[ Crypt Beetle ] - Share Your Battle! Weekly Challenge

My first challenge of the week!
The theme and card of the week is Crypt Beetle.

---

Thoughts: This is a card that I barely use. Actually, I don't think I see it in play either. At first few glances, I can see it being used in low mana cap battles against non-magic decks, due to its Shield ability. However, I do think that its stats are pretty low for a tank, hence arousing some doubts of the card usage.

For this challenge, all cards are at level 1.

---

Card Showcase

Theme	Crypt Beetle
Edition	Chaos Legion
Rarity	Common 🔘
Element	Death ☠️
Attack	Melee 💪
Abilities	Shield 🛡️

---

Battle Rules

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

Mana cap: 18

Usable elements: | ALL |

---

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.

---

Role: Tank

The first in position, and the card of the week. It is a card that emphasises on tanking. With a Shield ability, it shows its true potential facing off against melee and ranged cards. Especially useful in a low mana cost team.

---

Role: Fodder, Sacrificial Tank

A cheap card who has 1 for all of its stats. Good to take at least a hit or take away agresssion from a card with Opportunity.

Placed it second to take the early agression.

---

Role: Tank (Secondary), Snipe Block

A pretty good secondary tank with good stats to back it up. With its Flying ability, it is able to gain higher evasion rate. Not to mention its Scavenger ability, it would be able to bulk up to be the ultimate tank if left alone long enough.

With the lack of offensive capabilities, cards with Snipe abilities would be forced to target this card.

---

Role: Backline Hitter (Sneak)

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

Placed it in the middle to keep it alive longer.

---

Role: Backline Hitter (Snipe)

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

---

Role: Backline Shield

A cheap card that is able to take at least one hit, effectively buying some time for the backline to deal more damage to the opponent team.

Placed him at the back to tank for some backstabs

---

Play by play

Opposing Summoner - Thaddius Brood (4)

Opposing Cards - Cursed Windeku (6), Life Sapper (3), Death Elemental (3) and Chaos Agent (1).

All summoner interactions will be skipped

> Round 1:

(Round 1 battle log)

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

(-) Death Elemental dealt 1 direct damage to Riftwing!
(+) Death Elemental takes down Life Sapper!
(+) Riftwing scavenged 1 max health!
(-) Cursed Windeku broke the armour of Crypt Beetle!
(+) Undead Badger takes down Chaos Agent!
(+) Riftwing scavenged 1 max health!
(+) Crypt Beetle dealt 1 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(-) Cursed Windeku reflected damage and takes down Crypt Beetle!
(+) Riftwing scavenged 1 max health!

> Round 2:

(Round 2 battle log)

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

(+) Death Elemental takes down Death Elemental!
(+) Riftwing scavenged 1 max health!
(-) Cursed Windeku takes down Cursed Slimeball!
(+) Riftwing scavenged 1 max health!
(+) Undead Badger dealt 1 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(-) Cursed Windeku reflected damage and takes down Undead Badger!
(+) Riftwing scavenged 1 max health!

> Round 3:

(Round 3 battle log)

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

(+) Death Elemental dealt 1 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(+) Riftwing dodged an attack from Cursed Windeku!

> Round 4:

(Round 4 battle log)

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

(+) Death Elemental dealt 1 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(-) Cursed Windekul dealt 2 direct damage to Riftwing!

**Did not include the images of the rounds (5 - 7) as it was just a similar rally of attacks between 2 cards.

> Round 5 to 7:

(Round 5 battle log)

(+) Death Elemental dealt 1 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(-) Cursed Windekul dealt 2 direct damage to Riftwing!

(Round 6 battle log)

(+) Death Elemental dealt 1 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(-) Cursed Windekul dealt 2 direct damage to Riftwing!

(Round 7 battle log)

(+) Death Elemental dealt 1 direct damage to Cursed Windeku!
(-) Cursed Windekul dealt 2 direct damage to Riftwing!

> Round 8:

(Round 8 battle log)

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

(+) Death Elemental takes down Cursed Windeku!
(+) Riftwing scavenged 1 max health!

---

Strategy Talk

I might be wrong but, I believe this was my first win with Crypt Beetle?

Pre-battle, looking at the opponent's history, I noticed him playing with a mix of Life, Death, Dragon (Earth) and Dragon (Death) decks. I took the chance of the opponent not playing an Earth magic deck and hence arranged a low mana cost Death deck that might work.

In this battle, I tried to focus on the survivability of my backline hitters. I placed a mix of tanks at the frontline --> tank (for ranged and melee), fodder (for opportunity, tank 1 hit) and a snipe block. Then kept my backline hitters at the back.

I had triumphed today with my lineup. I think in this battle, Crypt Beetle did its job decently. Although it was unlucky that the opponent also used Thaddius Brood as its summoner, leaving Crypt Beetle at 1HP, hence unable to showcase its abilities (Shield) at full potential.

I think that in this battle, making use of Thaddius Brood and Riftwing was good decision. The summoner keeps almost all the opponent's HP low, leaving my backline hitters to clean up easily. This also allows Riftwing to scavenge plenty of max HP, resulting in a tank able to take on Cursed Windeku.

Crypt Beetle is a decent card which would be more viable at lower mana cost battles. Unfortunately, we were unable to see more of its potential in this battle. When playing Crypt Beetle, you may want to avoid playing Earth or Death decks, as magic goes past any armour or abilities the Beetle has, and as seen from this battle, Thaddius Brood reduces Crypt Beetle HP to 1, resulting in its lackluster performance.

---

🤗

Thanks for reading!

It was fun to theorise, get my first win and also find more ways to play with the card!

We keep on going. Cheers.

Link to the battle: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_e160822a21f19093df1ce4dc8bef8e91&ref=tertius