Weekly Battle Challenge - Regal Peryton

Welcome back to another Weekly Battle Challenge submission and strategy tips - this time focused around the Regal Peryton. A cross between a bird and a stag, Regal Perytons are Earth Splinter aligned monsters. Known for their majestic beauty with creating rainbows while flying, these creatures consider themselves to be guardians of nature, using their magic to help others - except when summoned to battle!

In battle, the Regal Peryton costs 5 mana for a battle mage to summon. Playing it at level 4, it brings 2 Magic damage while being a fast moving flying creature with 6 Speed and 6 Health. The leveling from 2 to 3 is arguably the most important hurdle to clear with this card, as it doubles the magic damage output at the cost of one health point (which is then gained back at level 4). Flying at high speeds, it has a fair chance of dodging slower monsters on the ground - in the Spreading Fury ruleset, when enraged, it can be extremely fast at 9 speed.

The Battle

The battle we'll take a look at is one with both the Close Range and Earthquake rulesets - allowing ranged creatures to deal damage from the frontline, and applying two physical damage points per turn to creatures on the ground. Let's see how the Regal Peryton fares in a flying focused battle!

With a 21 Mana budget, I had to be rather particular about my selections, though the Regal Peryton still made the cut!

Position	Card	Mana Cost	Notes
Summoner		4	An Earth summoner, Obsidian increases the Magic damage dealt by her monsters by 1 point. While this lineup didn't have a lot of magic damage in it, being at level 6 allowed me to take full advantage of the maxed gold cards I have.
1		1	Not necessarily a card I'd pick for a tank, this Mycelic Morphoid acts as a disposable mushroom shield. Paired with Queen Mycelia in the back, its thorns now return a base of 3 Melee damage instead of 2, and it has 2 armor points to help absorb the initial blow. Even if it doesn't last beyond the first round, it helps stall the backline from being damaged.
2		7	One of two flying creatures in this line up, the Pelacor Mercenary is what I'd consider to be the tank here. Being able to self heal due to its ability gained at level 6 (an important reason why I opted for a higher level summoner) and fly, means it doesn't take damage from the earthquake and has a chance of surviving longer.
3		4	Queen Mycelia's role here is one of support, even though she does benefit from the +1 Magic Damage from Obsidian. As mentioned above, the Amplify ability increases the Thorns damage from the Mycelic Morphoid on the frontlines, while the Protect ability helps absorb physical damage - including from the earthquake.
4		0	Bawk Bawk! Being a 0 cost card, the Furious Chicken is an easy way to fill out a line up. With it's lowly 1 Health, it's a natural target for monsters with Opportunity. It being a gold foil here also helps bump the rewards slightly. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
5		5	Towards the back, the Regal Peryton is flying in safety. Given its high speed and flying, there's a good chance it'll dodge any sneak attacks from the ground that make it past the Fungus Fiend. It's also the primary Magic damage dealer, hitting for a total of 3 damage per turn - having it be further in the back means it'll hopefully live longer to keep dealing that damage.
6		0	At the end of the line, I added in the Fungus Fiend. It's a free card to help block Sneak attacks, further bolstered by Queen Mycelia's protection.

The three main cards from the line up are the tanky Pelacor Mercenary, utility mage Queen Mycelia, and the DPT-focused Regal Peryton. Even though the filler cards likely won't last long, they do their job of being shield cards for the main line up.

Only about half of my opponent's monsters were in the air, which helped both the Pelacor Mercenary and Regal Peryton dodge the melee attacks. My hope of the Mycelic Morphoid dealing thorns damage was short lived - it fell immediately from a magic attack, but was worth the sacrifice to block it from hitting the Pelacor Mercenary. Being able to self heal definitely slowed down the Giant Roc and Flame Imp from progressing further through my line up, while the Regal Peryton and Queen Mycelia helped deal 5 magic damage per turn. The speed of the Regal Peryton allowed it to deal the final blow at the very beginning of Round 4.

Final Thoughts

I find myself playing the Regal Peryton more often in the Silver league than Gold - while it is a solid card in its own right, the lack of any secondary abilities at the Gold league level often mean there are more interesting/synergetic options. The speed it offers definitely helps to balance out Earth Magic in general where the cards tend to be on the slower side.

Was the line up breakdown helpful? Am I missing other potential pairings with the Regal Peryton? Let me know in the comments - thanks for reading!