This week's battle challenge focuses on the Haunted Spider:

Card Details

An alpha/beta edition common rarity monster from the Death Splinter at level 4:

• Estimated cost: ~$47
• Mana cost: 3
• Range damage: 2
• Speed: 2
• Health: 3
• Poison ability: Attacks have a chance to apply poison, which does automatic damage to the target at the beginning of each round after the poison is applied.

Have you ever had an encounter with a poisonous spider in real life? According to this YouTube video, the black widow spider is probably one of the more well-known spiders. They are jet black and most recognized for the red hourglass shape on the underside of their abdomen. The Haunted Spider has many similarities to the Black Widow Spider and has been in splinterlands for a good couple of years now. It was initially released as part of the alpha and beta edition packs. For a common rarity card, the Haunted Spider does decent damage, low mana cost, and Poison ability which, when procced, essentially does passive two damage to an enemy monster. The downsides to the Haunted Spider are its low health, low speed, and unsurprisingly its high cost. This is almost a given now that most older edition cards have exploded in value in the past 9-10 months.

Battle - Full Battle Replay

Battle Details

• Mana cap: 32
• Rulesets(s): Holy Protection, Stampede

Lineup Details

• Contessa L'ament (Summoner): -1 range damage to enemy monsters
• Lord Arianthus + Almo Cambio: no attack tanks
• Haunted Spider + Centaur + Twisted Jester + Grim Reaper: Quadruple Range attack

Did your strategy work? What will you try differently next time?

I took a massive risk going into this battle by going all-in with range damage, and it paid off. I lead upfront with two no-attack tanks. Their primary roles were to absorb as much damage and survive while the range monsters did their thing by picking off enemy monsters. Initially, I was worried when I saw my opponent had Flesh Golem as his primary tank because he is a nuisance when you are up against him due to how hard he hits and his ability to heal itself. The Haunted Spider was part of the quad range attack that was doing 11 total damage, and my opponent could not deal with that. It's a thing of beauty when the Haunted Spider's Poison ability procs as it essentially guarantee to do extra two damage per round. This helped the Haunted Spider finish off the Flesh Golem quickly. Also, I thought Haunted Spider wouldn't survive when it moved into position 1, but the firepower from the backline could deal with the remaining opponent's monster.

Do you like the Haunted Spider? Why or why not?

The Death Splinter is spoiled with range monsters, and the Haunted Spider complements these team formations allowing you to double, triple, or quadruple up on range damage monsters. I think it's an absolute must to level up the Haunted Spider to level 4 to unlock the Poison ability. That additional passive damage can be handy in turning battles in your favor. I had picked up the Haunted Spider way before the prices had exploded on older edition cards. When doing these battle challenges, I ask whether it's worth picking up the monster in question. Frankly, there aren't many low-mana cost monsters that have the Poison ability. The Venari Bonesmith is a magic monster that unlocks Poison ability at level 4, which may be an alternative, but it does less damage. Suppose you are looking to expand your Death Splinter deck and want to double or triple up on range monsters with Contessa summoner (-1 range damage debuff). In that case, the Haunted Spider may be a decent addition to your splinterlands collection.

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