Splinterlands - Which summoner is better for the water deck, Alric Stormbringer or Kelya Frendul?

With the arrival of chaos legion the magic deck meta changed, before we had the water deck with Alric Stormbringer as a magic deck and now we have the earth deck with Obsidian and the water deck has changed because of the appearance of summoner Kelya Frendul, But is it better than the last one?

If you were already in splinterlands before the arrival of chaos legion then you should know the dreaded Alric Stormbringer who is a summoner in the water deck that put fear in all those who faced him as he grants +1 magic attack and magic cards are extremely hated by those who face them, but I'm talking as if Alric Stormbringer had ceased to exist and that didn't happen but unfortunately his presence in splinterlands has diminished a lot, but what I really want to show is that with the arrival of Kelya Frendul in the deck of water has become something better or worse than when it was with Alric Stormbringer.

Let's start by talking about Kelya Frendul who is a summoner who grants +1 speed and +1 shield to her cards on the field. If we compare with Alric Stormbringer that only grants +1 magic attack then it seems that Kelya is more useful, but it's not about quantity but quality, Kelya Frendul is quite useful because having +1 speed is something very important in battle since speed decides who attacks first and with this advantage the battle can be decided as by attacking first you have a chance to defeat a card before it even attacks and this opens up a huge advantage on the battlefield, so we can already see a very positive point in using Kelya, in addition she also grants +1 shield to all allied cards and this is another important factor in a battle, if you don't understand very well how the shield works then know that it is a barrier that prevents melee and ranged attacks from reaching your card's health, so having 1 shield is the same as making a melee or ranged card attack useless as it doesn't matter how much the card's attack is and the amount of shield you have, let's assume that the card that attacked you has 3 melee attack and your card has 1 shield so the damage is applied only to the shield and it's like the card has only 1 attack, on the other hand if you have 4 shield and the 3 attack card then 3 damage will be applied to the shield and you will still have 1 shield left and that would still make you dodge the next attack too, so the shield is something very important in a battle because melee and ranged cards are present in almost every battle.

With this we can see that the advantage of using Kelya Frendul is quite extensive but can Alric Stormbringer be better than that?

As I mentioned before Alric Stormbringer only grants one thing which is +1 magic attack for spell cards and you must be wondering that there is no way he can be better than Kelya Frendul, and I will neither agree nor disagree because I consider the 2 very useful, but Alric Stormbringer even granting only magic attack is already a great feat because the magic attack directly attacks the enemy card's health and ignores the shield and as the shield is a very important factor in most battles, the magic cards make them useless so it makes Kelya Frendul lose value in a battle with Alric Stormbringer, in addition magic cards can attack in any position and melee and ranged cards have restrictions. Melee cards can only attack in the first position or in other positions if it has the Reach ability that allows it to attack from the second position, the Sneak ability that allows it to attack from any position and attacks the last position card and also the Opportunity ability that allows it to attack from any position and attacks the card with the lowest health. Ranged cards can attack in any position but first position, so magic cards don't have these restrictions and you can put them in any position and it won't change the fact that they attack so that's another very positive point.

And I mentioned this issue of positions because usually when using Kelya Frendul it is common to use melee and range cards and rarely use magic cards because they are more useful with summoner who increase their magic attack like Alric Stormbringer, so in an Alric battle Stormbringer vs Kelya Frendul Alric would win because Kelya's only utility would be speed and that wouldn't be enough to defeat the magic cards. In addition, there are cards in the water deck that can meet this need for shield in a battle and one of them is Venari Wavesmith which is a magic card so using it with Alric Stormbringer will be good for your team because it will have more attack and will also grant +2 shield with Protect skill.

And there is also another card that is Crustacean king that also has the ability Protect and is a ranged card, Venari Wavesmith would be more useful since it is a magic card but using Crustacean king is also not a bad idea since in addition to granting shield it also in the Tank Heal skill that heals the card in the first position, but why think about which one to use if you can use both?

