BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge! RULESET: Melee Mayhem
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After debuting for the first time 24 weeks ago and after learning last week that sometimes no Magic Monsters are allowed to participate in battles, the Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge is back but this time it is not discriminating against the denizens of Praetoria, on the contrary, this time all melee Monsters are allowed to attack from any position on the battlefield. Yeah, I know you've already read the title but even if you haven't, you have positively figured out that the Challenge this week is to display a battle involving the Melee Mayhem ruleset.
Let us see what this ruleset does before we get into the nitty-gritty of the line-up and the battle itself.
The Melee Mayhem ruleset is pretty straight-forward - Melee attack Monsters can attack from any position.
Now that we've got a good idea of what the Melee Mayhem ruleset practically does, let's see now how it can be effectively utilized.
- On the picture above I have listed the CL Monsters/Summoners I like using for every element as well as the neutral cards I most often use in these cases. Every option is viable since the additional rulesets also play a big role in the way this ruleset is approached and how you build your line-up. This is specifically important when you, for instance, go all out with the Melee Monsters but then it could turn out that your opponent has gone the Magic Spam way and completely obliterates you with Magic and Speed for instance. So you need to always be on mindful and provide some sort of a counter-play to what your opponent is likely to play.
Now that we have a decent understanding of the featured Ruleset and its potential advantages and disadvantages, let us have a look at the battle I have chosen to showcase.
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- The line-up of the Battle and the Ruleset:
The rulesets for this battle are Explosive Weaponry (All Monsters have the Blast ability) and Melee Mayhem. The mana budget is 36 which is a bit on the lowish side but let's see what could be done with it. The available Elements are: Fire, Water, Life and Death. I have decided to go with the Water Element.
First in the line-up I have one of my favorite tanks - the Diemonshark. Maxed out at level 8 it has Trample (when a Monster with Trample hits and kills its target, it will perform another attack on the next Monster on the enemy Team), Enrage (has increased Melee attack and Speed when damaged) and Retaliate (when hit with a Melee attack, Monsters with Retaliate have a chance of attacking their attacker). This time it is here solely due to the fact that it has a decent life total and 6 armor, as well as 4 attack, of course.
Next in the line-up is a Monster which is usually seen in the second position due to its nice kit of abilities suited for an off-tank - Reach (melee attack Monsters with the Reach ability may attack from the second position on the team), Reflection Shield (this Monster doesn't take damage from Blast, Magic Reflect, Thorns, or Return Fire) and True Strike (this Monster's attacks cannot miss), namely the Tide Biter. This time, since the ruleset is Melee Mayhem, I could have used it elsewhere but I have it here to mitigate the splash damage from the Explosive Weaponry ruleset.
The 3rd spot goes to one of the newish soulbound reward Monsters - Coastal Sentry. It is one of the most oppressive Monsters in the set when used correctly with its abilities - Double Strike (Monster attacks twice each round) and Piercing (if Melee or Ranged attack damage is in excess of the target's Armor, the remainder will damage the target's Health). I currently have it at level 7 but at level 10 it also gains the Knock Out (does double damage when attacking an enemy that is stunned) ability. I normally use it the seconds spot when paired with Possibilus, however, Melee Mayhem allows me more flexibility which is great.
4th in the line-up is River Hellondale. He is a great CL Legendary with his very helpful support abilities - Resurrect (when a friendly Monster dies it is brought back to life with 1 Health. This ability can only trigger once per battle), Inspire (gives all friendly Monsters +1 Melee attack) and Dispel (when this monster hits an enemy, it clears all positive status effects on that enemy). I have him in this battle for that sweet +1 Melee attack which should be very helpful for my current setup.
5th in the line-up is Venator Kinjo. If Hellondale is a great support Monster then Kinjo is the epitome of support. He has a total of 5 abilities Reflection Shield (this Monster doesn't take damage from Blast, Magic Reflect, Thorns, or Return Fire), Camouflage (this Monster cannot be targeted for attacks unless it's in the first position), Immunity (this monster is immune to negative status effects), Slow and Amplify (increases Magic Reflect, Return Fire, and Thorns damage to all enemy monsters by 1). I have him in this spot to potentially negate some Blast damage as well as for the Slow which could turn out to be pretty important as Speed is king in this meta.
The 6th spot for this battle takes a Monster often used to take a hit or two by Sneak Monsters - the Torrent Fiend. It's a 0-cost Monster so it is very useful for any battle where you don't have any Mana left to allocate to more potent Monsters but you still have an open spot (or more). It also has an ability at level 4 - Headwinds (reduces the Ranged attack of all enemy Monsters). It can never hurt having as many debuffs to cast on the enemy line-up as possible.
It is time for a quick round by round analysis:
- The Summoner I am going with for the battle is, as you have probably already guessed, Possibilus. Giving Trample to a Melee-heavy line-up, which can attack from any position could be really devastating for the enemy team. On the other hand my opponent has decided to go with Jacek, which could be a very good idea as well for the +2 Speed and the Piercing ability he provides to all enemy Monsters. Let's see how this goes.
- After 1 round I completely obliterated the enemy line-up and frankly just looking at the two sides I did not expect my victory to be so swift and decisive. You really need to look at the replay as all the battling basically happens during the first round - too much Trample for the opponent to handle.
- Round 2 the end - since there is not much left to show - here's the final blow.
Well this was definitely a very fast but fun battle, and an entertaining way to showcase the Melee Mayhem ruleset. See you next week with another exciting post related to the brand new Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge!
Over and Out,