Splinterlands Beginner's Deep Dive #1 - Water Melee is Underrated

Hello, it's Mezume here! This is my first more in-depth post about the gameplay of Splinterlands itself and it is aimed at complete beginners - just like me. If you've got mostly (or only) level 1 cards, this is something for you!

In the past few days, many Splinterlands players and investors have been speculating that the new water summoner is going to give a melee attack buff. While this is not confirmed at all, I decided to go out there and give water melee teams a bit more of a try. I barely ever saw it played against me and it has brought me great results the few times I got to play it, so I thought why not? Here's how it went:

Key Cards

First of all, let's take a look at cards that are key for a water melee team. These are the cheapest must-haves to make the most out of your little off-meta gem.

• Demented Shark - The reason water melee is even an idea at low levels. The inspire ability is incredibly powerful early on in the game, as the +1 attack essentially means we double the attack of cards like level 1 Uraeus, Pelacor Bandit and so on. Incredibly cheap - snatchable for under a dollar and rentable for 0,1DEC/day at any point.
• Wave Runner - I love this card, but it does not seem many players share that sentiment. 2 points of attack with Reach is incredible at only 5 mana - it blows even the Dragon 4-mana Reach units out of the water(hehe.)! Just like DShark, this one costs around a dollar per BCX!
• Pelacor Bandit - 3 mana for Sneak and Flying - and he has 2 attack if you play with Demented Shark. This is an incredibly underrated card currently! You can buy this as low as 15cents if you are patient and you will not regret it.

Relevant Cards

Those were the key cards, but there's much more that you can use! These are either more expensive (but easy to rent!), less crucial or are simply decent additions for some rulesets.

• Torhilo, the Frozen - This is the best you can get in Water to counter magic - especially when combined with Bortus. Torhilo is a melee attacker and the 5th point of attack from Demented Shark lets him do 3 damage to units with shield - or 1-shot some squishied with 5 health! He is quite expensive at 30-40$, so if you're just starting out, he's best to be rented at around 5DEC/day.
• Uraeus - Sneak attacker similar to Pelacor Bandit - except a little sturdier due to 1 point of Armor. Great for low mana battles, as well as to be used in the backrow to protect against opponent's sneaks. Costs just between 3-3.5$ and is a current reward card, so you are quite likely to get this one!
• Sand Worm - While the buff from Demented Shark is rarely relevant for Sand Worm, he can be a great addition to the team, especially in Reverse Speed ruleset, as well as at high mana cap battles. Cheap to buy (2$), cheap to rent and has the upside of being a neutral card.
• Feasting Seaweed - Another underrated card on the list. This is a mini Sand Worm that works great in low mana battles, especially with the Reverse Speed and Equalizer rulesets. It comes free in the starter set, but if you want to own it, 1 BCX costs only around 1.50$.

Summoners

Alright, we made it through the cards, but you can't summon those onto the batltefield without a summoner! Water does not (yet?) have a melee buffing summoner, so we gotta work with what we have. Keep in mind that I am still trying to work on a budget here, so we will omit awfully expensive ones like Byzantine Kitty or Lir Deepswimmer, even though they are great ways to play melee water.

• Bortus - The only starter summoner on the list, Bortus works great if your opponent is playing any kind of magic. In combination with Torhilo, he is likely to just shut down any full-on magic strategy, but he also just works great against cards like Ancient Lich or Bila, the Radiant if you expect those.
• Daria Dragonscale - If Dragon is available, Daria can either remove the need for Demented Shark, or you can simply double down on the melee buffs. 3 mana for a 3-attack level 1 Pelacor Bandit? Count me in! Fantastic summoner, but the most expensive card on the list to buy - I have found her for rent on deals for 1-2DEC, and if you wanna play melee water I recommend trying to snipe a deal like that.
• Vera Salacia - Yes, Vera IS a real consideration for water melee. Outside of Pelacor Bandit, none of your units have Flying and those pesky flyers in the backline can spell your demise if you miss once or twice. Getting Snare onto Feasting Seaweed, Uraeus or Sand Worm, all low speed units, can mean the difference between victory and defeat. She is very cheap to rent, but she is also only 10$ per BCX - with Qid Yuff, the cheapest summoner to buy. So if you wanna level up your water melee team for cheap, that might be the quickest route!

Weaknesses

Of course, every team has weaknesses. Melee water's weakness is that it can be fairly easy to counter if you want to spam it. The main problem is of course the terror of low ranks - Mylor Crowling. If you know your opponent has access to him, while your history shows a bunch of water melee games, you're probably better off switching to another team.

We can also struggle against Death, with Crypt Mancer and Zintar Mortalis hurting us a lot, but these are much more manageable than Mylor.

Closing Words

I fell in love with water melee recently and I have to admit I tend to lose just because I found it so much fun to play - who would go Mylor when I have 5 water melee games in my history after all, right?!

If the new water summoner is indeed a melee one, water will become my favourite splinter of Chaos Legion for sure. I suggest you try playing with the water teams in Bronze and low Silver, as it is powerful, as well as fun to build - there are so many options!