Hi everyone, this is my take on the weekly battle challenge. This week staring:
Deeplurker

Let me introduce you to my lineup:

Lore:

Kelya’s home in Vorlan was lavish and full of prizes. On the walls hung weapons of great warriors and artifacts from deep dungeons. There were rooms filled to the brim with treasure and libraries overflowing with knowledge, tomes, and manuscripts. She had hundreds of servants and was butled from dawn until dusk. She even has the pleasure of leading the most stalwart and tactical squadron around, the Wave Breakers, a group of dwarven warriors. She uses Water magic to create weapons of crystallized water. Yet, there was one thing she sought about all else: the Silver Shield and Silver Sword.

Kelya amassed so much wealth exploring numerous lands, she purchased a fleet of ships and built her home on the small island of Vorlan. Surrounded by sea and mist, she and her Wave Breakers constantly plot ways of finding the sword and shield. They also love a good challenge and especially enjoy combat. She and the Wave Breakers are often hired as mercenaries to clear out dungeons and fight on behalf of the highest bidder. The next highest bidder to come calling just so happened to be the Chaos Legion.

*Kelya doesn’t ask questions as long as her pockets are lined with coins and treasure. Yet, the promise of arriving in Kymia was more than enough for her to take the job. The legendary silver weapons may well be within her grasp and the Chaos Legion is her ticket to fortune and glory. *

The enemy stood strong inside the city gates. They held it for five nights, not once allowing a single soldier to pass through their defenses. Catapults and trebuchets were no use and arrows just bounced off the thick stone walls. Kelya Frendul watched from her lavish tent atop a hill far outside the city away from the battle. A long sigh escaped her. “This is why we were hired? To breach this city? There better be some fine treasure inside.”

A gust of wind blew through the tent, whipping the linen around. Kelya rose from her gold studded chair, grabbed a set of aqua gauntlets fashioned with the symbol of a crashing wave, and walked outside. The wind blew the door open as she stepped through to confront her warriors, the Wave Breakers.

She strode through a line of three dozen dwarves all wearing steel aqua armor. Each one saluted her as she approached, weapons and armor clattering together as they stood at attention. “Wave Breakers! We were hired today to bring down the city gates. Our benefactor has paid a high price and promised more would come if we assisted their army in taking the city. Who's up for a bit of raiding after we bust in those doors?”

A resounding “Haroo!” echoed from the warriors. “Excellent!” Said Kelya. “Break their defenses and shatter their shields. Crashing formation!”

The dwarves formed three lines behind one another. The front pulled out round shields the size of their entire body. The second wielded long lances and pointed them between each dwarf on the front line. The third line readied their shields and weapons — axes, swords, and hammers — and formed a protective circle around the other two. The warriors moved in rhythm together, shielded by one another.

Kelya walked into the center of the group. She tightened her gauntlets and slammed her fists together. Water magic appeared around her and crashed over the warriors like a mighty wave upon rocks. When it faded, their armor glowed a bright blue and a faint hum could be heard in the air. She flung out her left hand to her side and water suddenly formed around her wrist and continued to her palm. It transformed into a hilt and sword made of pure crystallized water.

“Let's show this city and our contributor why we've earned our name.” Kelya and her Wave Breakers marched towards the city gates.

Reasoning:

Kelya synergies really well with Deeplurker and the whole team as well as the Earthquake ruleset. 1 Armour gives us an additional earthquake protection round or protection against an attack. Speed is always good, helping out to take out units before they attack us.

Lore:

This huge and majestic blue serpent was once the ruler of the jungles of Azmaré. Ages ago, he was ousted from the Palace of Eld by a loosely organized band of jungle rebels. The amphibious Serpent retreated into the waters, declaring himself the enemy of all Azmaré souls.

Reasoning:

Serpent of Eld is the premier bronze tank due to his evasiveness 5 speed with dodge creates SOOO many misses against the low-speed units in bronze.

Lore:

Within the Realm of Chaos resides Uul, an eldritch dark god that has consumed countless realities.

It is this ancient entity of madness and despair that Silus of the Rift called upon to fulfill his plans of conquest. What Silus offered was of great interest to Uul: to feed upon The Source. To taste mana from the Well which had been forever beyond its enormous reach.

And so the elder god of a thousand screaming worlds gazed upon a single point of pure, primal energy, its power a familiar echo of the creation of All. When Silus opened the Gateway, Uul knew that its enormity could never pass through the revealed portal; however, that did not mean it could not make its presence known in the world beyond.

The Shade of Uul took shape within the Splinterlands and gave unto Silus a horrific gift. By twisting and corrupting the six primary elements of magic, a brood of Fiends was created, each a grotesque representation of a different form of magic. Fueled by the power of Uul, the Fiends are a nightmare to behold.

It is said to gaze upon a Fiend is to stare into the face of utter Hopelessness and know that the End has come.

The Torrent Fiend is rarely seen above the water. It is nearly invisible as it swims through the depths, blending in with the sea life and the currents. However, it is just as comfortable on land as it is underwater. Its amphibious nature makes it extremely versatile, and the Chaos Legion often sends the Torrent Fiend to attack targets on, around, or under the water.

No ship is too big for it take down, and legends tell of it attacking great war ships by swimming underneath them and ripping great holes into their hulls. It then surges inside with the water and yanks the helpless sailors into the depths.

