How is it going, folks? @kaylerfaye here, I hope this blog finds you well. Today I'll be participating in SHARE YOUR BATTLE CHALLENGE brought to us by @Splinterlands featuring Shadow Snitch using my alt account "jamwhiz". So without any moment to waste let's get started.

THE LORE

Shadow Snitch is part of the Chaos Legion set under the Death Splinters. He's a melee monster with the "Reach" ability allowing him to attack if placed at the 2nd position, almost similar to the SPINEBACK WOLF from the ALPHA/ BETA Death deck Edition which will not be available in the Modern Format that's coming very soon.

At level 1 you will find him too slow causing him to miss most of his attacks against higher speed monsters, and because he only has 1 melee attack, he would deal 0 damage to the opponent's tank that has the "Shield" ability. But as you level up this card he starts to get better. Try to get him to at least level 4 which makes him have 2 melee damage & 2 speed. He gains extra speed at level 5. At Gold League levels, he unlocks the "Affliction" ability which prevents the affected target from getting healed, at the maxed level he gets the "Dodge" ability increasing his chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks and now we are talking about a low mana cost monster that applies a debuff from 2nd position and has the potential to dodge a couple of attacks, making him a decent secondary tank for the Death team.

BATTLE BREAKDOWN

MANA POOL: 26

RULESET(S):

• EQUALIZER - The initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health.
• BROKEN ARROWS - Ranged attack Monsters may not be used in battles.

ROUND 1

My alt account is playing at Silver III. It is where Rulesets are implemented. For this match, we are under the "Equalizer" and "Broken Arrow" rulesets (Please refer to the rulesets' description above). Since I know I'm up against a bot account, given these 2 rulesets, and based on my experiences, I'm 85% sure it will use a magic-heavy team. The best way to counter that is to use the summoner "THADDIUS BROOD". Thaddius reduces the opponent's magic attack & hit points by 1, combining that with BONE GOLEM that has "Void" ability which halves magic attacks (rounded up), making 1 magic attack deals 0 damage, meaning 4 of his monster would deal no damage to my front tank. There's still a chance though that the opponent will use a melee team, considering that, I decided to use Shadow Snitch as a 2nd tank just in case.

Now all I have to do is inflict damage from different angles. SILENT-SHAVI attacks the backline with the "Sneak" ability. DEATH ELEMENTAL takes care of the midline magic or range monster with his "Snipe". Then BONE GOLEM, SHADOW SNITCH, and LIFE SAPPER will inflict damage front to back. In addition, since Life Sapper has "Life Leech" ability, he will continue to increase his hit points each time it damages an enemy monster's health in proportion to the damage dealt, so by the time he reaches the frontline, he would have enough hp to tank some damage.

ROUND 2

Have you noticed that Bone Golem only took 1 Armor & 1 HP damage from Round 1? That is thanks to the combination of Thaddius Brood's magic debuff and Void ability. I was able to put myself in a position wherein only Goblin Psychic & Mycelic Morphoid are the only monsters that can deal damage to my team.

In this round, however, Mycelic Morphoid will die, which lives my opponent with Goblin Psychic as the only source of damage. At this point, I knew I had won the battle as my damage dealers will continue to inflict damage in all directions and that cycle will continue until all my opponent's monsters are defeated.

ROUND 3

ROUND 4

ROUND 5

ROUND 6

FINAL ROUND

WATCH FULL BATTLE HERE!!!

Still in for another Shadow Snitch showcase? This time I used my main account "kaylerfaye", click here to watch the battle!

CONCLUSION

Overall, predicting what the opponent will play won me the game, Thaddius Brood + Bone Golem shut down my opponent's magic-heavy team. I would also wanna point out that if it isn't because of the extra 1 damage from Shadow Snitch at Round 1 Turn 15, Mycelic Morphoid would've survived with 2 HP giving Goblin Psychic a chance to heal him after my Life Sapper hit him at Round 2 Turn 5. It's not that it would matter anyway since I can still kill him at the succeeding rounds but sometimes those little extras could either secure a win or lose you the game.

The battle still lasted for 7 Rounds despite cutting off the opponent's damage. It is mainly because Bone Golem & Shadow Snitch missed hitting in rounds 4 and 5 because of REGAL PERYTON's 5 speed and "Flying" ability giving himself I believe around 75% to evade melee & range damage. That's why I highly recommend leveling up Shadow Snitch to at least level 4 to get that extra speed and damage (make sure to have your summoner at a level that will enable him to summon a level 4 Shadow Snitch). Good thing I have Silent-Shavi and his Sneak ability, I manage to kill Goblin Psychic from behind at Round 6 Turn 3. If not, my Bone Golem would die at the following turn giving my opponent a higher chance to turn the tides on me.

TIPS & TRICKS

Now it's time for some useful techniques you might be able to apply to your next battles. We will be talking about the rulesets of this battle.

For EQUALIZER ruleset, it is advisable to use monsters with less hp and focus on damage, since both parties would have the same HP at the start of battle (unless hp reduce debuff is applied). Try to put as many monsters as possible especially at the first 2 to 3 positions, so that even if they can't deal huge damage you can use them as meat shields while your damage dealers do their job. Be mindful of the "SNEAK" & "SNIPE" abilities so position your monsters accordingly.

You may also take advantage of the abilities that deal 'return damage' when your monsters are hit, Those abilities are "THORNS", "MAGIC REFLECT", "RETURN FIRE" & "BACKFIRE", they are good ways to inflict cheeky little extra damage, and when those abilities (except Backfire) are used together with the "AMPLIFY" ability, you can deal an additional 1 damage per return hit. "LIFE LEECH" ability is also a must-have for this ruleset as you can further increase the HP of your monster that has this ability equivalent to the damage you dealt. Check at my Life Sapper having 12 HP at the final round of this battle.

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For BROKEN ARROWS ruleset, since you only need to worry about magic & melee damage, make sure to use the right summoner which you think would counter the opponent and then either uses monsters' abilities to deal with the other attack type. In most cases, depending on mana pool, players and bot accounts included are opting to use a magic-heavy team like what happened in this battle.

Therefore, it is essential to use abilities that can mitigate magic & melee damage just like what I did here. Notable abilities to mention are "SILENCE" (against magic), "HEADWINDS" (against range), "DEMORALIZED" (against melee), and "HALVING" (OP! ability IMO if you manage to land this). "THORNS" & "MAGIC REFLECT" plus "AMPLIFY" is also advisable in this ruleset.

There you have it guys, if I missed out on something or you have some thoughts you wanna share please do comment down below or just simply comment "Up" just to let me know that people read this. Also, if you find this article helpful a like & follow would be awesome. Upvotes will also be very much appreciated. May God bless us all. Thank you and I'll see you in the next post.

If you're a new player and have decided to register in the game, you can use any of my referral links below to get started.

https://splinterlands.com?ref=kaylerfaye

https://splinterlands.com?ref=jamwhiz