While most of my shared strategies emphasize the synergy among cards in your pack, this post contradicts my mantra. I had to bet on brute force and the most elite cards I could draft without focusing on fine-tuning. No wonder Keep Your Distance is not among my favorite rulesets. Besides, the odd ones were out this time. On the bright side, the unlimited mana cap just called for an army of titans rather than a cost-effective, cooperating commando. So I unleashed the best monsters in my possession, hoping they would conquer the battlefield. Did I catch your attention? Here’s the battle.
From the available summoners, Lir Deepswimmer seemed the best choice. Most sets suitable for this ruleset depend on at least one ranged monster, and I could get rid of it with Lir’s Return Fire buff.
I had no real tank available, so I made one from Captain’s Ghost. It is not an outstanding monster, yet it has high HP stats and was the most expendable card in my pack. The Affliction debuff is just a bonus. Besides, it did not affect this battle anyhow.
River Hellondale was another expendable monster, hence I placed it in the second row. I only played it for its Resurrect ability, which helped me to strengthen my defense once Captain’s Ghost fell for the first time.
And now for the two power monsters. Nerissa Tridawn ranks among the most universal magic strikers in the game – except for speed, it has great stats.
Runemancer Kye is even better but costs more mana points. However, her stats, combined with Life Leech and Flying, make this monster a killing machine that can keep itself alive for ages, even as a sole survivor.
Here comes a bit of synergy though. Swamp Spitter’s aim was to take care of its mates' armor – and my monsters were armored up thanks to the summoner’s buff. Besides the Repair ability, Swamp Spitter is an average monster with a reasonable price tag.
I had thought I might face some sneakers, likely ranged. Poseidon could guard my back for a while. Besides, this monster is like artillery when played wisely. He does significant damage and blasts the surrounding monsters just like an M142 HIMARS.
The Battle
My opponent drafted a cheaper set, which may not necessarily be a handicap, but this was the case. Even with their summoner’s debuff, my monsters had better combined attacking stats, not taking into consideration the Return Fire, which effectively eliminated the ranged monsters on the rear of my opponent's pack. However, Void Dragon was an outstanding tank for the ruleset, and combining Venari Marksrat in the second position with Oshuur Constantia was smart. If I had snipers, I could accidentally eliminate Venari Marksrat as the first monster, which would result in buffing Runemancer Kye into an ultimate killing machine. Fortunately, I focused on killing my foes one by one.
Surprisingly, both tanks lasted the same amount of time, and both got eliminated in the second round. Then it looked like my opponent had an advantage for a while, just until two Runemancers met at the first position. While mine was fresh and had stacked drained HP, the opponent’s was almost dead. Since its demise, it was clear that I was going to emerge victorious. As I said, this time, it was more about brute force than synergy.
See the full battle here!
