Share your Battle Challenge - Wave Runner

Welcome guys to another "Share your battle" weekly challenge. This time we are playing with Wave Runner. This is a very interesting card, even more on higher levels when more abilities are unlocked. It will be fun to see how people will include Wave Runner in their lineups.

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About Wave Runner

Wave Runner is a common Water Splinter card that belongs to the Rewards set. With his Reach ability, he is perfect for the second spot in your team. On higher levels, he will get Knock Out ability that can help with his damage. Snare ability should also be mentioned though it is not very useful at the moment.

Lore

The Wave Runner sees not one but two sets of prey. The first set of eyes scours the ocean for a tasty morsel. The second set of eyes looks above to the skies for unsuspecting flyers. With a powerful swipe of its tail, the Wave Runner can leap out of the water and bring giant birds and dragons alike into the water where its body provides a natural fighting advantage. It's best to find land or make peace with your soul if you're unfortunate enough to face a Wave Runner.

The Battle
I will not write about what happened in the battle as it is tedious to write something you can watch in under a minute. I will focus more on strategy and why I chose this setup for the battle. I hope that this will help new players with the thinking process when assembling a team.

You can watch the battle on this link.

My Strategy

My strategy was to buff all other melee monsters in my team with Inspire ability. Then, I planned to use Creeping Ooze to slow the enemy team and with a few quick hits to kill some monsters in the enemy's backline.

Did it work?

Since I won the game it worked but I had a little bit of luck as Goblin Mech missed my Demented Shark. Sabre Shark and Elven Cutthroat did their job and cleared the enemy backline fast. Feasting Seaweed was there to clean up if any monster is left with low health.

Would I change anything now?

I would like to try this same setup but with Daria Dragonscale. Plus 1 to attack would be amazing and my buffed monsters would be even scarier. Another thing I would like is Feasting Seaweed with Scavenger ability to profit from all those kills. Other than that, I am pretty happy with how this battle turned out.

Cards that I used and why?

As you already know, all cards have some positive and negative sides. In the end, it all falls to how you use them and in what combination. Always remember, every card has its role, no matter how small.

Xia Seachan - Due to the Silenced Summoners ruleset I decided to use Xia Seachan to get that one extra mana for my monsters. Xia Seachan is an epic summoner so she can summon higher-level cards than rare summoners.

Xia Seachan enabled me that one more mana which I used to play Creeping Ooze. That gave me an edge in speed over my opponent and maybe it won me this game. Once again we can see how every mana is important in Splinterlands.

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Demented Shark - Interesting card if you ask me. The downside is the lack of a defensive ability like shield or Void but Demented Shark has decent health.

Inspire - Gives all friendly Monsters +1 Melee attack.

His ability is the reason why I played this card. In the melee teams, he is very valuable as he buffs the whole team with plus one melee damage. That one armor gives him a chance to survive for a bit longer as a tank. Though not a proper tank, Demented Shark could be a cheap option in the lower leagues. At the moment, you can buy one for only 0.18 USD.

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Wave Runner - Since the price of this card is so low(compared to other cards) I would say that people do not like this card. I find Wave Runner very interesting due to its decent attack and speed.

Reach - Melee attack Monsters with the Reach ability may attack from the second position on the team.

Reach ability will enable him to attack from the second position. On higher levels, he will get even more health so he is not bad off-tank either. Overall, I think that Wave Runner is a good card and we will see this card more often on the battlefield in the future.

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Feasting Seaweed - I love this card and I play it all the time even though Feasting Seaweed is better on higher levels because of Scavenger ability. With Scavenger ability I would play him on the third spot which will ensure that Seaweed will get some more health which could be valuable later in the game.

Opportunity - Monsters with the Opportunity ability may attack from any position and will target the enemy monster with the lowest health.

I like this card in synergy with Sabre Shark. People would say that low speed is a downside but I don't see it that way. Sneak monsters can attack first and remove armor or lower monster's health. Then Feasting Seaweed can finish the job with a decent attack.

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Sabre Shark - Card that you don't see that often. I think that the main reason for this I because Water Splinter is focused on magic damage. For three mana this is a decent monster with good speed.

Sneak - Targets the last Monster on the enemy Team instead of the first Monster.

I chose this card because of the Sneak ability. In combination with Feasting Seaweed and Inspire ability, this card is very good. Sabre Shark will make sure that armor is removed from the enemy backline before Feasting Seaweed will kill the target.

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Elven Cutthroat - When I use Sneak monsters I always try to use at least two of them. I do that because often you can see a monster with Heal ability in the last spot, like Water Elemental. Single Sneak minion with two attack can't kill him solo. That's why I use more of them to make sure that the target in the last spot will die.

Sneak - Targets the last Monster on the enemy Team instead of the first Monster.

Elven Cutthroat is a nice monster that I often use in my melee teams. Damage is low but when buffed with plus one damage it can kill few targets. I often use it as an armor breaker for Sand Worm.

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Creeping Ooze - I wanted to be sure that my monsters will attack first. That's why I used Creeping Ooze. I didn't put it on the last spot as I wanted that my Creeping Ooze survives a bit longer.

Slow - Reduces the Speed of all enemy Monsters.

I love this card. Every time I have one mana to spare I will throw in Creeping Ooze. Attacking first has great benefits especially in lower leagues.

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Cards that would be good with this setup

With new rewards cards that just became available a few days ago, we have few more options for this kind of build. The card that is looking amazing in the Water splinter is Palacor Bandit. The card is very similar to Kobold Miner from Fire Splinter. Definitely worth considering. Another card that is simply amazing is Uraeus. Great attack, health, and one armor that will soak one melee or ranged attack. Uraeus is just too good to resist.

Summary

When playing Demented Shark you are taking a bit of risk as he is not a proper tank. Yes, he does have high health and some armor but he is lacking that Shield or Void ability that we love so much. Wave Runner is just an amazing option for the second spot in a team and I will definitely try to play him more often. Now is also a great time to buy few Wave Runner cards as prices are going down at the moment.

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P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope that you are enjoying my content. If you liked it feel free to leave a comment or thumbs up.

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Have fun and see you on the battlefield!