Hi everyone! It's time for the weekly Battle Mage Secrets challenge and the challenge this week is the Melee Mayhem Ruleset.
About the Ruleset
Melee Mayhem
The Melee Mayhem ruleset states that "Melee attack Monsters can attack from any position". This means that we are can use Melee monsters in any position we want, where we usually are unable to, for optimal attacks.
Battle Ruleset(s)
Details of my battle with this ruleset is as follows.
Stampede: The Trample ability can trigger multiple times per attack if the trampled Monster is killed
Only the Water, Earth, Life, Death and Dragon Splinters can be used
Mana Cap: 15
Format: Modern
Cards & Line Up
Summoner
vs
Summoner: Thaddius Brood - This reduces the Magic attack and health of the opponent's deck by 1.
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |
| Position | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cursed Windeku | It is the main tank as it has a pretty good amount of health, and has the Thorns ability, which is useful in reflecting the melee damage for this ruleset. |
| 2 | Corpse Fiend | It costs 0 mana and can attack from this position in this ruleset. |
| 3 | Ravenhood Warden | This is used here as it has the Protect ability, allowing Cursed Windeku to take and reflect more damage. |
| 4 | Carrion Shade | It's low mana cost and is here to shield Ravenhood Warden against backline attacks. |
Strategy
The ruleset here meant that (1) Melee monsters, even those without any skills, can attack from any position, (2) The Trample ability can activate multiple times if the trampled monster is killed.
Given the low mana cap battle, the Trample monster is unlikely to be of much use due to the usually high mana cost of using them. As such, the main emphasis would be on the Melee Mayhem ruleset. My counter to this is to use a monster with the Thorn ability as the main tank, so that I'll double my damage output should the opponent utilise an all melee deck.
The opponent opted for a mix of magic, ranged and melee attacks, and I was lucky that the attack wasn't entirely concentrated on the tank. I might have lost otherwise! Instead, the backline attack from Pelacor Bandit took the heat off Cursed Windeku, allowing it to work its magic.
The Cursed Windeku took out all three of the opponent's melee monsters before it perished, rendering the last surviving monster, the Naga Assassin, useless in position, and allowing my last two cards to take it out leisurely.
Thoughts on the Melee Mayhem Ruleset
I think Melee Mayhem is a pretty fun ruleset, if the mana cap is huge enough to use more high mana cards. It allows for Melee monsters with the Double Strike ability to attack from any position, and also increases damage throughput of monsters with dual attack capabilities (e.g. Quora Towershead with Magic and Melee attack).