In this week's Splinterlands Share Your Battle Challenge, we have been tasked to fight a match with Crystal Jaguar. Although I don't use this monster very often, I'm not one to back down from a challenge. So, let's see if Crystal Jaguar's combination of high speed, armor, and relatively low Mana cost can help us carry the victory.
The Lineup
This Splinterlands match was fought with only 12 Mana which I thought was great for Crystal Jaguar. Although Crystal Jaguar would make a poor choice as a first position monster in a 99 Mana match, it only costs 4 mana which makes it a nice first position pick for a low Mana match while still leaving enough remaining Mana to play a few supporting monsters.
In second position, I placed Furious Chicken. Furious Chicken is always a great monster to use, but it really shines in the lower Mana matches because it costs ZERO Mana to play but can easily absorb an opponent's attack putting your primary battle monsters at an advantage.
In third spot, I played Creeping Ooze for two reasons. First, Creeping Ooze slows the entire opponent's team making it more likely that I can get in a first round strike. Secondly, Creeping Ooze only costs 1 Mana to play which means that it can still be a good buffer monster to prevent a ranged or magic monster from reaching the front lines of the battle.
In last spot, I placed Light Elemental. Light Elemental is a strong magic monster that can attack from anywhere in the battlefield without being in harm's way. It's flying ability also gives it a bit of an edge in dodging attacks from monsters that aren't able to fly.
The Match
My strategy for the match was to let Crystal Jaguar and the rest of my monster's slowly absorb damage while Light Elemental whittled away at the opponent's team from the safety of the rear of my lineup. Thankfully, my opponent made a HUGE tactical blunder and only played a single ranged monster in first position. The ranged monster was unable to attack from first position, and my team easily won the match. I can only wonder why my opponent made such a decision and they didn't even user their full Mana allotment. Either way, I was pleased that my team was able to carry the win on this one.
Analysis of Crystal Jaguar
I will start off by saying that I don't really use Crystal Jaguar that much, but then again, I don't really use the Life Splinter in general that much. Crystal Jaguar costs 4 Mana, but if I spend 1 more Mana, I can play Silvershield Paladin who has identical stats PLUS the "Shield" ability which reduces the damage he takes from all melee and ranged attacks. In most situations, I find that additional 1 Mana to be well worth it. One of the few exceptions to this rule would be in matches where only monsters with 4 Mana or less can be played. In that scenario, I feel that Crystal Jaguar would be a good play, but it isn't one of my "go to" monsters like Unicorn Mustang (Earth Splinter) or Fineas Rage (Fire).
Summary
Win or loose, it is always nice to enter into the challenges and try new strategies and cards. Although the primary purpose of this post is to share my battle, I always like to remind players that Splinterlands rewards players for EVERY SINGLE match that they win with cryptocurrency. Players also win from daily quests, end of season rewards, and even get free airdrops of the SPS governance token based on their card collections. It's not financial advice, but if you like trading card games or just earning crypto and NFTs, then feel free to check out Splinterlands or watch my battle replay here
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_6c2ee9bbb9a2bfc89def28968f49f4d8&ref=parttimeeconon
