This week's Splinterlands Share Your Battle Challenge is DRAGONS! That means I get to use one of my favorite summoners: Daria Dragonscale.
Daria Dragonscale
My level 3 Daria Dragonscale is currently the highest level summoner that I own. I have level 3 copies of both Arlic Stormbringer and Obsidian, but both of those are rare summoners, whereas Daria is an Epic, which allows me to play higher level monsters.
Daria Dragonscale embues all melee attack monsters with one extra attack, so I generally try to play into that strength whenever I use her. A couple of my go-to dragon cards are my level 3 manticore and level 2 Dhampir Infiltrator.
Manticore
At level 3, Manticore has both flying and reach abilities. At just 4 mana cost, this makes an excellent 2nd position card; especially in lower mana matches. In fact, one of my favorite low mana setups are Daria with Fire Splinter, where I can use the 4-cost Cerberus with its self-heal ability along with this 4-cost Manticore.
Dhampir Infiltrator
A level 2 Dhampir Infiltrator has both sneak and double-strike. This allows me to play it in position 3 or 4 (depending on the scenario) and have it still be able to attack. Originally, it only has an attack power of 1 (per strike); however, with Daria's melee buff, I am able to get 2 attacks per strike for a total of 4 attack points each turn. not bad for just 4 mana cost!
This particular match had a 27 mana cap; and, since I was trying to focus on the Dragon splinter, I decided to go with the Level 1 Desert Dragon in my number one position.
Desert Dragon
Since I tend to play the Dragon splinter in lower mana matches, I don't use this 7 mana card very often; however, it is a pretty strong card. It has 4 attack power with trample (which came in handy during this match), and its 3 shield and 6 health make it a pretty durable card.
Scale Doctor
Another card that I usually tend to neglect but chose to go with on this battle is my level 1 Scale Doctor. Again, since I'm usually choosing dragon cards on a pretty tight budget, the 5 mana cost for this one is more than I generally want to invest. It has 7 health, which is pretty darn good for that 5 mana; and its Strengthen ability adds one more to that, as well as one more health to every other monster in the lineup. So, it is a very strong selection; however, its one ranged attack generally doesn't align with my low cost, melee heavy strategy when it comes to dragons. But again, since I had a little bit more mana and was focusing specifically on Dragons, I went ahead and splurged a little to round out my 27 mana cap.
Don't Forget The Furious Chicken!
Finally, since I had the extra slot with no mana left, I went with the Furious Chicken as a meat shield on my flank. I can't tell you how many times this card has saved my butt as an extra hit point at the front or back of my line; and, the strategy worked this time, as well, since my opponent had a few sneak monsters in their lineup.
My Battle
Here's a link to the battle
When the teams first took the battle field, I was a little worried. The thorns in my opponents first position are always bad news for a melee heavy team. Then the were those sneak monsters who threatened to dismantle my team from the back. Luckily, I was able to get a Trample my Desert Dragon early on, and that Double-Strike ability from the Dhampir Infiltrator came in clutch! Thankfully, I was able to pull out the victory in this one!!