Hello there.
Instead of doing the regular Battle Mage Secrets Challenge, the team decided to change things up by asking players to review a card from the Rebellion reward cards. Initially, I was thinking of doing one for the Halfling Refugee because I use it a lot. Among the different Rebellion rewards cards, I think the Halfling Refugee is the best level 1 card without including legendary cards.
But for my review, I decided to go with the Night Reaper. The Night Reaper is an 11 cost Epic Dragon monster. It has 3 magic damage, 4 speed, 0 armor, 9 HP, Flying, and Wingbreak at level 1. It gets up to 4 magic damage, 4 speed, 2 armor, and 10 HP at max level, while also getting Reflection Shield and Last Stand abilities along the way. What I really like about it is the Wingbreak ability. Below is the entry from the support page:
Source https://support.splinterlands.com/hc/en-us/articles/29108594225044-Wingbreak
Similar to how true strike ignores other abilities [that increase the miss chance including speed difference], Wingbreak also ignores a lot of other abilities, and even rulesets. Monsters with Wingbreak will always target monsters with Flying no matter what. Enemy monsters can't hide from it with Taunt, or Camouflage either. Even rulesets like Fog of War and Aimless can't hinder wingbreak monsters from attacking their target. It's only happened to me once, but if I remember correctly, even when the wingbreak monster is in the first position it will ignore the enemy in front of it if it doesn't have Flying, and still target a flying monster in the backline. I was very amused when that happened.
What really makes the ability strong though is the +2 damage to targets with Flying. So not only will it seek out and attack Flying targets, but it will also deal more damage to it. Because of this, I actually find myself almost always going for the Night Reaper during Earthquake rulesets because I know there will be a few Flying monsters there.
I only have a level 2, but I was lucky enough to get a gold foil copy of it. Since it is a Dragon monster and costs a lot of mana, it is a very good counter to monsters like Chaos Dragon and Agor Longtail that are very popular. It can even do a lot of damage against the Void Dragon. It's biggest weakness though is the opponent doesn't have a flying monster, or only has 1. It essentially turns into an 11 cost monster with 3 magic damage. It still has ok stats, but it loses its biggest strength. At higher levels it gets a lot more utility and power. The Reflection Shield can help deal with blast and magic reflect ruleset. The Last Stand can make it really strong and difficult to kill.
Because of its high mana cost, it does get difficult to use in low to medium mana battles. The risk of the opponent not using a flying monster is too great. I think Night Reaper counters Risqruel Drath but is weak against Eternal Tofu. Drath gives all allies Flying which makes Night Reaper's attacks hit harder, while Tofu has Snare that can remove Night Reaper's Flying. I think Night Reaper can be a bit niche, but it excels in those times. It is almost a must use in Earthquake rulesets.
As for the art, I think it's really cool. It actually reminds me of biblically accurate angels like a Seraphim. If you don't know what those look like, it can be quite a interesting once you look them up. The lore makes them out as the bad guys and that there are a lot of them, but it is a shame it is difficult to tell how large these things are. If they are just human sized, they aren't so bad. But imagining them as tall as buildings and they are frightening. I haven't really been keeping track of the lore of the game, but I hope they continue to create awesome art and stories.
That is it for my Night Reaper review. Have you tried using it in your battles? Do you have a strategy with it you want to share? Don't hesitate to let me know what you think, and if you have suggestions for improvement.
And as always, these are Not Financial Advice, and Do Your Own Research.
If you want to start playing Splinterlands, you can use my link:
Splinterlands Referral Link
Thanks for sharing! - @yonilkar
Thanks for the upvote.