This week's battle challenge focuses on the Centauri Mage:

Card Details

A reward edition rare rarity monster from the Earth Splinter at level 5:

• Estimated cost: ~$99.28
• Mana cost: 7
• Magic damage: 2
• Speed: 3
• Health: 9
• Return Fire ability: When hit with a Ranged attack, Monsters with Return Fire will return reduced damage back to their attacker.
• Repair ability: Restores some armor to the friendly Monster whose armor has taken the most damage.

According to the splinterlands lore, the Centauri Mage spends most of its time close to Kron the Undying protecting it from all other monsters in splinterlands. Well, I don't know how true that is, as we all know how overpowered Kron the Undying is. Not sure it needs protecting from danger, especially if it's Centauri Mage providing the protection. The Centauri Mage has the highest health and highest mana cost amongst the magic monsters for the Earth splinter in the reward edition cards. Interestingly it's also priced the lowest per card, which to me serves as a signal that it's not as helpful as other magic monsters. What else does it offer? Decent support abilities and does okay damage once you level it up past level 3.

Battle - Full Battle Replay

Battle Details

• Mana cap: 44
• Rulesets(s): Target Practice, Noxious Fumes

Lineup Details

• Lyanna Natura (Summoner): +1 health
• Flesh Golem: melee tank with healing buffs
• Prismatic Energy: magic tank with magic reflect buffs
• Screeching Vulture: support damage with opportunity and scavenger buffs
• Centauri Mage: support tank with armour repair buffs
• Spirit of the Forest: range damage with tank healing and armour buffs
• Earth Elemental: range damage with healing buffs

Did your strategy work? What will you try differently next time?

Going into this battle, I knew I had my work cut out for me, and it proved a bridge too far for me to overcome. My opponent had a vastly superior lineup with higher-level monsters and, of course, a legendary Kron the Undying. The battle, however, faired much better than I anticipated and lasted longer than I initially thought. In this battle, I would put this down to the effective combination of Flesh Golem, Centauri Mage, and Spirit of the Forest. Spirit of the Forest procced its Protect ability which gave all monsters +2 armor. Then during the battle, I lost count of the number of times that Centauri Mage procced its Repair ability to restore Flesh Golem's armor. Ironically, the Centauri Mage was killed during the battle by Kron the Undying. Nonetheless, Centauri Mage proved helpful with its buff abilities and chipping in with some damage, but alas, my opponent was too superior even though we did put a good showing.

Do you like the Centauri Mage? Why or why not?

I will never be ungrateful for a monster I received for free while completing daily quests and seasonal rewards. I think Centauri Mage can be helpful in high mana cap battles and be effective when combined with other high-impact monsters like Kron the Undying, Spirit of the Forest, etc. I put Centauri Mage firmly in the support magic monsters camp, and it only becomes valid at level 5 once it unlocks the Repair ability. The usage data provided by @jacekw also reflects this as in the bronze and silver leagues, the Centauri Mage is hardly used, but from the gold league and above, it's used slightly more. Not a terrible monster at all, but I wouldn't be rushing today to purchase it off the market.

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