Share Your Battle - Centauri Mage

In this week's Splinterlands Share Your Battle Challenge, we have been tasked to fight a match with Centauri Mage which is a strong Earth Splinter monster that has good health and can attack from anywhere on the battlefield with its Magic attack. Join me in this post where I'll showcase all of Centauri Mage's awesome abilities and share why it is one of my favorite second position monsters of the Earth Splinter.

The Lineup
This match was played with 30 available Mana and no modifications to the standard ruleset which I thought was amazing because it allowed us to see Centauri Mage's full abilities on display without any buffs or debuffs and the sufficient Mana count allowed me to field a strong supporting team. In first position, I played Unicorn Mustang. Unicorn Mustang is a great first position monster as it has the "Void" ability which reduces damage from melee attacks. In addition, it has high speed, a strong attack, and good health. Overall, its probably one of my favorite first position monsters (other than perhaps Living Lava).

In second position, I decided to play Centauri Mage. Typically I would play a "Reach" capable melee monster in first position, but I don't feel that Earth Splinter really has a strong melee monster for second spot, so Centauri Mage fills this role in most of my battles.

Furious Chicken filled the third spot simply as a way of putting more distance between my ranged monsters and the front line. Since Furious Chicken costs zero Mana to play, its usually a good idea to throw it in the lineup simply to cause the opponent to waste one of their attacks.

In fourth spot, I played Creeping Ooze. Creeping Ooze is a great monster to play because for a cost of only 1 Mana, it slows the entire opposing team and makes it more likely for friendly monsters to get in a first round strike. As with Furious Chicken, it also puts some additional distance between my ranged monsters and the front lines.

In fifth spot, I played Mantoid. Mantoid is a strong ranged monster, but what I like most is that it has the "Snipe" ability which allows it to target magic or ranged monsters that are not in the first position.

Lastly, I played Goblin Chariot in first spot. Whereas Mantoid focuses on attacking the rear echelons of the opponent's team, Goblin Chariot brings its full power to bear against the opponent's first position monster which can REALLY come in handy if the opponent has played a healing monster.

The Match
When I started the match, I saw that my opponent had played a healing monster (Haunted Spirit) in first position which made me a bit nervous. It can be very difficult to remove a healing monster because they are able to repair a portion of the damage they take each turn. Thankfully, the combination of Unicorn Mustang, Centauri Mage, and Goblin Chariot all focusing their energy on one monster was able to quickly eliminate Haunted Spirit. Once the opponent's healing monster was out of the way, the rest of the opponent's team was quick to fall.

Analysis of Centauri Mage
I feel that Centauri Mage feels a much needed role in the Earth Splinter. I personally don't feel that Earth has a good second position reach capable melee monster like Fineas Rage of the Fire Splinter or Wave Runner of the Water Splinter. Indeed, Orc Sergeant only deals 1 damage which could be completely blunted if the opponent is playing a Shield capable monster such as Living Lava or Frozen Soldier. For that reason, I tend not to play a reach monster unless it has a minimum attack value of 2 which is currently lacking in Earth Splinter.

Centauri Mage fills this void quite nicely because it's magic ability can bypass the "Shield" ability and deal damage directly to the opposing monster's health. As a magic monster, Centauri Mage can attack from anywhere on the battlefield, and the high health means that it can absorb a lot of damage if it does move into first spot.

Summary
Win or loose, it is always nice to enter into the challenges and try new strategies and cards. Although the primary purpose of this post is to share my battle, I always like to remind players that Splinterlands rewards players for EVERY SINGLE match that they win with cryptocurrency. Players also win from daily quests, end of season rewards, and even get free airdrops of the SPS governance token based on their card collections. It's not financial advice, but if you like trading card games or just earning crypto and NFTs, then feel free to check out Splinterlands or watch my battle replay here
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_0b2c89414ab168b8f9a6b47daf1ac0ca&ref=parttimeeconon