SHADOW SNITCH

Hello, everyone, for this week we're having our first Battle Challenge featuring a Chaos Legion card! Even though it's great to talk about previous cards, it's important to also give the spotlight to some new cards, especially ones that aren't that popular, as is the Shadow Snitch.

This monster is a common card from the Death splinter, and, although I haven't used him that much, I'm excited to play with him and see what he brings to the table.

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.

Before moving to the stats, I have to say that, even though I don't do it often, I love reading the lore of the cards, and I use this opportunity to do so, and I'm amazed by the work of the creative team of Splinterlands.

Stats

At level 1, the Shadow Snitch is a little underwhelming, with 1 attack, 1 speed, 5 health and Reach, allowing him to attack from the second position. Although, as a 4 mana common monster, one can't expect much.

Once he levels up, it's another story, gaining both Affliction and Dodge, the first preventing the enemy from healing, and the second, as the name suggests, allowing him to dodge physical attacks, making him a good secondary tank.

The Battle

The Ruleset

• Earthquake: Non-flying Monsters take 2 Melee damage at the end of each round.
• Allowed Splitners: Fire, Water, Life, Death and Dragon.

The Team

For this battle, since it was an Earthquake battle and Dragon was available I knew I had to use Brighton Bloom. As for the Splinter to pair him with, I chose the Death splinter, to use magic attacks, in case the enemy went for a Dodge tank.

Card	Description
	BRIGHTON BLOOM As stated before, he's a must-have for every Earthquake battle, thanks to his Flying ability.
	CURSED WINDEKU Cursed Windeku is a great tank and that's why I put it in the first position. It has Thorns, dealing damage to every monster that attacks it with melee damage.
	SHADOW SNITCH In the second position to make use of his Reach ability. Even though he won't deal that much damage, he has enough health to be a secondary tank once Windeku falls.
	RIFTWING One of the best common cards from Chaos Legion, with 3 speed and flying, he's a great dodge tank. And besides that, he has Scavenger, which means he gets +1 health every time a monster dies.
	LIFE SAPPER With Life Leech, this monster gains health every time it deals damage to the enemy, meaning that he gets stronger as the battle progresses.
	VENARI BONESMITH Just like the Life Sapper, the Bonesmith has Life Leech, this makes the 3rd monster on my team able to gain health during the battle.
	DEATH ELEMENTAL I decided to put him in the last position to protect the Life Sapper and Venari Bonesmith from Sneak attacks at least for one round.

ROUND 1

Since the enemy didn't use Brighton while I did, I feel a little safe, although that doesn't guarantee my victory. Also, as I predicted the enemy went for a Dodge tank in Serpent of Eld, so the magic attacks will do wonders.

First, the Serpent attacks the Wendiku, but also receives damage thanks to Thorns. Then the Wendiku luckily lands an attack as well to return the favor.

The Deeplurker attacks my Life Sapper, defeating him before being able to even attack once. However, this means that the Riftwing gains +1 health. Then, the Bonesmith attacks and gets +1 health as well, and the Death Elemental dodges an Opportunity attack from the enemy.

With one unit down and the enemy being practically unscathed, I'm a little worried.

ROUND 2

However, I realize that I didn't have much to worry about, since the Earthquake would be my best friend during this battle. Once it strikes, it takes the armor from all of the enemy's monsters, except the Ice Pixie, who can fly.

Then, the Serpent of Eld, Ice Pixie, and Deep Lurker defeat the Wendiku, making this a 6 vs. 4 battle. After that, the Death Elemental manages to dodge another attack once again!

ROUND 3

Once again, the Earthquake hits my opponent, defeating the Merdaali Guarding, Scavo Hireling, and Feasting Seaweed. With that, the battle turned around, being 3 vs 4 now! I still have a fighting chance.

The 3 remaining enemies defeat the Shadow Snitch, and then the Death Elemental defeats the Ice Pixie, and Venari Bonesmith attacks the Serpent, leaving it with only 2 health.

And while every monster dies, the Riftwing is gaining health, meaning that he's turned into a great tank with 12 health.

At the start of round 4, the Earthquake defeats both of the enemy's monsters, winning me the battle.

Recommended Cards and Rulesets

Card/Ruleset	Description
	SHADOWY PRESENCE This support card has Strengthen and Inspire, giving +1 health and +1 melee to allied monsters, allowing the Shadow Snitch to attack harder and be a better tank.
	LITTLE LEAGUE Only Monsters & Summoners that cost 4 Mana or less may be used in battles. Even though I said the Shadow Snitch is underwhelming, for a 4 mana monster, he's a good option, so maybe his time to shine is with this ruleset.
	UP CLOSE & PERSONAL Only Monsters with Melee attack may be used in battles. Removing magic attacks out of the question, the Shadow Snitch's Dodge can be very useful. Also, since most melee monsters can only attack from the first position, with Reach he's useful since he can attack from the second position.

Final Thoughts

I'm really glad that we had our first Chaos Legion monster in the spotlight and I hope we get a lot more in the future since they are very fun to play with, with Riftwing and Life Sapper, being great cards that I love (although Life Sapper didn't have time to shine in this battle). And even though I liked my strategy, if it hadn't been for Brighton Bloom, I wouldn't have won. Thanks to him, my monsters avoided damage from Earthquake, while dealing massive damage to the enemy.

As for the Shadow Snitch, I'm still not a big fan, since I'm using him at level 1 and I doubt I'll use him often, however, once leveled up, he seems like a good card.

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Finally, I hope you enjoyed my review of Shadow Snitch, and see you next week on the next Challenge!

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