I like throwing teasers in these posts about what I plan to do in the future... So, in the last one I mentioned creating a series of posts on the first Monsters and Summoners out of the default set that you should upgrade. After that, I will be going into a few newbie friendly core teams for players to utilize. These will be simple lineups of monsters who work well together in Low Mana, Mid Mana, and High Mana for all teams except Dragon & Neutral. (Due to the endless variety there). These will be helpful starting points for a player to see how to build a team for each Splinter. They won't guarantee you a win, but they'll give you a starting point.
About the Water Splinter
Here comes Water Monsters. A personal favorite, I really enjoy the Water set because it's so versatile, like Light and Earth. However, Water is highly Magic focused, but pairs with some of the best tanks and bruiser melee units in the game. Kraken for instance, wins games on his own. What this does, is actually make Water the glass cannon of the game. This took a while to get used to coming from other card games with water elements.
Water is notoriously Slow, and I would say thats its main weakness. Its magic creatures are also not very strong health wise, making it a glass cannon type team. Fortunately, there's ways to round that out!
#1 Captain's Ghost
The first two recommendations are tankier, stronger magic casters that are cheap. This will round out your magic teams extremely well, and give you an off-tank caster, more damage, and better magic rounds for High Mana. In other words, these 2 cards will help you the most in all situations. This guy is the most important, with Affliction he removes the ability to heal, and he has 2 Magic, 1 Speed, 7 Cost, and a whopping 7 Health. With Alric, that's 3 Magic on what is essentially a tank. You can see why this will help you right? Do I even need to explain ;)
Costs: Normal: $1.25, Gold Foil: $20
Renting: Normal: 0.14 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 18 DEC / day
#2 Sea Genie
Your next caster only has 3 health, making him a bit less desirable, but his Flying ability and 2 Magic make him a great choice for bolstering your magic damage in mid mana battles and makes him particularly lethal in Earthquake rounds. This helps round out your Earthquake teams, which are horribly weak at the beginning.
Costs: Normal: $2 Gold Foil: $12.90
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day Gold Foil: 7-10 DEC / day
#3 Sea Monster
THE best cheap tank you can get, besides the one you start with. This guy really changes Magic's options. With a Regenerate ability, he heals 2 HP every round, he hits hard with 4 Melee, and he has a ton of health. He's a VERY strong tank in Mid Mana and High Mana, and his healing abilities, paired with say, Crustacean King, make him even more tanky. Furthermore, he's a great choice in Earthquake and Poison rounds, as his healing NEGATES that damage. This tank is a game changer. He's JUST AS important as number 1, but for different reasons.
Costs: Normal: $2 Gold Foil: $30
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day Gold Foil: 13.50 DEC / day
#4 Torhilo the Frozen
This guy is a really great tank as well, just as good, and sometimes, far better than Sea Monster, however he is MUCH more expensive to rent. Still, I'm going to put him on the list anyways because he is a HARD COUNTER to other Magic teams. Basically, if you both go Water, Magic, and they choose Sea Monster, and you choose Torhilo, Torhilo is gunna woop some butt. You likely won't be able to afford a gold foil for a while though.
Costs: Normal: $5 Gold Foil: $80
Renting: Normal: 1.85 DEC / day Gold Foil: 50 DEC / day
#5 Kelp Initiate
2 Mana Cost, you already know. Water doesn't need as much low mana as other splinters do, but this one is REALLY strong, with 5 Health, it's a great meat shield that can help your casters survive just a little bit longer.
Costs: Normal: $1 Gold Foil: $16
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day Gold Foil: 2.4 DEC / day
Summoners
I think Water really benefits nicely from Salacia but only in a very specific situation: her Snare is a hard counter to Flying Units, making her a highly situational, but an EXCELLENT option for Earthquake rounds. Since she is so situational, she is cheap, at $1.45 to buy, and 0.1 to rent.
Xia Seachan is also great for Low Mana battles, costing 2 Mana with no Ability, she costs about 0.7 DEC / day. Don't even bother with her prices for owning though.
Sign Up for Splinterlands now!
Never played? Interested in getting in on the action? Want to find out what all the fuss is about for these battles, or maybe you've seen a bunch about SPS? You can play the game 100% for free initially, without earning currency. If you like it, you pay $10 to get in on the action by buying a Spellbook! You'll make that 10 dollars back in less than a month at current prices. If you sign up, feel free to message or comment and I might hook you up with some free starting cards, or delegate a card to you for a week!
Join me on Splinterlands, if you use my link, I'll send you 100 DEC when you sign up and get a spellbook, (as long as you show up as referred) which should help you get started via renting! Also, feel free to message me, I can answer any questions, give tips, etc. I might even give you a card or delegate some to you for your first season! I also will be doing a monthly giveaway for my referrals for as long as I play! Last month, I gave my first referral a 1 month delegation of 3 Legendaries and Mylor, plus some other stuff for the month! This month I think I will be delegating a gold Serpentine Spy to somebody for the month of September and who knows what else!
