With the Broken Arrows ruleset, all range attack monsters may not be used in battles which means there are only two option for the battle mages to arrange their line-up. This is either magic and melee.

When the broken arrows ruleset is active in the battle, a battle mage may do different things according to the available splinter. A battle mage may focus on full magic focuses on dealing damage in the frontline. They can also do full melee which do have sneak, opportunity and reach abilities. Also a combination of melee + magic is also a good option.

Consideration

In my perspective, when Broken Arrows occurs, here are the strategy I use to deal with this ruleset:

First thing that I need to consider is whether my opponent will be using magic. If my opponent can use magic, then I will position a frontline melee or magic monsters that can sustain and survive magic damage then I will be arranging backline monsters with sneak and opportunity attack.

Another approach that I can do is if the magic won't be available then a full sneak monsters will be selected.

If an enemy is capable of doing sneak attacks then a shield or thorns monsters will be position in the backline to defend and counter the sneak attack. A high speed flying monsters as well can be a good choice for those sneak attack to miss.

↯ Cards

Suggested Cards

All summoners which are not related to any range effect should be a good summoner in this ruleset.

In my opinion, below summoners are my top choice:

Card	Information
Tarsa	Tarsa provides a melee boost damage which is a good choice in if preparing for the line-up for the sneak, opportunity and reach monsters.
Possibilus the Wise	Possibilus on the other hand provides reach ability to a powerful monster in the second position which can deal heavy damage in the frontline.
Kelya Frendul	Kelya Frendul provides an armor and speed which is powerful for melee monsters. Also Kelya can summon magic monsters from the water splinter.
Obsidian	Obsidian from the earth splinter gives additional boost to the magic damage in which earth splinter do have a lot of magic units.
Immortalis	Immortalis, on the other hand can be use if expecting an opponent in using magic units which reduces the damage received from magic attack. It also provides shatter ability for those monsters with high armor and with void armor abilities.
Grandmaster Rathe	Another important summoner which can boost up the thorns damage against melee, can turn the armors into void armor against magic. Grandmaster Rathe is a good help in broken arrows ruelset for both magic and melee monsters.
Thaddisu Brood	Thaddius Brood on the other hand can weaken magic attack and the death element can be a good use especially with Cursed Windeku and other melee monsters.

In choosing the monsters, I think that every melee and magic monsters matter on this ruleset. It can be a melee monsters with high attack and defense that can defend the frontline against magic. It can also be monsters with sneak, opportunity and reach ability. It can also be a monsters without any attack that can sustain the frontline or backline defense and even a magic monsters deal with heavy magic damage or with void and silence ability. Heck! It can even be Disintegrator which reduce melee damage.

Disadvantage Cards

Disadvantage cards are definitely the range monsters which cannot be use in this battle as well as those cards with headwinds and return fire as it won't be much of a use in this battle.

↯ Battle Strategy

Again, I will be sharing two battles for the broken arrows ruleset using different strategy.

Battle #1 (Melee)

Rules of Combat

Modifications: Broken Arrows, Stampede, Counterspell
Mana Cap: 27
Playable Splinters: Fire, Earth, Death and Dragon

Team Composition

With the Broken arrows in effect, and a magic reflect in effect as well, the earth splinter using Obsidian won't be a choice anymore and 90% that all monsters will go melee.

• Summoner: Quix the Devious was chosen as the summoner because it can summon Djinn Chwala and Dhampir Stalker and the speed reduction is a good use for melee monsters.
• 1st Position: Djinn Chwala as the main thank which deals a massive attack. Having a high armor and health and with thorns ability would cause a great damage in the frontline. Upon enrage it also provides extra attack.
• 2nd Position: Corpse Fiend in the next position which acts as a buffer as well as decoy for opportunity attack however it does not have any.
• 3rd Position: Dhampir Infiltrator in the middle position which utilized its double attack in the backline.
• 4th Position: Silent Sha-vi is another sneak monsters which will help Dhampir Infiltrator
• 5th Position: Uraeus is a nother sneak monsters to attack together with Dhampir Infiltrator and Sha-vi
• 6th Position: Crypt Beetle acts as the shield against sneak attack in the backline because of its shield ability.

My line-up specifically focus on Chwalla defending the frontline, Crypt Beetle defending the backline while the three monsters will do the massive sneak attack.

Battle Analysis

Looking on the opponent's line-up, these are the key notes in the battle:

1. The use of exploding rats in the early game provides early damage but the blast has been absorbed by Fiend. A good placement of decoy. However it is affected by the thorns damage thus only deal a single attack.
2. The placement of Crypt Beetle in the backline affects the attack from Tenyii Striker and Uraues which provides margin of time for the sneak trio to defeat and prevail.
3. This is a good and close match. The dodge, thorns, inspire and shield abilities provides a good use in the battle.

BATTLE LINK

Battle #2 (Frontal Magic)

Rules of Combat

Modifications: Stampede, Super Sneak, Broken Arrows
Mana Cap: 16
Playable Splinters: Fire, Water, Earth, Death and Dragon

Team Composition

With the Broken Arrows and Super Sneak ruleset in play, using a magic would be a good use.

• Summoner: Obsidian simply boost the magic attack which applies to Regal Peryton and Djinn Biljka
• 1st Position: Hill Giant acts as the tank since it only cost 3 mana but with a high health.
• 2nd Position: Regal Peryton is one of the choice here because of the flying ability which can be use against sneak attack.
• 3rd Position: Fungus Fiend acts as a buffer monster since it does not cost any mana. It can be use as well to attack since there is a super sneak ruleset.
• 4th Position: Mycelic Morphoid in the fourth position to use its thorn ability for opponent that will sneak attack.
• 5th Position: Djinn Biljka in the last position since it does have a camouflage, it won't be attacked by a sneaking opponent. It will fully utilize it's attack in the last position.

Battle Analysis

The opponent line-up is pretty similar with my line-up except for the placement of monsters and level gap.

1. The use of Djinn Biljka is a good choice against sneak attack because of the camouflage
2. The use of Mycelic Morphoid is a good choice against sneak attack for dealing damage and it only cost 1 mana
3. The use of fiend in every battle to acts as a buffer against damage may change the outcome of the battle.
4. Regal Peryton is great against melee monsters as they might miss a lot due to its high speed and flying ability.
5. Hill Giant is a low mana monster with a high utility as a tanks.

BATTLE LINK

↯ Closing Remarks

Broken Arrows simply reduce the combination of line-up for every battle mages as there are only two options left: a melee monsters and a magic monsters. This simply means that the abilities that have impact in melee monsters as well as magic monsters are very important in this ruleset.

Having this ruleset provides a critical thinking to battle mages as they are going to predict which is the best strategy in the ruleset.

Which strategy do you use for the Broken Arrows? Do you usually predict the move of your opponent?

Thank you for reading! See you in the next Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge!

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