Splinterlands Share Your Battle Challenge - Naga Warrior

In this week's Splinterlands Share Your Battle Challenge, we have been tasked to fight a match using Naga Warrior. Naga Warrior is an Epic, Water Splinter Monster that attacks with a strong melee attack and has the "Retaliate" ability starting at level 1. In this post, I'll share my strategy for employing Naga Warrior, the results of my battle, and my thoughts on Naga Warrior as a playable monster.

The Lineup

This Splinterlands ruleset mandated that no magic monsters could be used, so I knew right off the start we would be in for a rough match. Both of my Water splinter summoners give magic buffs/debuffs in some way. Alric Stormbringer gives +1 magic attack to friendly monsters while Bortus lowers enemy monster's attacks by -1. Since magic monsters weren't allowed, I knew that I would be entering the match without either 1) being able to increase my own team's attacks or 2) decreasing the attacks of my opponents.

Thinking back, I probably should have allied with the Dragon Splinter and taken the +1 armor buff from Drake of Arnak, but I wasn't thinking that far ahead at the time. Sometimes I still forget that Dragons can fight alongside any Splinter, and I also had it in my mind that I could be working on my Water daily quest.

Even though the deck was stacked against us from the start, I still wanted to do my best to show off Naga Warrior's skills. Since I only had 13 Mana points to use, I had to be very careful how I chose my team. Since Naga Warrior had the "Retaliate" ability, I thought it would be best to put it in first position. That way, it could attack on its own turn but also have the possibility of retaliating and dealing additional damage every time it was attacked.

In second spot, I chose Wave Runner. Wave Runner is my go-to second position monster when I play with the Water Splinter because he has a strong melee attack and the "Reach" ability which means he can fight from second position as well as first position unlike a ranged monster.

With all of my Mana used for the match, I decided to place Furious Chicken in last position. My thinking was that if the enemy employed a sneak or snipe capable monster, they would at least waste their first round attack on Furious Chicken instead of one of my main monsters.

The Match

As soon as the match started, I knew it would be a tough fight because I saw my opponent had picked Living Lava as their first position monster. Living Lava already has high health and good armor which makes it an especially strong opponent in the lower level matches, but it also has the "Shield" ability which reduces the damage it takes from melee attacks. Since all I had was melee monsters, I knew it would be very difficult to do significant damage. If that wasn't enough, my opponent had also played Drake of Arnak as their summoner which gave an additional +1 Armor buff to their team. Talk about a strong opponent!

Unfortunately, the match went as expected, and I had to concede victory to my opponent on a well fought battle.

Thoughts on Naga Warrior
Although we didn't win the match, I don't think that is a bad reflection on Naga Warrior. In my opinion, Naga Warrior is generally similar to Stonesplitter Orc, which is the other "Retaliate" capable monster I have. Stonesplitter Orc has a higher attack and armor, but less health and costs 1 more Mana to play, so I'd say they are about the same with all things considered. That being said, I would generally still prefer the Earth Splinter over Water, but again, that's not a bad reflection on Naga Warrior....Its just that I love Unicorn Mustang!!

Overall, I think Naga Warrior is a good card to have, and although this wasn't the best ruleset to showcase it's ability, I think it could do really well in a match where melee monsters could attack from any position. I'd also like to be able to play this card allied with the Dragon Splinter so that Naga Warrior could absorb the enemy's first round blow with armor instead of receiving damage to its health.

Summary
As always, it is fun to take part in the matches whether I win or loose, and I think Splinterlands can be a fun game to play regardless of the outcome of the match. It is fun to take part in the challenges and try new strategies and monsters that I probably wouldn't try otherwise. Even though, I didn't win the match, I'm happy to participate and happy that I now have a new monster as part of my team.

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