SHARE YOUR BATTLE Weekly Challenge! - [Haunted Spider]

Hello everyone! It's a new week and a new battle challenge. And this time the lucky monster comes from the death splinter - Haunted Spider.

I do use this splinter quite often. Sometimes it's with Zintar, but more frequently I make use of Owsters reflect ability.

But we're here to talk about a monster card, not summoners. So, on to the review of this fellow.

It's a common card with not that impressive stats at level 1 - 3 mana cost, 2 ranged damage, 1 speed, and 2 health. But it gets more interesting once the level of this monster increases. AT level 4 this card gains poison ability, and because of that, I wanted to try it out.

I used this card in a low mana cost match as 2 ranged damage plus poison could put quite a bit of pressure on the opponent. Plus this monster used only 3 mana, so I could fit quite a few more.

I haven't used this card in my previous battle setups, but it's always nice to try something out and learn what it can do.

All in all the battle was a complete success. But let's leave it for later. First, we'll look at the monster decks.

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On to the match itself.

Rules:

Super Sneak
18 Mana
Life, Death splinters allowed

It was a low mana match and it looked like my opponent will use either Tyrus Paladium or Mother Khala. But I guess due to the match rules he wanted to counter the melee sneak monsters same as I with death splinter and Zintar summoner.

My team:

(Summoner) Zintar Mortalis

This is quite commonly used summoner when someone wants to counter a more melee-oriented team. As this match had the sneak rule then naturally I chose him for this battle.

(Spot 1) Haunted Spirit

This is another widely used card. As I needed a tank then this was my chance. This card has the self-healing ability right from the start at level 1. Plus the mana cost to use it is 5, and it was just perfect for my deck for the battle.

(Spot 2) Undead Badger

A low mana cost sneak monster with 1 damage. Nothing fancy but with such summoning cost it was perfect for this kind of match.

(Spot 3) Undead Priest

As this was a low-cost mana match, then I hoped that my opponent will choose quite a few squishy monsters. While this card does not give any support damage at level 1 it helps to weaken the opposite team even further with a health debuff.

It's another low-cost monster so a perfect fit for this match.

(Spot 4) Haunted Spider

And finally here comes the star of this match. Placed this card at spot 4 as I wanted to protect my biggest damage dealer. That of course is if we include the poison in the damage dealt.

(Spot 5) Undead Archer

This is one nice card to have. It's a ranged card with a nice debuff which if triggers prevents the opponent's monster to be healed. Also, it only costs 2 mana - another perfect fit for this low mana cost match.

For an opponent that relies on healing, this can be quite devastating. The only problem with this card is that the debuff is not guaranteed, it is applied with a chance. It works quite reliably, but sometimes it just refuses to apply.

(Spot 6) Shadowy Presence

Finally, in the last spot, I placed this monster card. It costs only 1 mana, but for that, I gain a nice meatshield. As the match had the sneak rule I placed it at the back so that the opponent would have to go through him before getting to my damage dealers.

As you can see my team is quite well protected on all fronts. In the front, there is enough health to take a bit of a beating. Plus the self-healing ability. And at the back of my deck is a meatshield that protects my ranged damage dealers. And on top of that, I also introduced poison to this match to make it more annoying for the opposing deck.

But what did my opponent bring to the match? Let's have a closer look.

Opponents team:

I didn't get a life deck what I first anticipated, but another death splinter team was also a big possibility as these two were the only ones allowed for this match.

Spot 1: Haunted Spirit [lvl 1]
Spot 2: Twisted Jester[lvl 1]
Spot 3: Dark Astronomer [lvl 1]
Spot 4: Undead Badger [lvl 1]
Spot 5: Furious chicken [lvl 1]

The battle took only 3 rounds. Let's take a look at what happened.

After round 1 the battle already was decided. Two key cards performed just perfectly. Debuff from undead archer was applied after the first try thus preventing the Undead Spirit to heal himself. And on top of that Haunted Spider applied poison on him thus sealing its fate.

At the start of round 2, the poison took its effect and killed the Haunted Spirit. After that, it was just a formality to close the match.

So, all in all, this went just perfectly. Also, it shows that low mana cost cards can be highly effective, especially in matches like these where you're limited to a small mana cap.

Did your strategy work? What will you try differently next time?

My strategy for this match worked just perfectly. The opponent's team was dead and not a single monster card was dead on my side. A complete success if you ask me. I could have swapped out my Undead Badger with one more ranged card - Halfling Alchemist.

That card has another great effect. It cuts the opponent's card attack in half thus reducing the threat it poses. But as it turns out there was no need for it.

Do you like the Haunted Spider? Why or why not?

After this match, I've grown to like this card. At level 4 - two randed damage plus another 2 from poison is huge for a 3 mana cost card. This was a rented summoner just for this challenge so I could check out the poison in a real battle, but I must say that now I want to level up my summoners so I could play more with poison monsters.