The featured card for today’s post is the mercenary dwarven mage, Kelya Frendul.
Keyla is hands down, my favourite Summoner from the Chaos Legion edition. Her armor and speed buffs are invaluable assets to any battle, but what makes her my favourite Summoner is her versatility. Because her abilities are not buffs or debuffs to damage sources, it is much harder for your opponent to predict your lineup strategy. Whether you run a melee, ranged, magic or mixed composition, you can still find success with Keyla at the helm.
💠 Spreading Fury: All Monsters have the Enrage ability.
- Increase Melee attack and Speed when damaged. Values are multiplied by 1.5 and rounded up.
💠 Mana Cap: 15
💠 Available Splinters: Fire, Life, Water, Death
| Position | Card | Level | Mana | Element | Type | Attack | Speed | Armor | Health | Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | Kelya Frendul | 4 | 4 | Water | - | - | - | - | - | +1 Speed, +1 Armor |
| 1st | Torrent Fiend | 1 | 0 | Water | Melee | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | - |
| 2nd | Kelp Initiate | 1 | 2 | Water | - | - | 5 | - | 5 | - |
| 3rd | Ice Pixie | 1 | 2 | Water | Magic | 1 | 3 | - | 1 | Flying |
| 4th | Pelacor Bandit | 5 | 3 | Water | Melee | 2 | 4 | - | 4 | Sneak, Flying |
| 5th | Battering Ram | 1 | 2 | Neutral | Melee | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | Opportunity |
| 6th | Igor Darkspear | 3 | 2 | Water | Range | 2 | 3 | - | 5 | - |
| TOTAL MANA | 15 |
Here was my thinking behind my lineup selection:
💠 Kelya Lvl 4
My first reaction to seeing the mana cap, ruleset and available Splinters, was that Earth was unavailable. This lead me to assume that my opponent would opt for a melee or ranged focused lineup, over magic. The best option for this situation was Keyla Frendul. The +1 speed would allow me the potential to attack first and dodge a few attacks, while the +1 armor would grant each of my monsters one damage-free hit from my opponent (think of it as a pseudo divine shield vs melee/range).
💠 Torrent Fiend Lvl 1
With the low mana cap, this 0 cost meatshield was an easy way for me to field a full, 6 slotted lineup. I placed it in the first position since it does have 1 melee damage, giving it the potential to get off at least one attack before dying.
💠 Kelp Initiate Lvl 1
Another low-cost meat shield with high speed. Placed in the second position for the potential to absorb snipe attacks, then take over as the “primary tank”, once Torrent Fiend dies.
💠 Ice Pixie Lvl 1
Considering the potential for my opponent to play a monster with the shield ability in the first position, I wanted to have some magic damage, just in case. In addition to magic damage, the low mana cost, high speed and flying make this card a great choice in almost every low mana battle. I placed her in the 3rd position, as I wanted to “sandwich” my Pelacor bandit, as she would be one of my main damage dealers.
💠 Pelacor Bandit Lvl 5
This is one of my favourite cards from the Water Splinter. 3 mana cost for 2 sneak damage, 4 health, high speed and flying? What more could you want!? The 4th position is one of the safest, making this a great option to prolong my Pelacor Bandit’s life, whilst dealing as much damage as possible.
💠 Battering Ram Lvl 1
I chose the Battering Ram as an additional, low-cost body to protect my Pelacor Bandit from the rear. The opportunity ability was a bonus. I did not have high expectations in terms of damage output, but anything was better than nothing.
💠 Igor Darkspear Lvl 3
Another one of my favourite cards from the Water Splinter. You get so much for just 2 mana cost. 5 health, decent speed and 2 range damage made this card a great choice for the 6th position. With the +1 armor from Kelya Frendul, on top of his 5 health, I knew he would be able to absorb at least 3 attacks on his own, whilst dishing out some decent damage.
📢 I intended on fielding as many monsters as possible, inside of the low mana cap, whilst maintaining a high enough damage output to pick off my opponent's monsters. Kelya Frendul granted me a lot of flexibility, with the additional +1 armor to help sustain my lineup.
| Position | Card | Level | Mana | Element | Type | Attack | Speed | Armor | Health | Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | Tarsa | 1 | 4 | Fire | - | - | - | - | - | +1 Melee Attack, +1 Health |
| 1st | Cerberus | 1 | 4 | Fire | Melee | 2 | 3 | - | 5 | Heal |
| 2nd | Serpentine Spy | 1 | 3 | Fire | Melee | 2 | 3 | - | 1 | Opportunity |
| 3rd | Battering Ram | 1 | 2 | Neutral | Melee | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | Opportunity |
| 4th | Kobold Miner | 1 | 2 | Fire | Melee | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | Sneak |
| TOTAL MANA | 15 |
Here's how their lineup compared to mine:
💠 Speed
There was a clear speed advantage in favour of my lineup. Taking into consideration the speed buff from Kelya Frendul, the gap would only increase further. I was confident that I would be attacking first and getting a leg up on my opponent. My fingers were crossed for some lucky dodges as well.
