Here's the ruleset for this week's battle.
in the explosive weaponry ruleset speed is king. I generally like to use Conqueror Jacek if there's a high mana cap or Kelya Frendul if the mana is a little lower. Byzantine Kitty could be even better than Jacek for high mana situations, but that's out of my price range for now and probably most of yours. Kitty is probably the highest rated summoner and while it would cost hundreds of dollars to buy, You can generally rent Kitty for less than 100 DEC per day. Based solely on this part of the ruleset with water being the only available splinter I would expect to see Kelya on the other side of the battlefield.
In the wands out ruleset, you can only use monsters with magic attacks. This battle being just the water splinter makes Bortus and Alric immediately stand out. Djinn Oshannus is also a clear winner in this ruleset for both having a magic attack and the void ability.
The up to 11 ruleset amplifies abilities like thorns, magic reflect and return fire. Having this ruleset in combination with wands out makes the card prismatic energy look amazing.
Because I expect magic attacks to connect regardless of speed I would lean towards Alric or Bortus ahead of Kelya, but Kelya is another great choice because of the explosive weaponry ruleset, so I could see any of these 3 options on the other side of the battlefield. I plan to use Oshannus on my tank and I expect my opponent to do the same. I also immediately plan to use Prismatic Energy in my first position. I also expect my opponent to make this choice if they have a copy available.
Here's the starting frame
Think about how this might play out before watching the battle
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sm_fw3X5sYDuvwCU5GHZxih&ref=jingo-submo
Let's talk about my lineup.
Summoner: Alric
Alric buffs all of my magic attacks and with the wands out ruleset, that's all of my attacks.
Tank: Djinn Oshannus
Oshannus was my first choice for tank because of the combination of a magic attack and the void ability. Great on offense and great on defense. To sweeten the situation Oshannus is also fast which is important for the explosive weaponry ruleset.
1st position: Prismatic Energy
This is the best monster for this position with this combination of rulesets. Being behind the tank this monster takes diminished blast damage on every attack. It then sends back amplified damage with the combination of magic reflect and the amplify ability.
2nd position: Riverboat Captain
When I'm able to increase the Riverboat Captain's magic attack to 3 with Alric the blast damage is 2, so the buff from Alric increases the damage dealt by 2 instead of just 1 for this pairing.
3rd position: Ice Pixie
It's still amazing to get a magic attacker for just 2 mana. The fact that Ice Pixie comes with flying and a little speed is outstanding.
Did we win?
Yes. I think that Alric was a better choice for summoner and my Prismatic Energy did a lot of work with amplified magic reflect damage.
What will I try differently next time?
I was very happy with my lineup for this battle. I think that Bortus would have been just as good as Alric here. I don't think that I could have improved my positioning and use of Oshannus followed by Prismatic Energy.
I've been playing mostly modern recently and I was so excited to play Riverboat Captain with Alric that I forgot all of my monsters get the blast ability from the ruleset. Magi of Chaos would have been a strict upgrade over Riverboat Captain.
Thanks for reading and thanks for all the upvotes, reblogs, comments and follows. I'll see you in the game. I hope the updated format that I'm using is helpful. Feel free to share any specific feedback in the comments.