Hey Splinterheads, I hope you are all having a great Splinterday!
The Battle Mage Secrets Challenge is a wonderful and effective way to get to know rulesets better and improve your gameplay. Not only do you study and analyse rulesets and example battles closely, you also get to read and see what other Splinterheads are thinking and doing with their little darlings on the battlefield.
With many battles now being comprised of 3 rulesets, it is important to know your rulesets well, how they relate to other rulesets and what corresponding cards work well to either exploit the ruleset or defend against it. We have also seen a number of new rulesets coming into the game lately and a bunch of new monsters have received new abilities.
The game is becoming more and more technical, leaving you with ever decreasing chances of winning battles with sheer brute force and overkill strategies. All these reasons and the clear challenge that players (and bots unfortunately) are getting „smarter“ all the time underscore the need to know rulesets very well. The Battle Mage Secrets Challenge helps and motivates us players further to do just that.
In today's challenge we are looking at the Holy Protection ruleset.
Lost Legendaries
Description:
Legendary units may not be used
Legendary summoners are still available
There are several rulesets, that prohibit or restrict the use of legendary monsters. These are Lost Legendaries, Rise of The Commons, Little League and Even Stevens/Odd Ones Out, depending on whether monsters have even or uneven mana cost. These 5 rulesets appear regularly, even in combination. Also, when an attack type is not permitted, like Lost Magic, Broken Arrows and Keep Your Distance, the use of legendary monsters is restricted even more.
When my Splinterlands addiction first took hold, I thought that the more often I used legendaries in my battles, the more battles I would win. I also thought that legendaries would always beat lower rarity cards, because they were…well… legendaries. Well, I soon worked out that this was not so.
Overly opting for big gun legendaries is not always a good idea, often even harmful for your winrate. Legendaries are powerful, yes, but often cost a lot of mana and have very specific abilities. This can be detrimental when you need to spead your fire and when your opponent applies strategies, that render you battle approach harmless. These reasons, rulesets limiting the use of legendaries and the added fact, that most legendaries are expensive, all point to the need to look at other rarity monsters, know your deck well and have alternative lineups up your sleeve.
The Lost Legendaries ruleset, among others, is perfect to teach you not to focus too much on legendaries and to diversify your use of cards. Another restriction for the use of legendaries is a low mana cap. There are low mana legendaries around, that can be used in specific situations, but their usecases are limited. On the other hand, the big guns cost lots of mana and can often not single-handedly manage a 12 or 13 mana battle. A low mana cap battle is one that I have chosen to look at in this week’s Battle Mage Secrets Challenge.
The battle we are looking at today is a water war with the Lost Legendaries, Counterspell and What Doesn't Kill You ruleset. The mana cap is 13 and the available splinters are red, blue, purple and gold.
It was a tough decision but I went for a water team, because I wanted to go for a team built around two low mana Sneak monsters. Here is the team I selected:
Kelya Frendul is the summoner to lead the team today. His extra speed will make my team faster and the extra shield will give my little darlings double protection.
First in line is CHAOS AGENT. I put him here so that he would try his best to get at least one miss. With a total of 4 speed, Dodge and Phase, he had a pretty good chance of doing that. In a low mana game with Lost Legendaries, where you would not necessarily expect the fastest enemy attack, this was a good option. CHAOS AGENT is not the easiest canon fodder to deal with and wipe out too soon.
URAEUS needs to introduction, especially at level 5. He is a sure way that the backline of your opponent collects 4 damage (2meelee and 2 Poison) early in the first round.
Also needing no introduction is PELACOR BANDIT. He will deliver the first blow at a total of 7 speed and is hard to hit with Flying.
HARDY STONEFISH is a useless fish, just there to take a hit. He is here to soak up any hits to the backline.
FURIOUS CHICKEN, who doesn't get furious is also here to soak up hits to the backline, to divert fire from enemy Stealth targeting my tank.
Last, but not least comes the ALBATROS. At higher levels, he is hard to hit, but here he is canon fodder for enemy Stealth attack.
PELACOR BANDIT struck first, followed by URAEUS. This will a be a quick wipe-up of the enemy backline, considering that my opponent has just the one Stealth, while not underestimating the Tide Biter, of course. CHAOS AGENT didn't get a miss but took 2 hits to get rid of, just the same.
This time an enraged enemy Pelacor Bandit struck first to catch more fodder, the ALBATROS, followed by a deathblow for our PELACOR BANDIT, which marked the turning point in the battle. URAEUS got worn down to the bone, but survived the round.
In Round 3, URAEUS had to go but that was not so dangerous.
Round 4 was hairy! PELACOR BANDIT was exposed at the front of the pack with no backup fire. He took a hard hit from the Tide Biter, which enraged him. This was his chance: 11 speed and 5 meelee, but hardly any health. He then promptly collected a miss.
PELACOR BANDIT took the Sethropod and Tide Biter missed. It was looking good. In the following round, another miss sealed my opponent's fate. The Chicken was for desert and thanks for coming to the show.
PELACOR BANDIT
PELACOR BANDIT is the closest a common card will get to legendary status, regular proof that legendary cards don't always win your battles. Together with Uraeus, I would have had good chances to catch the master blaster legendary Oshannus off guard and wipe him out. That was the idea with this lineup but it took care an easypeasy opposition teams, like this one, instead.
The Lost Legendaries ruleset is a great way to teach you, sometimes force you, to appreciate those smaller custoners in your deck to balance your teams.
Seeya in the next post, splinterheads!