*The Torrent Fiend uses its elemental water magic to send great gusts of wind at its foes, reducing the effectiveness of their ranged attacks. *

“The bottom of the ship erupted. It was like nothing I'd ever before. A great hole torn from the hull. As my fellow sailors screamed and ran, they began to vanish beneath the water one at a time. As if someone was yanking them under. But I never saw what it was.”

-- entry in a journal discovered by a lost sailor named Maria Avanella of The Tide Changer

Reasoning:

You can never go wrong with a torrent fiend. 0 mana unit combined with Kelya and Wavesmith armor sometimes absorbs 2 to 3 attacks, in addition, it's a great opportunity magnet, great to project our backline.

Lore:

*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. *

The Kulu Swimhunters swam just below the surface of the water, following the Praetorian fishing vessel. When it lowered its sails and came to a halt, they would strike.

Movement from the depths below caught the eye of one Swimhunter. He turned his tentacled head to peer down. Something large rose toward them. Before he could call out a warning, a massive Deeplurker swam into their midst in a churn of frothing water.

Its grotesque tongue lolled as the enormous fish seized the smallest Swimhunter by the waist, teeth tearing into rubbery flesh. Another churn of water, and the Deeplurker descended into darkness with its prey.

The remaining Kulu Swimhunters scattered, fleeing in all directions, and the Praetorian fishing vessel sailed on, blissfully unaware of how close its crew had come to their demise.

Reasoning:

Deeplurker is one of the best Chaos Legion cards period. 3 Attack 6 Life Opportunity is a beast in bronze, if enough mana is provided he is an auto-include in water decks.

Lore:

These jungle vines look harmless enough at a distance, but with a closer look you will notice tiny toothed mouths all over the surface of the plant. If you dozed off, the vines would quickly wrap around your entire body and sink the teeth in. Over the next ten minutes, they would drain every ounce of liquid from you, desiccating you alive.

Reasoning:

Feasting Seaweed synergies perfectly with Deeplurker a second Opportunity unit is worth gold if you face another kelya. One of them takes out the armor the other kills the unit. Unfortunatly Seaweed is slower than Deeplurker, else if would be the perfect can opener for Deeplurker.

Lore:

Banished from Below 3 of 5 - A massive race of rat-like people called venari have lived in the Strite for thousands of years. They are skilled technicians and mechanics who can make advanced devices and tools the likes of which Splinterlanders have never seen. The venari control powerful forms of magic that they have synthesized from the minerals and mana flows of the Strite. Through their complex field of science called smithing, they have been able to create and recreate many types of natural and magical phenomena from any magical element.

Reasoning:

You can never go wrong with additional armor, especially with earthquake. Giving all our other units an additional round.

Lore:

The temperature of Azmaré’s Frozen Hell has been gradually but steadily increasing for the last ten years, since the salt sickness has taken hold there. The Ice Shelf itself is not in any imminent danger of melting, nor is the Palace of the Frost Giant, but new, mischievous creatures of the ice have been emerging from the melted cracks. These Ice Pixies have apparently been frozen for many lifetimes, simply awaiting a warmer season to make their escape. Once free, Ice Pixies play like warp speed children throughout the Splinterlands, making a real mess of the natural world.

Reasoning:

Ice Pixie is the perfect backline protector. I mean its cheap 2 mana with flying and magic damage is amazing. And flying comes in clutch in a earthquake battle.

Into the battle:

Battle Link

Round 1:

Commentary

Not a bad lineup our opponent sent out. Luckily we went with a double opportunity lineup, this will remove their armor before earthquake hits. This is really beneficial for us. 2 flyer on their team is a little bit annoying, but the Luminous Eagle comes pretty early in their lineup, so they won't get that much of benefit from flying maybe 1 or 2 earthquake rounds saved. And the Tower Griffin is a pretty bad flyer, so I'm not worried,

Round 2:

Commentary

Taking out their armor with opportunity was massive for us. Earthquake did a great job damaging their backline, so that our opportunity can take a unit each this turn.

Round 3:

Commentary

Our opponent is down to only his flying units. Once we take out the Luminous Eagle. It's game over. Without Close Range is Tower Griffin a sitting duck for our Ice Pixie. Though taking out Luminous Eagle isn't a given, since it has 2/1 speed and flying advantage on melee units. In addition with Deeplurker doesn't hit Seaweed won't attack it and instead will go for the which would be bad news. So basically it comes down to Deeplurker making his 65% hit chance against the Luminous Eagle.

Round 4:

Commentary

We made the 65% shot and even the 55% shot from seaweed went through which wasn't necessary since Ice Pixie would have killed Luminous Eagle before it could have acted.

Round 5:

Commentary

Ranged vs Magic flying no contest for the Ice Pixie, we just have to wait out our attack down to 0 HP for the Griffin.

Round 6:

Final thoughts:

My strategy clearly worked, Deeplurker played an integral role in winning us this game. Without the double opportunity to take out their armor, we would have lost. I'm a huge fan of Deeplurker in most situations, 3 damage with 6 health and opportunity for 6 mana is a bit OP in bronze. Most likely would I choose the same lineup in this situation, don't see how I could improve my lineup with my existing card pool.