Hello there.
Today I'll share my battle under the Keep Your Distance ruleset. But first, I will share some of my thoughts regarding it. With this ruleset, monsters with Melee attacks can't be used. This includes monsters with two types of attacks; as long as one of the two is melee, they can't be used.
In this ruleset there is still a lot of strategies available that it is difficult to come up with a winning strategy without seeing the other rulesets. Immortalis can counter the Obsidian teams, Sloan can outdamage Immortalis but can lose to Obsidian. Death can work against them, but will have difficulty against Water with Oshannus.
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 Are You Not Entertained, Keep Your Distance, and Reverse Speed Rulesets. A 56 mana battle is on the high amount and only Life, Death, and Dragon are available. I can think of a lot of different strategies for each so I will try to counter as much as I can. Having Are You Not Entertained together with Reverse Speed always feels like a troll. Since Gladiator cards get more speed as they get a kill, they get worse off in the speed department.
The ideal team for Life is Sloan with Iziar and Pelacor Arbalest. Adding Katie can help with the damage, and with its magic attack, it shouldn't miss even with the higher speed [unless there is a phase monster].
For Death, Thaddius Brood is an option to weaken any magic teams. Adding Skok Duskblight with Riftwing and Will o Wisp can deal with the range monsters and hope they miss. The Witch of Warwick is a magic Gladiator that can also work well with the rulesets.
For Dragon, Sthispa with 1 speed monsters can be good. Putting monsters with evasion like the ones in the Death team above can also be good to try for more misses.
The Lineup
For me, between the lineups I mentioned above, I'd rather go with a Life team, but I will be doubling down on the Gladiator cards. With the rulesets, magic attacks seem more likely. That is why I opted for an Iziar front, Renova for increased HP, Katie for Damage, Aves Sturgis to give my Kharafax an attack, and Meriput Magician for the healing. Thaddius would definitely counter my team, but with Iziar and healing, as well as the armor from Franz, my team should do well against both range and magic attacks.
The Battle
The Matchup
My opponent decided to go with a Lily team that is similar to what I had in mind. They just replaced Thaddius with Lily, and have Usut and Djinn Muirat. So my monsters not getting their magic attack decreased is a plus. Apart from Katie, most of my team is going front to back anyways, so Lily's camouflage is not that effective. I am surprised that they didn't use the Helheim Demon which not only works well with Lily's Triage, but would also split my attacks. They will be dealing 6 damage, but my Meriput will be healing 4, for a total of just 2 damage taken. With Iziar having 12 HP, they will need 6 turns to kill it. This is already looking good for me.
End of Round 1
At the end of round 1, Muirat is almost dead while my Iziar is sitting pretty at 10 HP. This really shows the power of Void when facing magic monsters.
End of Round 2
Katie getting the kill was perfect. Since there is no phase monster, I am not afraid of the increase in speed, but the increase in damage is always welcome. This should make my team kill theirs faster. With the Will o Wisp already low, this battle is pretty much over.
End of Round 3
With just 3 monsters and damage left, my Iziar will actually be gaining HP every turn now. This is just a formality at this point, and I am just curious if my Gladiator monsters can get any more kills.
End of Round 4
Katie gets another kill. With the battle this one sided, I have a hard time identifying who the MVP of my team is. Iziar tanking so much damage is an option, but Meriput healing the damage is another.
End of Round 5
Kharafax finally got a kill. I was actually looking to see if he will eventually get one, and my choice not to skip the battle bore fruit. With Usut at just 1 HP, this battle is over next round.
End of the Battle
I will have to say that I was surprised at how one sided that battle was. I think calling it a battle might be too generous; it was a massacre. It's not everyday where I get a flawless victory. Iziar's Void completely negated their damage, and Meriput's heals pretty much sealed their defeat. I actually think that if I replaced Kharafax and Aves with Technomancer, I might be able to beat my team.
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 team composition that I was ready for. I composed my team specifically to counter magic teams, and it all worked out as I expected. I am curious on how my team will perform if I faced a range team though.