We have had the chance to look at a few pretty-easy-to-get, or even Starter Set cards with recent weekly battle challenges. Perhaps the hidden message is that those of us who are likely not going to get packs in the pre-sale do not need to despair, we can find cool cards that already are within reach!
This week's battle challenge is the Haunted Spider!
THE CARD
The key stats for Haunted Spider - unless you are a whale and are going to buy one of these old school cards and max it out for literally hundreds of $$$ - are:
3 Damage Range attack
3 Mana
1 Speed (hey, that is better than 0!)
2 Health
I tend to overlook Haunted Spider at 3 Mana in Death splinter because the other choices at 3 Mana seem a bit more destructive. You could choose the generlaly useful Skeleton Assassin or Death Elemental. Heck, I have even chosen Maggots over Hunted Spider. If you were reasonably lucky when the previous edition of reward cards were still dropping, you might also choose Dark Ferryman.
But I did see a good reason to resurrect ol' Spidey for a low Mana battle in Sliver III.
Mana: 15
Battle Conditions: Spreading Fury & Reverse Speed (!)
I played a Death Splinter hand mostly because there are some surprisingly slow cards in the usual deck, and I thought having the Haunted Spirit self-healing would give me an edge. I chose Haunted Spider to defend my flank because of the reverse speed and the thought that perhaps I would be able to knock out my opponent's tank with the high damage it does. In the middle I had Venari Bonesmith to try to slow down flank attackers.
Link to the Full Battle Replay
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_a11c295e8d4ea026ce3fbe710dc060f5&ref=pregosauce
The battle was a little nervewracking as my opponent's Goblin Thief kept working away at my flank. But that Reverse Speed battle condition meant my Haunted Spider was able to get an attack off before dying.
Conclusion
I think that the un-upgraded Haunted Spider is well-suited for Reverse Speed battles, and I would think it could perform well even at higher Mana battles if it had any kind of shielding to help it get an attack off before dying. Think of Haunted Spider like a very slow bomb. At best you probably only get to throw it once, but for 3 Mana and 2 damage, it is pretty good.
Hope you enjoyed this battle recap! Thanks for reading!