Hi everyone, this is my take on the weekly battle challenge. This week staring:
Battle Snitch

Let me introduce you to my lineup:

Lore:

Messing with the dark arts should not be taken lightly. But that was the risk that Thaddius Brood took. A curious young man fascinated by the occult, he took to casting rituals and holding dark ceremonies. And it wasn't long before he got in touch with a dark entity that drove him into madness.

His family sent him to an asylum, but it only worsened his condition. And the entity within him festered and grew more powerful. Soon there was no boundary between Thaddius and it. Using his newfound dark magic, Thaddius broke from his prison and now wreaks havoc everywhere he goes. Through his rituals he got into contact with Doctor Blight. And the Doctor was fascinated with his power.

Thaddius has now joined the ranks of the Chaos Legion as an agent in the Splinterlands, sowing death wherever he can.

Reasoning:

Thaddius Brood is clearly the number one choice for death splinter, when you are playing with the base cards, in bronze 3. The -1 magic help aliviate the biggest thread in a low level fight and the -1 HP gives your cards the necessary edge in mid mana fights. So in order to get the most out Shadow Snitches there is no way around taking Thaddius, here.

Lore:

Cursed Windeku are nightmarish creatures that live in the deepest and darkest woods. They hunt at night, stalking their prey before attacking with their claws, while their thorn-like horns and natural healing ability provide an excellent defense,. They exude a pungent pheromone that reduces the reaction time of their victims, often allowing the Windeku to begin devouring them before they are dead. While these lifeless creatures may appear animalistic, they are highly intelligent. They have heeded the call put forth by the Lord of Darkness. Their thirst for blood is now focused on the Chaos Legion.

Reasoning:

Cursed Windeku is the king of low mana battle and one the best starter card tank, if not the best. His high life total in combination thorns lets him single-handedly take out 1-2 enemy on average not bad for a tank unit. Due to the 9 HP I excepted Cursed Windeku to survive at least 1, maybe even 2 rounds. So that Shadow Snitches could do his part next.

Lore:

Shadow Snitches are created by the conjurers of the Chaos Legion. Weaving Death magic, they breathe life into beings made completely of darkness. The purpose of the Shadow Snitches is to be deployed into lands prior to the Chaos Legion's invasion. Moving from shadow to shadow, they are listeners and watchers, feeding information back to the Chaos Legion.

But once the invasion is complete, the Shadow Snitches still serve a purpose. They can locate and follow high-value targets, reporting back on movements to Chaos Legion leadership. If needed, Shadow Snitches can also capture prisoners and bring them back for interrogation.

Reasoning

Shadow Snitches naturally lends him self to beeing played in the second position, right behind the tank due to his reach ability, allowing him to attack from a save position. If I'm being honest, I must say he is really underwhelming in bronze due to his poor stats 1/1/5 reach for 4 mana isn't really appealing to me atleast. I can see my self using him once we reach gold or in some rare ruleset combinations like melee only with no sneak or something.

Lore:

Death is one of the elemental forces of nature, which can be summoned in its raw form by a skilled Dark Eternal summoner. The dark and whispy energetic form is a terrifying force in battle. The Lord of Darkness refuses to call Death Elementals by their rightful name, insisting that theirs is not a magic of death, but life.

Reasoning

Dark Elemental synergies really well with Thaddius to take out many annoying backliners due to the -1 and its snipe. But he issnt that important in the later rounds so that i rather have him in the earlier position to absorb hits for the bigger threads in the back. It usually performs really well in low mana battles for me.

Lore:

Life sappers are in between life and death. One side of their body is ghostly while the other is alive and well. They are neither fully living nor dead. They feed off the energies around them, and simply being within view of a Life Sapper will make you feel sick and weak. They siphon energy from their victims, slowly weakening and sickening them while simultaneously healing themselves.

Reasoning

Usually i prefer Life Sapper in a later position, because he can get really annoying if the battle is kinda slow in case he get to like 6 hp, he gets really tanky and can often 2v1 alot of battles. But due to meta around the 28 mana being pretty sneak/opportunity heavy I prefer him in the middle position to leech a little more, before he gets attacked.

