Death and destruction lurking in the deep. Beware the monsters with their flaying tentacles lest they ensnare you and drag you into a watery grave! 🐙🌊🔱

I'm naturally fearful of the deep sea and yet also fascinated by it. I imagine a monster like that, reaching out onto the ship's decks and dragging me down to the bottom of the deep dark ocean in the midst of a thunderstorm out at sea. Now that is the stuff of nightmares indeed! ⛈️🌊🚢

The theme of this week's Share Your Battle Challenge - I give you the KULU SWIMHUNTER!

Kulu Swimhunters are members of a race of squid-like creatures that hunt in packs. They use their multiple tentacles to wield all manner of projectiles, to include spears, coral, and even fish. They are very aggressive and are known to traverse oceans, lakes, and rivers, killing for sport and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. They do not value gold or glory and will ally themselves with whoever promises the greatest opportunity to hunt and kill.

🐙🌊🔱From Splinterlands Lore on the KULU SWIMHUNTER🐙🌊🔱

The Kulu Swimhunter is a Common card released during the Chaos Legion expansion. It has definitely found it's place in many Water decks given its availability and usefulness. At LEVEL 1, it has 2 ⚔️RANGED ATTACK⚔️ and 2 🏃🏻SPEED🏃🏻, with 0 🛡️ARMOR🛡️ and 4 ❤️HEALTH❤️. It has the NO abilities. It's summoning cost is also on the lower range at 4 🧪MANA🧪.

These stats alone make the Kulu Swimhunter a relatively tough unit which also deals decent damage to boot. Unfortunately, it has rather slow though, so misses are expected. But it's main purpose is really to get in a few hits and be able to take some hits too.

The Kulu Swimhunter's true strength lies in it's overall cost effectiveness. Even though it has no abilities (even when fully upgraded), it is a really cheap casting cost card that has above average stats. What it loses in abilities, it has gained in cost efficiency. This could make all the difference if the battle comes down to the wire where the slightest advantage is the fine line between victory or defeat! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

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The release of Chaos Legion has given the Water splinter a really unique card in the Kulu Swimhunter. This is a card that it lives and dies purely on its raw stats. No other ranged card is like this even when fully upgraded to level 10. The closest card similar in stats and cost would be the Angelic Mandarin, and yet this is only at level 1. The gap between them grows as they level up, with the Kulu Swimhunter forgoing abilities for improved stats. This ensures that the Kulu Swimhunter will definitely have it's own place here in all Water decks. This is definitely what I'd consider game changing! 😱😱😱

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📊Card Stats by Level📊

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As we can see here, the main purpose of the Kulu Swimhunter is to be what I would call a "Stat Stick". Every level improves it's stats all the way to level 10. Now, it may seem that these stats are nothing overpowered and that may be true. However, we must remember that because it only costs a mere 4 mana, it is a REALLY CHEAP card to field in your deck! In any lower mana limits scenario, it beats out just about every other card pound for pound. There will definitely be plenty of situations whereby you'll end up with just a few more mana lying around to fill up that one last slot, and that is where the Kulu Swimhunter will come in too. It's casting cost combined with its stats really make this a most fearsome unit with a perfect mix of offense and defense.

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📝Important Rulesets Rundown📝

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Here, I detail the list of combat rulesets that may affect the Kulu Swimhunter.

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	Kulu Swimhunter
	👍🏻 It's attack will never miss
	👍🏻 Gives itself more protection. Always good, especially for a unit who'll attract Sneak attacks at the back.
	👍🏻 Loses all it's abilities. But who cares? 🤣 It has none to begin with!
	👎🏻 Ranged units can't be used.
	👍🏻 Ranged units can attack from the front.
	👎🏻 will be able to last at least rounds with it's health though.
	👍🏻👎🏻? with its hp somewhat in the middle ranges, it may or may not benefit.
	👍🏻 Able to lend it's attack from any slot.
	👍🏻 Even summoning cost
	👍🏻 Blast is generally advantageous to ranged units
	N.A
	N.A
	Situational. Could add more damage if the opponent's front unit is stunned
	👍🏻 Improve it's own survivability
	👍🏻 Melee units are affected.
	👍🏻 Costs 4 mana
	👍🏻 It's a common card
	👍🏻 Magic units cannot be used
	👎🏻 Gives melee the positional attack advantage enjoyed by ranged/magic
	👎🏻 Will die to poison.
	👎🏻 Odd summoning cost
	👍🏻 It's slow speed makes it fast
	👍🏻 It's a common
	👍🏻 Doesn't really depend on Summoner abilities
	👍🏻 Enrage always works out well for units who can take a few hits
	N.A
	👎🏻 All units abilities stay intact
	👎🏻 Allows melee to attack even if it's not in the first slot.
	👍🏻 It is NOT a Neutral unit.
	👍🏻 All ranged/magic units have the Snipe ability.
	👍🏻 It has no armour to begin with.
	👎🏻 Only Melee units can be used
	NA

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⚔️🛡My Battle Showcase🛡⚔️

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Let me present a battle I fought recently in which I used the Kulu Swimhunter. My opponent used the FIRE splinter while I went for the WATER splinter. At first glance, it would seem like my opponent had a slight advantage, having a slightly higher level summoner and creatures. Would I be able to turn the tide of battle against such an opponent then? Victory or defeat would lie in the small details.

