Greetings to all Splinterlands players! this is my entry for BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge! this is a popular event held by Splinterlands every week. The theme today is about the ruleset Briar Patch. Every time a melee monster attack another monster will receive damage. This is the challenge rules :
My battle in the Modern Format Diamond League, I played with my scholar account from Balthazar.
The guide presents a strategy on how to advance through the ranks by utilizing reasonably priced or cheap-to-rent monsters that can still prove effective. So no Expensive card to rent in my guide.
Battle Link
If you want to watch the full battle link you can click Here.
For the video :
Ruleset
From left to right :
- Briar Patch, all monsters have the Thorns ability.
- Thorns ability, when hit with a Melee attack, does damage back to the attacker.
- Taking Sides, can't use neutral monsters.
- Equalizer, Health / HP all monster is the same with the monster on highest base health on either team.
- Mana Cap 16
- Element we can use: Fire, Water, Life, and Death.
My Lineup and strategy
There is some guideline we can use :
- Briar Patch ruleset, use magic and range attack or melee monster with Reflection Shield ability. Reflection Shield ability will ignore the damage of the Thorns.
- Equalizer :
- The monster in the center will be more safe because all monster has the same HP, a monster with the opportunity ability will not attack it.
- We need to focus on fire because all enemy HP monster is the same. With focus fire, it's easier for us to kill the enemy,
- Bring a monster/summoner who has the ability to heal (Triage, Heal, Tank Heal). Usually in a normal ruleset not an equalizer ruleset the monster with opportunity ability will attack this monster first (Merdaali Guardian, Spirit Hoarder, Queen Mycelia, etc) because have low HP, but in an equalizer, this monster is safer all monster has same HP.
- If possible fill all the slots, because every monster's health is the same, more slot more tanker, the monster in the center will be safer
We Decided to use Water element because have the monster with reflection shield , Triage, Tank heal and repair ability. Which can restore HP and armor of friendly monsters.
This is our lineup from left (first position) to right (last position) :
| Summoner/monster and Abilities | Description |
|---|---|
| Kelya Frendul (summoner), make all friendly monsters have +1 speed and armor | Very good summoner for this battle the shield will prolong the life of our monster, and the speed increases the chance every attack will hit the enemy and we have a higher chance to evade the enemy attack. With high speed, we can attack first before our enemy attacks. |
| Hardy Stonefish, 1st position, Attacker and Tanker, do not have the ability. | Because this is a low mana battle and Equalizer ruleset we need to fill the slot with a monster. Hardy Stonefish with 1 mana has 2 armor is perfect for this position. He can attack although only has 2 damage and has good defense because of the armor. |
| ITide Biter, 2nd position, Attacker and 2nd tanker, has ability Reach, Reflection Shield, and True Aim. | Can attack from 2nd position because has reach ability. for this ruleset Briar Patch this monster has Reflection Shield ability, this ability will ignore the damage of the Thorns. This monster can't miss. always hit the monster because of the ability of True Aim. This is our main attacker and tanker for this ruleset, has good damage of 3, and a speed of 4. |
| Merdaali Guardian, 3rd position, Support, has the ability Tank Heal, Repair, and Strengthen. | This monster is crucial in this battle to prolong the life of 2 tankers in front. With the ability Tank Heal and Repair, can restore some HP and armor lost from the enemy attack .Strengthen ability give +1 HP to all friendly monster this ability is useful too, with more HP give more chance to survive the enemy attack. |
| Angelic Mandarin, 4th position, Attacker and Support, has the ability Triage and Silence. | Only has 2 range attack, but the ability support this monster has is very useful, Triage ability will heal HP of the friendly monster who is not in first position. Silence will decrease the enemy magic attack by 1. |
| Igor Darkspear, 5th position, attacker, has the ability Stun. | Have good range damage of 3, and the ability to stun is very good, although the success rate to inflict upon the enemy while attacking is only 50%. If the enemy got stunned it will skip the turn for 1 round. |
| Torrent Fiend, 6th position, Tanker, has the ability Headwinds.. | We used it because has a headwinds ability, which can decrease enemy ranged attack by 1. This monster put it in here as a tanker, in case the enemy brings melee monsters with snake ability. From this position, this monster can't attack. We only use 12 mana so far, we can replace this monster with another attacker monster like Kulu Swimhunter, but I think the enemy will bring a ranged monster so I prefer to use this monster. |
The Battle
Round 1-3 :
All enemy monsters attack our first-position monster. Until round 3 our tanker Hardy Stonefish was still alive although got affliction status at round 1, thanks to Merdaali Guardian keep restoring the armor with the repair ability.
Enemy side :
- Pelacor Conjurer die to receive an attack from angelic Mandarin.
Our side :
- Hardy Stonefish die attacked by Dax Paragon.
Round 4 :
- Enemy side :
- Celestial Harpy die attacked by Igor Darkspear.
Round 5 - 6 :
- Enemy side :
- Dark Paragon dies attacked by Igor darkspear.
Only 2 enemies left. In this round, we can be sure that the victory will be ours.
Round 7 - 9 :
- At around 8 Venary Crystalsmith dies attacked by Igor Darkspear.
- At around 9 Gargoya Scrapper die because attacked byTide Biter and receive damage from Thorn +2 damage
Did your strategy work?
Yes, our strategy is going well. Tide Biter melee monsters that have the Reflection Shield ability are not affected by Thorns, with the help of Support Monster Merdaali Guardian our Tide Biter manages to stay alive until the last round. Focus Fire attacks monsters in the first position make the enemy monsters in the first position quickly die.
Here we can see the enemy doesn't fill all the slots with monsters but only brings 5 monsters, while we bring 6 monsters.
The second mistake in my opinion was because the enemy brought a monster with a melee attack type but did not have Reflection Shield, the Celestial Harpy which could attack monsters with the weakest HP among enemy monsters. The Celestial Harpy could attack from any position. Every time he attacks, he will be hit by the Thorns effect so he dies quickly.
We also bring monsters with the abilities Headwinds and Silence, to decrease the range and magic damage. make the enemy's attack power reduced.
Thank you, my friend, for taking the time to review my battle report. I appreciate your efforts and would be grateful if you could provide me with feedback on any mistakes you find by leaving a comment.
If you are new and want to try this fantastic strategy card battle game feel free to use my referral code https://splinterlands.com?ref=poplar-22 to join.
Credit
- Thumbnail using canva
- Divider took from @kyo-gaming
- Card description, Image, and graphic were taken from https://Peakmonsters.com and https://Splintercards.co![]