This week's Share Your Battle challenge features Cruel Sethropod! This is a card that is free to use and in the starter set, though thanks to the recent changes to game rewards you need to own a copy if you want to use it and still get your full ranked play winnings.
Before we get into the battle, I have to warn you that this battle is quite different from most of the battles I have submitted for the Share Your Battle challenge in the past. In fact, this is the longest battle I have ever submitted, and the first one that has gone past toe 20 round mark into fatigue! But don't worry - I'll do my best to show off the condensed version.
Cruel Sethropod is a smallish but fairly cost efficient tank. At level 1, for just 3 mana you get a surprising amount of bulk with 3 armor and 4 health. You do have to sacrifice some offense, as Cruel Sethropod isn't a particularly hard hitter - with a single point of melee attack and just 1 speed, you shouldn't expect much out of the Sethropod. Cruel Sethropod can really shine when you are looking to do as much as possible with small amounts of mana, so when I was looking for a showcase battle I was on the lookout for a low mana cap fight, and oh boy, did I find one!
If you wanted to jump right to the (rather extended) action, the Battle Link is right here. Want to hear some more about the lineup? Read on further!
Here is the ruleset for our battle. As I mentioned in the introduction I was looking for a low mana cap battle, and 13 mana is nearly as low as it gets! The Equalizer ruleset is an interesting twist, because it means that all of our monsters will get the same amount of health. This was nice for Cruel Sethropod since it would likely get a boost in health, and it would also still be able to take advantage of its armor.
Cruel Sethropod is in the water splinter so we'll be going with a water summoner. Kelya is a great summoner for water, and her bonus buffs to speed and armor are solid all-around boosts that should both come in handy regardless of what team our opponent decides to bring into battle.
I filled in the front of my lineup with some cheap tanks. Cruel Sethropod is our guest star of the week, and I decided to pair it with a sidekick in Torrent Fiend. Both of them may not look like much, but thanks to the Equalized ruleset both of them should have a bit more bulk than you may expect just from looking at their base stats. They'll also both also benefit from Kelya's armor and speed buffs - getting a little tankier and harder to hit.
Next up I brought a monster to help out even more with my team's tanking. Merdaali Guardian's Tank Heal can give whichever monster is at the front some quick first aid. And it can even tank in a pinch, thanks to the Equalizer ruleset.
Last, but certainly not least, came the only real offense for my team. My plan was for my front and mid-line monsters to stall for time while Uraeus slowly picks away at my opponent's back line with Sneak. The level 2 upgrade to Uraeus is particularly useful since that gives it a second point of attack.
With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I am hopeful - my opponent has brought a lineup which is relatively low on damage, which means my Merdaali Guardian's heals should help a lot. While my opponent's Feasting Seaweed hits hard, it should only hit my front monster, thanks to Equalizer - my whole team should have the same amount of health!
As I mentioned at the start, this was a long battle as my Uraeus chips away at the back and my opponent's Feasting Seaweed attacks my front line. So from round 1 we're skipping all the way to round 5 - at this point, I have just lost Cruel Sethropod. However, it did an excellent job of setting up the rest of my team for success. If you look at my opponent's lineup, my Uraeus has managed to kill off the Furious Chicken shielding the Seaweed, and is about to begin attacking it directly.
Uraeus was eventually able to take out the Seaweed, but not before it killed my Torrent Fiend. A few turns later and it was able to knock out the Ooze as well, and by round 15 we were stuck with this awkward situation. As you can see here, we have a stalemate. My opponent's Xenith Monk can heal the 2 damage per turn Uraeus is putting out, and my Merdaali Guardian can negate the 1 damage from the Monk. Does that mean we have a draw? Nope - we're going to overtime!
Once the battle hits round 20, then monsters begin to take increasing amounts of fatigue damage. This was beneficial for me, since the Xenith Monk's heal was just barely offsetting Uraeus' damage, while my Merdaali Guardian was able to heal 2 damage per turn compared to the 1 melee attack from the Xenith Monk. This meant that as the fatigue damage ramped up, my opponent's monster was taking damage more quickly than mine. By the start of round 23(!) we have finally hit the point of no return - while all of the remaining monsters have got to be exhausted, that Xenith Monk is clearly on its last legs and about to drop.
And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.
It took a lot logner than I had planned, but my strategy for the battle ended up working out. My front line tanks, supported by healing, were able to buy plenty of time for my back line indirect damage to knock out my opponent's important monsters. While the battle briefly turned into a stalemate, my team was just a little more robust and was able to prevail in overtime.
While it didn't survive for long in the battle, Cruel Sethropod played a crucial role in it by stalling long enough for Uraeus to take out my opponent's primary source of damage. Its armor and overall tankiness for just 3 mana are a solid combination. I don't think Cruel Sethropod will become a mainstay of my Water splinter lineups, but I will definitely be throwing it into battle from time to time when the situation calls for it.
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. Interested in seeing some more of my writing in the future? Be sure to give me a follow! In the meantime, if you'd like to see some of my recent posts:
Splinterlands Economics: The 80/20 "Rule" - An introduction to the 80/20 rule, and how we can can apply it to Splinterlands.
Playing with Fire - Using Scavo Firebolt in Battle! - Last week's battle challenge, featuring Scavo Firebolt!
Splinterlands Economics: Network Effects - An look into network effects, and how we can can apply them to Splinterlands.
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All images used in this article are open source and obtained from Pixabay or Unsplash. Thumbnails borrowed with permission from the Splinterlands team or made in Canva.