Magalli's "SHARE YOUR BATTLE Weekly Challenge! KULU SWIMHUNTER!"

This week for the "Share your battle" challenge I'll talk about the Kulu Swimhunter, a water-type range attack card, its name will be abbreviated in Kulu, to be smoother.

Before talking about the card, I want to say that I analyzed it as a Bronze player.

So let's start analyzing the card:

1 ) Mana cost: 4 Considering the other stats, the Kulu's mana cost is good.

2 ) Range Attack: 2 Nice attack value, considering that it is a range attack card.

3 ) Speed: 2 Unfortunately this value is a bit low but considering the CL water summoner's buffs, it is not that low.

4 )Ability: Chaos Legion I highlighted that because in the near future the Expansion of a card will be essential to know if it is playable in the Modern format or in the Wild format (MF: playable only in the last two Expansions that came out on Splinterlands, WF: every Expansion is playable).

5 )Health: 4 Considering that Kulu is a Range attack card and that it will risk being targeted by monsters with Sneak or Snipe abilities, it is a nice amount of Health.

6 )Element: Water Its element is "Water" which means that it can be used only with Water Summoners and Dragon Summoners.

Please note: the Kulu Swimhunter has no armor and no abilities.

Usually, I would compare the Kulu with similar Water type cards using the tool to simulate battles, but honestly, it would be a bit useless because the other cards with the same Mana cost are too different, so I'll use the tool after the battle to analyze my choices.

These are the three Water type cards with the same Mana cost as the Kulu, they are two Melee attack monsters and one Magic attack monster, with different abilities and utilities, so I will put those off for a "post-battle" analysis.

As we saw during the card analysis, the Kulu is a pretty simple monster, it assures you a nice 2 Range attack for a 4 cost of Mana, but that's all, it will just proceed to attack the first line enemy monster.

So, why and how should I use a base card with a nice Range attack?

As always in Splinterlands the answer is only one: to use this card in the correct way we have to use the correct strategy.

Personally, I think that the Kulu Swimhunter could be useful versus a team that uses a Tank with the Thorns ability or in battles with particular "Rules of Combat".

1 ) Common opponents with Thorns ability:

Range and Magic attacks are usually the best choices versus a team that uses one or more Monster with the Thorns ability because the ability is triggered only by Melee attacks.

Please note: the Water type has some amazing Magic attack Monsters in the CL expansion, but especially versus a Death or an Earth deck, it could be a nice idea to avoid Magic attacks considering the Death Summoner Thaddius Brodd or the Earth tank Unicorn Mustang.

Not Magic friendly.

2 ) There are no particular "Rules of Combat" that can make the Kulu shine, but with the following Rules, it can be a nice resource.

Images from https://splinterlands.fandom.com/wiki/Splinterlands_Wiki

Nothing really specific for the Kulu Swimhunter but considering my previous consideration it should be clear why I would choose it as a playable card with these "Rules of Combat".

So the introduction to the Kulu Swimhunter is done, let's see it in action!

Rules of Combat: Positive, probably the "Target Practice" Rule of Combat is one of the best if you want to use the Kulu for the "Share your battle" challenge because it gives a base card the ability it needs to become a useful and interesting card.

Active Elements: Neutral, no Thorns ability risk, but a 2 Range attack Monster with the Snipe ability for 4 Mana, is really good, especially versus an opponent that could use a Water element deck with a lot of non-Melee monsters.

Please note: the Snipe ability says that "Targets enemy Monsters with Ranged, Magic, or no attack that are not in the first position".

To use the Kulu I had to choose a Water type Summoner, I choose Kelya Frendul because it was the best choice to eventually counter both of my possible enemy's choices: versus another Water type deck I wouldn't suffer the speed difference and versus a Fire type deck I could take advantage of the double bonus in Speed and Armor.

After choosing the Summoner I had to choose the Monsters, I bet that my opponent would have chosen a Fire type deck (based on the history of its recent battles), so I put the Djinn Oshannus as a front line tank, as a second line I chose the classic "bait" Albatross, then the Venari Wavesmith and eventually the Kulu Swimhunter.

Probably the best recent reward card, Djinn Oshannus versus a Fire deck type, that usually deploys slow monsters is practically un-hittable, considering the Kelya Frendul's bonuses and the Venari Wavesmith Protect ability.

As always, thanks to Splinterlands' Telegram Support Team.

Considering that the average Speed of a Fire type element Tank is 1, and the boosted Djinn Oshannus reaches 6 in speed, it would have a 50% chance to avoid every direct attack.

The perfect "bait" monster in a Target Practice battle, with 25% chances of evading attacks thanks to the Flying ability plus the +3 Armor bonus given by Kelya Frendul and Venari Wavesmith. (Not so perfect as a bait versus a Magic Deck because Magic attacks ignore missing probabilities and armor).

Another amazing recent reward card, costs a bit in Mana terms, but it has 1 in Magic attack and the important Protect ability that gives +2 in Armor to all friendly Monsters, those combined with Kelya Frendul give a total of +3 in Armor.

Luckily I read my opponent's strategies correctly, he chose only "physical" attackers.

The Kulu Swimhunter, thanks to all the buffs, resisted almost until the end of the battle, damaging the opponent's monsters with its 2 Range attack.

...Djinn Oshannus versus a Fire deck type, that usually deploys slow monsters is practically un-hittable, considering the Kelia Frendul's bonuses and the Venari Wavesmith Protect ability... cit.

So I won, even if I forced it a bit by using the Kulu Swimhunter instead of some other Magic monster, but I was curious...was the Kulu the best 4 Mana cost card choice in this specific battle? As always I couldn't avoid using my favorite Splintertool to simulate some battles:

Thanks to https://splintertools.io/, where you can "Test different decks from your previous battles"

Apparently the Kulu was the second-best option even if there were favorable "Rules of Combat".

Final Consideration: the Kulu Swimhunter is not a must-have card for Water decks users but as a "ghost" card, in some specific situations it can be used with success to win versus some unpleasant Decks.

The battle: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_ae9feaa3e69ec105491011394de4eb90&ref=magalli

Best regards,
Mr.Magalli

P.S. my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=magalli

P.P.S. A special thanks to @monstercrusher for whitelisting me.

Posted using Splintertalk