[ Deeplurker ] - Share Your Battle! Weekly Challenge
My first challenge of the week!
Theme and card of the week is Deeplurker
Thoughts: Deeplurker was one of the cards introduced in the Chaos Legion update, and was what really made me realise how different the meta has become.
Very early on in the update, while I am still learning about the new cards, I got absolutely destroyed by the Water teams as they constantly made use of Deeplurker. At that time, I did not have sufficient knowledge on how to really play against Opportunity-heavy decks, hence doing daily quests was really tough then.
Card Showcase
| Theme | Deeplurker |
|---|---|
| Edition | Chaos Legion |
| Rarity | Common |
| Element | Water |
| Attack | Melee |
| Abilities | Opportunity |
Battle Rules
| Symbol | Effect |
|---|---|
 | Silenced Summoners: Summoners do not give any stat buffs or debuffs or grant/use any abilities. |
Mana cost: 27
Usable elements: Fire, Water, Life, Dragon
Team Composition
Role: Summoner
Previously I used this summoner a lot when I play Water decks as I was meeting Alric Stormbringer and his good friend Djinn Oshannus all day every day.
I picked Bortus in this battle since the battle rules applied Silence on summoners, which means summoner abilities were disabled. So I just chose the summoner who required lower mana.
Role: (Dodge) Tank
The first in position and a great frontline pick, especially against non-magic dealing teams.
With good stats all around (except the health), along with the Dodge ability, it will help buy me good time for my Deeplurker to do some work against the opponent.
Role: (Flying) Stall, Backline Hitter
A pretty decent card with 2 abilities - Sneak and Flying. I put him at the 2nd position to hopefully stall for some more time with his Flying ability.
His Sneak coupled with the Demented Shark I am going to add, allows him to hit for (1 + 1) damage to the back of the enemy's team. With all such capabilities at 3 mana, it makes him a not bad pick.
Role: Gap
This is a card that my friend lent me to play around with.
Torrent Fiend is a free (0 mana) card that which helps to at least take 1 hit for the team. It is a good low health fodder to take any opposing Opportunity hits.
I mainly chose him as I ran out of mana 😀
Role: (Inspire) Buffer
With how melee-heavy the Water decks have became since the update, this card turns the tables in a mid to high mana cost environment with its (+1) melee attack to allies.
Putting out Demented Shark, then slapping down some other melee attackers who are able to hit from the backlines (Sneak, Opportunity, Reach, etc.) is one of my favourite plays to do.
Role: Opportunist / Backline Hitter
Our card of the week. A great card with 3 melee damage that can obliterate the enemy team with Opportunity if they can't resolve your tanks by then.
It is very useful against decks that make use of glass cannon attackers like Pelacor Arbalest. However, the opponent may play with Gaps / Fodders to pull aggro away from the damage dealers.
I typically place him near the backline to last longer in the battle.
Role: Magic Dealer, Backline
A cheap card that does magic attacks straightforwardly.
With some luck you might defend your backline with her Flying ability by dodging.
Play by play
Opposing Summoner - Keyla Frendul (4)
Opposing Cards - Serpent of Eld (7), Albatross (1), Merdaali Guardian (3), Deeplurker (6), Scavo Hireling (3) and Angelic Mandarin (3)
> Round 1:
(Round 1 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(+) Serpent of Eld dodges an attack from Serpent of Eld!
(+) Serpent of Eld breaks Serpent of Eld's armour!
(+) Ice Pixie dealt 1 damage to Serpent of Eld!
(+) Pelacor Bandit dealt 2 damage to Angelic Mandarin!
(+) Serpent of Eld dodges an attack from Angelic Mandarin!
(-) Merdaali Guardian healed Serpent of Eld for 1 health!
(-) Deeplurker takes down Torrent Fiend!
(-) Scavo Hireling repaired Serpent of Eld's armour!
(-) Albatross dodges an attack from Deeplurker!
> Round 2:
(Round 2 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(+) Serpent of Eld breaks Serpent of Eld's armour!
