He isn't going to run away, he isn't fear facing great enemy; for the he is the Life Sapper. Life Sapper might be small and weak, but possessing Life Leech ability make him a card to be feared. Life Leech can turn the tide in a battle of attrition. Each damage it make means a health added. And whats more, there's no max cap to the health that could be added. There're around 10 card possessing Life Leech ability; 4 of which come from Death Splinter, and 7 of which are magic damage card. Combining Life Sapper with other death card will allow You to make Life Leech regiment with magic full magic damage.
| 1. Life Sapper at Level 1 cost You only 3 mana, and You get 1 magic damage, 2 health, and 2 speed. That's a good entry level for magic attack. And with Life Leech, this just make Life Sapper looks like 2 damage magic attack. | 1. With only 1 magic damage, Life Sapper will be numbed if met with card with Void and Void Armor ability. And yet card with Void ability are a lot and most of them are melee card mostly positioned in front rown. |
| 2. Life Sapper got advantage from battle of attrition. Keep alive long enough to gain the advantage of additional health from its Life Leech. Life Sapper will be suitable for low to mid mana battle. First, You can save your mana for other more important card. Second, mid to low mana battle usually employ 1 to 2 damage card, so Life Sapper additional health won't go qucikly wasted. | 2. And again Void and Void Armor ability is Life Sapper main adversary. Those abilities are possessed mostly by monster with high health. With damage from Life Sapper being nulled, You will then need extra fire power to quickly deplete the health, before it reached Your Life Sapper. |
| 3. It only need Level 4 for Life Sapper to increase its magic damage to 2 . That's a massive upgrade, as You could see the upgrade was balanced with 1 health downgrade. It will only need 2 hit for Life Sapper to get his health to 6 and turn into mid-tank. | - |
| Ruleset | Strategy |
|---|---|
| Avoid using Life Sapper in this Noxious Fumes ruleset. Even with Life Leech, the health addition won't catch up with the poison damage. | |
| As Equalizer ruleset makes health equal across all cards, the health addition from Life Leech will looks few and nothing. | |
| Just as using magic itself, it's also a high risk to use Life Leech in Weak Magic ruleset. Once opponent deploy cards with large armor, Life Leech will be useless. |
Here's one of my devastating victory using Life Sapper. Click Here for the battle link. The battle have 22 mana cap, with Target Practice modification (ranged and magic have Snipe ability), and only fire splinter aren't available.
For my formation, I used:
1st Row : Cursed Windeku
2nd Row : Venari Bonesmith
3rd Row : Life Sapper
4th Row : Soul Strangler
5th Row : Weirding Warrior
6th Row : Corpse Fiend
My opponent formation:
1st Row : Hill Giant
2nd Row : Failed Summoner
3rd Row : Goblin Psychic
4th Row : Regal Peryton
5th Row : Khmer Princess
6th Row : Fungus Fiend
The outlook is uncertain, as I have Cursed Windeku which easily counter Hill Giant. But at the back row, my opponent have the Goblin, Regal, and Khmer boosted by Obsidian +1 magic. Luckily, my summoner Thaddius have -1 magic, which null the damage boost. While I have 2 card with Life Leech ability, they have rather thin health, compared to opponent's Regal and Goblin which have more decent health. Positioning become an important factor in this battle.
Round 1 start with Regal strike Venari. It's a good choice to put Sapper behind Venari. Venari have 3 health which able to sustain more damage. With higher speed, Sapper and Strangler able to throw their damage to eliminate Failed Summoner. Venari unable to hold the damage and got eliminated from Khmer and Regal magic damage.
With all back row have Snipe ability it is a matter of who first destroy the opponent's back row. And again momentum of speed become an advantageous factor. My back row managed to eliminated Goblin. It's a powerful blow to opponent, as they lost Healing ability and 2 magic damage.
At the start of Round 3, my formation already gaining the upper hand. With Windeku looks fresh, it just matter of time before Hill Giant will be slayed, and Regal move to first row. Sapper make his sacrifice as he took damage from Regal. And then Strangler and Warrior start throwing projectiles which hit right into Khmer.
By the start of Round 4. With Regal only have 2 health left, my opponent lost all chance to turn the tide. And so the fate is sealed.
The above battle show just little use of Life Sapper's Life Leech. On longer battle it's possible for Life Sapper to grow to two digit health. Positioning is an important point. Life Sapper are very vulnerable in 2nd or 3rd row. It's better to place Life Sapper between 4th or 5th row, and reserved the 6th row for other card to block Sneak attack.
