Battle Mage Secrets - Is Arachne Thug A Strong Card?

The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Trample ruleset this time! This means trample will retrigger infinitely as long as the trampling unit keeps killing other units. It's not always easy to get the specific ruleset, but if you play hard enough, you definitely can find one! This time I was lucky enough to have one - woohoo!

So here's the interesting battle that I encountered.

Anyway, I thought it would be still be interesting to introduce some useful cards and show how their strengths can be maximised especially with a particular ruleset. In this post, the featured card is a Common Death card, Arachne Thug!

I am not sure how many people could remember - there was a brief period where card prices and card rentals were very crazy, and Arachne Thug was one of the cards that belonged to this category. I always have a copy at Level 1 but have never really used it even though I have heard many good stuff about it. At Level 1, I would say the stats are pretty decent and the speed is very decent at least. So let's see if it is overrated or underrated!

As usual, here's the lore for Arachne Thug for your reading interest:

The venari and scavo made their homes and livelihoods within the Realm of Silence. They carved a trade from the precious metals that they mined. They collected rare tubers and fungi to sell at markets and feed their families. The two races lived a semi-harmonious life together.

That all changed when the arachne entered the dark tunnels.

Enticed by the enormous caverns and bountiful food supply, these spider-bodied fey soon expanded their territory. They had no care for the Realm’s other inhabitants other than as slave labor or hunting sport. The venari and scavo were pushed closer to the surface, terrified of their spidery nemesis and their webs.

The arachne rarely came to the surface until the Chaos Legion arrived. They didn’t side with the invaders but simply used the war as an excuse to expand their hunting grounds. Now, they roam the land near their burrows, killing for the sheer pleasure of it.

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Battle Type & Team Lineup

Position	Card/Level	Mana
Summoner	Thaddius Brood	4

Cursed Windeku gets the pick for this battle because I wanted to try out a Death lineup. I could have gone with Astral Entity, but I thought to try out some interesting combinations with my Death cards so I saved some of the mana from the summoner.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
1	Cursed Windeku	6

Cursed Windeku is a strong Death tank at 6 mana, and there is no doubt it gets the pick for the tank position.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
2	Arachne Thug	6

Arachne Thug used to be a popular card due to its stats but I hardly have the opportunity to use it. In this experiment battle, I tried to partner it with Cursed Windeku.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
3	Riftwing	4

Riftwing is almost a must have for any Death lineup, its stats make it hard to miss and the Scavenge ability definitely is able to buy a lot of time for the backline.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
4	Weirding Warrior	2

A low mana card with an important Shatter ability, and sometimes you never know when it will come in handy.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
5	Lira The Dark	7

A Legendary card with two very strong abilities. The Opportunity ability is one of the best abilities for a card to have in Splinterlands and her high speed means she always hit very early in the round. Extremely powerful card.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
6	Ravenwood Warden	4

Ravenwood Warden has been a staple in my Death lineups too because of its Protect ability. A defensive ability like this for the entire team can sometimes go a long way.

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• Pre Battle: When the lineups showed up, I knew I was down for an uphill climb when I saw the disparity in the level of cards from both sides. But it wasn't really a surprise because this is Silver league. Most of my strong cards were in Water (which couldn't be used for this battle) and not Death.
  

• Round 1: My team was shaking after the first round as their damage output was way higher than mine. I lost my tank quickly, and Arachne Thug took up the first spot.
  

• Round 2: Finally their tank was gone, and Lira The Dark hunted out the backline with the Opportunity hits. Somehow, I managed to bring the scoreboard back to evens and it's 4 vs 4.
  

• Round 3: The opposing Dhampir Stalker was causing a lot of trouble for my cards but all cards survived for one more round.
  

• Round 4: Just when I saw a glimmer of hope, it faded quickly after I realised the opposing Pelacor Deceiver was going to be tough to take down. It was then I realised I more or less lost this fight.
  

• Round 5: Will it be possible for them to miss Lira The Dark every round? The answer is no, because the opposing Dhampir Stalker had True Strike.
  

• Rounds 6 to 8: Yep, that's the end (of me). Oops. An experiment gone wrong.
  

If you are interested to watch the battle, you can find it here.

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Post Battle

Did my strategy work? It's an experiment that went wrong. While there was some disparity in the levels of cards, I learnt that Arachne Thug isn't that strong of a card. As for Lira The Dark, she was very strong in her Opportunity attacks but one of her hit resulted in the trigger of the Martyr ability so that's something to be careful about. All in all, it's an educational battle for me and I think it's one of the last times that I would use Arachne Thug.

What's the Battle Mage Secret? It's good to experiment different cards and familiarise yourself with them, but if you are only using Level 1 cards, enter Silver Leagues at your own risk! Hehe!

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So that's all I have! What are your takeaways from this battle? Feel free to comment below, as I am always keen to learn and improve!

As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!

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