Splinterlands Weekly Battle Challenge - KULU SWIMHUNTER!

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Intro

Hello everyone, time for another weekly battle challenge, featuring another Chaos Legion monster.

Lets dive right in and check his stats:

Seeing this card for the first time, I have to admit I didn't think much of it because of his lack of abilities, but on second glance it's a really cool monster. For only 4 mana you get 2 ranged damage right off level 1, going to 3 on level 6, and 4 on max level 10, a decent amount of 2 speed, ramping up to 5 on max level, 4 hit points to start with, which for a 4 mana card is abit rare in my humble observations.

Rulesets and strategy:

So my initial strategy for this weeks challenge was to use him with the Mantoid and Sniping Narwhal. But then I got this batlle with the following rulesets:

• Equal Opportunity: All monsters habe the Opportunity ability;
• Even Stevens: Only monsters with even mana costs may be used in the battle;
• 34 mana cap;
• Available splinters: Water, Death, Dragon.

So in this battle I automatically ruled off Death - I dont have many good cards with even mana costs which would help me win. My Death deck is mostly centered aroud sneak play, which sadly are odd mana costs so it's out. As for Dragon, I still haven't bought many Dragon monsters so it's also out. I have maily focused around Life and Water splinters for now so Water it is!

Team composition and battle:

If you don't have the time to read you can check the battle here.

Monster I picked:	Why I picked it:
	So not much of a choice for a summoner here. I have only leveled Kelya to level 2 (for now) and plan on keep going with her. She is quite strong with the buffs she provides. The armor is awesome to nagate a 1 hit, and the speed gives us the ability to hit first and dodge more - so it's a no-brainer.
	For a main tank I opted in for the rented level 3 Sea Monster. As the battle is Equal Opportunity he will tank with ease the enemy tank while smacking him for free because of his high health.
	For the next position I opted in for Djinn Oshannus. His high speed and health make him a perfect off-tank. Also his 2 magic damage with the Opportunity is quite deadly.
	Next up is Deeplurker, ofcouse. I have him at level 2 for the extra speed he gains. His high base damage is a must for this kind of battle.
	Having only 8 mana left and 3 spots to fill I dont have many options, given the Even Stevens ruleset, but the best among my cards is without a doubt the Kulu Swimhunter.
	Next is Igor Darkspear. For 2 mana we get a 3 speed monster with 4 hp and 1 ranged damage.
	And lastly - the Ice Pixie. Personally its one of my favorite cards in the Water deck, which I sadly don't yet own a copy of. For 2 mana -1 magic damage, 3 speed, only 1 hp, but with Flying. With Kelya's armor and speed she gets really evasive.

Round 1

Starting round one we face off a kind-of nasty team and I now expect a really tough battle with Bortus weakening Djinn Oshannus and Windmaster lowering our star - Kulu Swimhunter, and adding The Kraken's Taunt makes me weep a little, but let's see what happens..
As it should be our entire team starts pummeling The Kraken. Next Coral Wraith quickly eliminates our Ice Pixie and Spirit Miner, Pirate Archer and Windmaster leave Igor Darkspear with only 1 hp left. Our Sea Serpent closes the round with a miss on The Kraken, which is ridiculous with the 10% miss chance, but oh well, off to round 2.

Round 2

The assault on The Kraken continues and we slowly but steadily wear him down to 1 hp, but in the heat battle we lose Igor Darkspear to Spirit Miners attack and Coral Wraith, Pirate Archer and Windmaster manage to take down our brighest star - Kulu Swimhunter. We end the round with Sea Monster having 8 hp, Djinn Oshannus at full with his armor from Kelya and Deeplurker at full hp only.

Round 3

Starting round 3 Djinn Oshannus although weakened manages to finally take down The Kraken and the battle should be smooth sailing from now on. Next in the frontline for the enemy is Windmaster who cannot attack and will fall easy pray to the Sea Serpent. Deeplurker dispatches Pirate Archer with 1 attack. We end the round with Coral Wraith in the frontline tickling the Sea Serpent for 2 damage.

Round 4

From now on its a free game - Djinn Oshannus and Deeplurker kill the Coral Wraith and Sea Serpent manages to land an attack on the Dodge-y Spirit Miner.

Round 5

Djinn Oshannus and Deeplurker work together once again and end the battle with a win for us.

Battle results and thoughts:

So I got to be honest with you. I didn't expect the battle to go this way when I first saw the lineups. The presence of The Kraken and the reduced damage the enemy had had me scared sh*tless. But seeing how the battle developed I am glad that the intended strategy worked, as the enemy didn't have enough damage to overwhelm us.

Thats it for this week, guys and gals.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you have any tips for me I will be glad to let me know in the comments below!

Have a great week, everyone!