So as you can see both Kelya Frendul and Alric Stormbringer are very useful summoners and it depends a lot on the strategy you intend to use and I know I said I would stay neutral in the choice but I still consider Alric Stormbringer a better choice and he it has 3 mana cost while Kelya Frendul costs 4 and seems little but that 1 mana can make a big difference when you go to choose the cards.

But and you? what do you think of this new meta? Do you belong to the team that plays Kelya Frendul in the water deck or do you prefer Alric Stormbringer? Leave your experiences with these cards in the comments so that those who read them understand more about both cards.

LORE KELYA FRENDUL

Kelya’s home in Vorlan was lavish and full of prizes. On the walls hung weapons of great warriors and artifacts from deep dungeons. There were rooms filled to the brim with treasure and libraries overflowing with knowledge, tomes, and manuscripts. She had hundreds of servants and was butled from dawn until dusk. She even has the pleasure of leading the most stalwart and tactical squadron around, the Wave Breakers, a group of dwarven warriors. She uses Water magic to create weapons of crystallized water. Yet, there was one thing she sought about all else: the Silver Shield and Silver Sword.

Kelya amassed so much wealth exploring numerous lands, she purchased a fleet of ships and built her home on the small island of Vorlan. Surrounded by sea and mist, she and her Wave Breakers constantly plot ways of finding the sword and shield. They also love a good challenge and especially enjoy combat. She and the Wave Breakers are often hired as mercenaries to clear out dungeons and fight on behalf of the highest bidder. The next highest bidder to come calling just so happened to be the Chaos Legion.

Kelya doesn’t ask questions as long as her pockets are lined with coins and treasure. Yet, the promise of arriving in Kymia was more than enough for her to take the job. The legendary silver weapons may well be within her grasp and the Chaos Legion is her ticket to fortune and glory.
The enemy stood strong inside the city gates. They held it for five nights, not once allowing a single soldier to pass through their defenses. Catapults and trebuchets were no use and arrows just bounced off the thick stone walls. Kelya Frendul watched from her lavish tent atop a hill far outside the city away from the battle. A long sigh escaped her. “This is why we were hired? To breach this city? There better be some fine treasure inside.”

A gust of wind blew through the tent, whipping the linen around. Kelya rose from her gold studded chair, grabbed a set of aqua gauntlets fashioned with the symbol of a crashing wave, and walked outside. The wind blew the door open as she stepped through to confront her warriors, the Wave Breakers.

She strode through a line of three dozen dwarves all wearing steel aqua armor. Each one saluted her as she approached, weapons and armor clattering together as they stood at attention. “Wave Breakers! We were hired today to bring down the city gates. Our benefactor has paid a high price and promised more would come if we assisted their army in taking the city. Who's up for a bit of raiding after we bust in those doors?”

A resounding “Haroo!” echoed from the warriors. “Excellent!” Said Kelya. “Break their defenses and shatter their shields. Crashing formation!”

The dwarves formed three lines behind one another. The front pulled out round shields the size of their entire body. The second wielded long lances and pointed them between each dwarf on the front line. The third line readied their shields and weapons — axes, swords, and hammers — and formed a protective circle around the other two. The warriors moved in rhythm together, shielded by one another.

Kelya walked into the center of the group. She tightened her gauntlets and slammed her fists together. Water magic appeared around her and crashed over the warriors like a mighty wave upon rocks. When it faded, their armor glowed a bright blue and a faint hum could be heard in the air. She flung out her left hand to her side and water suddenly formed around her wrist and continued to her palm. It transformed into a hilt and sword made of pure crystallized water.

“Let's show this city and our contributor why we've earned our name.” Kelya and her Wave Breakers marched towards the city gates.

LORE ALRIC STORMBRINGER

The oldest AZMARÉAN Summoner, Alric Stormbringer, founded the modern arts of Chaos Magic. He has many pupils from around the Splinterlands. Alric’s gift is not so much bringing the storm, but channeling it. He has lived for hundreds of years, and some stories claim he was alive before the Splintering.