"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

Introduction

Greetings fellow Hivers and Splinterlands enthusiasts! I just started playing Splinterlands recently, and this is my first submission for the "Share Your Battle Challenge". I had a ton of fun putting this together, despite being VERY unfamiliar with the Dragon element. I enjoyed the added challenge of working with the challenge theme in addition to the battle ruleset.

As I'm new to this, I welcome any advice you have on how to improve my posting or battle strategy. Thanks for reading, and I hope you find this enjoyable!

Challenge Rules

THEME: DRAGONS
Edition: ANY
Rarity: ANY
Element: DRAGON + ANY
ATTACK: ANY
ABILITIES: ANY

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Battle Ruleset

Being new to Splinterlands, and still at a low league level (Bronze), I have limited experience with non-standard battle rules. Initially I was wary of this aspect of the game, but as I've played more I've come to appreciate the varied rulesets for adding nice variety and tactical interest to the battles.

For my featured battle, my opponent and I got the following ruleset:

• Mana Limit: 15
• Special Rules:
  -- Equal Opportunity: All monsters have the Opportunity ability.

My Lineup Strategy

Summoner: Drake of Arnak

Being relegated almost entirely to the starter cards, I had to choose the only Dragon summoner available in my collection. Despite this, the Drake of Arnak seemed like a good leader for my team. Its ability of +1 Armor to all units seemed powerful for a low-mana battle, and I expected this to add value my low-cost units with limited health.

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Tank: Haunted Spirit

I chose the death element to accompany my dragon summoner. In my limited experience, I've been successful with this element for battles with a mana limit between 15 and 20.

Within the death element, I often go to the Haunted Spirit as my frontline monster due to its high health (7) and healing ability. With the +1 armor bonus from my Summoner, I hoped this unit could soak damage while my other units did their work.

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Undead Priest

I really like this card, mostly due to its cool artwork and theme, but also because its passive effect of lowering the health of all enemy monsters seems like a great value for only two mana. In retrospect (see my battle results below!), I may have fared better replacing this card with a different monster that added consistent damage to my lineup.

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Undead Badger

I added this unit to my lineup primarily because of its Sneak ability, which targets the last monster in the opponent's lineup. I anticipated my opponent having at least one low-health damage dealer in the back, and hoped to leverage the Badger's decent speed value (3) to get in an early strike.

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Cocatrice

I opted for another low-mana monster for my back line. Especially in low-mana battles, I try to gain an advantage by maximizing my number of units, and thus my attacks per turn. I put the Cocatrice behind the badger so its slightly higher health (2) might help cushion the badger against enemy units with the sneak ability.

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The Battle

Click on the link below to watch my battle!
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_e80176662e7afb2f490a476a19bae008&ref=snarkycat

I felt good going into the battle, seeing that I had a numbers advantage - four units to my opponent's three.

My strategy seemed to be paying off when my cocatrice eliminated their Skeleton Assassin early.

My opponent struck back, with their Elven Mystic destroying my Undead Badger.

I thought my battle was as good as won in Round 2, when my cocatrice eliminated the elven mystic threat. This left our two identical Haunted Spirits on the front line, with my team boasting two additional supports.

The battle went on - it was a long one - and my two cumulative damage just wasn't enough to offset the opposing Haunted Spirit's healing ability. Each round it recovered all the damage my team had done!

By round 21, battle fatigue started kicking in, quickly eliminating my weaker units.

After a long-fought - and very close - battle, the fatigue and turn order finished off my Haunted Spirit before it could act again.

The Battle Result

In the end, I came close to winning, but after 23 rounds, my team's damage output just wasn't enough to win the match. This battle illustrates how dynamic and exciting Splinterlands battles can be (even at low league levels!).

Thank you to the @splinterlands team for creating such an engaging game, and to @carrieallen for crafting the "Share Your Battle" challenge. I had a great time with this, and look forward to the next time!