The battle challenge ruleset this week is Shades of Gray. In this ruleset only neutral monsters may be used. Summoners are exempt.
The battle I chose to showcase is a 41 mana match with the Shades of Gray, Return Fire, and Crippled rulesets. Water, Life, Death, and Dragon were the splinters available to play.
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_b353206f6c86b6fa42c3dc93a27a1b97
I chose the Water summoner which gives one additional armor and speed. I had a somewhat limited supply of neutral cards. I wish I had more access to some of the Meta neutral cards like Dr. Blight but the ones I have will have to do. I started my lineup with a mini-tank with Void and Self Heal. I put a Martyr card in second position. Behind that I placed a Double Strike monster which is one of my favorite soulbound cards. I finished out my lineup with a couple Ranged attack monsters and a Sneak attack monster.
My opponent chose the Death splinter summoner that reduces magic and health by one. They have a mixture of attack types. We both used the same Double Strike monster and Sneak attack monster.
During the first round, I defeated my opponents’ tank in first position. My tank is still holding on at three health.
During the second round, I defeated a couple more of my opponents’ monsters up front. But I also lost my tank. Good for me I have my Martyr card in first position. After it is defeated it will boost my Double Strike monster.
After three rounds, the match is all but over.
With one hit in the fourth round I was able to declare victory.
Overall my strategy worked for this match. Playing some strong ranged attack monsters despite the fact that it was a Return Fire match made the difference. The additional speed and armor from my summoner was also important. My decision not to play any Magic attack monsters was also crucial since my opponent used a summoner which reduces magic attacks by one.
Shades of Gray is one of the rulesets that simply limits the cards that you can play in a battle. Other examples would be No Neutrals, Only Even cards, Only Odd cards, etc. Co-founder Matt has often said he loves rulesets that limit the cards you can use. Generally I like them as well and I am good at some of them. I consider myself to be a very good Even / Odd player for example.
Shades of Gray is one of the newest rulesets though its opposite No Neutrals has been around since the beginning. In the early days of the game there were not enough neutral cards to have made it an interesting ruleset. Though now after several sets there are enough different neutral cards to make it a dynamic ruleset. It is great to have access to neutral cards for this ruleset as well as general use since they can be played with any splinter.
