This week's Battle Mage Secrets challenge features the Little League ruleset! Earthquake is one of the rulesets that I personally consider a little less "fun" - after all, who enjoys being told that you can't use your big, splashy monster cards? And that is not even to mention the most infuriating battle combination - little league plus a 99 mana battle! Personal preferences aside, Little League battles still have their charm - they allow the smaller guys the chance to shine.
In Little League fights, only monsters and summoners that cost 4 or less mana are eligible to be selected. So there are some very clear winners and losers - every card that costs 4 or less is a winner, and every card that costs 5 or more is a loser. Beyond that though, there are some subtler differences. Since stats are at more of a premium at lower mana costs, monsters that are cost efficient for their mana are great. Have a card that is an extra hard hitter or is bulkier than the norm at 4 mana or less? Well, that may be a star in Little League. Abilities such as Sneak or Opportunity also gain a bit of value, since monsters will tend to be a bit weaker and therefore more easy to knock out with an indirect attack or two.
If you wanted to jump right to the action, the Battle Link is right here. Want to hear some more about the lineup? Read on further!
Here are the rules for our battle. As you can see, it is a relatively simple one. Of course, we have Little League. But other than that, it is fairly open - no other rules, a relatively generous (for Little League) 25 mana cap, and 4 splinters to choose from. Notably, the two splinters that we CAN'T choose are Fire and Life - both of which have plenty of low mana cards which are excellent in Little League. However, we still have some good options!
I decided to go with an Earth splinter team for this battle. Obsidian is a great summoner in Little League because she can increase the damage of magic attackers. As I briefly mentioned at the start, having a higher attack is great in Little League battles because monsters in these fights will tend to have less health on average. This means that an additional point of attack have a good chance of being able to knock out an opposing monster more quickly.
For my primary tank I went with Xenith Monk. Xenith Monk is super solid, and one of my favorite 4 mana tanks. Having Heal and 6 health is relatively bulky for just 4 mana, and 4 speed is very nice to have as well. I backed up my Xenith Monk with Fungus Flinger. Fungus Flinger isn't a particularly good tank, but when it dies it buffs surrounding monsters. If I am particularly lucky and my opponent brings some Snipe along then I could have a chance at getting the rare double buff.
Next up were some monsters that could take advantage of Obsidian's magic buff. Queen Mycelia and Madcap Magus are both magic attackers, and get their attacks doubled thanks to Obsidian. In addition, both of them have some very useful abilities. Queen Mycelia's Protect gives our whole team 2 additional armor - and remember that in Little League battles, every stat point is even more valuable than it is normally! Madcap Magus packs Scattershot and Life Leach. This gives us a shot at killing off some of the weaker enemy monsters, and also lets Madcap Magus to gain additional bulk as the battle progresses.
I finished off my squad with Uraeus and Djinn Biljka. Both of these guys have 2 base attack, and Djinn Biljka's gets bumped up to 3 when combined with Obsidian. Uraeus also has Sneak, which can attack the back end of the enemy lineup.
With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I am not sure what to think - both of us have selected similar teams, Earth splinter monsters with a mix of magic and indirect damage. The biggest difference is our summoner choices - my opponent brought Mylor to the fight, while I went with Obsidian. This means that the enemy team is better against melee attackers, while my team's damage output will be a bit higher thanks to my magic monsters.
In the first round of battle plenty of blows are exchanged but no monsters fall. Every single card is still on the table, though both frontline tanks are looking awfully fragile. I am actually relatively happy to see this battlefield situation, since one of my biggest concerns at the start of the fight was the opposing Failed Summoner with its Magic Reflect ability - once that is out of the way then my magic attackers will breath a lot easier!
By the start of round 3, monsters have begun to leave the battlefield. And although it looks like there is still a long way to go, the battle actually ended before the end of the round. My team's barrage of boosted magic attacks were able to take down the enemy team and seal the victory! And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.
My strategy for this battle worked out perfectly. Although my opponent and I both selected similar monster lineups, our different summoners led to different results. While Mylor Crowling is an excellent summoner, in this particular battle the impact of his Thorns ability was minimal. My team went with Obsidian instead, and their boosted magic attacks were able to mow through the enemy monsters and pull off the win.
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. Interested in seeing some more of my writing in the future? Be sure to give me a follow! In the meantime, if you'd like to see some of my recent posts:
Hit Them with the Stat Stick - Battling with Up to Eleven! - A Splinterlands battle analysis, featuring Up to Eleven!
Splinterlands Economics: Causation - A look at causation, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
Splinterlands Economics: Ceteris Paribus - An introduction to the concept of Ceteris Paribus, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
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All images used in this article are open source and obtained from Pixabay or Unsplash. Thumbnails borrowed with permission from the Splinterlands team or made in Canva.
