Crypt Beetle Battle Challenge!! Die Hard Cockroach
Any explorers that delve too deeply into the crypts, mausoleums, and necropolises of the world will find a foe they are unprepared for. Not undead, not liches, and not other monsters that can be found in the deep. Instead, tales are told of the crypt beetles. Enormous insects that are found feeding on the corpses within. Most explorers think they are a mere nuisance and will try to scare them away from whatever tomb they are choosing to rob.
But things don't end well for those explorers. These large beetles will defend themselves and their food aggressively. And any explorer that makes it back out alive will have impressive scars to show from the crypt beetle's bite.
Hi everyone, welcome back to my Splinterlands weekly battle challenge. This week we have Cockroach Crypt Beetle as our main theme. Somehow I keep seeing this beetle as if it is a Cockroach, so lets have it that way. I would pick a battle which show how hard Crypt Beetle to be killed, same as when we see Cockroach, it's tiny and puny but it won't die that easily
Battle Preparation
- Equalizer ~ The initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health.
- Up Close and Personal ~ Only Monsters with Melee attack may be used in battles.
- 30 MANA With this amount of mana getting a 6 monsters team is feasible.
This should be a good Ruleset to show how annoying a Crypt Beetle is... We were going to have big health point Cockroach and because of Up Close and Personal Rulesets, only melee attack is allowed and this Cockroach shield would make it hardly to be killed. And the last important factor was the non existance of Earth Element, we would not see any Mylor here.
I developed a plan of 6 monsters which my attacks would be focused from behind. Sneak Attacks Party!! So here was my simple lineup:
Position | Card | Ability | Plan and Strategy |
---|---|---|---|
Summoner | -1 magic and -1 health | Thaddius was not a good option, however the other non lvl 1 summoner I had was Quix. Due to Equalizer Ruleset, I prefer -1 opponent health over -1 opponent speed | |
Main Tank | Thorn | I thought Windeku was everyone favorite tank in Death Element. I picked him due the thorn damage he could deliver. | |
Second | Demoralize | When only Melee Attacks allowed, this is everyone favorite. We could use it free, but in this battle I used lvl 3 one. Demoralize would help Windeku and Crypt Beetle survived longer | |
Third | Sneak | My first sneak attacker member. the cheapest, 2 mana cost | |
Fourth | Sneak | My second sneak attacker, and Sha-vi was the core dude to 3 damage and 4 speed | |
Fifth | Sneak | My 3rd sneak attacker. I put Uraeus on the last because it has 1 armor, it should be able to withstand damage better if Crypt Beetle got killed | |
The Last | Shield | Our main actor this week, this Cockroach only had 1 job, held and withstood all opponent sneak attacks |
Technically these 3 monsters were the core of my team. 6 melee damage through sneak attacks. It's Crypt Beetle job to guard the backline so I would not lose incase I have a sneak attack slugfest.
Alternative Option
Intially I thought about using Quix the Devious in order to be able to bring in Djin Chawala. However this might hurt my own team by getting less mana for other monsters, so I chose to stick with Cursed Windeku.
I believed having 6 monsters with a good formation and linkage was more important than put in a few strong monsters which they had to fight individually/
Let see how this battle went off
HERE COMES THE BATTLE!!!
f you want to see the battle directly, you can see it directly here:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_e63f4da57a5b8f275672961a4470a779&ref=dewabrata
Seeing opponent's lineup, there were a couple thing popped out in my mind:
- Honestly I didn't like having any match against an Untamed Legendary Summoner, especially Byzantine Kitty when all monsters got big health. It's just those legendary summoners were OP.
- Overall my team and his team shared a similar strength, similar levels and both of us played defensively, as we could see we put Monster with shield ability.
It's a contest of back wall strength, Crypt beetle vs Antoid Platoon. This would be a nasty long fight.
Round 1-3
- The game started as both party buffing and debuffing their monsters and opponent's monsters.
- My opponent had 3 melee damage and I had 5 melee damage. In term of delivering damage, I won
- Although all monsters had same health, Thaddius Brood reduced all opponents monsters health by 1 point. I got another advantage
- My biggest concern was Byzantine Kitty tank heal ability. I believed this would be the decisive factor whether I lost or not
- The first 3 rounds were boring, we saw some hits delivered, exchanging 1 damage to and from both parties.
Round 4-5
- Round 4 started with my Cursed Windeku and his Serpentine Spy in a near death condition. Both should be dead in the next 1-2 turns
- As expected, Serpentine Spy got killed by Windeku Thorn Ability in round 4
- His Radiated Scorcher killed my Windeku in round 5
Round 6-8
- Round 6 started with both party already lost their ace. I lost my Windeku and He lost his Serpentine Spy. It seemed both were in a stalemate condition, 5 vs 5
- In front, the battle of main tank between my Disintegrator vs his Radiated Scorchers, it looked very bad for me. I knew I could kill his Radiated Scorcher which got supported by Kitty's tank heal.
