Hey Summoners,

For this week's Challenge battle i bring you, Centauri Mage.

Earth is my favorite Splinter to play since i started this game 3 months ago i exclusively concentrated on buying Earth card and Centauri Mage is a perfect off-tank to use if you feel the opponent have lots of Ranged with Snipe ability **cough **Cough Life & Death Splinter.

Lets look thru her stats...lower lvls are nothing to shout about, a good amount of health but low damage, at lvl 3 she gets an upgrade to her Damage but where i think she truly shines later is at lvl 5 where she gets repair armor. With the new Pelacor Mercenary having armor i might try this combo more in the future !

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The Battle Rules

League @ Gold 2

• 24 Mana
• Close Range
• Yodin Zaku...i meant Blast
• Water, Death, Earth and Dragon

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Strategy

Looking at the splinter choices its no brainer for either Earth or Dragon as my Water and Death is no where near Gold level. Its a toss up between Byzantine Kitty lvl 2 or Mylor Lvl 5 and i decided to try Mylor to utilize Centauri Mage's Repair ability with a Pelacor Mercenary tank. My kitty will be too low level to utilize these abilities.

Furthermore Blast ruleset is perfect to slot either Centauri Mage or Prismatic Energy...i took the gamble with a Centauri Mage

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The Lineup

As mentioned my summoner is Mylor as he is my highest lvl Summoner at lvl 5. No wonder he is the most expensive summoner in Dice pack as he is good in most rule set except Non-Melee ones.

• Pelacor Mercenary
  I have been increasingly replacing him with the standard Flesh Golem tank as he is way way way cheaper to build up levels and have flying. I would say he is a combination of Flesh Golem and Nectar Queen into one neat little package and very very affordable at the moment. The extra 1 armor is like a Divine Shield ability against Melee & Ranged.

• Centauri Mage
  Looking at this i flipped the wrong side of the coin as my opponent had more Magic than Ranged units, and no point reflecting to that Earth Elemental as he can easily Heal. So her role is more on repairing the Pelacor's armor and Tanking Blast hits.

• Venari Seedsmith
  Another new card that i love at this level because of the Poison. Poison is one of the many reasons why Silvershield Assassin is God Tier in Life Splinter !! The Seedsmith have fairly decent damage and also ability to stay alive longer with Scavenge, the Poison is the cherry on the top.

• Khmer Princess
  2 cost, Magic Attack and have tank heals. One of the best tank healers in the game as u can slot her anywhere due to her cheap mana cost.

• Chicken !!!!
  If there is an empty space, always slot a chicken in....enough said.

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The Battle

https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_0ab8b6a2f100ee549c8f1f053b1e494b

Honestly at the start i thought i played my hand wrong as i went for the Centauri Mage rather than the Prismatic Energy which would be perfect here.

Somehow this worked better than i thought. The Harpy attacked my chicken and as usual with Mylor line-ups chicken's sacrifice was not in vain as the thorns left it vulnerable to Blast damage and it died shortly after. Although the Centauri Mage didnt reflect much but she more than make up for being a beefy off-tank and providing the Pelacor with armor repair which without it he might not survive a 4 Melee damage hit from the Red Dragon.

It gets even better as before the even the start of Round 2 the Red Dragon died due to taking too much damage from Poison + Thorns + taking damage that is too much to even heal. Not only that...the last hit from Pelacor Mercenary also took out Brownie due to Blast Damage...poor Brownie.

With the Red Dragon dead, this battle is almost a forgone conclusion. Those deaths also fueled the Rat's Scavenge ability to make him tougher. I can almost feel the victory.

Despite me loving the Nymph very much as i do play her alot...she ain't a tank and the damage is too much for her heal through...

Despite having Close Range ability and able to self-heal...the Earth Elemental aint gonna stand a chance and this fight is done & dusted for a much easier victory than i initially expected !!

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Conclusion

An easier victory than i first though as i felt i might have played a wrong hand with the Centauri Mage actually turns out to be perfect as that extra armor kept the Mercenary alive vs a much stronger Red Dragon. I also have some high damage that came not from my attacks but from debuff like Poison and Thorns.

I am gonna experiment more with the Pelacor and Centauri combo more in the next coming weeks as i believe i might have stumble into something that works here compared to using Flesh Golem tank as Repair does not do much for Flesh Golem.

A good win indeed but kinda disappointed with the DEC gain per win....quite a pittance compared to usual.

That is all folks, Stay Safe and See you next week !!

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Do use my referral link if this game interest you:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=bladesong

My review of the new Earth Splinter cards:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@bladesong/review-on-the-new-earth-reward-cards