**For some reason, Elves keep their neutrality in the world of Splinterlands. I would expect them to join the Earth of Life armies myself. Anyways, there’s one Elf that could be pretty mean. Elven Cutthroat, as its name suggests, is definitely not a bloke that you’d like to run into while mushroom picking. Or anywhere else, when it comes to that. Combined with any monster or summoner that provides him melee bonus, Elven Cutthroat is a powerful low mana backstabber.**

In my beginnings, I used to play this card a lot to protect my Serpentine Spy from the opponent’s one. Since I got better cards and started to play rather defensively, Elven Cutthroat doesn’t really fit into my tactics for most of the games. Except those with special ruleset, especially the Equalizer mod which, despite its name, it doesn’t make the game really equal. In this particular [Equalized battle](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_1494129643e36ed4c1de2b1b46e82e47&ref=godfish), Elven Cutthroat helped me to win decisively.

![image.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQma3rKJjP1AqVruzjpkk3p1eAUm8DzMQSKzq9iY7tUpa7i/image.png)

Even though we both – my opponent and myself – chose rather fast damage dealing cards with 3+ speed (except the opponent’s Haunted Spirit), my Creeping Ooze gave me a huge advantage of first strikes. Besides, with increased health, it served as a great tank to neutralize Twisted Jester and protect my Fire Elemental. Anyways, it was quite clear from the very beginning that I shall win this one. Besides of a speed advantage, my cards were capable of dealing more damage (7 vs 6 plus the Blast extra damage of Fire Elemental) and I was able to eliminate Haunted Spirit early in the second round.

Even though we both – my opponent and myself – chose rather fast damage dealing cards with 3+ speed (except the opponent’s Haunted Spirit), my Creeping Ooze gave me a huge advantage of first strikes. Besides, with increased health, it served as a great tank to neutralize Twisted Jester and protect my Fire Elemental. Anyways, it was quite clear from the very beginning that I shall win this one. Besides of a speed advantage, my cards were capable of dealing more damage (7 vs 6 plus the Blast extra damage of Fire Elemental) and I was able to eliminate Haunted Spirit early in the second round.

## My rating of Elven Cutthroat
As I’ve already noted, Elven Cutthroat is a great card when it’s combined with +1 melee buff (and when it’s on your side, obviously). I see it rather valuable for players with low CP and really powerful in Equalizer ruleset games.

Mana vs. Power ratio: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★
Low-mana cap games: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★
Mid-mana cap games ⭐⭐ ★ ★ ★
High-mana cap games: ⭐★ ★ ★ ★
Worth buying*:  ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★
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**Elven Cutthroat is a part of the Starter Cards Pack, so you don’t actually need to buy it unless you want to level it up.*