[ Carrion Shade ] - Share Your Battle! Weekly Challenge

My first challenge of the week!
Theme and card of the week is Carrion Shade

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Thoughts: This was a challenge where I did not have to think that intensively of the placements or the deck arrangement as the card did not have that great of an impact on the field. A break of a challenge, which I welcome.

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Card Showcase

Theme	Chaos Knight
Edition	Chaos Legion
Rarity	Common
Element	Death
Attack	Melee
Abilities	Flying

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Battle Rules

Symbol	Effect
	Standard: No modification to the standard gameplay rules and mechanics.

Mana cap: 21

Usable elements: All elements

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Team Composition

Role: Summoner

The meta summoner himself. With a (-1) to both enemy Magic Attack and Health, just by putting this summoner out will probably bring you at least more than 50% chance of winning an Earth magic deck.

It's versatile (-1) to enemy Health make him a good pick in a battle with all elements available.

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Role: Tank

The first in position and pretty much the main pick of any Death decks. With good stats all around, slapping down the Thorns ability makes it the optimal pick for a Tank.

The only real counter for him would be ranged attacks, as Thorns nor the Summoner effect would be useful.

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Role: Gap

The card of the week and also the card filling the gap within the deck. With 2 HP, I would regard it to be good enough to tank some hits either near the front or at the back of the deck.

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Role: Backline Hitter (Sneak)

A pretty cheap card which comes with the ability Sneak. A good card for low mana cost decks.

Placed it 3rd as it had low health and also uses melee attack, hence I could see more need for it coming before the ranged and magic backline friends.

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Role: Backline Hitter (Snipe)

A pretty good, relatively cheap card used to target the backline damage dealers with its Snipe ability.

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Role: Damage Dealer, Backline Hitter (Sneak)

This is a good card in my opinion. With pretty good all around stats along with the Sneak ability, if not dealt with quickly, it will create havoc and clear out the Backline Hitters on the opposing team.

Placed it at the back to tank the backstabs and also hopefully stay alive to deal critical damage to the opposing team.

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Play by play

Opposing Summoner - Thaddius Brood(4)

Opposing Cards - Cursed Windeku (6), Cursed Slimeball (1), Undead Badger (2), Life Sapper (3), and Silent Sha-vi (5)

> Round 1:

(Round 1 battle log)

(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes

(+) Death Elemental takes down Life Sapper!
(-) Cursed Windeku dealt 2 damage to Cursed Windeku! Cursed Windeku received 2 damage in return due to Thorns!
(+) Cursed Windeku dealt 2 damage to Cursed Windeku! Cursed Windeku received 2 damage in return due to Thorns!
(+) Silent Sha-vi dealt 2 damage to Silent Sha-vi!
(-) Silent Sha-vi dealt 2 damage to Silent Sha-vi!
(+) Undead Badger dealt 1 damage to Silent Sha-vi!
(-) Undead Badger dealt 1 damage to Silent Sha-vi!

> Round 2:

(Round 2 battle log)

(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes

(+) Death Elemental dealt 1 damage to Cursed Windeku!
(+) Cursed Windeku dealt 2 damage to Cursed Windeku! Cursed Windeku received 2 damage in return due to Thorns!
(-) Cursed Windeku takes down Cursed Windeku! Cursed Windeku received 2 damage in return due to Thorns! Cursed Windeku is taken down!
(+) Silent Sha-vi takes down Silent Sha-vi!
(-) Undead Badger takes down Silent Sha-vi!
(+) Undead Badger takes down Undead Badger!
(+) Carrion Shade takes down Cursed Slimeball!

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Strategy Talk

There always seem to be a similar card to Carrion Shade in every element or deck, the 1 mana, 1 attack, 2 health card. This time, I would be showcasing the one from the Death decks.

Looking at the opponent's history, I noticed him playing a couple of Death or Earth decks, hence I knew it was safe enough to play my Death deck which, played with Thaddius Brood, already have the advantage over Earth magic decks.

In this battle, I tried to focus on laying down as many backline hitters while trying to keep them alive as long as possible. Since it was a low to medium mana cost cap, I could only deploy Carrion Shade to stall for more time.

I was lucky in my deck choice, comparing with the opponent's deck, Carrion Shade already has better stats than Cursed Slimeball. Death Elemental provides more usage with its Snipe than the Life Sapper's Life Leech, which requires more turns to become useful.

This time, I had triumphed with my lineup, leaving Carrion Shade as the 2nd card, right after the tank. I placed it there as I was more concerned with the frontline. If you are more concerned with backstabs, you can place it at the back of the deck as well.

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🤗

Thanks for reading!

In this post I am still trying out a new format using the battle log, instead of actually narrating the process. I hope it isn't too hard to read in this mirror element matchup. I wouldn't mind some feedback on it.

It was fun to catch a break in challenges and also play the card I don't usually play. We keep on going. Cheers.

Link to the battle: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_470a72ac69b5ac55783c496a776f9557&ref=tertius