We're going off-piste again with this week's battle challenge. The official theme for this week was Wave Runner, but I could not for the life of me get a Water battle with a rule set that allowed me to use that card. So instead, we're going to highlight the amazing Silvershield Assassin in one of my recent battles.

The Card

You may notice some immediate similarities between the Silvershield Assassin and the Axemaster, so it's no surprise that I find this card equally great. Silvershield Assassin is a rare monster from the Life splinter. Like Axemaster, at level 1 the Assassin is a 7 mana card with 5 health and Double Strike, and although she is a melee attacker, Sneak also allows her to attack from the back line. She's a little slower and a little less strong than the Axemaster, with only 1 melee attack damage and 3 speed, but that doesn't make her any less an amazing combatant. If the enemy tries to hide their weaker monsters in the back, Silvershield Assassin will make quick work of them, potentially even taking out 2 monsters per turn!

At max level, Silvershield Assassin gets even better, gaining 2 armor, 1 speed, and 1 health. More importantly, her melee attack increases to 3 damage and she gains the Poison ability. That 3 damage, dealt twice per turn, can make quick work of almost any enemy. And if her direct damage doesn't quite finish them off, there's a good chance the poison will. Under the right circumstances, Silvershield Assassin can destroy the entire enemy team from behind before the big tank up front even notices there's a problem.

Time for a demonstration!

The Battle

Here we've got a 21 mana battle with Spreading Fury rule set, which gives all monsters Enrage, increasing their melee damage and speed when injured. My opponent and I both chose to focus on the Life splinter. I used Daria Dragonscale as my summoner to add 1 extra melee damage to my monsters (if I had more mana available, the Silvershield Knight could also have given this buff). My tank was the Silvershield Paladin, who had Shield to reduce incoming damage. Behind him was the Armorsmith, to Repair the Paladin's armor, then the Silvershield Assassin, and finally a Feral Spirit in the back as another Sneak attacker who could also take a hit for the Assassin if the enemy also ran Sneak.

My opponent ran a more defensive build, with Shieldbearer up front to Taunt and take the enemy attacks, Luminous Eagle to attack from behind the tank, Divine Healer to keep the Shieldbearer alive, Creeping Ooze to slow down my team, and finally a Furious Chicken in the back to take some Sneak attacks. The enemy summoner was Tyrus Paladium, who gave all the enemy monsters 1 extra armor. This team had the potential to thwart my own, since the Shieldbearer and Griffin were both strong enough to damage my Paladin through Shield. Furthermore, that Taunt was going to force me to go through the Shieldbearer first, which might not be possible with it healing every turn.

But as it turned out, that wasn't a problem. The Armorsmith insured that one of my opponent's two attacks was wasted every round, and once my Paladin took damage, he gained an extra attack damage from Enrage to help finish off the Shieldbearer. But that was nothing compared to the 6 damage that the Assassin and Feral Spirit were dealing every round. And now that the taunting Shieldbearer was down, they were about to go to work on the back line!

As you can see, now that the enemy team only had one remaining attacker our Armorsmith was able to singlehandedly protect the Paladin from any further damage. Meanwhile, our Assassin and Spirit completely destroyed the enemy team from behind, leaving the enemy Griffin utterly defenseless for us to finish off. The Assassin was especially adept at both removing that pesky armor and scoring a kill with her double attacks each turn.

Final Thoughts

Silvershield Assassin is a real powerhouse on a Life team, especially when buffed with extra damage on each of her attacks. She's not going to last long on the front line, but hide her behind a sturdy tank and pair her with more sneaky attackers and the enemy team will evaporate in no time. As far as I'm concerned, Silvershield Assassin is an essential card to have available in your collection for all your Life splinter battles.

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