Hello there.
Today I'll share my battle under the Heavy Hitters ruleset. But first, I will share some of my thoughts regarding it. With this ruleset, all monsters gain the Knock Out ability. Monsters with this ability deal double damage to monsters that are stunned. Similar to the Stampede ability that needs the Trample ability to work, Knock Out needs a monster with the Stun ability to stun the target, to work.
I usually treat this ruleset like a bonus. I don't go all in with it because I have horrible luck with Stun. But I will try to incorporate Stun monsters if I am able. My go to teams for this ruleset are usually Fire and Death. I have 2 Fire monsters that can stun [Septic Slime and Technowizologist], while Revealer is a staple in my Death teams. Another strategy that I like to use is adding Taunt monsters. A lot of Stun monsters are ranged/magic, so splitting the targets can lessen the damage a lot. That is also why Septic Slime with a Reach monster is good, since the Taunt strategy doesn't work on it.
I believe that being flexible in battle is the ideal strategy. Check the opponent's history, check what they are most likely to use, and counter it. But always pick teams that can also counter different strategies. Without further ado, let's get into the battle.
The Ruleset
This was a tournament battle, so it was a Bronze battle with Heavy Hitters, Odd Ones Out, and Armored Up Rulesets. A 29 mana battle is on the normal amount, and only Dragon was not available. I can think of a lot of different strategies for each so I will try to counter as much as I can.
The ideal team for Fire is the typical melee team. Radiated Brute and Tenyii Striker are good, but the extra armor and lack of Stun makes using Fire not that ideal. For Water, Water Caller is an automatic add to have a chance with the Knock Out. Swamp Spitter will work well with the extra armor, adding Lemell Refugee can tie it all together.
For Earth, going Obsidian and full magic damage is good. Mycelic Slipspawn, Scavo Technomancer, and Regal Peryton are easy additions. For Life, Runeslinger is a fast Stun monster that can be used. For odd rulesets, I typically prefer going Franz and Katie, with Katie's magic attack working well against the additional armor.
Death, like Fire, isn't looking too hot because Windeku and Revealer are not available. Those two have really good stats and abilities. Pelacor Deceiver can be the best tank for this ruleset, and adding Sha-vi, Soul Strangler, and Dhampir Stalker for damage.
The Lineup
For me, between the lineups I mentioned above, I'd rather go with Life Katie team. Since Death isn't going to be that popular, the chances of Thaddius lowering my Katie's attack is slim. Katie's magic can ignore the extra armor, and with the normal amount of mana, there is a chance that Katie can target the same monster as Runeslinger earlier. Drybone barbarian just has insane stats, and it has the potential of one shotting stunned monster. The Gargoya Scrapper and Chaos agent are just filler monsters, with Chaos Agent providing some defense against Sneak attacks.
The Battle
The Matchup
My opponent decided to go with a Death team that was very interesting. They used the Pelacor Deceiver and Silent Sha-vi as expected, but they also had Baron Fyatt, and Queen of Crows. The placement tells me that the Queen is there to tank Sneak attacks, Sha-vi to deal damage, and the Baron to do support work and lower my team's attacks. Thaddius already lowered my Katie's damage, so I just hope the Baron doesn't hit my Drybone.
End of Round 1
As expected of my luck, Baron's first attack hit my Drybone. 3 Damage isn't bad, but it is significantly lower than what it should be. Not being able to stun the Deceiver is also a bit of a shame. Katie needs 2 more turns to kill the Baron, assuming it doesn't get hit by Halving. The good thing is that my Chaos Agent evaded the Sha-vi's attack.
End of Round 2
Ok, this Baron with Scattershot just targeted my Katie for its second attack. My two monsters that can be affected by Halving got immediately hit. To make matters worse, I can't stun the Deceiver to kill it faster. I will have to say, my Chaos Agent is taking all my luck though, since it evaded another Sha-vi attack.
End of Round 3
Finally got the Stun+Knockout combo to work. We were able to kill the Deceiver, and things are looking better. Having Queen of Crows at the back is really good since it could have been a secondary tank. Just imagining trying to take 12 turns for my Katie to kill it is horrible. With Drybone Barbarian at just 1HP, I'm not out of the woods just yet.
End of Round 4
My Drybone missing on the Flying of the Carrion Shade is painful, but I can't really complain since the Sha-vi missed a lot against my Chaos Agent's Dodge. I think things are still up in the air right now since they have more monsters. The only thing working for me is their bad positioning against me.
End of Round 5
By looking at this board state, I think I am favored. They will spend next turn killing my Scrapper, and I can deal damage to Sha-vi already. The only way I think I can lose is if I never proc my stun. I don't think I'm that unlucky though, so we'll see.
End of Round 6
As if to compensate for the misses and no stuns earlier, Runeslinger immediately stuns Sha-vi. Not only does it increase our damage, but it also gives Scrapper an additional round. One more stun and this battle is over.
End of Round 7
Katie in front with just 2 attack and 4 HP isn't that reassuring. I will be dependent on the Stun against the Queen of Crows. Sha-vi is already dead. If it gets stunned, Katie goes up to 3 armor, if not, it only goes back to 1.
End of Round 8
Good thing Runeslinger was able to stun Sha-vi. The difference with having 3 armor, is that Queen of Crows need 2 attacks just to remove the armor. Without accounting for future stuns, Katie and Runeslinger kill the Queen of Crows in 3 rounds, while the Queen of Crows need 4 rounds to kill Katie. This battle is over.
End of the Battle
I will have to say that I was surprised that the battle was even that close. The Baron halving my two damage dealer's attacks early in the battle had me sweating. The multiple misses and lack of stuns also contributed to it being close. I was a bit confident that I would win the battle simply because I have a Stun monster and my opponent doesn't. If they placed the Queen of Crows in the second position, I think I would have lost.
The Result
Conclusion
In tournaments where there are additional limitations on top of the Rulesets and banned elements, I try to make it a point to look at the possible teams and imagine them fighting against one another. I will then choose the team which I think is best. For this specific battle, my opponent used a summoner that I was weak against, but they were too flexible and tried do different strategies which did not work out. Putting Queen of Crows in the back was to defend against Sneak attacks, but I didn't have any sneak damage, so all that tankiness was wasted in the back. Because of the wrong positioning, I was able to get away with the win.