I think the card is often unreliable, you deploy it and they just die out. I think it needs a buff to its first attack speed. They die out in many interactions even when splash cards are not involved. I mean, if the opponent did something skillful or used a spell, I am perfectly fine with it good for them. But if the card just fails because of a lack of fine tuning the interactions with melee cards, that is on you developers.
But it is a one elixir card, broo! No, my friends, it is taking up a whole evolution card slot. Plus, value wise, it costs the same amount of money and shards as the other evolutions, so this argument is false.