Hi everyone! It's time for the weekly Battle Mage Secrets challenge and the challenge this week is the Unprotected Ruleset.
About the Ruleset
UnprotectedThe Unprotected ruleset states that "Monsters do not have any armor and do not get armor from Abilities or Summoner Buffs". This means no shields and melee and ranged attacks work almost as well as magic attacks, except that they can still miss.
Battle Ruleset(s)
Details of my battle with this ruleset is as follows.
Unprotected: Monsters do not have any armor and do not get armor from Abilities or Summoner Buffs
Mana Cap: 16
Available Splinters: Earth, Life, Death and Dragon
Format: Modern
Cards & Line Up
Summoner
vs
Summoner: Thaddius Brood - This decreases the Magic Attack and Health of my opponent's deck by 1.
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |
| Position | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cursed Windeku | It has high health and the Thorns ability, which is useful in this ruleset where there are no shields. |
| 2 | Venari Bonesmith | It has the Life Leech ability which helps it build up health and the Poison ability, which has a 50% chance of dosing the opponent with poison damage. |
| 3 | Wily Coyotian | This is low mana cost and has 4 health and is likely to be able to take 2 hits from backline attacks. |
| 4 | Corpse Fiend | It is 0 mana and has only 1 health and is meant to take the first hit from backline attacks. |
Strategy
The ruleset here meant that (1) the monsters can't be healed, (2) Monsters with a large amount of shields are not very useful here.
In such a ruleset, it's good to use monsters with the Thorns ability, as the opponent will not have any armor to absorb the damage. As such, I opted for the Death Splinter with Cursed Windeku as my main tank. I used Venari Bonesmith in the second position, to build up its health and hopefully poison the opponent's monsters. The other monsters behind are simply there to cushion the backline attacks.
The opponent had a similar strategy, using the Life Splinter with the Divine Shield ability, and employing cards with Thorns, Magic Reflect and Poison ability. He also had a monster with the Sneak ability for the backline attack.
I think luck played a big part with me winning this battle. Poison from Venari Bonesmith managed to hit all the time, while Poison from the opponent's Doctor Blight didn't kick in. That help me take out the first 2 monsters much faster, which could have resulted in my loss otherwise.
Thoughts on the Unprotected Ruleset
The Unprotected ruleset means that some strategies that employ lots of shield cannot be used. Summoners like Grandmaster Rathe with the Shield and Void Armor abilities is basically ineffective in this ruleset. Some good abilities to employ in this ruleset include Dodge, Thorns, Return Fire, Phase, Void and Shield as they can help reflect, avoid or reduce damage.