- In term of offence, he was in a very poor condition. His Uraeus couldn't even deliver any damage to my Cockroach. So overall he was not in a better condition than me
- This ended up as a race of which one faster, me killing his Antoid Plantoon, or his Radiated Scorcher killing my Disintegrator
Round 9-10
- Round 9 started with his Antoid Platoon having 2 health point left.
- as expected, my Silent Sha-vi killed it in Round 10. This was a big milestone for me, I got a head in the race.
Round 11-12
- With no back wall left (monster with shield ability), I believed I had the advantage here. 4 melee damage per turn (should be 6, but reduced thanks to their Disintegrator)
- in Round 12, my Uraeus killed his Uraeus
Round 13-15
- Round 13 started with 5 vs 3 condition. Opponents looked in terrible condition. Only 1 monsters could attack me, meanwhile my Sneak attack squad all were in top condition.
- In Round 15, both of us lost our Disintegrator
Round 16
- Round 16 started with 4 vs 2 condition
- Based on attack damage, I had 1 front melee damage, and 5 sneak melee damage. Losing their Disintegrator sealed their chance of winning this battle. it's only a matter of time
- In Round 21, My team won
Battle Discussion
First I want to say this is an important lesson... Don't take a long battle like this, 21 rounds, into a battle challenge post. You have plenty of words in your head, you want to keep it short simple but words keep dancing in your head. I hope this is my last long battle in any battle challenge.
Regarding both of us used the same backline tactic, put a small monster with shield ability, it seems this tactic is quite legit. And regarding both of us use Disintegrator, it seem most people would be agree that Disintegrator is favorable in Up Close and Personal Rulesets
There are a couple of winning poin that we can take from this battle:
- First I won because my formation was more focused (using 3 sneak attackers) meanwhile Opponent chose to split into Sneak and Opportunity attacks.
- Second, using over defensive formation although it looks good, sometime it backfires you. In this case opponent was overdefended themselves and let only 3 of 6 monsters which could hit to my team. Meanwhile I had 4 monsters capable of dealing damage. That 1 monster difference became a big deal as the round progressed.
QUICK INSIGHT ON TIME MAGE
I like Crypt Beetle a lot, mostly because it looks like Cockroach. It is one of the first Chaos Legion I have bought in Gold Foil form. This monster is not something that special, but I think there are some cases, like in the battle challenge above, this monsters can be very useful.
In general, It's better I say like this: Crypt Beetle is like a Carrion Shade merge with a Harklaw. Unlike Charrion Shade which doesn't grow, Crypt Beetle grows as it's level risen. But still it's not a mainstream super monsters such as Merdalii Guardin, Serpentine Spy, and other 3 mana superstars.
Because Crypt Beetle is a bit similar with Charrion Shade, Generally there are 3 situation when you can optimize it in a battle:
- As a Bait. This battle challenge is the same reason why I use Carrion Shade. It has the lowest health point so of course opponent who has Opportunity ability will hit them first.
- Extra attackers. During certain ruleset, such as little league, or Super Sneak, they can become a handy one too. Level Beetle has 2 melee damage, so watch out for this one.
- Meat Wall. Sometime we need a meat wall, similar as bait, but meat wall is more likely in front or back, which opponent will definitely hit it. when Equalizer ruleset is on, it can become a massive wall, because of the high health point and shield ability.
Personally I think Crypt Beetle works great with this summoner and monster:
Crypt Beetle has low health point, it will die fast from any damage. However if you have Contessa or Quix as your summoner, they will reduce -1 all range damage which mean opponent might be able to kill your Cockrach only from magic attacks | Demoralize will reduce -1 all melee damage. So basically any monsters which have only 2 melee damage or less, won't be able to hurt Crypt Beetle as long Disintegrator is present at your team |
Ok let sum those word above:
- Crypt beetle is a good 3 mana monsters. not Great, but good. You should have it in your collection.
- We can use this card on Little League Rulest (below 4 mana) and during this ruleset, It can become one of the strongest wall
- Price wise, It's cheap. Maybe owning this card at high level is a good idea regarding it grows well too
- High compatibility with other summoners and other monsters.
Thank you for visiting my weekly battle challenge, don't forget to leave your comments and feedback below. There are credits in this post for these people:
- splinterlands : for holding weekly battle challenge events
- carrieallen : for ultimate markdown tutorial
- eve66 : for wonderful divider art
Thanks for sharing! - @mango-juice
thanks for explaining the battle round-wise but no need to copy-paste lore in your post 🙂
ok, thank you for the feedback
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