Prelude
Hello everybody, how is it going? It's time for more Battle Mage Secrets. Last week was a week of opportunity where we looked at a generic ruleset Even Stevens which halved the arsenal we have, allowing only even mana cards to be played, constraining us to work with whatever we have left. This week the ruleset that will be discussed is something really fun.
The ruleset of the challenge this week is: Explosive Weaponry
Ruleset Spotlight
Explosive Weaponry
All units gain the Blast ability.
Additional damage is equivalent to main damage divided by 2, rounded up.
Abilities/Cards that get shutdown with this rule set
I shut down this section last week due to the generic rule set. This week, once again, abilities and cards that do well with the rule set will be discussed here.
This rule set is effectively a Yodin placed on both players with blast wrecking everyone.
Low health cards should be avoided unless intending to sacrifice for Martyr ability. The blast will just take them out before they even do their thing.
What thrives with this ruleset?
Now how to play best to ruleset. I have a few strategies to share.
Max Speed
Yes, you didn't hear wrong. Boost your speed, lineup your fastest range cards. Since blast wrecks through opponent lineup, why not strike first and take them out before they come back at us? With a faster speed, we also can dodge incoming attacks effectively to keep our backline safe. One good example of such speed demon is Djinn Oshannus.
Diversion + Protection/Triage
This is another strategy that I love to use. Diversion comes in the form of taunt. To contain the blast, taunt help to divert the attack to one single target and usually this card is being placed at the end of the lineup. Next will be to put up a card with Reflection Shield such as Venator Kinjo to protect the backline from any blast. However, in order to keep this taunt backline sustain, we also need to heal up the taunt monster and this is where Triage comes in to provide the healing. The downside to this is that minimally 3 cards is needed to pull off the combo and need a sufficiently strong frontline to add pressure.
Divide and Conquer
Strike where it hurts the most and render your opponent fangless. This is done by striking through sniping or being an opportunist. This is because snipe takes out dangerous magic/range cards while opportunity cards take out those that are low health. Usually such attacks land in the middle and able to get full value of blast where it hits both sides.
Now that we are are done with the various strategies, how can we protect ourselves? There are abilities that help sustain through more armour and cushioning impact. More armour helps sustain physical blast while shield, void and headwinds help reduces the damage from bigger blast.
With these in mind, let's start to talk about the battle proper.
The Battle
Link: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_d6f4e26406e5491bc15eb6069752bd16&ref=vaynard86
Rules
Explosive Weaponry, Keep Your Distance
Mana Limit: 26
| Splinter | Mana Cost | Position | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kelya Frendul | 4 | Summoner | Speed boosting summoner |
| Venari Marksrat | 3 | 1st | To be sacrificed to boost Oshannus |
| Djinn Oshannus | 8 | 2nd | The star of this match |
| River Hellondale | 7 | 3rd | The resurrect will allow a double martyr to make Oshannus stronger |
| Merdaali Guardian | 3 | 4th | To heal up Oshannus |
| Chaos Agent | 1 | 5th | Backline padding due to extra 1 mana |
| Total Mana: | 26 |
Opponent Lineup
- Summoner - Kelya Frendul
- Position 1 - Djinn Oshannus
- Position 2 - Angelic Mandarin
- Position 3 - Merdaali Guardian
- Position 4 - Ice Pixie
- Position 5 - Igor Darkspear
- Position 6 - Kulu Swimhunter
Prediction before pressing rumble
My opponent laid down a barrage of range cards to capitalise the blast ability. On my end, I am trying to make a super Oshannus. Let's see whose strategy is better.
Battle Synopsis
Round 1, It went out as planned where Oshannus has powered up to the 8 speed monster I wanted it to be with Marksrat job well done.
Round 2, Only casualty seen on my end with River Hellondale falling.
Round 3 and 4, Pushing through one by one, Angelic Mandarin fall. Various blast from my opponent took out my Merdaali Guardian.
Round 5, Oshannus took out the Merdaali Guardian on my opponent's side while Chaos Agent also fell. Now it's my lone Oshannus against all the cards on my opponent side.
Round 6-10, Ice Pixie on round 6, both Oshannus and Igor on round 8 and finally Kulu Swimhunter on round 10. Victory secured.
Post Battle Summary
Whew, at one point I almost thought this match will be a goner. But Oshannus did not disappoint when I structured the lineup to make it overrun all my opponent's cards.
Did my strategy work? Yes it did. In a blast match, if we go by my strategy listed above, a barrage of attacks would have been a good way to adopt for the matchup. However, I chose to mega power up a Oshannus through a double martyr combo that I am fond of then leave it to do it's magic. The high speed, phase and void ability come in handy to sustain itself to last the battle and smash everyone else. An overpowered Oshannus vs what my opponent had showed the difference.
What's the Battle Mage Secret?
The secret for this week battle is speed. I have mentioned in my earlier section about the diversion and protect/triage, however after playing more I realize I need too many cards and high mana to make it effective. Oshannus has very good abilities and when given a significant stat boost, it can do significant damage and the high speed with phase allowed it to dodge melee, range and magic attack at very high success rate. Do note that for this setup, phase ability is very important else we will not be able to dodge magic attack and end up being wrecked still.
Wrap Up
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my sharing on the rule set Explosive Weaponry. I would really appreciate it if you liked and/or commented to let me know what are you thoughts.
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Till my next battle sharing, take care, stay safe and happy battling!
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