Splinterlands Community Engagement Challenge: Ruleset Rumble - Flying Dragons Are Underrated?

It's been a while since I did a Community Engagement Challenge and when I saw that this week's theme was Ruleset Rumble, I thought why not give it a shot?

The ruleset I wanted to talk about today is actually Earthquake! We all know you need Flying cards for Earthquake battles, but do you know which element has the strongest Flying cards? If you go by intuition, you are right, that's Dragons! Because Dragons fly right? Haha.

Personally, I have these 4 Flying Dragon cards, which are Redwyrm Dragon, Fire Spitter, Chaos Dragon and Zyvax Vuul. On first glance, their mana on these cards are pretty high, but in certain battles, you would realise their stats as well as their abilities are worth that amount of mana placed on them.

Personally, Chaos Dragon and Redwyrm Dragon are my go to favourites because they have very strong abilities as well.

• For Chaos Dragon, that 4 Armor + 10 HP stat is super massive and the Magic damage is Scattershot. This works very well for Blast battles, where it can easily deal 3+2+2 damage per turn.

• For Redwyrm Dragon, one interesting ability that struck me was Immunity! Do you know how hard is it to find Immunity ability on Level 1 cards these days? Apart from the usual household name like Forgotten One, and perhaps Almo Cambio (which is a super expensive card), Redwyrm Dragon has that ability at Level 1 and is extremely valuable in Poison battles. And if there is a Poison and Earthquake ruleset at the same time, Redwyrm Dragon is probably the best card ever.

So before we go into a battle to illustrate the powers of these 2 Magic Dragons, here's a look at their lore:

• Chaos Dragon

The Chaos Realm has preyed upon many a world, opening rifts in time and space to invade the lands and take from its people. When they attacked Praetoria and the Splinterlands, it was first thought that the minions were compelled through the portal for their fear of the dark shade that lurked beyond the gate, the shadowed image of Uul. Eventually though, when the last of the armies stepped through, there came such a prodigious monster that at first, none could believe it was real. A nightmare dragged forth into reality.

As it flew through the spinning vortex, the Chaos Dragon let forth a violent shriek, so loud that it was felt in the far reaches of every Splinter. The people of Praetoria fell to their knees, terror taking the strength from their legs and the courage from their hearts. For an army of monsters can be fought, the land defended with righteous fervor. But when even the invading hordes are fleeing before such a beast, what hope can there be? The answer is none when the eater of worlds has arrived, the true devourer of existence.

Surely such a thing couldn't be the puppet of Uul? How could anyone command a creature that has flown from one cosmos to another, feeding upon alien planets? But it was his most potent being, one that existed before time had conceived the very gift of life itself.

• Redwyrm Dragon

The dragons of Mount Redwyrm are bound in obedience to the cruel and ancient red wyrm known as Rage. Theirs is a loyalty born of fear rather than affection, for any who dare challenge Rage are effortlessly felled by his terrible fury.

Since the flight's alliance with the Chaos Empire, these red dragons have become a constant presence in the skies above the Broken Lands. They glide into the cities and towns to collect tithings for their patriarch (while quietly keeping a share for themselves, of course) or swoop down to unleash their blistering destruction upon any who would dare to oppose them.

---

So this was a recent brawl battle that I encountered, which had Earthquake as well as Blast (Chaos Dragon!!!) ruleset and I knew I had to bring my Dragons into the lineup. And the amazing thing about Dragons is, they have an awesome summoner called Delwyn Dragonscale, who boosts all Magic damage by 1. In this case, this effectively brought the damage of Chaos Dragon and Redwyrm Dragon to 4 and 3 respectively.

For Blast battles, by right, one should bring as many cards/attackers as possible because every single attack is supplemented by the Blast damage, so I did consider if fielding 3 cards (2 big ones) was the right choice. But sometimes, we just got to think out of the box, take some calculated risks, and experiment with new strategies and lineups, and therefore, within that 2 minutes or so timing, I made the call to go for it!

Usually, Blast battles go very fast, but at the end of Round 1, my big cards survived all the onslaught and we reduced the card advantage by 1 by clearing the opposing tank.

At the end of Round 2, it was almost done and my 3 cards not very hurt. Pretty amazing, despite my opponent having so many attackers. I think it also helped that there was Earthquake and some of my opponent's cards were not Flying too.

And it was all over in 3 rounds!

You can view the battle here.

So to sum up:

If you are struggling with Earthquake, Blast, or even Poison rulesets, take a deeper look on the Flying Dragons and see what they have to offer. Many of these Dragons are heavy weights and have very strong abilities. Also, don't forget about their summoners as well. Other than Delwyn Dragonscale which you have seen in this battle, they also have Brighton Bloom which is currently the only summoner (if I am not wrong) which gives all the cards Flying ability! And finally, Dragon is also the only element that can be mixed with other elements so you get the best of the worlds too!

That's all I have! Let me know if you have any thoughts too!

As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!

---

If you are interested to sign up to play Splinterlands, my referral link is here.