💠 Monster Level
Two of my monsters were maxed level for Silver League, giving me a slight advantage over my opponent, who fielded all Lvl 1 monsters. In saying that, they did have two Beta cards in Cerberus and Kobold Miner – both of which are very powerful.
💠 Damage
My total potential damage output came out to 7, compared to my opponent whose total was 10 (with the added +1 melee attack buff from Tarsa)
📢 Seeing that I had utilised my mana more effectively, to field a full 6 slotted lineup, with the +1 armor in tow, I was confident that I would be able to win this battle.
Pelacor Bandit goes first, with a sneak attack on Kobold Miner. Kobold Miner drops to 1 health and becomes enraged (Damage increased to 3 and speed to 3).
Ice Pixie follows with an attack on Cerberus, dropping his health to 5. Cerberus becomes enraged (Damage increased to 5 and speed to 5).
Cerberus heals himself, bringing his health back up to 6 and loses his enraged state. He then attacks Torrent Fiend. Thanks to the +1 armor from Kelya Frendul, the attack is futile.
Igor Darkspear attacks Cerberus, dropping his health to 4 and enraging him once again.
Torrent fiend attacks Cerberus, dropping his health further to 3.
Kobold Miner launches a sneak attack on Igor Darkspear, which is blocked thanks to the +1 armor.
Serpentine Spy finishes off Torrent Fiend with an opportunity attack, bringing Kelp Initiate into the first position.
My Battering Ram attempts an opportunity attack on Kobold Miner. Lucky for my opponent, Battering Ram misses and Kobold Miner lives to fight another day.
My opponent's Battering Ram attempts an opportunity attack on Ice Pixie and misses also.
Cerberus heals himself, bringing his health back up to 5, but does not appear to lose his enraged state this time? He attacks Kelp Initiate, but once again, the +1 armor is a saving grace.
Pelacor Bandit goes in for another sneak attack, finishing off Kobold Miner.
Ice Pixie follows with an attack on Cerberus, dropping his health to 4.
Igor Darkspear attacks Cerberus, dropping his health further to 2.
Serpentine Spy attempts an opportunity attack on Ice Pixie, but misses.
My Battering Ram lands an opportunity attack on Cerberus, dropping his health down to 1.
My opponent's Battering Ram attempts an opportunity attack on Ice Pixie, but misses.
Cerberus heals himself, bringing his health back up to 3. He attacks Kelp Initiate, dropping him in one fell swoop.
Pelacor Bandit proceeds with a sneak attack on my opponent's Battering Ram, which leaves him dead in the dust.
Ice Pixie attacks Cerberus, dropping his health to 2.
Igor Darkspear follows up to deal the killing blow, leaving Serpentine Spy as the lone survivor, in the first position.
Serpentine Spy launches an attack on Ice Pixie, which is blocked by the +1 armor.
My Battering Ram goes in with an attack on Serpentine Spy, dropping his health to 1. Serpentine Spy becomes enraged, boosting his damage to 5 and speed to 5 also.
- Pelacor Bandit launches the final attack on Serpentine Spy and victory is achieved!
All things considered; I think the biggest contributor to my success was the +1 armor from Keyla Frendul. A total of 4 of my opponent’s attacks were nullified, thanks to this buff. In addition, another 3 attacks were missed on Ice Pixie, which can be attributed to her flying ability, but also the +1 speed buff. At the end of the battle, I was left with 4 monsters, still standing out of the total 6, which is a testament to the survivability that this Summoner provides. Overall, I don’t think I could have played this one much better. It was “poetry in motion”.
There is no denying that Kelya Frendul is an absolute beast! Today’s post touched on her ability to dominate in low mana battles, but the same result can be achieved in every situation. She is the only Chaos Legion Summoner to maintain her price at the $4.00 mark and I hope this battle demonstrates why.
Don’t bother with the Yodins, Kittys and Llamas of the Splinterverse. Save yourself some bank and get a leveled up Kelya Frendul. I promise you will not regret it!
I appreciate your time and attention and I look forward to seeing you in the next post...
God Bless~
-Kxlm
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