Share your battle: Dhampir Stalker in Silver

Hello Battlemages!
We go this week with a staple of Death decks: the Dhampir Stalker!

The card

Belonging to the Death Splinter, the Dhampir Stalker is a 7 mana monster with 3 Ranged damages, 2 Speed and 5 Health at level 1. These are quite good stats already. He will get another point of attack at level 5, and another one at level 8. Fully upgraded, his stats are 5 Ranged damages, 4 Speed and 7 Health.

Its native ability at level 1 is True Strike. You won't find more reliable: he just never misses his shot! Fly, Evade, no difference: he just put in shot after shot!
At level 5 he gets Deathblow: that is he makes twice more damages if the opponent as only one monster left. Kind of "when you are winning, you win even more". In general. This ability still has its utility while fighting the Llama for example. 8 points of damage a turn won't go unnoticed, even with Heal.

As you can see, he's quite efficient stats-wise for its mana cost. The fact that he never misses is a nice bonus, and all that makes him a staple of Death decks in the high-ish mana limits. As a ranged unit, you want it in the back, but not last: it's a key monster to keep alive.
I'm slowly upgrading mine, that's the kind of card you want to keep on the ready when the opportunity to play it arises!

The game

https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_388d7ce74ea1741f3dc4aa6ed0952a7e&ref=engilhramn

The game is played in Modern Silver. The rules are Unprotected and Explosive Weaponry. It has a high mana limit of 52 and is opened to Fire and Death.

I decided to go with Death, for the overall quality of its monsters in that mana range.

The line up

Explosive weaponry makes everything faster: I want to deal as much damages as fast as possible. In this ruleset I also like to spread the attacks to take advantage of the explosions. At the contrary I like the attacks concentrated on me, and mitigated somehow so the off-tank shows on the first line with more than 2 points of health.

So for this match I chose:
Thaddius Brood: mainly for the -1 Health. One lucky explosion of 1 damage can go a long way killing a key monster
Night Ghoul: first tank and taunt, to concentrate the attacks there
Harklaw: for its shield, it shouldn't be much affected by the explosions
Sand Worm: for the damage output, 5 raw then 3 with the explosion, he's serious
Dhampir Stalker: again for the damage, 3 raw and 2 with the explosion
Sha-Vi: support for Sand Worm, but well, 3 damages, it's more than a support and it will act as back protection for the Stalker
Magi Necrosi: to spread the damages even a bit more with Snipe

The opponent chose a different strategy. Cursed Windeku at the front, then Bone Golem then Disintegrator. That's 2 monsters who won't attack before reaching the front line. In explosive ruleset. That is: they probably won't even reach the frontline! Plus Bone Golem is dubious here: the game is open to Death (already -1 on magic attack) and Fire (king of melee attacks). The back is similar to mine: Sha-Vi, Dhampir Stalker and Mantoid (Snipe also).
So let's say the main difference is Disintegrator vs Sand Worm. I bet you already see the outcome. I will deal 13 damages on the first turn while he will deal 9.

Round 1

The Round 1 goes as planned: the Night Ghoul takes all the damage (and dies) while Harklaw doesn't take much. The Ghoul didn't even had the time to attack but it stands its ground, Harklaw takes the relay with almost full life. Sand Worm is a bit too slow to make a real difference: he just finishes off what Sha-Vi begun, and so the Mantoid and the Stalker are gone.

Round 2

The Dhampir stalker provides here a beautiful coup-de-grâce with 3 damages to Windeku, exploding in 2 damages for the Bone Golem, killing both in one throw. Told you Bone Golem wouldn't make it to the frontline!

Round 3

There's no Round 3. If numerical advantage is not sufficient, having half your monster not attacking is sure enough to end the game quickly.

Takeaway

So, what do you make of this game? Mistakes first.
I like Disintegrator, but not in this ruleset. You want a monster to attack. Hell, even the -1 damage is given back by the explosion. In second position it fells better, but not still right.
Bone Golem, when you will fight either Death or Fire, really? If you expect Earth or Water, ok, but definitely not here.
Dhampir Stalker, the damage dealer, in second-to-last position, is a bit exposed to Sneak with explosions, isn't he?

And the key points:
I repeat myself, but the Dhampir Stalker is a staple of Death decks. Period. There's no more reliable. Normal, he never misses! Also Sha-Vi is a beast, fast and powerful.
The combo Taunt-Shield worked well also. It preserved the backline and left a decent tank take the relay.

I hope you enjoyed the game and the strategy in place. See you on the battlefield!