Hello there.
Today I'll share my battle under the Stampede ruleset. But first, I will share some of my thoughts regarding it. With this ruleset, the Trample ability gets buffed. Instead of just activating one time, Trample can now trigger continuously as long as it gets the kill. The summoner Possibilus grants Trample to monsters so this is a good ruleset to use it. But, that can also work against a player since most opponents will expect it.
With this ruleset, if Water is available, Diemonshark is almost guaranteed. Possibilus is very common. There are other monsters that get the ability in higher level, so those also get popular. But in lower league and if water is not available, it is pretty much ignored. If I think there are better strategies, I wouldn't force the Trample.
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 Silver battle with Earthquake, Stampede, and Weak Magic Rulesets. A 38 mana battle is on the high amount, and only Earth and Dragon are available. I can think of a lot of different strategies so I will try to counter as much as I can.
The obvious choice would be Immortalis. Earth is usually Magic, and Immortalis' Void can halve their damage. The Shatter can also deal with the armor of enemies. Because of Earthquake, Regal Peryton and Pelacor Mercenary are good options.
Obsidian is the common strategy. I can see Martyr monsters beside Peryton and Mercenary to further buff them. An interesting strategy is to use gladiator cards. Quora with martyr monsters can be good. Together with Mycelia Quora's heal and refreshing armor can make it very hard to kill. Katrelba isn't that good since the Flying ability can make it miss and it doesn't have sustain.
The Lineup
For me, between the lineups I mentioned above, I'd rather go with a Quora team. If there wasn't a Weak Magic ruleset I might have gone with a Flying team, but Quora being able to reset the armor that can block magic attacks is just too good to pass up. I placed Gargoya Lion in front because it has Void that can halve magic attacks. I also added Goblin Psychic to try and keep it healthy for as long as possible. I want Quora to stack bloodlust stacks safely in the backline for as long as possible.
The Battle
The Matchup
My opponent decided to go with Obsidian and a magic heavy team. They used Grund in the first position, and it gets Trample at level 4. Seeing their Gold border, it is safe to assume that they are a gold player, so they might have been used to their Grund having Trample that they forgot that it doesn't have it silver levels. It is still powerful though, but losing the Trample definitely helps my chances. It seems they are going for a glass canon type approach with a lot of damage early on. Regal Peryton is their only monster with Flying, and no other monster has sustain. So if the fight goes long, it will be to my advantage.
End of Round 1
Their Grund didn't miss against my Gargoya, and I was again very thankful that it didn't have Trample in this level. That would have been very dangerous. Even though the Gargoya died in round 1, I think it did a great job of tanking a lot of damage. The void and armor really helped a lot. It is scary that Quora will be going to the front much earlier than I wanted.
End of Round 2
Regal Peryton attacking Quora and Quora killing Grund immediately after to refresh its armor really saved a lot of HP. Quora having 9 HP after starting round 2 in the first position is really good. Quora being the fastest monster next turn makes things even better.
End of Round 3
From 4 monsters down to 1, his team evaporated quickly. Biljka died to the Earthquake damage, and my backline was able to finish their Mycelia. This battle is over.
End of the Battle
I will have to say that I was surprised at my opponent's team. Going for a glass canon team during an Earthquake ruleset is pretty ballsy, and unfortunately, it didn't pan out for them. I do think that they forgot about Grund not having Trample in Silver, and it hurt their strategy. If it did, my Quora might have taken a lot of damage and would have died before it can start stacking. I think my strategy was solid though, in relying on Quora's sustain.
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 wasn't ready for. I think they had a good strategy but Quora refreshing its armor countered their glass canon strategy.