Splinterlands Weekly Battle Challenge -- Kulu Swimhunter

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting for the Splinterlands Weekly Battle Challenge, so thought I'd share my current Splinterlands stats before we dig in:

Playing Since: September 2021
Collection Power (Owned): 13,055
Favorite Splinter: Fire

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This is my beautiful gold foil Kulu Swimhunter, and it's been one of my favorites to throw in to round out a gold-heavy Water lineup since Chaos Legion came out. I was lucky enough to pull this from a pack early on -- it packs quite the punch for only 4 mana, but I like to have it protected from sneaks on the backend so it can go to work.

Now, let's talk more specifically about how I used this card this evening...

The Battle!

BATTLE LINK!
Mana: 36
Ruleset1: Equal Opportunity
Ruleset2: Taking Sides

Starting lineups on both sides:

The Equal Opportunity ruleset encourages the use of melee monsters, while Taking Sides eliminates a wide selection of neutral monsters. This made me want to go pretty heavy on melee (you can see my opponent was exclusively melee), but I'll explain each card pick by position.

The Lineup

1. Demonshark -- this card is a wonderful tank for Water, offering a high HP/shield combo. I'm renting a gold foil because I use it so frequently.
2. Sea Monster -- another rental that won't be targeted early on because of its high HP. It smacks hard into the weakest opposing monsters and, when needed, it'll tank damage and heal up quite well.
3. Deeplurker -- already replete with opportunity, this card has high damage and HP for only 6 mana. It goes in almost every Water lineup I set, so I rent a gold foil and make my money back on it easily.
4. Kulu Swimhunter -- the featured card of the week! I was running low on mana at this point when picking my lineup, and felt really good about the front 3. I saw the gold, as I often do, and wanted the 10% win boost. Moreover, this card has decent stats, and I know it's not going to get targeted first because of the ruleset.
5. Torrent Fiend -- what better way to keep mana free for other picks? I know this card will get eaten early, but with Kelya's shield, maybe...just maybe it'll get a hit off (spoiler -- it didn't).
6. Water Elemental -- another constant rental because this card is such a good backliner. It protects everything and often will escape the battle alive because it can usually heal as fast as it takes damage from a sneak monster.

Round Commentary

Round 1 -- Hardy Stonefish (opp) and Torrent Fiend (me) get eaten. No surprises, and just a few small punches otherwise.

Round 2 -- Cruel Sethropod (opp) and Water Elemental (me) meet their end. I was a little bummed to see the Elemental go so early, but it's looking pretty even at the end of round 2, with my Monster lurking, with his Serpent of Eld on the brink of death.

Round 3 -- KULU SWIMHUNTER RUINS SERPENT OF ELD!!! And then it perishes shortly after, haha.

Round 4 -- Looks like I've got a sure win here; even on monsters, but my Deeplurker has more HP and yes, my Sea Monster is still full health and smacking hard. His Deeplurker dies off here.

Round 5 -- His Demonshark fails to survive...

Round 6 --

Overall, I would have probably put in a neutral monster instead of Kulu Swimhunter to maximize the advantage melee monsters have, but I'm not mad to get the small DEC bonus from winning with it in the lineup.