https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_427c7ba1fbb05792901aaecd8b318d38&ref=atbui89

This week's battle challenge involves the Cruel Sethropod! The Cruel Sethropod is a Water splinter Melee monster that is an excellent card due to it's low mana and generous armor. It isn't a card to build around by any means but it's definitely a great choice as a low mana tank.

Cruel Sethropod Highlights

The Cruel Sethropod is an instant eye catcher. It has no abilities and t isn't necessarily a must use card but it's easy to see why it can be so good.

At only 3 Mana, you get a 3 Armor, 4 Health mini tank that can really absorb some frontline attacks while your backline goes to work. At Level 1, it isn't very powerful or fast but that isn't what it's meant to be used for.

Once you get to Level 3, it gains another Damage point and really becomes an awesome low mana tank.

---

So when do I use the Cruel Sethropod?

• The easiest and most common tactic is to place it at the front to absorb a few attacks. At lower levels, the Cruel Sethropod could probably absorb 3-4 hits before dying (unless it's all Magic).
• Any medium/low mana ruleset that grants opportunity, sneak, or backline attacks from melee monsters.
• Little League is a good one as well. With this ruleset, many monsters have low attack and low health which can make it difficult for your opponents to get through the Cruel Sethropod before their backline gets taken out.
• One of my favorite uses is in the Weak Magic Ruleset because the beefy armor really increases the survivability of this tiny tank.

This Week's Featured Battle

In this featured battle, I played Kelya and the Water Deck versus my opponent's General Sloan and the Life Deck. Is the Cruel Sethropod beefy enough to allow my backline to do some serious damage?

Battle Ruleset

	Equalizer	The initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health
	Close Range	Ranged attacks may be used in the first position in battles
	22 Mana	This is considered a medium, slightly low mana battle
	Active Splinters	All splinters are available

Strategy Highlights

• Equalizer
  • Bring out the cheap squishy monsters!
  • Strong attackers with low health are game changers in this ruleset
  • Try to fill your lineup with a lot of monsters vs 1 big one
  • Tank heal and Triage can be great abilities to use here
• Close Range
  • Since ranged can attack from the first position, this makes General Sloan a nearly obvious choice since he gives all Ranged monsters +1 attack
• 22 Mana
  • This is low to medium Mana so you can expect to see a large amount of small monsters or 1 big, strong monster with some support

With equalizer, I tend to use as many monsters as I can and concentrate my attacks to either the back or the front. At 22 Mana, this is perfect.

The Close Range rulesets automatically makes me thing of General Sloan since all Ranged get a major buff with +1 attack and the ability to attack from the front line.

Instead of playing into that rule, I like to try and anticipate what my opponent will do any go for a good counter.

I decided to go with Kelya because I can be much quicker than a General Sloan based team with the added advantage of absorbing one of their attacks with armor. With Equalizer, I like to use Sneak since it catches people off guard.

The Lineup

Position	Card Image	Card Name	Notes
Summoner		Kelya Frendul	Water Summoner that gives all friendly monsters +1 to both Speed and Armor. This is an extremely powerful summoner and is commonly used in all leagues
Pos 1 (tank)		Cruel Sethropod	The card of the hour! At only 3 Mana, this is the perfect tank for the ruleset
Pos 2 (secondary tank)		Furious Chicken	Great meat shield since it is a 0 mana card and with Equalizer, it is even better
Pos 3 (support)		Creeping Ooze	Similar to the Furious Chicken, I'm using this card as a cheap meat shield but with the added bonus of Slowing down my opponent
Pos 4 (attacker)		Axemaster	This is a very powerful monster because of the Double Strike ability. It will eat through low armor and still cause damage to health. It is also fast which is always a plus
Pos 5 (attacker)		Uraeus	Great low mana attacker because of the Sneak ability
Pos 6 (attacker)		Pelacor Bandit	This is one of my favorite Chaos Legion Reward cards, especially at Level 5. It's fast, low mana, and packs a decent punch

Let's Battle!

• My opponent had a very solid lineup but predictable
• I assumed they were going to use General Sloan since the rules greatly benefit Ranged attackers
• My Cruel Sethropod took 4 hits before dying! That's great for a 3 Mana monster
• My Sneak attacks were able to take out my opponents backline and greatly reduced their damage output

Did it work?

Yes! The Cruel Sethropod did a great job of absorbing a ton of hits while my Sneak attackers did work. My opponent probably should have concentrated their attacks a bit more which is a major rule for Equalizer.

I analyzed the battle with Splintertools and was given a 100% chance of winning the battle. That is always great to see!

Final Thoughts

Initially, I was drawn to the Cruel Sethropod but for no other reason than to be a low mana tank. However, once leveling it up past Level 3, it gains more attack power and is actually a great card at medium and low mana battles.

Since it's a Chaos Legion Common card, you can get this card at a low price of $0.07/BCX. That is a steal!

Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it!

Referral link : https://splinterlands.com?ref=at.bui89

If you decide to use my referral link, I'll happily send you a few cards to help you get started!