This is just the same with the Briar Patch ruleset. When a battle mage see the counterspell ruleset, first thing to comes in mind is to avoid using magic monsters and focus mainly on melee and range units but then a Counterspell ruleset maybe associated with Wands Out where in a battle mage don't have a choice but to use magic monsters as well.

In this cases, there are several ways to play the counterspell ruleset. One is to avoid using magic monsters and focus on those melee monsters that deals with opportunity, sneak and reach ability or range monsters. The other one is when using a magic monsters, it should be able to survive the magic reflect damage thus a void, void armor, triage and heal are necessary to sustain those damage received.

Consideration

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

First thing that I need to consider is the other ruleset that are in play in the battle to determine my lineup and which element are available. I usually settle to those monsters with a great defense in the frontline such as Djin Chwala, Diemonshark and Cursed Windeku. Having those monsters that are good against melee and giving additional magic reflect ability could be a pretty good defense. Then followed by sneak or opportunity monsters.

If the ruleset only allows magic monsters, those with void and void armor are good use as well. We have Djinn Muirat, Djinn Oshannus and Void Dragon for example. These are great magic units in the frontline but how about those magic monsters that will be affected by magic reflect and support in the backline? Then the triage will be a good choice with the likes of Djinn Renova.

🪞 Cards

Suggested Cards

Any summoners that will help melee and range monsters are a good use in this ruleset, however those summoners that affects magic monsters are my top choice below on why I think they are good in this ruleset.

Card	Information
Immortalis	Immortalis provides the void ability which is a need for those magic monsters in order to nullify the magic reflect ability.
Grandmaster Rathe	Grandmaster Rathe on the otherhand converts the armor to void armor which is a great protection against magic reflect. The amplify ability further provides amplified magic reflect damage towards attacking magic monsters.
Mimosa Nightshade	Mimosa Nightshade on the other hand, not only provides void ability but also stops opponent's monsters from healing which is a pretty good counter against sustained strategy.

In choosing the monsters, as I have mentioned those melee and range monsters are of a good use and for the magic monsters, here are my best choices:

Card	Information
Djinn Oshannus	One of the best monster that is against magic units. Djinn Oshannus can nullify or even reduce the damage reflect taken from the magic reflect ability.
Void Dragon	Void Dragon is the same with Djinn Oshannus which is a great defense against magic attack and magic reflect, however this card do have a very weak attack but a perfect for defense.
Djinn Muirat	Djinn Muirat may not be able to benefit with the counterspell ruleset since by default it already have it but when it comes to damage taken, Muirat void armor is pretty helpful in this kind of scenario. I hope someday there is a magic monster that can do repair in the death splinter.
Oshuur Constantia	Oshuur Constantia is a pretty good magic card that is not affected by magic reflect due to its shield reflection ability. This card can perform heal and ressurect as well which is a pretty good use in the counterspell. Water Caller from the water, Kain Hace from the death also have the shield reflection ability.
Mimosa Nightshade	Ancient Lich is another monster with a high damage but can reduce the magic reflect damage taken however this card is expensive nowadays. Caladuum from the Fire also have the void ability which is a good use as well against magic reflect.
Djinn Renova	When it comes to sustaining damage, Djinn Renova's triage ability comes in handy in this kind of ruleset to heal those damage taken from magic reflect. There are other non magic units that have triage which are also good in this battle.

Disadvantage Cards

The disadvantage cards in this ruleset are technically all magic monsters as every attack they launch comes with a return damage. Those with void, void armor and reflection shield are exempted since they can sustain the damage reflected.

🪞 Battle Strategy

Battle

Rules of Combat

Modifications: Are You Not Entertained?, Counterspell, Lost Legendaries
Mana Cap: 28
Playable Splinters: Water, Earth, and Death

Team Composition

With the Counterspell in play, I totally avoided to use magic monsters and focus on my lineup against physical monsters and melee and range attack.

• Summoner: Kelya Frendul as the summoner as this provides armor and speed which are good against physical attack. The water splinter also have a variety of ways to deal attack from the backline using a melee monster.
• 1st Position: Alva the Crusher from the gladiator team since this card do have a shield ability. This ability lessen the damage received from physical attack.
• 2nd Position: Tide Biter in the second position because of its reach attack and if my opponent use monster with thorns such as Cursed Windeku and Venari Knifer, then Tide Biter is unaffected by the thorns damage.
• 3rd Position: Deeplurker which provides a massive melee damage and can inflict poison. It is a very important card because of its opportunity attack.
• 4th Position: Uraeus is another attack unit in the backline providing sneak damage and can also inflict poison.
• 5th Position: Pelacor Bandit together with Uraeus are focus on dealing damage in the backline. This card also have a high speed and flying ability which can avoid some attacks.
• 6th Position: Angelic Mandarin in the last position which have the triage ability and maybe can perform sustain.

Basically the strategy that I did is to avoid using magic monsters and focus on dealing physical attack using melee monster.

Battle Analysis

Looking on the opponent's line-up, it seems we have the same idea as my opponent lineup also avoid the use of magic monsters. In addition, it uses Chaos Agent in the backline expecting sneak attack.

1. Looking at the lineup of both team, it seems hard to predict who will win the battle as there are similar lineups.
2. The misses on this battle take a big part to determine who will win the battle
3. I believe that having a 6 monster that can attack vs 5 monsters that can attack plays a big difference in the battle.
4. The shield from Alva also plays an important part of the battle to reduce the damage taken.

BATTLE LINK

🪞 Closing Remarks

Counterspell ruleset is a good ruleset which can narrow down the opponent's lineup on not using magic monsters. With this it can help you to focus on building lineup against physical attack but not all battle mages think like this as some might push for the unexpected which is to use magic units and perform sustain triage, and possibly choose void abilities.

This ruleset is a very interesting ruleset as it show the importance of void, triage as well as reflection shield ability which are of great use against magic reflect damage.

Which strategy do you use for the Counterpell? Do you often avoid using magic monsters? What if you don't have any choice but to use magic monster, which monster is your favorite?

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

Want to join our awesome community? Signup to @Splinterlands using my referral code.