SHARE YOUR BATTLE Weekly Challenge! VENARI KNIFER

Venari Knifer is 6 Mana Earth common unit whose strength lies in its speed and thorn ability. Below is her full stats from Level 1 to 10.

As you can see, even at level 1 her speed is already at 4. By the time she hit her max level, she would be the 2nd fastest unit in the Earth splinter (Fastest would be Regal Peryton which has a 7 speed at max level).

This table is generated using Koodies's Splintertools #3, created by @koodies

Rulesets	Venari Knifer
	🔮 Mana: 6,💗 Health: 9,🛡️ Armor: 0,⏩ Speed: 6
	Not much effect as Knifer rarely missed.
	👍Armored + Thorn is a great combo.
	👎Losing Thorn would makes the unit less useful.
	👍Broken Arrows means the unit can still be use as it is a melee unit.
	No effect.
	👎It will takes 2 damage per round as it is a non-flying unit.
	👍If there is a high hp unit in the team, it would give Knifer more hp.
	👍Good for knifer as it is fast and can strike first at lower hp unit.
	👍Knifer can be used in Even Stevens.
	👍As it is fast, it is likely to hit first and cause damage to opposing team before the enemy can attack.
	👎Knifer can't be used.
	No effect.
	👎Without healing, Knifer can die fast as it has no shield or void.
	👍Good if there is a unit with stun ability in the lineup.
	👍Allow Knifer to take the first hit without damage.
	👎Knifer cannot be used in this ruleset.
	👎Knifer cannot be used in this ruleset.
	👍Knifer can be used.
	👍Knifer can be used.
	👍Means Knifer can also attack even if placed at the back row.
	👎Knifer has no immunity. It will die faster with this ruleset.
	👎Bad for knifer as it has high speed.
	👍Knifer can be used.
	👍An enraged Knifer can do huge damage with stunning speed.
	No effect.
	👍Placed Knifer at the last position to soak up sneaker attack and damage back the sneaker with thorn.
	No effect.
	No effect.
	No effect.
	👍Knifer can be used.

Below is the details of a match I had recently using a Venari Knifer as one of the unit in the setup. The battle restriction is:
Close Range + Equalizer rulesets with a max mana limit of 34.
The Video for the Full Battle can be seen here:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_c5a6da4e4f6cc52bdbc3f24fd80a03c9&ref=genming

TEAM SETUP:

Splinter	Mana Cost	Position	Reason
Delwyn Dragonscale	5	Summoner	I was planning to use a Magic offensive setup so using Delwyn Dragonscale to get its +1 magic attack bonus to all units.
Venari Knifer	6	1st	Putting Knifer in the first position to soak up enemy tank attack as well as retaliate with thorn.
Brownie	1	2nd	Speeding up all my units speed to make Knifer harder to hit and also most magic units are a bit slow. It is also a low cost 2nd speed tank if Knifer fell.
Wood Nymph	4	3rd	This healer is to heal my front tanks. Its very important to heal knifer as the longer knifer lives the better as it has good attack, speed and thorn.
Mushroom Seer	5	4th	Mushroom Seer will reduce enemy units magic attack by 1 in case I am facing a magic lineup as well.
Queen Mycelia	4	5th	Queen Mycelia will add armor to all my units. Very important if the opponent is using ranged or melee. It is also very useful to Knifer as added armor means she survives longer and thus more retaliation.
Mycelic Slipspawn	9	6th	Mycelic Slipspawn will taunt enemy attack away from Knifer so that enemy offensive is spread out. This allow Knifer to survive longer and take out the opponent tank first.
Total Mana:	34

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Round 1:

My opponent went with a Water splinter melee offensive lineup with Sea Monster as the tank. Sea Monster is a pretty impressive tank by itself as it has self heal and hit very hard. On top of that my opponent also have another healer that will heal the Sea Monster right at the back. He also added Demented Shark that will give +1 melee attack to all melee units and thus here I am facing a terrifying melee lineup.

Round 2:

The opposing Sea Monster was heavily healed during the first round yet it has lost half of its health. Meanwhile my Knifer still have full health but my back tank is dying. Things will get interesting once my back tank died and Knifer becomes the target.

Round 3:

At the start of round 3 both sides still look evenly matched. Both sides has each lost a unit and the front tank has also both taken damage. Meanwhile Knifer has done a big part in killing the enemy Sea monster, not only hitting it hard but also retaliating the Sea monster attack. It even managed to dodge the Demented Shark attack later.

Round 4:

Enemy Demented Shark has fallen yet Knifer still stand alive at the start of round 4. At this point it is obvious who is going to win the match. Knifer has been amazing so far.

Round 5:

I shed a tear as Knifer died. In her dying breath, she also took the opponent Feasting Seaweed with her. The rest of the opposing units will be slaughter in honor of Venari Knifer!

Round 6:

The match has now turned into who can kill off the next unit faster as the enemy Lurker starts to hit my back unit while my units try to kill
the enemy front unit who is being heal.

Round 7:

It was very close. It also highlight how important it was when the dying Knifer took the enemy Feasting Seaweed with her.

Round 8:

I won the match in the end. Knifer was the MVP in this match as it not only managed to tank but also dish out huge amount of damage in the process.

KEY STRATEGY
The strategy of splitting up enemy attack works as it allows my front tank to not only survive longer but also dish out huge amount of damage. Without that I would have a hard time even removing the opposing team Sea Monster. The Knifer's thorn manage to counter Sea Monster self heal.

CONCLUSION ON VENARI KNIFER
An very good unit under the the right condition. To use it well, you need to ensure it can survive long enough. Traditionally the main tank in most Earth splinter setup is the Unicorn Mustang but in this instant, it probably wouldn't have work as well as the opposing team was using a full melee attack instead of magic.

Well done Knifer! My salute to you for your heroic contribution in this battle!

Side Note: In case you wondering why I didn't just use Obsidian as the summoner as it cost 1 mana less, it is because my Focus splinter for the day is Dragon. 😅

To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK 😊.