Hey Everyone! This is Sinflair (IGN: project10back) here and this is my third weekly battle challenge! I hope you enjoy it! This week, I lost my battle using Animated Corpse but, it was close and I learned from my defeat. Here is the link to replay the same battle so you can follow my thinking process while reading this post! I also made a video on it! It is below.

Animated Corpse's Stats

Before we start the battle, lets talk about Animated Corpse's stats. He is an Alpha/Beta common death monster. He deals melee damage. His health is great for a tank. His Speed is lackluster but you aren't using him for his attack. Animated Corpse is mostly used as a mid cost tank where he competes for usage against mostly Haunted Spirit. Haunted Spirit is so much better. The only reason I would use Animated Corpse over Haunted Spirit is the cost. I used him at level one because I didn't want to rent out a card I barely use.

Prebattle Analysis

So lets start with the ruleset! It was Little League and Super Sneak. Little League means that you can only use cards that are worth 4 mana or less. Super Sneak means that every melee card will acquire the sneak ability. The mana cap was really small at 14. I was also limited to only the dragon, death, and earth splinters. I chose to go with the death splinter because, I didn't need any dragons, and the summoner is solid. Also earth doesn't tend to work well at low mana games.

Team Members and Layout

My Summoner of Choice

As is the case with small mana games, the summoner is the key to victory. Since the mana was small at 14 and only death and earth could be chosen, I calculated that magic would be nearly non existent. There would also be less ranged attackers. Most low mana monsters are melee. This is why I went with Zintar Mortalis who lowers the all of the enemy's melee damage by one.

My Tank

Here I went with the showcased card: Animated Corpse. He is an ok tank but, there are better options. He is better than giant scorpion. He has 6 health which is great for itʻs cost. Shadowy presence is better but he is an epic and kind of incomparable due to mana cost differences. I went with Animated Corpse because the ruleset was little league and using a 4 mana tank was a no brainer. Even my opponent chose him too.

My Attackers

I chose Undead Archer and Darkest Mage to be my main attackers. I chose darkest mage because itʻs a solid reliable damage dealer at 2 mana. Undead Archer was chosen because I wanted to diversify my damage sources. Also he is a promo and I wanted that sweet 10% DEC boost.

My Fodder

I used Furious Chicken and shadowy presence as fodder. The Shadowy Presence was great since it could tank so many hits. The chicken was great because he was free. I also used undead priest. This is great card to help kill things faster. He didn't get used that much though.

My Lineup

I started with chicken in the first position. This was a great place holder. I put the Animated Corpse next to be my tank. He did an ok job but he kept on missing. I can't really complain about that. It is RNG anyways. Next I followed with Undead Priest who did take a few shots. Darkest Mage did deal some damage but he was taken out easily. Undead Archer was my mistake card. I should have used a card with more speed like undead badger or more health like skeleton warrior. Skeleton Warrior would have been perfect and would have won the game for me. I always look over him since, he normally doesn't attack. In this super sneak ruleset however, he would have been a great fit. Shadowy Presence was great where he was because I was expecting a few sneak attacks.

My Enemies MVP Team Member

This award goes to Twisted Jester for completely decimating my backrow with that snipe ability. The speed also allowed it to never miss. Twisted Jester's real weakness is that he is an archer so he can't deal damage in the first position. My opponent's Animated Corpse did a great job protecting him.

Summary

This was a close loss but, it was a great learning experience. With low mana cap games, every little stat gets amplified. I definitely learned that twisted jester is great at low mana. I also learned that I don't need to use Undead Archer when the ruleset favors another card.

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That's all for my Battle Weekly Challenge with Animated Corpse! If you enjoyed reading this article and/or watching my battle review, feel free to follow me and subscribe to my Youtube Channel! I focus on making tutorial videos on Splinterlands and the various tools supporting it. If you havenʻt joined the game, here is my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=project10back