Introduction

Hello welcome to Ace's Neutral / Dragon starting guide!
The main goal of this post is to teach / explain how one should play this versatile splinter along with multiple neutral monsters among lower leagues as they can really bring you multiple advantages when played right!

Dragon summoners can summon monsters from any one splinter as long as the game rules allows them (E.g. Drake of Arnak is able to play the Sea Monster if you have picked water or Living Lava if you picked Fire).

I am planning to make a blog for each splinter in order to help everyone, this is just a part of it!
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The Summoners

• Drake of Arnak: As a new player, this is the only dragon summoner you'll be able to play without buying! This summoner gives the same buff as Tyrus Paladium but will cost 1 mana more to play! This one buff can be very useful against the one very popular and strong basic Fire Decks which focuses on Melee and Range Blitz attacks as the 1 armour this summoner provides will allow you to take up one free hit and counter attack on those low health monsters.

The Monsters

1. Tanks

• Peaceful Giant: A pretty good tank to use in "Keep Your Distance" rulesets and would go very well with the Life Splinter's Divine Healer. If you're looking for an upgrade to this monster you should definitely consider getting a Neutral Gelatinous Cube. 5 Mana

• Elven Defender: Generally not a card I would use as there are so many good phantom cards that would do so well as a Tank, but you can consider using this to replace the Water Splinter's Serpent of Eld in a "Aim True" Ruleset as its "Evade" Ability (+25% evasion rate) will not be active. 8 Mana

2. Useful Backups

• Enchanted Pixie: This is one card I play most of the time in my Water decks along with the Alric Stormbringer Summoner for the +1 magic attack buff. The sweet "Flying" Ability gives it a bonus 25% evasion rate as well as protection against the "Earthquake" Ruleset. 3 Mana

• Elven Mystic: Another card that would be a great addition to your Water Decks with the Alric Stormbringer Summoner. This card has the exact same stats as the Medusa at the same mana cost. 4 mana

• Mantoid: You'll find that this is a card pretty similar to the Water Splinter's Sniping Narwhal but the fun part is that it is a Neutral Monster which means that it can be played on any deck. With its "Snipe" Ability that hits the first non melee monster in the enemy's team and its 2 range damage, it can pick off fragile monsters easily such as the Enchanted Pixie, Ice Pixie, Fire Elemental and so on. (Note this ability for your Daily Missions) 6 Mana

• Parasitic Growth: A pretty good Neutral monster to play with your Fire Splinter's Malric Inferno Summoner. Although this monster is slow, as long as you protect it well, at the end of each turn, it can be game changer with its "Opportunity" Ability which allows him to strike the monster with the lowest health. As you know the Fire Splinter has the Serpentine Spy which strikes really fast with the same ability, if he fails to kill, the Parasitic Growth will finish the job. PS. The Malric Inferno can give him +1 damage for more damage. 4 Mana

• Elven Cutthroat: Not really a card I use often but you can definitely consider playing it on a Fire Splinter deck with either Malric Inferno / Pyre depending on whether you want the DPS or Speed. It very similar to the Kobold Miner and the Skeleton Assassin among others but what you really want from it is the "Sneak" Ability which allows it to strike the back monster first as well as the nice 3 speed. (Note this ability for your Daily Missions) 3 mana

Upgrading Your Deck

Here I am going to recommend you different cards you should rent / buy depending on your budget!
I'll split them into 2 categories like Essentials & To Consider
Here is one very important thing to note, there's 1 card that got really expensive but it is the king of Neutral, which would be the Furious Chicken (It does nothing but it also costs nothing... Which makes it an incredible meat shield you can play with no consequences) 😆

1. Essentials (Cheaper)

• Brighton Bloom: The one Dragon Summoner I really recommend everyone to have as it provides the monster he summons the "Flying" Ability which makes its monsters immune to "Earthquake" Ruleset and obnoxious to hit with the +25% evasion boost. 4 Mana

• Gelatinous Cube: One of my favourite Tanks to have in the game for "Keep Your Distance", "Earthquake" and "Noxious Fumes" Rulesets due to its "Scavenger" Ability which gives him +1 health every time a monster dies which goes very well with its high health. This fella right here is a SURVIVOR! 6 Mana

• Battering Ram: For this card, I'm sure there will be people that will say how is this card useful at all? Well in my personal opinion, for its mana cost, I find that its stats are really fair! Although its really fragile and slow at lower levels, it has the "Opportunity" Ability which for one already make it great to add as not only firepower with Malric Inferno but also a pretty decent meat shield. PS. It is great at "Reverse Speed" Rulesets as long as it is not upgraded as every level adds 1 speed. 2 Mana

