This week's battle challenge asked us to utilize the volcanic arachnid,
Lava Spider.
Here's a link to my battle. I loved this one.
Here's the bejeweled and bedazzled Cthulic mutipedal creepy-crawly, with those gold lava threads weaving into the golden card background.
This Chaos Legion Common card is a mana cheap snipe, useful to take out all the buffs and filler your opponent packs their team with.
At level 3, my Chaos Legion Spider boasts 3 speed and 5 health.
A Few Words about Spiders, Mythologically Speaking
Art by Susan Seddon Boulet
Grandmother Spider
In creation stories from some indigenous cultures from Turtle Island (North America), Spider Woman imagines creation into existence, weaving the threads of thought into form. African Spider God, Anansi, is often considered the keeper and weaver of all stories. The gossamer threads weave relationships between all beings, creating the tapestry of existence. Touch one part of the web and every other part feels the reverberations because we are all connected.
Spiders see with thousands of eyes and feel the tiniest vibrations of their webs. They weave their webs from their own bodies and use them as an extension of their bodies. If a particular part of the web tends to get more pulls from struggling food, the spider will make that section more taut in order to get faster kinesthetic feedback from it. Experiments have been done where they give a spider caffeine, and the whole web gets taut, manifesting the high strung tone of the spider's body literally into it's crafted environment.
What Does That Have to Do With Lava Spider?
Well... Lava Spider is specific, articulate, and feels through the web of the battle to pick off the weak link with its Snipe abilty. If its threads are woven of molten lava, than let's just imagine it can feel through its webbing and into the underground molten rivers under the earth's crust. Other than that... I just like writing about spiders.
Back To The Battle...
Here's the lineup:
23 Mana, Enrage, and Divine Shield.
Fire vs. Water
Grum Flameblade
I'm still trying to figure out how to use Grum Flameblade, so I use him often to experiment. He often dies on me before his Bloodlust can give him the edge - but it's so breathtaking when he starts rampaging. Often, when I use him, the rest of the deck is just set up to help him do what he does best. Lately I've been putting him in Second position with someone in front to take out the first tank. I risked him up front this time. I thought between Divine Shield, Enrage, and Pierce from Summoner Qid Yuff, I might just be able to risk him in the first position. Qid Yuff's Pierce is a game changer for Grum, allowing him to do flick away that pesky armor and his opponent's life with a single blow.
Serpentine Spy
This is definitely not an ideal second position card, but I was risking a 4 card battle and I wanted the Goblin Shaman and the Ranged Lava Spider in the back, so I left this speedy assassin in 2nd position - hoping Grum would be tank enough for the whole team. I'm actually only now realizing that this card is, as the name suggests, serpentine! It's quite a stunning killer fire salamander with its mesmerizing green eyes.
In this battle, the Serpentine Spy divine shield deflected a blow and dodged a blow from on-coming Opportunists, missed a flying Albatross, and died the beginning of Round 2 - eaten by an ovesized fish. So perhaps they were just a useful distraction for this battle. Which isn't nothing.
Goblin Shaman
This card is in the line-up to help Grum get his first few kills. Of course it can't take advantage of the Pierce, but one fewer health point can make the difference between Grum getting an extra coat of armor or doing in an oversized heap with the fishes. He managed to stay alive until the end of Round 3, but in actuality, I don't think the one less health made any difference in Grum's ability to kill the Crayfish/lobster and make some extra armor from its shell.
Lava Spider
Finally, the star of our show!!!
Well, actually, this beautiful 8-legged jam only managed to remove the shield and armor from an Albatross and a Pixie. Not major resume points. Still, those Divine Shields would have kept Grum from being able to Pierce through the Armor and take out those two in a single blow. And that would have likely killed him and lost the battle. So... Go Spider!!!!
Commentary
Most everyone, including Grandmother Spider, were fodder and distraction for Grum to wakey-wakey and get angry! And it worked. By absorbing a blow here and removing a shield there, the entourage gave time for Grum to beef! After his first kill, with his own armor gone and just slightly wounded, the enraged and bloodlust combined to give him 8 piercing attack and 3 speed. Enough to not miss so damn much!
By the time all his henchmen (and spiders) had died, The Grum Qid Yuff combo was unstoppable.
By the time he got to speed 8, he was moving so fast his enemy could barely see him! He finished off with 14 attack, 9 speed, and 5 health.
Conclusion
I'm really glad the spider and all the other red foot soldiers gave their lives so that Grum could be a total bad ass and I could learn the true power of the Qid Grum Yuff.
And spiders and spider webs are pretty...
Here are some other recent posts:
Dragon Battle Post: https://peakd.com/splinterlands/@squishna/share-your-battle-challenge-dragons
Name-That-Batlle Giveaway:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@squishna/name-that-battle-giveaway
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