Hi community ! Again 
Today, I´m sharing with you a full breakdown of a recent battle of mine in Bronze (renting for power isn´t cheap these days lol), showcasing the card Wave Runner.
Wave Runner is an interesting card. In any other splinter, it would be a respectable pick in second position (making use of Reach). But Water splinter would rather employ magic over melee, so it´s hard to make it work.
Unless Chaos Legion brings more melee support for Water, Wave Runner will keep being a niche pick.
For today , we will try to make him work , and for that we must pair him with his BFF Demented Shark.
The Shark´s ability, Inspire improves the melee attak of the entire team by one.
First and foremost, Water melee can only be played in high mana battles, look at this one:
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_72f6576891591ad35137185bc3868f5c
For real, here is a replay of mine showcasing Wave Runner:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_6ac5ba5990c502fffabc18479df22da8&ref=trenloco
The battle was done under standard rules and a mana cap of 28. Every splinter was allowed.
Looking at my opponents battle log, I saw he liked to mix up Summoners and Splinters, so no assumptions going into the match.
I did my best to synergize my melee monsters, building the following team:
Summoner: The only choice for me is Bortus, as Aldric´s magic buff is utterly wasted if I only take melee monsters.
First position: My choice for tank was Demented Shark. He is beefy enough plus gives the whole team and extra (much needed) attack point.
Second position: Our showcase card, Wave Runner takes this spot. Remember that he still can attack from here, despite being melee, thanks to the Reach ability.
Third position: This place was taken by the MVP of the match, Sand Worm. Beefy, sneaky and with a whooping 5 (6! when paired with Shark) attack. Only downside is its high mana cost, but I´m glad I still could fit it in our deck.
Fourth Position: Here, Battering Ram. The Ram is undervalued in my opinion. He is a fragile, slow monster but packs quite a punch (and remember, Opportunity makes him target the enemy with less health).
Fifth position: To round out the team, Crustacean King is here to provide much needed heals to the frontline, which lacks defensive abilities. Still, you´ll see in the replay even the heal wasn´t enough to protect them.
Moving on to the battle:
Full replay here: https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_b2fa33c6edbf1999c5241f3880c89677
Round One:
Thankfully Bortus comes in handy, cancelling my enemy´s Aldric ability. His team has high damage, and they quickly finish my Shark, while Wave Runner barely survives.
In exchange, the Sand Worm takes out his Elemental (annoying, high damage and self heals, glad we got rid of him).
Round Two:
As foretold, the Wave Runner doesn´t last long.
Nevertheless, we come back with a saving heal on the Worm (Crustacean King pulling his weight here) plus an excellent snipe on the Ice Pixie (told you, Battering Ram is awesome).
To finish the round, Sand Worm casually one-hits opposing Serpent of Eld.
Round Three:
History repeating itself this round !
Sand Worm gets a saving heal and one-hits opposing Medusa. Then, Battering Ram, with another snipe from the sidelines, absolute unit.
And just like that, the battle is finally won !! Close game but I leave very satisfied with the result.
Closing Words
That´s all for today folks !
Hope you enjoyed reading this battle report as much as I did writing it. Many battles were lost in the making of it (seriously, we need Water melee support in CL please).
Cheers and good luck on the battlefield !
In case you have friends that have not yet joined the game, I delegate cards to my referrals, together with deck help to get them on the right foot:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=trenloco
NOTE: Even if you bought Spellbook already , I can still sign you up as a referral, just message me your in game name plus email adress used to log into game. I´ll delegate you a couple cards right away to get on the right foot.
I play lots of other games on Hive too, and I help referrals there also, just DM me and ask away !! Note: being referred doesn´t cost you anything in these games.
DCrops: https://www.dcrops.com/?ref=trenloco
Rising Star: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=trenloco
