An old hero returns! The Spineback Turtle is one of the cards, that have been very important before the release of Chaos Legion. Since then this card lost a lot of its appeal - especially since it isn't part of the starter deck anymore. But it still has some use.

Check out my battle:

https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_15cdb2be8c9bced5d8d12a0450abfccc&ref=andy-plays

Spineback Turtle

Different to the Giant Roc - the battle challenge monster of last week - Spineback Turtle was a big part of my water teams. And I really like it, especially for low mana battles or little league.

Lore

Spineback Turtles live around the edges of the Dark Water, in the inner seas of ΛZMΛRÉ. They can breathe air, but the incredibly harsh climate of the Water Splinter makes the recesses of the deep more comfortable. They are generally gentle creatures, but when roused to battle,they are shockingly difficult to destroy.

The Rule Set

Silenced Summoners, 16 mana, no earth and no dragon. So magic spam was not to expected. Still it wasn't really clear, what I could expect in this rule set. So I did try out that Beta card.

My Team

I tried a team, that could manage a lot of different scenarios.

Summoner: Bortus

Since it was silenced summoners, it didn't really matter which summoner I would choose, so I took my only Gold Foil one. The only difference that could be relevant: Low mana summoners are a lot better in this rule set. But I do not own / have rented a 2 mana summoner. It is a rare Untamed Summoner.

First Position: Spineback Turtle - The Challenge Card

Yes, it is a tank and it belongs on first position. Low mana, low attack, high health and shield make it pretty good for the first position - although high attack wouldn't hurt.

The stats are alright. Especially when it gets thorns at level 4 it is a lot more valuable. But also that second attack on level 5 and that third at level 9 are pretty good. Right now a single copy starts at $4,14 and the cheapest per BCX is a level 7 for $244,94, so $2,33 per BCX. The alpha version is more expensive.
It is an common alpha / beta card. I do not own it, but it is cheap to rent.

Second Position: Djinn Oshannus

This is one of the biggest loosers of the meta change with the release of Chaos Legion and the change in the starter deck. Without Alric Stormbringer Oshannus isn't the same anymore.

Although his stats are still pretty good, the king of the Sea is kind of dethroned. Its mana cost without the addition of more useful magic cards and a magic supporting summoner really hurts its value - at least in Bronze and Silver.
This is also seen in the price drop. Once valued at over $60, it is only worth around $8-9 right now - one of the biggest loosers to the meta change. Since I did buy a few - at way to expensive prices - I am still using him quite often.
It is one of the legendary Chaos Legion reward cards, which is still obtainable through daily and seasonal rewards.

Third Position: Creeping Ooze

This one mana card has one big use: Slowing down the opponent. And this was, what it was used for in this battle.
It costs $3,56 per single BCX copy or $399 for a level 10, making one BCX $0,79. Since a level 1 card is almost as useful as a level 10, it is not really required to own a higher level card. It gets some melee attack at level 4 and 9, and also increases its speed and health. But you wouldn't use it as an attacker or tank most of the time anyways.
It is a reward card as well, but I think one of the older ones. It has common rarity.

Opponent Team:

My opponent went with a death team: Contessa as a Summoner, Cursed Windeku as first position monster with the thorns, Life Sapper on second position and Dark Astronomer on the third and last position.

The Battle:

The Turtle didn't really came out very well after the first round loosing most of its health, while my opponent did do a better job. So definitely a better start for the bot.

Also the second round wasn't really a big change - I lost my tank, while he was still complete.

But Oshannus HP paid off. Although after the third round he did still have three cards available - all being able to attack, while I was sitting on Oshannus as a "last" resort.

I got lucky in the fourth round, since his Astronomer finally missed - and thanks to void his Life Sapper couldn't do any damage to me.

The same happened in the fifth round: Astronomer missed, and I could get his Life Sapper down to one health.

With his Life Sapper killed, I could easily finish him off, since his Astronomer couldn't attack anymore.

Analysis:

I got lucky to be honest. Without those misses, he would've killed Oshannus leaving me with no attacks left. But sometimes you have to be lucky!

Cheers,
@andy-plays