In this series I will investigate one card each post from the perspective of a bronze player. This means I will only look at the abilities and stats of the card between the novice and bronze level cap. For reference here are the caps in bronze:
| League | Summoner Level |
|---|---|
| Common | 3 |
| Rare | 2 |
| Epic | 2 |
| Legendary | 1 |
(Note: Usually, the level cap for monsters will match the cap for summoners; however, some summoners like Kretch Tallevor will alter the monster level cap.)
| Level | Attack | Speed | Armor | Health | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
* Earthquake and Noxious Fumes have D/F rating depending on what level Haunted Spider is due to the 1 extra HP at level 2+.
Haunted Spider is another vanilla card from levels 1-3. It is a glass cannon which trades survivability for some of the best ranged damage for its mana cost.
The spider will benefit greatly from Equalizer where its low HP is no longer a problem. Due to the low speed of the spider it can actually be good to keep it at level 1 for Reverse Speed. Similarly, when Aim True is active the low speed no longer becomes a problem for the card. The low HP makes Earthquake and Noxious Fumes a problem as it will only get 1 or 2 shots before dying. Haunted Spider will really shine in the Target Practice ruleset.
Check out a sample battle here.
For this battle I was expecting my opponent to chose the Life splinter so I was taken a bit off guard when it started. The glass cannon nature of Haunted Spider was mitigated by the Equalizer ruleset as its HP was buffed to 10 thanks to the opposing Djinn Oshannus. I also included an Undead Priest to further make the Equalizer ruleset an asymmetric effect. The healing of Haunted Spirit was increased from 2 to 3 making it an even better tank.
I was hoping to find an opportunity to try Haunted Spider with Reverse Speed or Target Practice but I never had the rulesets match up. I was considering renting a level 2 Alpha spider as well. Doing this would have given an additional 10% DEC bonus and the cost was nearly identical to the Beta cost. By having it level 2 it would have been able to maintain 1 speed for Reverse Speed and survive an additional turn in Earthquake or Noxious Fumes.
Haunted Spider is a fantastic vanilla creature which gives good value for a low mana cost. There are several rulesets which improve it and not too many where it becomes unwanted. When paired with a summoner which provides an additional ranged attack it will become a nightmare for opponents.
The lack of survivability can be mitigated by proper positioning. Try to add monsters in front of it to soak Snipe and Opportunity, as well as something behind to take Sneak attacks. While it doesn't get any new abilities in the bronze level range the extra speed and HP are welcome stats due to its baseline lacking those. This card usually makes it in my lineup in death matches and I rarely regret the inclusion.
Final Bronze Rating: C
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