ANIMATED CORPSE

For this weekly challenge, we'll be taking on the Animated Corpse. Even though he's part of the base set, I haven't used him that much before, so this'll be interesting.

This monster is a Common Death Monster from the Alpha/Beta edition.

Lore

A fledgling Dark Eternal is also known as an Animated Corpse. Emerging from the Tar Pits of Creation in the Southern Waste of Mortis, each fledgling must first shed what remains of its mortal flesh. While in decay, the Animated Corpses are placed on the front lines to speed their transition.

Stats

The Animated Corpse has 4 mana, and at level 1, the level I'm using, has 2 melee, 1 speed and 6 health.

Then, starting from level 4, he gets Void, which reduces the magic damage it receives, making him able to tank magic attacks.

At max level, he has 4 melee, 3 speed and 9 health. Thanks to his high health and void ability, it works as a magic tank in higher levels, although his stats are a little lackluster for a main tank, specially at lower levels.

Thanks to his 4 mana, he serves as a good tank in the Little League ruleset, where you can only use monsters with 4 or less mana.

Preparations

Ruleset

Melee Mayhem: Melee attack Monsters can attack from any position.

• Allowed Splitners: Earth, Life, Death and Dragon.
• Mana Cap: 24.

Thanks to the ruleset of Melee Mayhem, I know that my opponent is most likely to choose monsters with melee. So, to counter that, I decide to go for Death, to give -1 melee to the enemy team, and also filled my team with a bunch of melee monsters.

Cards Used

Zintar Mortalis

Zintar is a great summoner, since he gives -1 melee to the enemy team and if you predict the enemy will use a lot of melee, it will allow your tanks to survive longer.


Haunted Spirit

The Haunted Spirit is the main tank for the Death splinter. 99% of the time I'm using death, I'll pick the Haunted Spirit as my main tank. Since he has the Heal ability from level 1, it restores some health each turn.


Elven Defender

Thanks to Melee Mayhem, Elven is able to attack even in second position. I decided to put him here to act as a secondary tank in case the Haunted Spirit took too much damage.


Skeleton Assassin

This monster is one of my main for death as well. He has Sneak from level 1, so even if we didn't have the Melee Mayhem ruleset, he would be able to attack from the backline.


Cursed Slimeball

I only decided to use this Slimeball because I had 1 mana left. Since it has melee damage, it could deal some damage.



Animated Corpse

And finally, the main card of this challenge, the Animated Corpse. I put him in last place to act as a Sneak tank, to protect the Skeleton and Slimeball, who have low health.

Battle

And now, I'll tell you about the battle. However, to see the full battle, click here!

ROUND 1

As I predicted, the enemy went for a full melee team, using the Life deck. Thanks to the Silvershield Knight's Inspire, all of his monsters receive +1 melee, however that's negated by Zintar's -1 melee. Also, thanks to the enemy's summoner, the enemy team receives +1 armor, which gives them more survivability, since I went for melee damage.

As for the battle, the Silvershield Knight and Paladin deal damage to my Haunted Spirit, but it heals thanks to its ability. Then, the Cave Slug defeats my Slimeball thanks to Opportunity, which allows it to target my monster with the least health. And finally, my monsters defeat the enemy's Chicken.

ROUND 2

Since the Silvershield Paladin is in the first position, my monsters deal little damage to him, thanks to his Shield ability. My Haunted Spirit remains at max health thanks to his ability, and finally the Cave Slug defeats my Skeleton, since it was the one with the least health.

ROUND 3

The Feral Spirit and Cave Slug attack my Animated Corpse, but it withstands their attacks, thanks to his high health, living in 1 health. And then my remaining 3 monsters are able to defeat the enemy's Paladin, leaving them without a tank.

ROUND 4

The Animated Corpse at last falls in battle, and my other two monsters defeat the Creeping Ooze. And since the Cave Slug attacked my Haunted Spirit this round, it's not able to get its full health back.

ROUND 5

Now that the enemy's Paladin is gone, my monsters deal 2 damage to the opponent. So their tank receives 4 damage, while my tank receives 3, but heals 2, allowing him to survive longer.

ROUND 6

My monsters defeat the Knight, getting rid of her Inspire, meaning that now both monsters on the enemy team have 1 melee. Since they both attack the Haunted Spirit, dealing 2 damage, and it heals 2 health each turn, it's impossible for it to die.

ROUND 7 & 8

As stated before, the Haunted Spirit heals any damage taken. This allows my team to defeat the Feral Spirit in round 7, and the Cave Slug in round 8, giving me the win.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was quite a long battle, thanks to our tanks, Haunted Spirit and Silvershield Paladin. And even though the Animated Corpse was able to tank several attacks, the star of the battle was definitely the Haunted Spirit, by healing all of the damage taken.

The Animated Corpse was a good monster in this battle, however I'm not very fond of him, and I doubt I'd use him again, unless it's a little league battle.

Overall, I'm happy with my strategy in the battle and I eagerly wait for the next battle challenge.

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