My first challenge of the week!
The theme and card of the week is Xenith Archer.
Thoughts: This is a card I use once in a while to fill in the excess low mana. At low mana decks, I may try to use this against Death decks, or rather decks with Thorns tanking for the enemy team.
For this challenge, all cards are at level 1.
Card Showcase
| Theme | Xenith Archer |
|---|---|
| Edition | Chaos Legion |
| Rarity | Rare 🔵 |
| Element | Neutral 👤 |
| Attack | Ranged 💪 |
| Abilities | - |
Battle Rules
| Symbol | Effect |
|---|---|
 | Standard: No modification to the standard gameplay rules and mechanics. |
Mana cap: 22
Usable elements: | ALL |
Team Composition
Role: Summoner
The meta summoner himself. With a (-1) to both enemy Magic Attack and Health, just by putting this summoner out will probably bring you at least more than 50% chance of winning an Earth magic deck.
It's versatile (-1) to enemy Health make him a good pick in a battle with all elements available.
Role: Tank
The first in position and pretty much the main pick of any Death decks. With good stats all around, slapping down the Thorns ability makes it the optimal pick for a Tank.
The only real counter for him would be ranged attacks, as Thorns nor the Summoner effect would be useful.
Role: Ranged Attacker
The card of the week appears. A cheap card who has relatively low stats, however seemingly suits its mana cost.
Placed it second as the later cards seemed more useful to stay alive longer.
Role: Backline Hitter (Snipe)
A pretty good, relatively cheap card used to target the backline damage dealers with its Snipe ability.
Role: Magic Attacker, Life Leech
A pretty cheap card which comes with the ability Life Leech. It makes the battle kinda interesting as it can slowly grow its health over each round.
Placed it near the back for it to get more chances to grow.
Role: Ranged Attacker, Backline Shield
A card I don't usually use due to its low speed, however in this case where I am expecting some Thorns usage from the enemy team, I had to put up some ranged damage. This card fulfils that and also has the health to shield against some backstabs if any.
Play by play
Opposing Summoner - Mylor Crowling (3)
Opposing Cards - Unicorn Mustang (8), Wood Nymph (4), Creepiign Ooze (1), Venari Scout (3) and Screeching Vulture (3).
All summoner interactions will be skipped
> Round 1:
(Round 1 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(-) Creeping Ooze slows the ally team down!
(-) Unicorn Mustang dealt 3 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(+) Cursed Windeku reflected 2 direct damage to Unicorn Mustang!
(+) Death Elemental takes down Wood Nymph!
(-) Unicorn Mustang dodged an attack from Cursed Windeku!
(-) Screeching Vulture dealt 1 direct damage to Xenith Archer!
(-) Venari Scout takes down Xenith Archer!
(+) Life Sapper dealt 0 damage to Unicorn Mustang!
(+) Dark Astronomer dealt 2 direct damage to Unicorn Mustang!
> Round 2:
(Round 2 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(-) Unicorn Mustang dealt 3 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(+) Cursed Windeku reflected 2 direct damage to Unicorn Mustang!
(+) Death Elemental takes down Creeping Ooze!
(+) Ally team's speed is restored to normal!
(+) Cursed Windeku health 2 direct damage to Unicorn Mustang!
(+) Unicorn Mustang reflected 2 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(+) Life Sapper dealt 0 damage to Unicorn Mustang!
(-) Screeching Vulture takes down Cursed Windeku!
(+) Cursed Windeku reflected damage and takes down Screeching Vulture!
(-) Venari Scout dealt 1 direct damage to Death Elemental!
(+) Dark Astronomer takes down Unicorn Mustang!
> Round 3:
(Round 3 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(+) Death Elemental dealt 1 direct damage to Venari Scout!
(+) Life Sapper takes down Venari Scout!
Strategy Talk
That was an okay counter to the Mylor Crowling deck.
Pre-battle, looking at the opponent's history, I noticed him playing with a couple of Earth decks, with usages of Mylor Crowling the Summoner. I thought there was no way a player do not use a card they paid for, especially if it was this card. In light of this, I set to devise a counter.
In this battle, I tried to focus on adding ranged and magic attackers to not trigger the retaliation of Thorns from Mylor's summoner ability. I placed down a couple of low mana ranged and magic attackers, including Xenith Archer, at the backline to whittle down the Thorns.
I had triumphed today with my lineup. I think in this battle, Xenith Archer did not manage to make a great impression due to falling to some unexpected Opportunity attackers on the enemy deck. On the bright side, it managed to block 2 attacks, which could have potentially saved the battle.
I think that in this battle, making use of Thaddius Brood and Death Elemental was a pretty good decision. With Thaddius' summoner ability, it managed to keep the opponent's health low, leaving Death Elemental to clean up the pesky backline such as Wood Nymph and Creeping Ooze using Snipe. On hindsight, I should have not played Life Sapper as I should have been expecting a Unicorn Mustang lol.
Xenith Archer is a pretty decent cheap card. I believe you could find some uses for the card, probably in low mana decks. An example might be fighting 12 mana Death decks, where you might expect a Cursed Windeku and an Undead Badger. You could also put a Cursed Windeku and Xenith Archer instead, I believe you should be able to take a win due to the ranged attacks.
Thanks for reading!
It was fun to theorise and also find more ways to play with the card!
We keep on going. Cheers.
Link to the battle: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_b4355fabd443b8c91e89aa59f15be168&ref=tertius