Thumbnail for the weekly challenge provided by @splinterlands
Ahoy! Last week I didn't participate in the weekly battle challenge, because I was rather busy in the weekend and didn't get to write a post before the deadline. I did have a few good battles with the Feral Spirit that week, but as I said I ran out of time to make a post about that one.
This week we're back though and entering this week's @splinterlands battle challenge with the Shadow Snitch!
It's a Death Splinter Common Monster from the new Chaos Legion set. I've gotten this one as gold foil out of a Chaos Legion Pack. Which starts at level 3 and looks like this.
At level 1 it already starts with Reach, allowing it to attack from the first position.
I haven't really played this card yet since Chaos Legion came out. Maybe I have in tournaments with Chaos Legion only, but didn't remember. So it was definitely a bit of a challenge to get a game where I felt it might be a good choice to play this card. Eventually I got one where I thought it might be good to use it.
Here is the team setup for this battle:
Here is the link to the battle: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_6016378fc05a03999a7db7ab288f5ed9&ref=athunderstruck
In this battle only Death and Dragon Splinters could be used with a Mana Cap of 15. The rulesets were
- Armored Up: All Monsters have 2 Armor in addition to their normal Armor stat
- Lost Magic: Monsters with Magic Attack may not be used in battles
Team Setup
With the low mana cap and no Magic Attack Monsters, I chose to bring Zintar Mortalis as my Summoner, because he reduces the Melee Attack of all enemy Monsters by 1. With this low mana cap and no Magic Attack monsters allowed, I highly doubted my opponent would bring much Ranged Attack monsters, if even at all. So that seemed like the best summoner. Whom I have at level 3.
In the front I placed a Haunted Spirit as the tank with self heal. Followed by the Shadow Snitch with its Reach so that it would be able to damage my opponents tank as well. After that I placed a Furious Chicken, in case my opponent would bring a Monster with Opportunity. Then in the back I placed the Crypt Beetle with the Shield ability to tank my opponents possible Sneak Monsters and protect my Shadow Snitch from being attacked by them.
Strategy Successful?
Yes! Reducing my opponents Melee Attack by 1 with Zintar was a great idea, my opponents Silent Sha-Vi only did 2 damage to my Haunted Spirit per turn which it healed back every time. My opponent brought 2 Sneak Monsters, with their damage reduced to 1 and my Crypt Beetle having Shield they were both unable to deal any damage to my team. So my backline choice was a great success to protect my team from additional damage. The Furious Chicken was just there shining bright in its golden glory as there was no Monster with Opportunity.
My Shadow Snitch wasn't very useful here because of its 1 Melee Attack and all my opponents had an even amount of health and armor (2 from the ruleset). But at the end it did get a kill when the Haunted Spirit missed its attack! That was great to see!
A different approach
In this battle's case with Death and Dragon being the only available elements, I would've likely played Camila Sungazer for the same mana cost. She also gives -1 Melee Attack to all enemy Monsters. Then I would've also substituted the Shadow Snitch by Manticore. It would have 2 Melee Attack and also 1 more Speed.
It was nice to try something different and give Shadow Snitch a try.
Do I like Shadow Snitch?
Right now, not so much. It never really fits in my teams that I wanna play. It's kinda slow, and at the level I have it at it only has 1 Attack. This combination doesn't make it a useful card for me right now, really situational. At the level I currently have it at, I feel it would be most useful if only Death Splinter and only Melee Attack monsters can be used. Maybe with Reverse Speed even.
When I level it up further it will get 2 Attack, in that case it might fit more easily into teams and maybe I'll like it more. Especially when it starts getting the Affliction ability and eventually Dodge.
Conclusion
It was cool and interesting to have a battle challenge with a Monster that I currently never really play. I've greatly enjoyed watching the Shadow Snitch getting one kill during this battle.
Thanks for reading my weekly battle challenge.
If you haven't signed up for Splinterlands yet and want to check it out, you can do so with my referral link at: https://splinterlands.com?ref=athunderstruck
Thanks for sharing! - @ashikstd
Love the Death Splinter !
Which Summoners/Monsters from Death are your favourites? The debuffs they provide can be really great, but I usually pair some of the Death Monsters with playing Dragon 😅