The Deeplurker is one of my favorite (if not the favorite) common cards of the Chaos Legion expansion. But before getting into the nitty-gritty of what the card actually does, let's just take a quick look at the in-game lore related to this growingly popular fish:
Terrifying to behold, Deeplurkers are a poisonous fish that dwell at the bottom of the ocean and prey on the weak. However, they are known to travel to the surface in times of dire need. Many believe that they are sensitive to the balance of elemental water magic and, when that balance is in danger, the Deeplurkers rise to attack or defend it.
Now that we know that this gruesome appearance masks a truly sensitive soul when it comes to the balance of elemental water magic, let us see how the attributes and abilities of this monster make it often the MVP of some of the toughest battles in Splinterlands.
Even at level 1 the Deeplurker is a formidable foe with its 3 attack, 2 speed and 6 life, however what makes it a really good addition to most Water Splinter line-ups are its abilities:
Opportunity: the Monster possesses this ability starting from the beginning. Monsters with the Opportunity ability may attack from any position and will target the enemy Monster with the lowest health. This ability alone is enough to totally devastate the enemy back-line before it has any chance to respond, especially if the Deeplurker is with additional speed bonuses.
Poison: the Deeplurker starts utilizing the additional poisoin ability at level 6. 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. The poison ability is a truly powerful ability when the RNG Gods are in the monsters favor. Imagine if the Splinterlands team would come up with a limited edition Summoner card which grants this ability to all monsters summoned by the Summoner. 😁 That would be very OP, right?
Demoralize: the Monster obtains the additional poisoin ability at level 10. Reduces the melee attacks of all enemy Monsters. This is another extremely useful ability especially if the opponent decides to go for a melee heavy setup. Such a setup is often seen in specific rulesets related to Monsters with melee attacks.
Now that we have established the might and utility that the Deeplurker has to offer, let us have a look at the BATTLE I have chosen to showcase.
It is a part of Clove71's Novice tourney, so all Monsters and Summoners are limited to level 1. The ruleset is as follows:
So having in mind the Equalizer rule was enacted, I decided to go with the following line-up (as illustrated on the screenshot of the battle above (south end of the battlefield):
Hardy Stonefish as my first line of defense. Costs just 1 mana but works wonders with Equalizer
The second spot was assigned to my faithful companion the Pelacor Bandit. Sneak is always welcome, especially on a flying unit. I have him in 2nd spot to try to accumulate as many misses as possiby to give time for my Deeplurker to do its magic.
The third spot was assigned to the star of this write-up, namely the Deeplurker. It will bite the monsters in the enemy line-up until there are no Monsters left to chew on. 😉
Followed by a Venari Wavesmith. Additional armor is always welcome.
Then in the 5th spot I placed a Disintegrator. I expected the enemy to bring a few melee Monsters and I was right.
And in the 6th spot I had a Kulu Swimhunter. Having a ranged unit is always useful, besides it is 4 mana, so works as a good filler.
Here is how the battle went, narrated by our guest narrator (and tournament host) Goodtrouble.😁(the battle starts at 0:30:45 if you happen to miss the beginning by the time you get to this part 😉)
As you can see my plan worked thanks to the 1337 ninja skills of the Pelacor Bandit, who provided enough time for our MVP the Deeplurker to absolutely sweep the floor with the backline of the enemy. I would recommending including the Deeplurker in any match-up suitable for the Water Splinter in Bronze and Silver leagues. Probably Gold as well. I am not experienced enough to comment on the higher leagues but Poison and Demoralize surely help in those high-end battles as well.
