ANIMATED CORPSE

For this battle challenge, we're tasked to talk about Animated Corpse, a common death monster from the Alpha/Beta set. I'm not particularly fond of this monster, but I do think it has a few rulesets in which in can thrive.

Lore

A fledgling Dark Eternal is also known as an Animated Corpse. Emerging from the Tar Pits of Creation in the Southern Waste of Mortis, each fledgling must first shed what remains of its mortal flesh. While in decay, the Animated Corpses are placed on the front lines to speed their transition.

Stats

The Animated Corpse has only 4 mana, meaning that it's allowed to compete in little league ruleset, in which only monsters of 4 or less mana are eligible, or low mana battles.

At level 1 it doesn't have any ability but it gets Void at level 4. Thanks to this ability, it takes reduced magic damage. This ability combined with its high health, would make it a good magic tank. However, as stated before, at level 1, which is the level I'm using, it won't work as a magic tank.

When looking at his other stats, it has low speed, which could be a problem by missing attacks. But it also has nice health and melee attack for a 4 mana monster.

Apart from that, it stands out since it is one of the cards from the base deck, meaning that you have access to this card right after you start playing. Although when Chaos Legion arrives next week, he won't be included anymore!

The Battle

The Ruleset

• Heavy Hitters: All Monsters have the Knock Out ability, dealing double damage to stun enemies.
• Allowed Splitners: Earth, Life and Death.

The Team

For this battle, I didn't pay much mind to the Heavy Hitters ruleset, since I don't have any monster with the Stun ability. I then decided to go for Zintar as a summoner, since I predicted that my opponent was going for a melee team, because of the allowed splinters.

Card	Description
	ZINTAR MORTALIS Brighton is a must have for every Earthquake battle, since he gives every monster the Fly ability, preventing everyone from taking damage.
	ANIMATED CORPSE If I'm being honest, I only picked this card as a tank to complete this challenge. Don't get me wrong, it's ok as a tank, but for only 1 more mana, I'd rather put the Haunted Spirit. Still, it has a lot of health, so it's in the first position.
	SKELETON ASSASSIN This is a fast monster with Sneak attack, which allows him to attack the last monster on the enemy team.
	UNDEAD BADGER This monster also has the Sneak ability, and is quite fast as well. This means that I can get rid of the backline quickly.
	URAEUS My third and final monster with Sneak. As you can see, I went for a Sneak centric team. I decided to put him in last place because of his armor and 2 health, it can protect my other monsters in case my opponent also goes for a Sneak team.

ROUND 1

My swift Skeleton Assassin and Undead Badger defeat the enemy's Elven Cutthroat before she can attack! Uraeus armor is destroyed because of Feral Spirit's attack, and our 2 tanks attack each other, with my Animated Corpse only taking 2 damage, thanks to Zintar's -1 debuff.

ROUND 2

The enemy's Feral Spirit attacks my Uraeus but is unable to defeat it. And right after, my monsters sneak attack him, making this battle a 4 vs 1. Then our 2 tanks once again attack each other, dealing 2 damage each.

ROUND 3

With no other monster left, my 3 sneak attackers go for the Clay Golem, finishing it off, and giving me the win.

Other Recommended Cards

Card	Description
	BYZANTINE KITTY Kitty gives +2 speed and True Strike to all friendly monsters, meaning that they have more dodge chance and their attacks can't miss. She also has Tank Heal, being able to heal the Animated Corpse each turn.
	DEATH ELEMENTAL At level 4 it gets the silence ability, giving -1 magic attack to the enemy team. This would increase the value of the Animated Corpse's magic tank abilities.
	CREEPING OOZE Since one of the disadvantages of the Animated Corpse is its low speed, thanks to Creeping Ooze's Slow, the enemy's speed is reduced by 1, making it so the Corpse misses less often.

Final Thoughts

I quite liked this battle. Since I chose the Animated Corpse over the Haunted Spirit, I had 1 mana extra and I was able to squeeze in another Sneak monster in my team. This allowed me to defeat the backline really quickly, winning me the battle.

So, I have to say that I appreciate a little bit more the Animated Corpse. However, I doubt I'll use him in the future, specially with Chaos Legion coming right around the corner!

---

Finally, I hope you enjoyed my review of the Animated Corpse, and see you next week on the next Challenge!

---

If you want to be part of the incredible community of Splinterlands, and earn money while playing a really fun game, click here!