RIse of the Commons; pt. 1 - Flying Squid

Hey there s'lands.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been diving fully into the world of Splinterlands via the latest edition, Chaos Legion.

As I've been leveling up my deck, it got me thinking as to which of the cards will be potentially the most valuable as CL sells out, and beyond.

I've tried searching for cards that serve as similar comparisons from editions past, specifically Alpha / Beta, to serve as a rough baseline for potential future value.

In this inaugural post, let's take a look at the Water splinter and one of its' most impactful commons. For the sake of greatest comparison, we'll look at 2 cards at a time at 2 separate levels - silver and diamond. I've chosen the 2 levels that most of us aim to compete at once we begin our splinterlands' journey and a level we aspire to be at (at least that's where I wanna be battling!).

Flying Squid (lvl 5 - 60 bcx - silver ; lvl 10 - 400 bcx diamond):
7 mana ; 7 mana
3 attack ; 3 attack
4 speed ; 5 speed
9 hp ; 10 hp
Reach ; Reach, Blind, Return Fire

Giant Roc (lvl 5 - 25 bc - silver ; lvl 10 - 505 bcx - diamond):
5 mana ; 5 mana
2 attack ; 3 attack
3 speed ; 5 speed
5 hp ; 6 hp
Flying, Reach ; Flying, Reach, Trample

Both the squid and the roc provide worthy competitors for the potential game-changing 2nd spot for their respective splinters.

Both serve as medium attack monsters here with abilities that transform them to tough-to-hit-directly at higher than average speeds.

The roc gets the edge at silver with 3 speed and flying, making him a bit more versatile across rulesets and coming in at a bit more affordable mana costs.

Also gets the nod for overall bcx required to get there (not overall cost, as we'll dive into price a bit later in the post).

With Kelya at the summoner position, however, the squid does earn the edge, moving to 5 speed with 1 shield at the second spot.

Although a bit more costly on the mana front, the squid is quite formidable at holding down the second spot for most matches with mana 25+ (4 for kelya, 8 for the almost-always necessary diemonshark, 7 for the squid = 19 mana - leaving room for a couple of the versatile water support monsters)

At diamond level, the squid inks the roc handily. Covering the full enemy team with its blind ability (+15% evasion to all melee and ranged attacks), protecting itself further with the combination of 6 speed and the always annoying return fire, the squid is a near-no brainer at higher levels. Not to mention the squid achieves diamond level status at a good 20%+ less bcx than the roc.

The cost for each of the above presented levels, per card, is as follows:
Flying Squid $.095 / bcx; $5.70 lvl5 (60 bcx); $38.00 lvl10 (400 bcx)
Giant Roc $.88 / bcx; $22.09 lvl5 (25 bcx); $534.90 lvl10 (505 bcx)

Without going too deep on speculation on future value of the cards, the flying squid clearly has a tentacle or two up on the giant roc in terms of playability in all aspects except mana cost. I fully expect the squid to play a significant game of catch up to the roc in terms of overall price per bcx.

Thanks for peeping - cheers ya'll