Battle Mage Secrets - How Good Is Kulu Swimhunter?

The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Back to Basics ruleset this time! This means units lose all abilities. 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 card, Kulu Swimhunter, which I think is quite underrated because it performs well better than its rarity suggests.

At 4 mana, Kulu Swimhunter deals 2 Ranged damage which is very, very decent, especially when it's just a Common card. At decent speed, and with Kelya Frendul's speed boost, it hits early or in the middle of the battle and is unlikely to miss. Also, it fits the Little League cap and is almost always a feature for me in such battles.

As usual, here's the lore for Kulu Swimhunter for your reading interest:

Kulu Swimhunters are members of a race of squid-like creatures that hunt in packs. They use their multiple tentacles to wield all manner of projectiles, to include spears, coral, and even fish. They are very aggressive and are known to traverse oceans, lakes, and rivers, killing for sport and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. They do not value gold or glory and will ally themselves with whoever promises the greatest opportunity to hunt and kill.

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Battle Type & Team Lineup

Position	Card/Level	Mana
Summoner	Kelya Frendul	4

Kelya Frendul is my go to summoner for my Water lineups for most of the battles because the armor and speed boosts are applicable to any kind of lineup. The additional armor will definitely come in handy for this battle too.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
1	Cruel Sethropod	3

With Back to Basics and no Magic cards allowed, cards with a ton of armor would be the best option. For a low mana battle, Cruel Sethropod comes in very handy with 3 Armor and 4 HP.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
2	Torrent Fiend	0

Torrent Fiend comes in as a filler card and since it doesn't cost any mana to field, why not?

Position	Card/Level	Mana
3	Igor Darkspear	2

This ruleset meant Ranged cards are the best, or rather, the only option in the backline. One thing to be careful about is, to ensure that they stay as long as possible in the backline because they wouldn't be able to deal damage in the tank position. Even with Close Range - because it's Back To Basics. Igor Darkspear comes in with 5 HP for a 2 mana card, which is pretty good.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
4	Water Elemental	5

Water Elemental loses its healing powers but still clocks in a decent 2 Ranged damage and has high speed.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
5	Kulu Swimhunter	4

Kulu Swimhunter is one of the underrated Ranged cards for Water but it actually can be very strong for low mana battles. At 4 mana, it packs 2 Ranged cards and have good survivability.

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• Pre Battle: When the lineups showed up, I was slightly surprised that my opponent only fielded 2 cards. Still, they were two big cards and the challenge for me would be to get rid of the tank as quick as possible.
  

• Round 1: This round went smoothly as my damage output was very good and the relatively high speed for my cards meant a low chance of missing. Half the opposing tank's HP was gone and all my cards stayed standing.
  

• Round 2: And after two rounds, we were done! The opposing Lava Launcher cannot attack from the tank position so it was just a sitting duck. I half suspect that my opponent forgot that Lava Launcher loses its Close Range in this battle too. Even so, with 3 damage per round, it was never going to pose a threat to all the strong hitters from the backline.
  

• Rounds 3-4: Lava Launcher was never going to be easy to take down - but we had all the time so we did it!
  

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

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Post Battle

Did my strategy work? I think I did well in this battle, fielding the required Ranged cards in the backline to deal a good amount of damage. Fortunately, I had the depth in my card collection to produce these three Ranged cards. That said, there's also Merdhampir which deals 1 Ranged damage. Thankfully, my opponent chose quality over quantity and it didn't work out this time. Like I mentioned, I half suspected he expected his Lava Launcher to continue hitting from the tank position, but that wasn't the case.

What's the Battle Mage Secret? Have a Kulu Swimhunter in your collection. You never know when it's going to come in handy!

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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