This week's battle challenge involves the Crypt Beetle! The Crypt Beetle is a Death splinter Melee monster that is an excellent card due to it's low mana and shield ability. This is one of my absolute favorite cards from the Chaos Legion set because it can really wreak havoc in low mana, little league and equalizer battles!

Crypt Beetle Highlights

The Crypt Beetle may seem unassuming and weak with only 1 attack but it's armor and Shield ability can make it an excellent tank under certain rulesets! Shield is available from Level 1 so it's a great card at any level.

	Shield : Reduced damage from Melee and Ranged attacks. Attack damage gets halved (rounded up), except attack 1 which deals 0 damage. Reduces the Thorns damage to 1.

If you play in Silver, like I do, I highly recommend getting this guy up to Level 5 where it gains another point to it's attack, giving it 2 damage.

Obviously, it's a great card to use against Ranged and Melee due to the Shield ability but when paired with Thaddius Brood, it may even be able to survive a couple of weak magic attacks.

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So when do I use the Crypt Beetle?

• The Crypt Beetle thrives in the Equalizer, Little League, and Low Mana rulesets
• In Equalizer battles, it usually gets a health buff which makes it a super strong tank for only 3 mana
• At Little League, you're dealing with weaker attacks and the Shield ability may allow you to take 0 damage from 1 damage melee/ranged attackers
• I also use it in lower mana battles as a tank for similar reasons as Little League
• A creative use for it is to place it in the 2nd spot to absorb opportunity attacks or place it in the back to absorb sneak attacks

This Week's Featured Battle

In this featured battle, I chose Thaddius Brood and the Death deck while my opponent chose General Sloan and the Life deck. A battle between Life and Death!

Battle Ruleset

	Fog of War	Monsters lose the Sneak and Snipe abilities.
	Rise of the Commons	Only Common and Rare Monsters may be used in battles.
	29 Mana	This is considered a medium level mana battle
	Active Splinters	Earth, Life, and Death splinters are available

Strategy Highlights

• Fog of War
  • Without the worry of Sneak or Snipe, your back line is generally safe with the exception of Opportunity which targets your weakest (lowest health) monster
  • None of these available splinters have strong Opportunity monsters in their standard deck so I wasn't very concerned about it
  • Generally speaking, I will put my Ranged and more vulnerable attackers in the back with my higher health monsters in the front
  • You definitely need some kind of Shield, Void, or Void armor on your main tank since your opponent will likely be concentrating all of their firepower at that one unit
  • I love using either Life or Death in this ruleset since they both have strong but delicate attackers
• Rise of the Commons
  • Without the threat of Legendary and Epic cards, you can usually predict what your opponent would use for each splinter
  • I don't really have a lot to say about this particular ruleset except that you need to remember what monsters are available to you
  • Again, my Life and Death decks are my strongest with only Commons and Rares so I was still torn between the two

At 29 mana, any of the splinters available would be good picks. Without the threat of Sneak or Snipe, Obsidian and General Sloan both become a really good options since they both attacks and have lower health monsters that can generally be safe in the back.

Knowing this, I generally do not go with Obsidian and the Earth deck if the Death deck is available. Thaddius Brood can really ruin Obsidian's day.

If I went Life and my opponent chose Obsidian, I don't think I would be able to survive the magic attacks. For that reason, I ultimately decided on using Thaddius Brood and the Death deck since I can reduce Magic damage and use a monster with Shield to reduce Melee and Ranged damage.

With the Death deck, I could throw a combination of Magic and Ranged attacks at my opponent to keep myself from getting destroyed by the Shield or Void abilities.

The Lineup

Position	Card Image	Card Name	Notes
Summoner		Thaddius Brood	Death Summoner that reduces my opponent's Magic attacks and Health by 1 point. This is an extremely powerful summoner and is commonly used in Bronze and Silver.
Pos 1 (tank)		Crypt Beetle	The card of the hour! Since I reduced Magic damage, I figured I could take at least 2 Magic attacks and with Shield (and Armor) it could take at least one and potentially multiple Melee and Ranged attacks before dying while dishing out 2 damage on its own. Awesome value for only 3 Mana!
Pos 2 (secondary tank/support)		Boogeyman	I love using the Boogeyman because it can dish out 2 Magic damage while Slowing down my opponent. Speed is extremely important so I like to prioritize the Slow and Haste abilities.
Pos 3 (attacker)		Venari Bonesmith	Although it doesn't hit hard with only 1 Magic damage, the Poison and Life Leech abilities make this a great monster. I keep it in the middle so that if it makes it to the front, it should have a lot of life to become a secondary tank.
Pos 4 (attacker)		Life Sapper	Similar to the Venari Bonesmith, this card have Life Leech but can do 2 Magic damage at only 3 mana cost! Again, it's placed in the middle to become yet another tank if it comes down to it.
Pos 5 (attacker/support)		Supply Runner	Like I said with the Boogeyman, Speed is important! With the Supply Runner at Level 5, I can speed up my monsters with Haste while the Boogeyman slows down my opponent. This is kept in the back since it can't attack from the front.
Pos 6 (attacker)		Soul Strangler	This is another low mana cost but strong attacker. It can dish out 3 Ranged damage but the downside is the extremely low health. It is placed in the back since there is no Sneak or Snipe. Opportunity will most likely take it out, however. Can't ask for much more out of 3 mana!

Let's Battle!

• My opponent had a very solid lineup. They seemed to go heavier on the support in order to keep their tank alive with Tank Heal and Shield repair.
• Generally, that is a good idea, especially without sneak or snipe, however, that missing attack hurts especially since I used Magic with Poison.
• I wasn't really expecting the Opportunity attack, but like I said, it's not really the best option unless you have a strong attacker or multiple attackers.
• We both put a premium on Speed buffs and debuffs so it cancelled out.
• As you can see, my Crypt Beetle was able to take 3 hits which is huge for a 3 mana card.
• Poison was big for me here, it helped take out the Chaos Knight which left nothing but lower life monsters behind.

Did it work?

Yes! I was able to pull out the win rather convincingly. Once my Poison Landed and I took out the Chaos Knight it was a quick take down.

I analyzed the battle with Splintertools and was surprised to see that I was only at a 54% win rate. The only thing I see that was left up to chance was landing the Poison on the first hit but even if it didn't land, I think I had enough to take the win.

Regardless, we both put up a good fight!

Final Thoughts

From the beginning, Crypt Beetle has been a favorite of mine. I love playing the Death splinter with Thaddius Brood at low mana and the Crypt Beetle fits in nicely.

As I leveled up my summoner, the Crypt Beetle only got more powerful and has definitely won me its fair share of battles.

I highly recommend that you get your Crypt Beetle to Level 5 where it gains another attack damage. It is such a useful and versatile card!

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!