Hi everyone! It's time for the weekly Battle Mage Secrets challenge and the challenge this week is the Briar Patch Ruleset.
About the Ruleset
Briar Patch
The Briar Patch ruleset states that "All Monsters have the Thorn ability", and all cards will reflect 2 damage to melee attacks. This does not apply to monsters with the Reflection Shield ability. Monsters with the Shield ability will also take only 1 damage instead of 2.
Battle Ruleset(s)
Details of my battle with this ruleset is as follows.
Broken Arrows: Ranged attack Monsters may not be used in battles
Only the Fire, Life and Dragon Splinters can be used
Mana Cap: 39
Format: Modern
Cards & Line Up
Summoner
vs
Summoner: Quix the Devious - This reduces the Speed and Ranged Attack of the opponent’s deck by 1.
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| Position | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corsair Bosun | I used it as the main tank as it has a high Melee damage and a decent amount of shield. It also has the Reflection Shield ability which makes it immune to the effects of Briar Patch. |
| 2 | Soul Fiend | It is 0 mana and was used to fill up the second position as I had hit the mana cap. |
| 3 | Void Dragon | It has the Void ability and the Flying ability. It's here to tank the Magic attacks as it'll take reduced magic damage with it's void ability, and hopefully dodge some melee attacks too. |
| 4 | Adelade Brightwing | It has 2 Magic attack, and has the Flying and Repair Shield ability. Hopefully the tank can last a little longer with the shield repair. |
| 2 | Djinn Renova | It's here to provide the magic damage and to increase the health of the monsters in the deck |
| 3 | Magi of Chaos | It's here to provide the magic damage too. |
Strategy
The combination of rulesets here meant that:
- Melee Monster abilities are at a disadvantaged here.
- Ranged monsters cannot be used.
Given these 2 combinations, the first card in the deck should either have high shields, or have the Reflection Shield or Shield, to minimise the damage from the Briar Patch ruleset. Melee attacks will backfire and Ranged monsters cannot be used here. As such, the best option for the rest of the deck is to use Magic monsters.
With this strategy in mind, I chose to use the Dragon and Life Splinter as I have the Void Dragon which can reduce the Magic attacks and the Life Splinter has magic monsters with higher health. I also opted for Corsair Bosun as the main tank to minimise any reflected damage from Briar Patch.
The opponent has the same idea too, using the Chaos Knight as the main tank, Disintegrator to reduce my melee attacks and mostly magic monsters. Thankfully, my overall damage output is higher and with the Void Dragon to reduce magic damage, it wasn't too difficult to win the match.
Thoughts on the Briar Patch Ruleset
As the Briar Patch ruleset reflects melee damage, the best strategy is to avoid the use of Melee monsters, and to stick to mostly Magic and Ranged monsters. If the use of Melee monsters cannot be avoided, then it'll be good to use those with high shields or with the Reflection Shield or Shield ability.