Splinterlands Social Media Challenge - Venka vs. Night Stalker

I fought an interesting battle in Modern Diamond ranked. In this game, both players used 2 very powerful melee units: I used Venka the Vile and they used Night Stalker. Venka is a Rebellion legendary neutral core set card but it is one of the airdropped cards. For 7 mana, it is a 7 attack, 5 speed, 6 HP melee monster that can attack from anywhere, thanks to the Charge ability. It also has Piercing, Oppress, and Trample. It came out as a counter for Grimbardun Smith but ended up being amazing all around. It can be countered with Forcefield and Thorns. Night Stalker is also a Rebellion rare card but it is a promo from the Hall of Legends. It belongs to both Death and Fire splinters. It costs 4 mana (which means it can be played in Little League), has 4 attack, 4 speed, and 5 HP. It also has Sneak, Execute, and Blast. Again, Thorns is good against it and Reflection Shield also helps against the Blast. The Execute with Blast leads to some weird interactions, some of them are unexpected and/or not intuitive.

This game has the following rule sets: Stampede, Holy Protection, and Counterspell. I used Kelya with Halfling Refugee in front. I put Torrent Fiend next, followed by Venka and Uraeus. I finished the team with Pelacor Bandit and Igor Darkspear. They opted for Lux Vega with Nimbledook Scout and Scavo Chemist as their first two units. Next, they put 3 Sneak monsters: Gobalano Soldier, Night Stalker, and Uraeus. They ended with their own Halfling Refugee.

They quickly eliminated my Igor in the first round. In round 2, Venka was able to take out their Scout and remove the Divine Shield from Scavo. They managed to kill my Pelacor. Uraeus left their Refugee at 2 HP and Poisoned, however, since it didn't become Exhausted, it Healed itself back to 5. In round 3, Venka did the same, took out one unit, and removed the Divine Shield from the next one. Their attack on my backline continued and they took out Uraeus this time. Round 4 saw Venka do the same, killing Gobalano and leaving Night Stalker in front. Here we got one of the weird Night Stalker interactions: it was in the front row and attacked my Refugee which went from 8 to 4 HP. The Blast damage removed the Divine Shield from Torrent Fiend. Since it has 2 HP, Night Stalker's Execute triggered and it attacked Torrent Fiend, Blasting my other 2 units. In round 5, once more, Venka killed one unit, removed the Divine Shield from the next, and finished it all in the following round.

The Divine Shield made things slower for Night Stalker but even more for Venka. Without that rule set, it would have taken out their whole team in the first round, except for Halfling. I needed a faster unit to attack the front but I don't think it's easy to pick any in this mana cap, except maybe Pelacor Bandit itself in the front. As for the Execute plus Blast interaction, even if it wasn't from the first position, it would be weird to trigger Execute on the unit taking Blast damage. I don't think it's what players expect and it shouldn't be like that. It's even worse that it happens from the first position, attacking a unit in the second position.

What do you all think about this game? Would you have done anything different? Let me know in the comments! Thank you for reading!!