Welcome to my first Weekly Battle Challenge. As you can obviously tell from the thumbnail and title, this week I will be trying out the starter card Life Sapper. So without a further ado, let's jump right in!

Battle Conditions

The match begins and I get the following matchup...

...not much to say with these conditions. Just the standard stuff a little ole newbie like me sees when starting out their Splinterland's journey. The main thing which pops out to me is that juicy 26 mana. Not too much, yet not too little. Just the right amount to give me a fun team to play around with, especially when I like to spend big on big monsters.

Battle Line-up

The recent teams of my opponent ring strong with a Water build-up with Djinn Oshannus. This works nicely because I almost always tend towards using Thadius Brood, who with his -1 magic attack with fend off that pesky beast. Hence, I start my team with Thaddius Brood. Even if the Djinn Oshannus did not come out, I would have used Thaddius Brood because of his nice abilities he had at a reasonable price.

I could never start a Death lineup without Cursed Windeku. For 6 mana, Cursed Windeku is a must have because of his beefy stats (2 melee, 3 speed and 9 health) all packed with the Thorns ability, fending off any melee Monsters. This works particularly well against my opponent where there tends to be some melee Monsters with a Water lineup.

The next monster I place is Silent Sha-Vi. This is because of the decent stats (2 melee, 3 speed and 5 health) that make it act as a secondary tank, just in case my Cursed Windeku goes down under. Silent Sha-Vi also has the Sneak ability, which will allow me to backdoor my opponent's Monsters in potentially wrecking their line-up apart.

Wanting to build up as many Sneak Monsters as possible, I turn over to the cheaper alternative: Undead Badger. Having these two Monsters will give me 1 + 2 = 3 melee damage, which should pack a decent punch against my opponent.

I am rooting for my opponent to play low-health Monsters because I follow this with Maggots. Maggots is another weak Monster who targets weak Monsters because of his Opportunity ability. It an okay Monster overall, though at times it can be pivotal in wiping out the final weak Monsters to secure a win for myself.

Now is the Monster for this week: Life Sapper. I have placed this card near the end because I want to preserve its Life Leech ability, slowing chipping away opponent Monsters in tanking up a decent number of health. I have not placed it last because of the liability in my opponent having Sneak Monsters, which would sadly tear my Life Sapper apart 😢. Need to keep this Monster for the Challenge!

Last of all is Soul Strangler. Packs some good damage with 2 Ranged attack, thus allowing me to build a threatening line-up against my opponent. One weakness I did realise what its risk to get pummelled by Sneak Monsters, though Life Sapper is my priority hereon.

Result

BATTLE LINK

Initial Round

Coming into the battle and I am surprised. The opponent did not choose Water. Instead, it went with General Sloan and the classic Monsters for maximising its ability as well as helping these Monsters pose a threat. I am thankful that there are no Sneak or backdoor Monsters, which gives me a strong chance to win. The only barrier to winning is getter through the Shieldbearer, which should definitely be enough with the load of damage coming through in my line-up.

Round 1

Things are not looking good. My Cursed Windeku gets smashed by my opponent's Monsters, especially with the Pelacor Arbalest punching 6 damage on my Windeku. Initially had hope for a win, but now all is lost as my opponent has already torn my line-up apart in the first round.

Round 2

My opponent continues to wreak through my Monsters. Silent Sha-Vi, Maggots and Undead Badger say goodbye to the battlefield as they get perished by my opponent. Fortunately, this week's Monster stays alive.

Round 3

The opponent's Monsters continue to barrage me with attacks to wipe out all my Monsters. I lose. 😦

Life Sapper Analysis

To be honest, Life Sapper just sapped up the team's win. I personally do not find Life Sapper to be a game-changer card, though nevertheless it is useful for quite a number of situations. This is particularly for low-mana battles where it can sustain itself for a long time, which is most likely why Life Sapper failed to carry in this game. One good combo is mixing Life Sapper with Venari Bonesmith, giving a double Life Leech for some heavy Magic Monsters at the backline. I have yet to see this happen though because of the tendency for matches to end quickly.