Hello people of Splinterlands! It's 
This battle looked tough from the very beginning. The mana cap was high enough to build a powerful team but the ruleset forced me to think carefully before selecting my lineup. Thankfully, I got a new summoner from the spin. That helped me a lot to earn a satisfying victory.
Before entering the arena, I checked the battle conditions.
Battle Details
My favourite element Death was locked out again. Although 59 mana gives plenty of room for powerful monsters so it was a good thing as well. The Taking Sides ruleset I saw it for the first time and playing for the first time with it. Basically, it removed all neutral cards from consideration. That meant I had to rely completely on elemental cards so making every choice even more important.
Since I got a new summoner I couldn't wait to use it. So, I picked my Dragon Aurendrak. I really was excited to test it's flexibility.
After choosing Aurendrak it gave me an optipn to choose an ability so I used Flank on Dire Bear, which allowed my second-position monster to attack from behind. I thought this would help me maximize my damage output throughout the battle.
Thanks to Aurendrak's Flank ability, Dread Tafarian could contribute from the second position. Even better, its Heal ability restored health every round, helping my frontline survive much longer than my opponent probably expected. In the end, my Wilhelmdale Deputy completed my lineup by adding even more ranged pressure and continuously chipped away at the opposing team.
I won't lie but my opponent entered the battle with a dnagerous lineup. He had chosen life and earth element also his monsters were all leveled up. His lineup was featuring a tough frontline supported by multiple utility monsters. At first glance, I thought I would lose again because I have lost plenty a while ago.
The battle lasted 13 rounds, making it one of the longer matches I've played recently. I'm glad Wilhelmdale Deputy maintained constant pressure every round. By the final rounds, with my two remaining monsters comfortably finished the fight.
It felt incredibly satisfying watching the strategy come together exactly as I had planned. Full match link.
Winning the battle rewarded me with:
What I realized that I did not overwhelming damage to win. My balanced team with good survivability, healing and smart positioning worked so well.
Aurendrak's Flank ability worked exactly as I hoped, allowing Dread Tafarian to contribute while staying safely behind. Combined with Dire Bear's durability and Stonebind Matron's Opportunity attacks, the team performed better than I expected.
This victory also gave me more confidence to experiment with Dragon lineups in Modern Ranked. I truly love Splinterlands for every new ruleset they have, it's full of creativity.
I'm looking forward to climbing even higher and discovering more powerful team combinations in future battles. So, let's see how far can I go.
Have you tried using Aurendrak in Modern Ranked? Which Dragon combinations have worked best for you under the Taking Sides ruleset? I would love to hear your strategies in the comments!
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