Hi everyone! It's time for the a weekly battle challenge, and the challenge for this week is Dragons. For this challenge, I’m using Djinn Chwala and Chaos Dragon with Quix the Devious as my summoner.
About the Monsters
Djinn Chwala
Djinn Chwala is a Epic card which is great at level 1 with high Health (9) and Shield (5) and has the Thorns ability, which deals 2 damage to Melee monsters that attack it. It gets the Enrage ability from level 4 and True Strike at level 6. I’m using the level 2 version which gets an additional attack.
Chaos Dragon
Chaos Dragon is a Legendary card great at level 1 with good Magic attack (3) and decent amount of Shield (4) and high Health (10), and has the Flying and Scattershot ability. It gains the skills Blast and Blind at level 2 and 3 respectively. While I'm using a level 2 gold version which I rented, I only have access to level 1 skills as my Quix the Devious is only at level 1.
Ruleset
Taking Sides: Neutral Monsters may not be used in battles
Only the Fire, Water, Water, Earth, Life and Dragon Splinters can be used
Mana Cap: 56
Format: Modern
Cards & Line Up
Summoner
vs
 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Position | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Djinn Chwala | It has has 9 Health, 5 Shield and the Thorns ability against melee attacks. It’s a great card against Melee monsters and can last quite a bit as a tank. |
| 2 | Djinn Oshannus | It has high health and the Void ability. The high health is important for the Earthquake ruleset if the card does not have the Flying ability. |
| 3 | Merdaali Guardian | It has low health but has the Heal ability and is used here to heal the tank a couple of times to let the tank last a little longer. |
| 4 | Runemancer Kye | One of my favourite Riftwatcher card with fairly high health (8) and shield (5), and has the Flying and Life Leech ability. |
| 5 | Chaos Dragon | A good Dragon card with high health, with the Flying and Scattershot ability. |
| 6 | Wave Brood | It has high health placed here to absorb all the initial damage, so that the tank has a chance to be healed. |
Strategy
The ruleset for Earthquake meant that the best strategy to take is to use cards with high health, high shields, and with the Flying ability as much as possible. And also Magic attack cards to bypass any shields the opponent might have. The second Taking Sides ruleset also meant that Dragons Splinter have an edge, as they can use a secondary splinter which increases the number of cards that can be used. So my strategy was to use Dragon and Water Splinter, as there's a good range of high health and Flying cards that I can choose from. Cards like Runemance Kye and Chaos Dragon with the Flying ability are placed as far back as possible so that they can take maximum advantage of the Earthquake ruleset.
I must say that this was a close fight, as the opponent used the summoner Obsidian and Monsters with high health and high magic damage. Queen Mycelia also makes this deck last longer with the added 2 Shields for each monster. Typically, this set up can take out a deck of flying cards very fast, especially if the deck does not have sufficiently high health. Fortunately for me, I used a deck with high health to absorb most of the damage in the first few rounds, and let the Earthquake damage help with the rest. I ended the battle with 2 cards left, which I thought was fairly successful.
Thoughts on the cards
I love Dragons as there are so many great Dragon cards, and they usually have high attack and high health. However, they also have high mana costs, and are better utilised in high mana battles like this one. Chaos Dragon stood out here especially as it was perfect for this ruleset with its high health and Flying ability.