Here's the ruleset for this week's battle
In the odd ones out ruleset I usually like to use the water splinter or the fire splinter which has a lot to do with the tanks available in those splinters.
In the even stevens ruleset I usually like to use the earth splinter or the life splinter which again has to do with the tanks available in those splinters. It also has a lot to do with cards that I like to use in the back line. My basic life lineup that I think about would be General Sloan as my summoner, Shieldbearer as my tank followed by Time mage, Venari Crystalsmith and Pelacor Arbalest which would cost 26 mana. I have more mana available which would allow me to include another big monster like Prismologist. Because I'm also working around the lost magic ruleset Chaos Knight is pretty much a strict upgrade over Shieldbearer and Time Mage is out. The trouble with using Chaos Knight over Shieldbearer is that it leaves my back line weak to sneak attacks especially my Pelacor Arbalest which is so fragile at level 1.
With those baseline considerations I have to decide if I want to work on that framework or switch to something that might counter a similar lineup.
Options for countering that sort of lineup include Ilthain or Quix to directly counter the ranged attacks.
The other option that I thought of to counter that type of lineup is to attack the back of the line where I might be able to remove something like my opponent's Pelacor Arbalest.
Here's the starting frame
It's reassuring to see some similarities between what my opponent chose to do and the considerations that I had.
Think about how this might play out before you watch the battle
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_e0b3b67a47a6dcc607167cc1eb6e6a10&ref=jingo-submo
Let's talk about my lineup
Summoner: Daria Dragonscale
Daria buffs the melee attack on each of my monsters. Being a dragon summoner Daria also give me access to dragons.
Tank: Chaos Knight
The shield ability on Chaos Knight halves the damage from all of my opponent's monsters because neither of us have access to magic attacks in the lost magic ruleset.
I thought my opponent's placement of Chaos Knight in that next position was interesting. It can be helpful to place two tanks in a row as a defensive strategy even when the second one can't attack to start the battle. My opponent's first 2 monsters could have both attacked if they were in the other order because of Sunkai's reach ability.
1st position: Corsair Bosun
Bosun is expensive, but does a little of everything. Enough armor and health to take a couple of hits. Enough melee damage to hurt my opponent and enough speed to land those hits pretty consistently. Bosun has the reach ability and the reflection shield ability which are both important here. The reflection shield spares Corsair Bosun from the blast damage my opponent's Prismologist sends. It would also spare Bosun from thorns damage if my opponent had gone with something like Djinn Chwala as a tank.
2nd position: Silvershield Knight
The inspire ability on Silvershield Knight further buffs the melee attacks in cooperation with my summoner. My Silvershield Knight doesn't get to attack unless my Chaos Knight and Corsair Bosun go down, but I like to have this monster protected in order to preserve the inspire ability.
3rd position: Dhampir Infiltrator
This is where much of my damage comes from. The double strike ability on Dhampir Infiltrator gets buffed by Daria and Silvershield Knight twice. This monster suddenly does as much damage as Pelacor Arbalest would with General Sloan but with the sneak ability that damage goes to the back of my opponent's line (allowing it to take out their Arbalest).
4th position: Battering Ram
The opportunity ability on Battering Ram allows this monster to finish off my opponent's most vulnerable monsters.
5th position (rear tank): Venari Crystalsmith
Venari Crystalsmith doesn't benefit from the melee buffs, but I love the tank heal ability to help Chaos Knight and possibly Corsair Bosun last longer.
Did we win?
Yes! I was able to crash into my opponent's backline before they could get through my tank and reach monsters. Once I saw their Arbalest go down I figured it was in the bag.
Do I like Dhampir Infiltrator?
Yes, but the situation has to be right. I would like to learn how to better utilize Dhampir Infiltrator. It seems like whenever my opponent uses Dhampir Infiltrator against me I get destroyed but when I use Dhampir Infiltrator it usually goes down before making any noise. In general I like the equalizer ruleset for this monster and other areas where I expect my opponent to focus on my tank.
I think Dhampir Infiltrator will work beautifully with the soon to be released Lily Shieldpaw.
What will I try differently next time?
I actually didn't use my whole mana cap. I ended up using 36 of the available 38 mana. I wanted to use Dumacke Exile in place of Battering Ram, but that would have been too much mana. I could have replaced Venari Crystalsmith with the Exile but I didn't want to give up the tank heal. Celestial Harpy would have been an upgrade over Battering Ram. Pelacor Arbalest and Prismologist are also monsters that I would have loved to use.
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 used was helpful for some of you. Feel free to share any specific feedback in the comments.