The theme for the current "Share Your Battle" challenge is Spirit Hoarder but I thought I wanted to share a newly found discovery - and that would be Pelacor Deceiver! At Level 3, its stats are very decent and combines very well with other Death cards too!
Looking at the stats, on first glance, this card is average for Level 1 because its Melee damage is just 1. But at Level 3 (regardless whether it is Gold Foil or Regular), its Melee damage gets a boost and with a high Speed of 4 and Flying, its 8 HP actually makes it very tanky with all the missed hits.
As usual, here's the lore for Pelacor Deceiver for your reading interest:
Many centuries ago, the Pelacor followed the prophet, Edalus, on what has become known as the ‘Exile.’ They followed him into the Mountains of Fire surrounding Mount Praetorous. For generations they lived alone in these mountains, hidden away. They were taught to worship the sun and moon gods, Solaki and Lunaki, deities dreamt into existence from the bones of Edalus’ dead parents and his zealous mind. The scriptures read that the two Gods were carried into the heavens upon pieces of consecrated land, torn from the World to raise them high, so that their worshipers would always look up to them and forever be beneath their great heavenly power.
On the darkest night of each year, Edalus would invoke rituals that would change the bodies of his people. Drawing upon the dormant power beneath the mountains, he caused angelic wings to sprout from their backs. This change was permanent and, in fact, most Pelacor offspring inherited the appendages from their parents.
When Edalus finally passed away, ancient as he was, there was infighting between the people as to who should lead. Fractures in their harmonious way of life started to appear, and two very definitive factions arose. One worshiped the brother God, Solaki, and the other worshiped the sister God, Lunaki. So began the ‘War of the Sons and Daughters’, where Pelacor fought against one another, a rivalry that still continues to this day amongst some.
When the magic veil over Praetoria and the Mountains of Fire fell, and the Chaos Legions invaded, the Pelacor decided they could hide away no more. Believing that the Chaos Legion would turn upon their floating Gods next if they conquered the Splinterlands, they began their ‘Great Descent’ into the lowlands, determined to fight this new threat that had arrived upon their world, and joined with the Lowlanders armies.
Battle Type & Team Lineup
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| Summoner | Astral Entity | 6 |
For this low mana fight, I decided to go with a Death lineup to take advantage of the Astral Entity's abilities, which will be further explained in the card selections below.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pelacor Deceiver | 5 |
Pelacor Deceiver was selected as the tank. With 2 attack, 4 speed and 8 HP, coupled with Flying and Dodge (from Astral Entity), he would be very difficult to hit.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Venari Marksrat | 3 |
Completing the lineup would be Venari Marksrat. This card is the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle to make the entire strategy work.
- Venari Marksrat has the Martyr ability, and with the Snipe ruleset, he was placed in the 2nd position in order to be struck down first.
- This would give a stats boost to the adjacent Pelacor Deceiver and he would then have 3 Melee attack, 5 Speed and 9 HP.
- Astral Entity would resurrect Venari Marksrat because of his ability, and with the Snipe ruleset, Venari Marksrat would be struck down again.
- This would give a further stats boost to the adjacent Pelacor Deceiver and he would then have 4 Melee attack, 6 Speed and 10 HP. At 6 Speed, Flying and Dodge, Pelacor Deceiver would be almost untouchable except from Magic damage.
So that's my strategy and game plan, basically we are making use of Astral Entity's Resurrect ability to activate Martyr ability twice on Pelacor Deceiver.
- Pre Battle: My opponent used Lorna Shine and it will be very tricky because of Divine Shield, but let's see whether a high speed Pelacor Deceiver would be enough to escape their hits.
- Round 1: Pelacor Deceiver received 1 miss, and the strategy went accordingly to script, as Venari Marksrat was Sniped out and was resurrected. Pelacor Deceiver received its first boost in stats and was up to 3 Melee damage and 5 Speed (4 currently because of the opposing Creeping Ooze).
- Round 2: The strategy continued to play out as Venari Marksrat went off the second time and boosted Pelacor Deceiver second time. Look at his stats, 4 Melee attack and 5 Speed! Pelacor Deceiver received 2 more misses and the miss counter stood at 3. It's now 1 v 5.
Rounds 3-4: Let's fast forward this because of my opponent's Divine Shield. 5 more misses on Pelacor Deceiver in these two rounds as he took 2 rounds to strike out 1 opposing card. Miss counter on Pelacor Deceiver stood at 8 and it's now 1 v 4 now.
Rounds 5-6: Let's fast forward this because of my opponent's Divine Shield. 4 more misses on Pelacor Deceiver in these two rounds as he took 2 rounds to strike out 1 opposing card. Miss counter on Pelacor Deceiver stood at 12 and it's now 1 v 3 now.
Rounds 7-8: Pelacor Deceiver was still standing! 3 more misses on Pelacor Deceiver in these two rounds as he took 2 rounds to strike out 1 opposing card. Miss counter on Pelacor Deceiver stood at 15 and it's now 1 v 2 now.
Rounds 9-11: 1 last miss and we were done! 16 misses on Pelacor Deceiver in total and he took out the entire lineup of 6 cards with Divine Shield!
If you are interested to watch the battle, you can find it here.
Post Battle
Did my strategy work? Definitely, I combined the abilities of Astral Entity and Venari Marksrat to churn out a Pelacor Deceiver with monster stats and it was almost impossible to hit a card with 6 Speed + Flying + Dodge.
Do I like Pelacor Deceiver? With Astral Entity now, it is my top pick for the tank now. Because Flying when combined with Dodge makes it even more powerful. In the past, Cursed Windeku was my default tank for Death lineups, but these days, Pelacor Deceiver is my top pick for sure.
Final thoughts? The new summoners and the Soulbound cards have been a gamechanger and some of the past cards might become useful all of a sudden, e.g. Pelacor Deceiver. So if you have them sitting in your collection, do take a look and see if they can be combined to create some unexpected strategy to throw your opponent a surprise!
So that's all I have! What are your takeaways from this battle? Feel free to comment below, as I am always keen to learn and improve!
As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!
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