I would say that the Kulu Swimhunter was DEFINITELY one of the the MVPs of this match, having played it's role in turning the tide of battle. It did what it was supposed to do by chipping off at the opponent, whilst doing a fantastic job being a "sneak absorbing" tank and holding the backline intact. This ensured that the other units could eventually wear down the opponent until victory was achieved! 🏆🏆🏆

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LINK TO FIGHT WITH MY KULU SWIMHUNTER

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👯‍♀️👯👯‍♂️LINEUP CHOICES👯‍♀️👯👯‍♂️

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1st CARD SLOT

Furious Chicken fills this slot. It's role is simply to absorb 1 hit before the actual battle starts. At 0 mana cost, it's an obvious choice to use to fill up any available slots.

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2nd CARD SLOT

Sea Monster fills this slot. This is the "real" Main Tank however. With his high hp and heal ability, combined with his amazing damage, this will be a fearsome tank. Able to dish out damage and last through the fight.

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3rd CARD SLOT

Deeplurker sits in this middle slot. It's primary purpose is to take out any weak units hiding behind the oppponent's tank. With its great damage, it will likely succeed too.

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4th CARD SLOT

Kulu Swimhunter occupies slot number 4. Sitting almost right behind because it is ranged, it is somewhat protected too.

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5th CARD SLOT

Torrent Fiend occupies the 5th and last slot. It's purpose is to take 1 hit from any Sneak or Opportunity attack, thus protecting the backline. At 0 mana, there is no problem fitting it in if I have an empty slot.

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6th CARD SLOT

NONE

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⚔️🛡Battle Action Report🛡⚔️

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As you can see, both of us fielded very different decks from opposing splinters. WATER VS FIRE. 🌊🔥 My opponent used the Living Lava as his tank and Radiated Brute as his offtank. Both of which were VERY good choices, given how suitable they are as tanks. His Radiated Scorcher and Tenyii Striker were lined up in the 3rd and 4th slots, and the Scorch Fiend rounded off the rest of his team.

Likewise, my choice of the Main Tank was the Sea Monster, followed by the Deeplurker and Kulu Swimhunter as my DPS. The Furious Chicken right in front and Torrent Fiend right behind were the 0 mana filler options whose only purpose was to absorb some damage.

The battle started out with all our units just duking it out pound for pound. His superior levels and gold foil cards held a massive advantage over me though. And for a moment, it seemed that this battle would be lost as his sneak DPS seemed to be devastating my backline.

The Sea Monster held the frontline admirably and lasted longer than the opponent's Living Lava whilst the Furious Chicken and Torrent Fiend indeed performed beyond my expectations and took 2 full hits each, courtesy of the added armor from my Summoner.

My Kulu Swimhunter was really tough and managed to hold the backline fort whilst doing a decent amount of damage every turn, whittling down the opponent. My Deeplurker slowly picked off all his units too. This allowed my team to turn the tide of battle. What started as a disadvantaged match soon swung my way.

This was a REALLY CLOSE battle though, with my Deeplurker and Kulu Swimhunter both surviving with just ONE HP left! 😱🤯 Just 1 more hit from the opponent and he would have won instead.

Well as you can see here in this GIF of my battle, the results were pretty good! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This was truly an eye opener! 😁🏆

Slowly, but surely, I wore down the opponent's team and the match came down to the final stand between the opponent's Tenyii Striker and my Deeplurker and Kulu Swimhunter (both were down to their last drop of HP 🩸🩸🩸). My team selection proved to be the edge I needed to eventually overpower my opponent. 💪🏻

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🔮🔮🔮Hindsight is 20/20🔮🔮🔮

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Would I have done anything differently? 🤔 This might have seemed like a really close battle, but IF I had to use the same cards again, there would be no better lineup than what I had already used for the match. The opponent clearly had the advantage of higher levels and this was the most optimal lineup to win. Any other combination would have resulted in a loss for me. I'm really satisfied with the results against a much higher level opponent. 🏆🥇

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💭🧐💭Ending Thoughts💭🧐💭

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I definitely can appreciate the Kulu Swimhunter and it's strengths. This is one of those cards which are very strong if surrounded with the proper team. The role it brings to the battlefield will give a player the edge in squeezing out every tiny advantage to get the win. 👍🏻

For any players looking to try out the Kulu Swimhunter, I hope this article has given you some insight into its potential. 😉

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To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK 😊.

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I am also a member of the SPLINTERLANDS PIZZA guild and the PIZZA community.

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