Splinterlands Community Engagement Challenge: Modifier Mastery - Venari Marksrat Takes The Blast!

It's been a while since I did a Community Engagement Challenge and when I saw that this week's theme was Modifier Mastery, I thought why not give it a shot?

And this time round, the modifier that I will write about would be Explosive Weaponry! If you are foreign to the term, it just means all the cards will have Blast ability!

When it comes to Blast battles, Venari Marksrat always come to my mind. For those who are familiar with this card, that's because it comes with Martyr ability and it's a good thing for the card to go down quickly in the battle.

Before we go further, here's the lore for Venari Marksrat and you should take a read too!

Venari marksrats spend more time in the forests than they do underground. Most of it is taken with hunting and foraging, with marksrats being the main food gatherers for the venari colonies that inhabit the upperdark caverns of the Realm of Silence. They are incredibly agile and have honed their hunting skills to perfection.

Their crude bows are fashioned out of branches and saplings. Don't be fooled by their unrefined look, though. These skilled archers can still hit a fleeing rabbit at a hundred yards with precision. They hunt alone or in packs, and if you ever manage to spot one, you can guarantee they saw you first and have been watching you for some time.

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So who should be Venari Marksrat's adjacent cards? Using a brawl battle to illustrate, here's how I lined up my cards!

• Astral Entity is always the top choice when I am confident that Venari Marksrat would go down first because Resurrection will be activated and we will be able to get a double Martyr boost.
• Pelacor Deceiver and Riftwing were chosen to be the adjacent cards in this mid mana battle so big cards were excluded. Pelacor Deceiver can become very strong with 2 Martyr boosts, especially with Flying and Dodge abilities. Riftwing is there to take advantage of Scavenge from Blast and Resurrection, providing more time for the backline.
• Silent Sha-vi is next on the line because it's just a strong card. Hehe! 5 mana card with 3 Melee damage and with Sneak ability as well.
• Witch Of Warwick is the Gladius card for this brawl and it would rely a lot on Riftwing to buy enough time for her to get the Bloodlust going.
• Finally, the team is complete with Ravenhood Warden to provide 2 extra Armor to everyone for extra survivability. A big Protect ability from a 4 mana card.

Round 1: Blast battles usually move very fast but my opponent had a very strong tank here. My team got the double Martyr boosts very quickly and both Pelacor Deceiver and Riftwing were boosted.

Round 2: My attacks were all over the place and was not focused, compared to my opponent. I was going down on the front, but his backline was struggling equally. It's really a race in opposite directions here.

Round 3: Can you believe it? The entire backline fell but the tank was still standing firm from my opponent with 9 HP. But of course, it's 4 vs 1 now and there was no way I was going to lose this.

Rounds 4-5: After two rounds, we clinched the win!

You can view the battle here.

So to sum up:

Venari Marksrat is a very useful card for Explosive Weaponry ruleset, or Blast battles. Being a Neutral card, it can be used with any elements so pair the adjacent cards wisely. Of course, Astral Entity is the best summoner for the double Martyr boost!

That's all I have! Let me know if you have any thoughts too!

As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!

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