I want to give something back to the Hive community with my posts. Beneficiary of this post is @moriarty95. Thanks for being a great role model and showing me how high one can fly within the Splinterlands ecosystem.
The Card
Life Sapper is a 3 mana minion of the death splinter. Its primary ability is lifeleech, which lets it drain its opponents health with every hit.
It has relatively low health to begin with, which means it has to get some hits out to tank up a bit. The speed is pretty much average, starting out at 2 and ending at 4 on max lvl.
The damage is also pretty low, starting at 1 and getting 2 damage at lvl 4. Magic damage is the strongest of the 3 types of damage in the game, so Life Sapper has no real problems hitting an enemy or triggering the lifeleech ability, because it will usually ignore armor.
In my opinion Life Sapper is a pretty solid low mana card that fits well into the death splinter.
Its only problems are the fact that Venari Bonesmith and Thaddius Brood exist.
Venari Bonesmith does the same as Life Sapper, but better because of its poison ability for just 1 more mana.
Thaddius Brood is the most common death summoner at the moment, which means it will happen quite often that you will run into an enemy Thaddius Brood, who will then reduce magic damage by 1, robbing Life Sapper of its ability to deal damage to minions with void.
Still, I see myself using this card a lot in low mana games, usually side by side with Venari Bonesmith.
The Ruleset
My Lineup
Summoner: Thaddius Brood
Thaddius Brood is also my choice for this match. He is my highest death summoner, but also a very solid choice for any match. -1 magic is always nice to have, because of magic dominance, and -1 health gives you a good chance to take out enemy minions early with less damage.
It plays into the overall death strategy of reducing the enemies stats.
Position 1: Corpse Fiend
Corpse Fiend takes the front position. It will die quickly, but tank at least one hit, maybe even two with the help of shadowy presence.
It probably won't make a hit, but chances are there.
Position 2: Shadowy Presence
Shadowy Presence on the second position will buff all other minions with +1 health, giving the low mana minions more durability.
Together with the -1 health from Thaddius Brood, there can be a solid gap between the health of the enemy minions and mine.
When Corpse fiend dies, it will move up and hopefully tank 2-3 hits before dying.
Position 3: Sand Worm
Sand Worm is always a solid neutral addition to almost any team. With 2 speed at lvl 3, it is still slow enough to get some benefits in reverse speed.
It should make 1-2 hits before moving to the front position, hopefully taking out at least one enemy backline minion.
Position 4: Life Sapper
On the fourth position we have Life Sapper. With 3 minions in front of him, he will have some time to build up a little bit of extra health before moving up front.
He is less important than Venari Bonesmith though, which is why he will be sacrificed first.
Position 5: Venari Bonesmith
Venari Bonesmith, in my opinion one of the most powerful low mana minions in silver/gold is coming up right behind Life Sapper. He will have even more time to build up his health, while also having lots of opportunities to trigger poison on enemy minions.
Position 6: Revealer
Revealer takes the last position. With 5 health (6 with strengthen) he has enough health to survive at least 1 attack of most sneak minions.
Also, he will have plenty of time to trigger his stun ability. The 1 magic damage at this lvl is pretty weak though.
It is why it is not without risk playing so many low damage magic minions, since void could really counter me here.
The Battle
My opponent chose an almost full magic team with Obsidian. Thaddius Brood is a perfect counter for that. His team is not to be underestimated though, since he has a lot of health on the board, a lot of damage even without Obsidians buff and Queen Mycelia to protect them even more, ruining the use of my Sand Worm along the way.
After Round 1 already 2 of my small front minions are gone and with Shadowy Presence the +1 health for all. None of his minions have died yet, Sand worm was only able to smash 1 armor. This does not look good for me. The Hill Giant will die at the beginning of the next round though because of poison, which does exactly the last 2 damage.
After round 2 the playing field looks a bit more even. 2 of my opponent's minions have died, my Sand Worm had to be sacrificed without having any significant impact on the match besides tanking some hits.
My Life Sapper died quickly. He did not have enough time to build up a lot of health, so the Venari Bonesmith is already up front. With 7 health, it could make be enough to survive long enough to bring the win home.
Round 5 begins and the enemy's Magi of Chaos will die thanks again to poison. Now it will be very close and I need a lot of luck. Venari Bonesmith has to survive and trigger poison one last time on Djinn Biljka, otherwise its void will deny any more damage coming in.
This is the moment. Will poison trigger? 50/50 chance to win now.
Nope. Better luck next time.
Did my strategy work?
Unfortunately not. Thaddius Brood was not enough to stop the massive magic damage coming from my opponent as my first 2 minions fell quickly.
My Sand Worm was completly countered by Queen Mycelia, which I should have taken into consideration.
Life Sapper was also not able to build up enough health to make a difference.
Venari Bonesmith almost saved the day, but in the end it was not enough.
A Revealer lvl 3 would have saved me, but in the end my opponent deserved the win.