Lore:

Before the chaos gate opened, the towered city of Darkholde was peaceful and quiet. Situated in the cold, Blackworth mountain range, it was presided over by a long-standing noble family and governed by Baron Kutziq Neculai. If the citizens knew the truth about their governor, then maybe they wouldn’t have been so loyal, but the Baron’s tastes were sated with great restraint and he truly did care for them, taking only what he must and never more than he had to. For Kutziq was a vampire, a race as ancient as the stones they’d used to build the city. A man who loved his people in many ways, including their unique flavour.

The soul strangler is a creature of nobility, of good stock and incredible wealth. They live in lavish opulence, wearing the finest attire and moving in the most sophisticated of circles, often engaging with the high born from other cities and enjoying intimate gatherings that last for days.

However, when this vampire chooses to hunt, they take on whole new guise, almost shifting their form to become more accomplished for the chase. Pointed ears extend refining their hearing and their eyes change colour affording the ability to see in the dark – their preferred time to hunt. Long fangs grow from their mouth and vicious talons sprout from their fingers. But what you can’t see in either form is the power they hold within their mind, an ability to attack at a spiritual level when they eventually find their adversary, squeezing the very life from them; a ranged attack that if not avoided, will have devastating consequence

Reasoning

Soul Stangler fits perfectly into the mana curve and is a decent damage dealer for the death splinter starter cards, you can never go wrong putting him into these games. Like i mentioned before due to the strong sneak meta i decided to put him only second to last to avoid him being one shotted.

Lore:

Silent Sha-vi are entities from the shadow realm that take the form of giant snakes. They travel in darkness and shadow as if each dark corner is a gateway that leads elsewhere. They have an appetite for slow and creeping deaths, feeding off the escalating fear of the victim. If you think there might be a monster under your bed, it's probably a Silent Sha-vi.

Reasoning:

Last but definitly not least, Silent Sha-Vi. Prolly one the best common cards in Chaos Legion and clearly a sneak beast. He deserves his spot here. He is fast and deadly for the opponents backline and quite tank, thats why i put him last so that he can absorb 1 or 2 attack in case the opponent comes with his own sneak units.

Round 1:

Commentary

Seeing the opponents lineup i kinda regret my ordering and having a kinda dead unit in form of the Life Sapper, but still Obsidian is an okish Lineup for me. Good news my opponent didn't protect his backline exposing his healer. If he used peryton in the last spot, i would have been in big trouble.

Round 2:

Commentary

No suprises in round one, Windeku not fairing well against the massive amounts of magic damage and Unicorn Mustang still with decent HP due to Goblin Psychic heal. At least Shadow Snitch doing his job hitting his 70% attack chance. Silent Sha-Vi taking out his backline as expected.

Round 3:

Commentary

No misses on both sides, Shadow Snitch showing another of his weaknesses, slow speed. In case he had decent speed, Unicorn Mustang would have died here, instead the Goblin Psychic healing him back to 4 and Shadow Snitch attacking last taking him to 3 instead of 0.

Round 4:

Commentary

Luckily Silent Sha-Vi is doing is job taking out the Goblin Psychic, Shadow Snitch dies having done 2 attacks and tanking 3 atacks, taking 6 damage. Underwhelming as expected. Good thing his units are pretty low on health so the game is still open, as long as Silent Sha-Vi doesn't miss his attacks.

Round 5:

Commentary

Soul Stangler missing his 80% attack vs Unicorn Musstang, is not good. At least Silent Sha-Vi hits his 55% chance. Keeping me in the game.

Round 6:

Commentary

Losing a unit each round is getting scary, especially, since Silent Sha-Vi missed his 55% chance this time, one more miss and its over for us.

Round 7:

Commentary

Not missing the 90% chance vs the unicorn is paramount. This decides the winner of this game.

Round 8:

Commentary

1 out 3 55% chances were need, Silent Sha-Vi took him out without missing anymore shots. We got the win.

Click any of the Images or click here to watch the fight on splinterlands

Conclusion:

My strategy with or in spite of Shadow Snitch worked, not perfect but decently. I rather not play him in bronze any more, he is not strong enough in the meta in my opinion. His damage and his utility are not strong enough playing him in normal rulesets. Like I said before in Gold+ or in fringe rulesets he might see the light of day in my deck, but not under normal circumstances.