After last week's challenge tasked me to share a battle with the Antoid Platoon, a Monster I use constantly when playing with the Fire Spliter, this week the challenge brings me back to my favorite Splinter - the Water one, and one of the Monsters I use most often when the mana allows it - the Flying Squid. I would say that the Flying Squid is a Monster that is powerful at every level of play despite it being a mere Common one. As we have proven time and time again, the book should not be judged by the cover and some Common cards could turn the tide of battle more often than not .
Now before we get into the stats discussion of the Flying Squid, let's have a sneak peek into its LORE
So, as the art of the Monster actually suggests, it really does not fly but glides on top of the water surface which seems more than enough to make it a formidable enemy when met in its natural habitat as we saw in its short lore story. I would definitely not board any ship if I knew there was even the slightest possibility of stumbling upon a Flying Squid during the voyage.
Alright, we've got some idea of what an Flying Squid is, after glancing at its lore. Let us have a look at its stats and abilities at different key levels now.
This time our Common Monster has additional abilities unlike a lot of its fellows of similar quality who often lack any abilities at all. It starts off with its most important ability at Level 1 - Reach (it can attack the tank target from the 2nd spot in the line-up). Reach can prove to be really helpful in a lot of situations. Moreover the Monster itself starts off with 8 health so it can easily transition from the off-tank position to the main tank one and take a few hits, which is never a bad thing.
At level 5, which is the max level for Silver league, it has 3 attack, 4 speed, and 9 health, which makes it a great choice for every Kelya lover out there.
At level 6 (Gold league territory) it gains its second ability - Blind (all enemy melee and ranged attacks have an increased chance of missing their target) which is actually also pretty helpful for an off-tank.
Finally maxed out at level 10 it has 3 melee attack, 5 speed, and 10 health. But in addition to that it actually also gains a third ability - Backfire (if the enemy misses the Monster with their attack they take 2 damage), which is also an useful tool for tanking, especially pair with Blind.
Now that we know what the card does (or doesn't do) at the different levels of play, let us have a look at the battle I have chosen to showcase.
The rulesets for this battle are Equal Opportunity (all monsters will attack from any position (range monsters cannot attack from position 1) and will target the enemy Monster with the lowest health) and Noxious Fumes (all monsters start the game poisoned and will take 2 damage each turn unless cleansed). Its mana restriction is more than enough (50) to get creative with the setup. This means I can include any Monster from the Water Splinter (and neutrals) I wish, therefore I will choose to go with the Diemonshark as my main tank. Not only does it have great stats for the job (unless the enemy is a magic spammer but this has to be scouted before the battle begins) but it also has the Enrage ability which can actually be great while triggered by the Noxious Fumes, and it still having armor, since while the Monster is enraged not only does it have more attack, but its speed also increases which makes it even more evasive.
The 2nd place in the line-up goes to a Monster I love playing whenever possible and this battle has the perfect combination of rulesets for that it also so happens that it is the main protagonist of this week's Share Your Battle Challenge, namely the Flying Squid. Yeah, yeah, I know that since one of the rule sets is Equal Opportunity I don't really have to put it in the second spot because it can attack from any position but I still need a big body to shield the rest of my team so this is why I play it as I normally would.
The 3rd place in the line-up goes to the Djinn Oshannus. Another favorite Monster of mine. I think most people are in love with it actually but they all also admit that it sometimes does not make the cut for their Water line-ups as the competition is actually pretty fierce. Well this time around it did make the cut mostly because of its large body and magic resistance/evasion.
The 4th spot goes to the River Nymph. It's here for one specific job and it is to manage to cleanse twice before it dies to Noxious Fumes. I am saying cleanse twice since the Diemonshark could potentially get shot down in Round 1 so cleansing the 2nd or even 3rd Monster in the line-up - all of them very beefy, would be great.
5th in the line-up is the Sea Monster. I've thrown it into the mix cause of the Equal Opportunity rule set - so it can attack from any position but also because of its 5 attack and self-heal. It can essentially negate the Noxious Fumes effect for the period it is not subject of direct hits from the enemy Monsters.
The last spot is reserved for the Wave Brood. I expect it to get smashed in round one as every enemy Monster can attack it but the tank, however, it is still useful in order to give time to my front line to survive while the enemy is feeling the Noxious Fumes effects And it is also a great counter to Equal Opportunity as the enemy team will get Taunted to attack it while my Monsters are dealing with the enemy's weakest links.
It is time for a quick round by round analysis:
The Summoner I am going with for the battle is Kelya as I do not have any other level 4 Summoner you will likely see me play her in every Water Splinter battle under the sun (at least for now). That's fine though cause I like her a lot. My enemy is rocking a level 1 Byzantine Kitty. They do not have a single Magic attacker so that is great for my battle plan.
After 1 round, the enemy is down 1 ranged attacker, while my I have not lost any units but the snapshot is just before the Noxious Fumes damage is applied so I will lose both my Wave Brood and Nymph. That's okay though since they have served their purpose.
At the start of Round 3 one more of the enemy's ranged attackers. Their main tank is kept at full health by the Summoner's healing ability. However, one more of their Monsters will got down to Fumes damage before they can attack.
Round 4 - the enemy is left just with their Carnage Titan still standing, supported by the Byzantine Kitty. My Monsters have the edge though so the battle will be resolved soon.
Round 5 - all that is left is for the Noxious Fumes to finish off the Carnage Titan. My Djinn Oshannus will also fall victim to the same fate but its deeds of valor shall be remembered.
The Flying Squid is a great off-tank Monster for the Water Splinter. It can also do pretty well in the tank position if needed. It is specifically great for that from level 6 onward due to the additional abilities we discussed earlier. The Flying Squid currently valued at $0.09 per BCX, so there is literally no reason not to pick up as many copies as you need to get it leveled up to the appropriate level of the league you compete in.
