement.

A ranged or magic card equipped with Tank Heal ability is one of my most favorite card to use. Not only they recover health, but they also dealing damage, which is analogous to having 2 cards acting all at once. Venari Crystalsmith not only own that advantage, but also have very versatile status parameter. Having 4 health enough to absorb several attack and 2 speed (which rise to 3 at next level) bring act initiative and accuracy. And costing only 4 mana means this card are very all-round to be used in low, mid, and even high mid-to-high mana cap. So lets jump in to dive deeper!

Pros & Cons

1. Venari Crystalsmith are basic card with complete traits. The card have moderate damage, health, and speed for just 4 mana cost. This make the card is very versatile to use in any battle conditions with mid mana cap.	1. Other than Tank Heal and Dispel ability, there are no other abilities which boost other cards in other terms. So basically, this card will be useless if the front row isn't a powerful Tanker.
2. Tank Heal ability is always a welcome addition to any formation. The 1 ranged damage combined with the heal benefit could in total grant a total benefit which is greater than a 2 or 3 damage output. In addition having 4 health itself, allow this card to be emergency Tanker, where it will heal itself while absorbing incoming damage.
3. Although the ranged damage looks decent at initial, the potential to grow to 3 ranged damage will in turn make this card a great Striker to your formation.
*Reference for Archetype term : Striker --> Superior Damage / Tanker --> Superior Health / Ninja --> Superior Speed / Support --> A Lot Number of Abilities.

Market Price Analysis

Venari Crystalsmith is very affordable in price since it comes as Chaos Legion rewards editions. Only in the pass months that price have surge up to around 200%! (good for you who've been hold them). This seemed to happened due to reduced total supply, but also maybe due to it no longer available as rewards as it replaced with Soulbound rewards.
The regular foil currently price at $0.03 and gold foil currently price at $1.12. The wide price gap between both seemed to be inherent since both foil shows quite sideways trend in the past months (although there are few minor fluctuation). Calculating the total bcx needed to maxed their level; the regular foil will require $3.45, while gold foil will require $24.64. The price difference are too much and it seemed the best and economical way to collect this card is to buy the regular one instead the gold one.

Progression Analysis

Venari Crystalsmith have a balanced growth which rotate between speed, health, and then damage. In addition to status growth, there is Dispel ability gained at Level 6. The speed growth at Level 2 is a powerful addition since it allow Venari to act earlier. It is better to trigger Tank Heal earlier rather than letting all attack come at once and crush your Tanker. Level 3 will grant health growth which is fair. Reaching Level 4, Venari will gain +1 ranged damage; and addition which shift this card role more into Striker card. At Level 5, the growth rotate back into speed growth. At this point Venari Crystalsmith have reach its versatility becoming effective to fill double roles at once as either Tanker and Support. The growth then continue in the penultimate level with another health growth. And finally the max level will grant additional +1 ranged damage, which will motivate most of us to pursue the max level.

Rulesets To Be Watched

Ruleset	Strategy
	Venari Crystalsmith would rather be useless with Tank Heal being nulled. Only after reaching Level 4 where Venari gained 2 ranged damage and would be more useful as Striker card.
	In Even Stevens ruleset, only cards with even mana value might be used; thus Venari would be deployable in this ruleset.
	As I have mentioned before, having 4 health allow Venari Crystalsmith to be a back an emergency Tanker. And now with Close Range rulest, Venari can be a Tanker herself, filling the front row, dealing damage, and while performing heal on herself.

WATCH BATTLE

Here's one of my battle experience with Venari Crystalsmith in my formation. https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_0ffb9128b3b30183c17ce24075ec7ddb&ref=kid.miniatures for the battle link. The battle has 26 mana cap, with Close Range and Keep Your Distance. For my formation, I used:

Position	Card Name	Level	Mana	Health	Armor	Speed	Damage Type	Damage
Summoner	General Sloan	2	4	-	-	-	-	-
1st Row	Chaos Agent	3	1	2	-	2	None	-
2nd Row	Lone Boatman	3	5	4	1	3	Ranged	2
3rd Row	Herbalist	1	2	2	-	1	Ranged	1
4th Row	Time Mage	3	4	3	-	4	Magic	2
5th Row	Pelacor Arbalest	2	6	3	-	2	Ranged	2
6th Row	Venari Crystalsmith	2	4	4	-	3	Ranged	1

My opponent formation:

Position	Card Name	Level	Mana	Health	Armor	Speed	Damage Type	Damage
Summoner	Kelya Frendul	1	4	-	-	-	-	-
1st Row	Giant Squid	1	5	4	1	1	Ranged	2
2nd Row	Angelic Mandarin	1	3	5	-	2	Ranged	1
3rd Row	Merdaali Guardian	1	3	3	-	2	None	-
4th Row	Elven Mystic	1	4	3	-	2	Magic	1
5th Row	River Nymph	1	4	3	-	2	Magic	1
6th Row	Ice Pixie	1	2	1	-	3	Magic	1

I already got the upperhand in this battle since I bring higher level summoner, and thus my formation have higher level too. I bring Chaos Agent as cannon fodder, then followed by Lone Boatman since this card have armor. The rest followed with Time Mage in the 4th to keep Slow effect running long. Pelacor Arbalest fill the 5th row, a safe position for him to fire barrage of projectiles. Venari Crystalsmith is placed in back row considering her health as protection against Sneak attack.
In the other side, with only Level 1 summoner, my opponent only managed to bring Level 1 formation. The front row card have quite some health, and there also Heal ability casted by Merdaali Guardian. But their firepower are lack compared to my formation

Starting with Round 1, my formation managed to crush Giant Squid in single round. Pelacor Arbalest did the final blow and able to deal additional damage to Angelic Mandarin. Venari also cast it heal to Chaos Agent healing a single health. Although looks minor, it stall opponent assault by wasting one additional card to kill Chaos Agent.

I think the first big mistake of my opponent was to put Giant Squid in the front row, considering it exert the greatest damage. Starting on Round 2, with Angelic Mandarin left with only 2 health, its an easy target for my Time Mage. And then with boosted damage from General Sloan, Venari Crystalsmith and Lone Boatman combine attack to strike down Merdaali Guardian. At this point, my opponent are left with 2 cards remaining with slim damage output.

Round 3 started, once Time Mage and Venari Crystalsmith bring down River Nymph, the fate is sealed for my opponent with Ice Pixie remains. Before the end of turn the victory is declared to my formation.

CONCLUSION

Did your strategy work? What will you try differently next time?

My strategy did work but heavily come from the tactical positioning. Keeping Pelacor Arbalest and Venari Crystalsmith on the back row ensure my formation to reserve damage output throughout the battle. Venari did perform her job by dealing damage to Giant Squid and Merdaali Guardian, while in parallel healing 1 health Chaos Agent and 1 health Lone Boatman. Each heal give the receiver additional chance to survive.

Do you like VENARI CRYSTALSMITH? Why or why not?

As have been seen in this battle the total output from the damage and heal make up to 6 value just within 2 round. If only the front row is real Tanker with high health, we can expect the heal to mend 3 to 4 health each round. This heal value combined with the damage value could quickly brought tide of victory.