The Pirate Archer is one of these interesting little cards that you pack in when you happen to have a couple of spare mana after fielding your "real" team! Hailing from the Water Splinter, he isn't really naturally attuned to the Magic focus of the Beta Water Summoner... and he doesn't really cause devestating amounts of damage either. However, that little bit of chipping away at the second position monster and the if there is the Snipe battle condition... well, every little bit counts!

However, in low mana games, he is a pretty decent pick... as those little hits are really critical for low mana monsters, especially if they are glass cannons!

He also shares a very similar name to the Pirate Captain... which, if you are particularly dozy whilst writing means that you will write up a completely different battle and then slap yourself in the head!

The Battle

In this featured battle, I've been restricted by the "Taking Sides" battle condition to have only Water Splinter cards whilst the "Weak Magic" condition is also at play. This is a double edged sword, as it means that I'm not getting a face full of reflected magic bouncing back at me from Lord Arianthus... but it also means that armour is extra effective against the Magic based attacks of the Water Splinter.

So, I've decided to play the Frozen Soldier in the lead position. I was tossing up between him and the self-healing Sea Monster, but I figured that I could use the mana saved for some more punching power behind the tank. Plus, who would expect a Magic Reflector in these battle conditions?

The next four monsters are the staple deployments for my Magic Splinter. Sea Genie for the added Health, Coral Wraith to take out the enemy rear, the Ruler of the Seas for the Magic Dampening and Splash damage... and finally the Crustacean King to keep everyone alive and armoured up. As I had mentioned before, armour is extra effective in the "Weak Magic" battle condition.

Well... let's see... I have a bit of extra mana left. So, in the last place, I will put the Pirate Archer. There is a little bit more rationale than just having a spare spot with nothing else to put there, the extra Blast ability will help chip away at any enemies's armour whilst they are waiting in position behind the enemy tank. Seeing as the battle condition is for "Weak Magic", it means that all damage is going to have to take the same route through the armour.

Seeing the enemy team arrayed against me... I'm starting to wonder if this was a good team to play. The other side has a crap load of damage potential and lots of healing up front. On the other hand, I think I should be able to whittle them down from behind with the Coral Wraith.

In the first round, I'm pretty happy that I played a Reflect Magic monster in the front line. Just by sitting there, he has stripped away most of the attacker's armour. And my two blast monsters have chipped away at the the rest of the enemy armour. However, the crazy amount of healing on the Sea Monster combined with the Crustacean King is going to be tough to overcome. I hope I can last long enough in the front line... so that the enemy rear can be chipped away!

In the second round, the Sea monster goes down! This is more important than it first appears, as that means that the enemy Water Elemental gets brought to the front line and that means that I'm facing MUCH LESS incoming damage!

Third round... damn, the Sea Genie goes down... meaning that the Coral Wraith doesn't get to finish off the enemy Ruler of the Seas. Now things are going to get a bit tight! But later in the round, the PIRATE ARCHER does a last hit on BOTH the Mischievous Mermaid AND the Water Elemental... taking TWO monsters out of the fight!

It is ALL OVER!

Conclusion

I love the blast cards for their ability to take down the second position monsters whilst chipping away at the front-line tank. However, most of the time, these Blast cards cost a bit more than I'm willing to pay in mana costs.

The Pirate Archer is only 2 mana... and if you have a free slot and a low to mid mana budget for the battle, he is an easy inclusion for a little bit of extra havoc in the enemy lines. 2 mana... what does that buy you these days? Not even a little lolly from the corner store like it used to back in the day....

Splinterlands (aka the best blockchain game out there!)

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