• Sandworm: A really popular monster that most people will recommend. This monster is devastating in "Reverse Speed" Rulesets as this generally means he will be the hitting faster than others. Not only that its 5 melee damage is insane along with the "Sneak" Ability to strike of the backrows first. This card does cost a lot of mana so do keep a lookout on not over committing just to play him. (Note this ability for your Daily Missions). 9 Mana

• Goblin Mech A very good beginner card to play and is also used quite often on higher leagues due to its high firepower while remaining fairly Tanky. The "Piercing" Ability it has makes it hard to defend against as any excess damage to the armour will be dealt to the enemy's health itself. However, this card is really expensive to play, more than Sandworm so make sure you do not over commit. 10 Mana

• War Chaang: A monster with 2 different attacks along with the "Retaliate" Ability that allows him to strike back any melee monsters that hits him. In "Melee Mayhem", "Equal Opportunity" and "Super Sneak" Rulesets, this monster will hit twice a round, once in melee, once in range. Always place him at the back for "Super Sneak" or the front for "Close Range" Rulesets to use his ability and attacks at its fullest potential. (Fun Fact: You can use this monster in "Up Close and Personal" and would also be a great choice to play in "Back to Basics" rulesets). 7 Mana

2. To Consider (Expensive)

• Almo Cambio: Pretty good Tank to have for the "Noxious Fumes" Ruleset and pretty good speed to go along with it for better evasions. Its main use is to survive and protect the backrow monsters. 7 Mana

• Lord Arianthus: A really obnoxious Tank to deal with as it has both "Shield" (Reduces Melee and Range attacks received by 50%) and "Void" (Reduces Magic attacks received by 50%) Ability which makes all attacks that hits him really weak in general. One way through it is to kill off all of the back monsters before handling it as it doesn't have an attack by itself. 5 Mana

• The Vigilator: My personal favourite monster to play in "Melee Mayhem", "Equal Opportunity" and "Super Sneak" Rulesets due to the fact that it has 2 different attacks like the War Chaang but also due to its "Double Strike" Ability. In the rulesets mentioned, this monster can strike a total of 4 times per turn! With its high speed and health paired with Brighton Bloom it is not only hard to hit but hard to kill! 9 Mana

• Diamond Dragon: This is one monster you do not want to see in "Weak Magic" Rulesets as it has 10 Armour!!! Although this card is really expensive to play, its stats and abilities makes it really fair! Decent magic attack and awesome speed pairing with its "Flying" and "Slow" Abilities making him hard to hit. 10 Mana

• Dragon Jumper: Honestly one of the monsters I'm the most afraid of seeing... When you pair 5 speed and "Flying" you can be sure of missing a lot, plus you need to hit it like 2 or 3 times to kill it with the health it has. Worse, the 3 melee and "Opportunity" Ability makes most of your monsters very vulnerable to first turn kill before it can strike... If you see this monster in "Explosive Weaponry" Ruleset, just turn back and run... (If you have it well, good for you! Please don't fight me). 7 Mana

• Cornealus: A really strong range monster you want to place at the last position mainly due to its insane health and "Heal" ability which means it heals 1/3 of its health at its turn, which makes it 4 health recovery per turn. Even the Sandworm cries when it sees this monster... 10 Mana

• Chain Golem: Do you like the Living Lava? Well now look at the improved version, not only in terms of stats but playability as this monster is a Neutral monster playable with any Summoner of any Splinter. With its "Shield" ability all melee and range will be reduced by 50% which makes him vulnerable to magic attacks. 8 Mana

• Byzantine Kitty: One of the three best summoners from the Untamed edition. This is a really good Dragon summoner to have and play. It grants all the monsters summoned +2 Speed and the "True Strike" Ability making sure they never miss a single hit, plus it heals the first monster's health every turn. 7 Mana

Conclusion

I will not be providing any basic line-ups in this guide as there are way too many variabilities and there are no one best deck.
The Dragon Summoner can summon monsters from Any Splinter as well as Dragons but they do generally cost more mana to play so always make sure you keep check of how much mana you can play per game!
Neutrals monsters are really very versatile so you must definitely look into them.

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Source:
splinterlands.com
splinterlands.fandom.com/wiki/Splinterlands_Wiki