Carrion Shade - Aerial Scavengers

A drizzle cast the forest road in shades of gray. The forest itself gave off a mournful, lonely atmosphere. The trees bowed in the silence and stillness. And it was only broken by the fluttering of wings.

A group of carrion shades surrounded a humanoid body. A person left on the side of the road, their belongings taken and stab wounds across their body. Any passerby would have known it was a deal gone wrong.

But under the watch of the forest, it was only a scene of the circle of life. One body feeding others. The dark feathers of the carrion crows blocked out the corpse as they enjoyed their meal.

Pretty much like vultures, Carrion Shades feast on the dead. What a way to go.

The Stats

The Carrion Shade is one of those cards which can be used to fill-in spots for low mana. They can either be used at the back to take hits from sneak attacks, at the front to take damage before your main tank, or in the second position to take a few hits protecting your mid-lines.

Stats wise, there's really nothing much to say. At least its base level 1 Attack, 2 Speed and 3 HP are better than most 1 mana cards. It gains flying at level 3 to increase its chances at evading. It gains an extra speed at level 5 which is the max level for the Silver League. It gains an extra attack at level 7/8 which is the max level for the Gold League.

This certainly has its uses especially when it gains extra attack and when its speed is boosted by cards like Lira the Dark and Supply Runner.

This little bird becomes more useful when the rules of combat allows it to be. Personally, the best Rules of Combat for the Carrion Shade to shine on are the following:

Rules of Combat	Description	Why?
	Equalizer: The initial health of all monsters is equal to that of a monster on either team with the highest base health.	Very useful in low mana cap where in you can use this as tank. Just pray that your opponent is fielding a high HP lineup so you can leech off it.
	Melee Mayhem: Melee attack monsters can attack from any position	This can deal a few hits if its able to while you can place this to protect your other monsters
	Super Sneak: All the melee attack monsters have the sneak ability	Enjoy watching your birdy peck your opponents from behind. 😂

⚔️ The Battle ⚔️

Rules of Combat

Modifications: None
Mana Cap: 14
Playable Splinters: All
Link to full battle

My lineup

Position	Card	Mana Cost	Comment
Summoner		4	I was expecting my opponent to field a magic/sneak lineup. Thaddius negates the +1 magic from Obsidian while lowering the opposing monsters' health.
Position 1 - Tank		6	Arguably the best tank right now for the Death splinter. It comes with thorns at base level so not only can it deal damage when attacking, it also deals damage when getting hit by melee monsters. And the best part is, it's not as expensive as the other cards! What more can you ask for?
Position 2 - Magic Damage		3	I was torn between using the Life Sapper or the Death Elemental. Both nasty names but different purposes. I used Life Sapper to anticipate sneak attacks. This can increase its HP to nullify the damages brought by the sneak monsters.
Position 3 - Meat Shield		4	The sacrificial monster for the sneak attackers! I was hoping this can take at least two hits from sneak monsters before they get to my Life Sapper.

Rounds Breakdown

I guessed right. The opponent used a sneak and an oppurtunity attacker. During the first round, the Carrion Shade goes down after taking two hits. This enabled my Life Saper to leech +1 HP from the Chaos Knight. My Cursed Windeku is business as usual, chipping away the Knight's health.

The Harpy and Stitch Leech tried hitting my Life Sapper but since it was able to increase its HP last round, it was able to survice. Carrion Shade MVP! 🐤

The Chaos Knight goes down at the start of the round,and the harpy quickly follows after it tried attacking the Cursed Windeku. How billy can you be?

The Stitch Leech dies. And with that folks, the battle ends.

It was the best decision to use the Cursed Windeku to continuously chip away the Chaos Knight's toughness, the Life Sapper to chip away its health without getting restricted by the knight's armor, and the Carrion Shade to block the attacks from reaching the Life Sapper.

Rewatch the full battle here.

Want more Carrion Shade battles?

Second position to protect the Life Sapper if the Windeku Fails.

Death by thorns.

Conclusion

Like all the one mana cards out there, the Carrion Shade's purpose is for the opponent to waste an attack on it so the monster being protected can remain undamaged longer. With equalizer, this can be a viable tank so you can play higher damage at the back. At higher level and additional buffs like increased damage and speed, you cannot discount the Carrion Shade's impact at low mana cap battles. Is this a must play card? NO. There are better 1 mana cards out there like the Creeping Ooze that provides a slow effect on the opposing team, the Flame Monkey that can repair damaged armor, Chaos Agent that has the dodge ability and Shadowy Presence that provides +1 HP with the strengthen skill albeit this is an epic card.

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