Introduction

Hello Everyone~
I hope everyone is doing well and fine!
The last challenge with Time Mage has been a lot of fun! So I have decided that maybe I would attempt these Challenges Weekly!
To be honest, I wasn't very thrilled when I saw that this week, the challenged monster was the Crypt Beetle as I do not like nor play it much...
But the fun part about this challenge is that it forces me to think of different scenarios and possibilities of playing it at its MAXIMUM POTENTIAL.

Hopefully everyone will enjoy and learn from the battles I shared~

You can always follow me at @qxacexp for future posts and you are interested to join / play splinterlands feel free to use my referral code: qxACExp. 😁
|| Your comments, follows and upvotes are very much appreciated ||

Crypt Beetle Review

At first glance, you will notice that this card is pretty much a cheaper and slightly weaker version of the Antoid Platoon from the fire splinter, and guess what? It TOTALLY is!!! 😆
As the card gets upgraded, its health and Armor increases but it wouldn't make it much playable than before as you would want to play it in Equaliser Rule-Sets to boost its Health.

Always check the opponent's previous teams as well as the game restrictions to see if you are likely to meet any Magic teams or not, this is very important as the Crypt Beetle could die in just 1 hit.
When played with Thaddius Brood or Contessa L'Ament, you give it a chance to survive longer with the reduced Magic damage or by making 2 Range Attack monsters hit it dealing 0 damage (Thanks to the "Shield" Ability reducing Melee & Range damage by 50%).

However, this card really helps you REDUCE YOUR OVERALL MANA COST, allowing you to stack stronger monsters at the back.

In this challenge, you will see me play the Crypt Beetle at Level 4 at Gold league or at Level 3 in Brawl.
Will I do well? (Hopefully, I'm sharing my battles afterall 🤣)

My Strategy

1. Pick my matches very carefully. Think about the different Rule-Sets that would make it advantageous for it like Equaliser, Lost Magic and Weak Magic.
   (In Order to make full use of its stats, no matter how low it is.)

2. Always check the teams my opponent played previously to gauge his playstyle while cross checking with the splinters allowed to play.
   (By knowing the types of play the opponent uses, you can make full use of the Death Summoner Debuffs, to assist the Crypt Beetle tank for the team.)

3. Invest more mana on the other monsters since the Tank is really cheap to play.
   (Try to select really fast monsters, aiming to kill as much of the opponent's monster before they can strike.)

1. Battle Share (Gold League)

Rule-Set: Holy Protection, 34 Mana
Watch it Here

This battle only allows Fire and Death Splinters which makes it really easy for me to pick which summoner to play (I used Zintar Mortalis in order to remove the Melee Buff from Tarsa, when fighting against Fire, the opponent is more likely to play Tarsa than Pyre while it is unlikely that he owns a Yodin Zaku, unless you see it in his history, you do not need to prepare to counter it).
This gave me the reassurance that the opponent will be taking more time and effort to deal with the Crypt Beetle as they are most likely not going to play and Magic Monsters to make full use of Tarsa Melee Buff (This means that the Crypt Beetle technically has 5 health. Plus, any excess damage on the Armor is nullified).

Now with 28 mana to spare for my remaining 5 monsters, I am able to invest more on stronger Magic Monsters as the Death Splinter does not have much Magic choices nor really strong ones unless you spend more mana on it (Fire Splinters are really weak to magic so this really helped ensure my victory).

Highlight of the battle: The Crypt Beetle and Zintar Mortalis gave me a massive mana advantage that I can use on way stronger monsters (Like Magi Necrosi, Djinn Muirat and Magi Of Chaos).

2. Battle Share (Brawl)

Rule-Set: Odd Ones Out & Earthquake, 21 Mana
Watch it Here

This game only allows you to play Dragon, Life or Death, which makes me a little scared as there are some good Magic Monsters in the Life Splinter like Temple Priest and Captain Katie (A Gladius with Snipe, you do not want to see her Bloodlust activating).
Which means that it is quite possible that they would bypass my Crypt Beetle and attack the back directly.

However, as you can see, the battle only allows 21 Mana which means that the opponent is less likely to play Captain Katie the 7 mana monster, but would still make the Temple Priest a major threat.
Thankfully, General Sloan provides buff to Range Damage (Which you wouldn't want to play range in low mana) and Mother Khala which seems undesirable for some players as she's more expensive to level (Thaddius Brood's Magic and Health Debuff works even better).

After lots of consideration, I have decided to go through with it, playing Crypt Beetle regardless along with Brighton Bloom to counter the Earthquake Rule-Set as I really wanted to play Lira The Dark and Silent Sha-Vi.
I want to make full use of Lira The Dark's "Snare" Ability which ensures that any "Flying" Monster she hits would be grounded, without forgetting that with "Opportunity, she will strike the weakest monster which almost ensures that the 1st round will hurt a lot due to not only her Range Attack but Earthquake as well.

Highlight of the battle: Crypt Beetle survived for almost the whole battle, leaving my contingency plan, the Shadowy Presence unnecessary.

Conclusion

Overall a really fun challenge! This one really made me think more than the last one. 😆
It totally felt like I'm playing a little puzzle and it trains me to predict my opponent's team, which would definitely help me improve a lot as a player!

Please do upvote and comment your opinions! I would love to discuss strategies with you!
Follow me for more guides and updates😄

Source:
1.Deviantart
2.Splinterlands