(+) Serpent of Eld dodges an attack from Serpent of Eld!
(+) Ice Pixie dealt 1 damage to Serpent of Eld!
(+) Pelacor Bandit dealt 2 damage to Angelic Mandarin!
(-) Angelic Mandarin dealt 1 damage to Serpent of Eld!
(-) Merdaali Guardian healed Serpent of Eld for 1 health!
(+) Ice Pixie dodges an attack from Deeplurker!
(+) Deeplurker takes down Albatross!
(-) Scavo Hireling repaired Serpent of Eld's armour!
> Round 3:
(Round 3 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(-) Serpent of Eld breaks Serpent of Eld's armour!
(+) Serpent of Eld breaks Serpent of Eld's armour!
(+) Ice Pixie dealt 1 damage to Serpent of Eld!
(+) Pelacor Bandit takes down Angelic Mandarin!
(-) Merdaali Guardian healed Serpent of Eld for 1 health!
(-) Deeplurker takes down Ice Pixie!
(+) Deeplurker takes down Scavo Hireling!
> Round 4:
(Round 4 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(-) Serpent of Eld dealt 1 damage to Serpent of Eld!
(+) Serpent of Eld dealt 4 damage to Serpent of Eld!
(+) Pelacor Bandit dealt 2 damage to Deeplurker!
(-) Merdaali Guardian healed Serpent of Eld for 2 health!
(-) Deeplurker takes down Serpent of Eld!
(+) Deeplurker takes down Serpent of Eld!
> Round 5:
(Round 5 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(+) Pelacor Bandit dealt 2 damage to Merdaali Guardian!
(-) Merdaali Guardian healed herself for 2 health!
(+) Pelacor Bandit dodges an attack from Deeplurker!
(+) Deeplurker takes down Merdaali Guardian!
> Round 6:
(Round 6 battle log)
(+) -- My cards / Positive outcomes
(-) -- Opponent's cards / Negative outcomes
(+) Pelacor Bandit dealt 2 damage to Deeplurker!
(+) Deeplurker takes down Deeplurker!
Strategy Talk
Water decks since the Chaos Legion update have moved from a magic dealing to a melee damage dealing deck. In this battle, you can see me attempting to enhance my melee attacks and also giving Deeplurker the time and space to dismantle the opponent team.
Looking at the opponent's history, I noticed him playing 3 Water decks, 1 Fire deck and 1 Life deck. I figured my Water deck which makes use of dodging and opportunity attacks would work well against them. Luckily, I did not meet an Earth magic deck or a Death Thorns deck as I would surely meet my demise.
In this battle, I tried to focus on getting some cards to stall for time in order for my Opportunity and Backline hitters to do their magic. Serpent of Eld, Pelacor Bandit and even Ice Pixie did a great job dodging the opponent's attacks. With the aid of the Demented Shark, my cards are able to take down the enemies faster than ever.
Deeplurker is an excellent card used in almost all ranges of mana cost battle requirements. It may as well be the most used Water card since the update. Deeplurker is also really useful for taking out low HP damage dealers. As you can see from the battle, Deeplurker on both sides managed to take down most of the cards.
Some tips I would give would be to firstly, try to keep Deeplurker alive as long as possible. It has high damage AND it attacks from anywhere, why not place it near the back for higher survivability? Next is to get rid of the opposing fodders. As seen earlier, the 1 mana Albatross managed to even dodge and take 1 hit from Deeplurker. With those 2 turns, Deeplurker could have taken down 2 more formidable enemies. You could try use another Snipe / Blast / Sneak, etc. to take down those fodders to make your Deeplurker more useful.
Thanks for reading!
In this post I was trying out a new format using the battle log, instead of actually narrating the process. I hope it isn't too hard to read. I wouldn't mind some feedback on it.
Alright, it was fun to play around with the card and its synergy with others. We keep on going. Cheers.
Link to the battle: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_20995565c1cc9312ccd68eba5b8df37a&ref=tertius
Thanks for sharing! - @alokkumar121
