Hello everybody, hope you've been well! In this article, I would like to share another rented deck that I had curated that got me to Gold League with only 5000 power. This deck is centered around the darkness element, and I'll be highlighting some cards that are quintessential for your grind.
EDIT: I played this deck around 5 days ago, and the price of cards has increased since then. I wanted to post 3 days ago but I didn't realize that I need credits to post. Nevertheless, this article will still be useful in showing which cards are underrated/game-changing. As of this post, I have curated another water deck with the increased rental price and I'll be posting another article soon!
Before anything, here is a screenshot to show you that you don't really need a lot of power to rise up the ranks. All you need is the right combination of cards and you're on your way to higher ranks!
With the new season updates, now is the best time to rank up because you do not need to maintain the power threshold in order to receive the season rewards! As you can see from the screenshot above, I have 5,470 power but a 2,490 rating and I'm still eligible for 26 chests when the season ends
Now, let's get started with this article. I've spent around 980 DEC for this deck, and I earned everything back relatively quickly. This deck consists of 25 cards and is heavily focused on stacking debuffs on the opponent's cards. As usual, I got more than 1 summoner to play around the different game modes.
I will not be highlighting monsters that I have mentioned in previous posts. This is to give you guys a fresh perspective of how you can use different cards in the game and still achieve the same results.
No. 1: Cornelius
To be honest, I only got Golden Cornelius because of the +50,000 power. However, as I started to use it in my matches, I realized how powerful the card was. Firstly, Cornelius has the Heal (Restore a portion of its own HP) ability which makes it very self-sustainable. Place the card as the last monster in your lineup and watch it soak up Sneak damage. Furthermore, this card is extremely useful for game modes such as Earthquake or Poisoned, because it has a high base hp and the Heal ability essentially negates the damage it takes. The only downside is its exorbitant mana, but I will say that renting this card is well worth it.
No. 2: Tower Griffin
This card is absolutely insane when paired with the Darkness element because it complements the weakness of Darkness cards (Darkness cards tend to not have armor, making the element extremely susceptible to Melee and Ranged damage). Its Protect (All friendly monsters gain +2 armor) ability allows Darkness monsters to survive longer in the game, enabling these monsters to dish out more damage. The Flying (Has an increased chance of evading melee and ranged attacks from monsters that do not have the flying ability) ability is pretty negligible, but that does not discredit the usefulness of the card.
Next, these are the Darkness monsters that I have rented.
No. 1: Shadowy Presence
I'm sure you would have met people who played Shadowy Presence as fodder whenever they play a darkness deck. I will like to add on by saying that at higher levels, Shadowy Presence gets the Strengthen (All monsters gain increased health) ability and more HP, which makes it even more powerful as fodder. Also, something unrelated to this article but important to note is that at level 6 (Platinum League or higher), it has 2 abilities for just 1 mana, which is just incredible. Nevertheless, Shadowy Presence is always a good card to rent at any league.
No. 2: Phantom Soldier
This card is already a good card at level 1. With 8 mana and the Flying ability, Phantom Soldier will easily carry your lineup for the 'Flying' game mode. At level 5, it is one of the few Epic cards that have 3 abilities. The game-changing ability that I want to point out is Silence (Reduce the magic attack of all enemy monsters). I always play this card whenever I get a chance because of its versatility. It has a good base magic damage, the Silence debuff, and also the Flying ability, which makes it a much sturdier tank. In my renting journey, I got a level 3 one because the card is quite expensive, but the Silence ability makes it extremely worth it.
No. 3: Soulstorm
If you're in Gold League and you are playing Darkness, you have to get this card, simply because of its Headwinds (Reduce the ranged attack of all enemy monsters) ability. If it already isn't enough, Soulstorm has an extremely good base attack. When paired up with Selenia Sky as the summoner, a 5 mana 5 damage Flying ranged monster destroys the opponent with ease.
No. 4: Undead Archer
Having trouble with Kron or any monsters that can heal themselves? Get Undead Archer. At 2 mana, it can cripple even the beefiest of tanks with its Affliction (Disables the healing ability of the targeted monster) and Shatter (Destroys the armor of the target) ability. What more can you ask for?
No. 5: Boogeyman
Think of Boogeyman as an upgraded Crippling Ooze. With its Slow (Reduces the speed of all enemy monsters) and Rust (Reduces the armor of all enemy monsters) abilities, it is the perfect monster to inflict debuffs on the enemy team. Although Boogeyman is pretty costly in terms of mana, it is still an extremely viable option to put in your lineup if you have the mana to do so.
Special Mention: Cursed Slimeball
If you have played Splinterlands for a while, you would have seen Cursed Slimeball being played in Darkness decks. After all, it is another good 1 mana fodder for low mana game modes. This card earned a special mention simply because of its Redemption ability. Use this card situationally. If there is a 'Divine Shield' game mode whereby every monster has Divine Shield, or if the opponent loves to play Lorna Shine, simply put this monster at the front of your lineup and watch this bad boy decimate the shields of your opponents with its Redemption (Deals 1 damage to all enemy monsters when it dies) ability.
Alright, I have come to the end of my highlights! I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed playing this deck and it's really fun to see your monsters stacking massive debuffs on the opponent's lineup! For typical games, I would use 4-5 monsters that I have mentioned in this article and use Gelatinous Cube as the tank.
Once again, feel free to copy what I have rented and let me know how it worked out for you! In hindsight, there was no need to rent that many cards to reach high Gold, but it is always fun experimenting with different cards such as Vampire or Octopider.
Thank you for reading to the end! If you like my curation, upvote my post and leave a comment! I will be doing similar content for all the elements (curating different decks of different elements) and highlighting underrated/meta-defining cards as I see fit!
