Hi battle mages, I hope this post finds you well! We have a new challenge format and today's theme it the true aim ruleset:
Understanding the rulesets is fundamental for your battling success. Rulesets either create a circumstance or provide/remove certain abilities to/from all monsters in your line-up. In order to capitalize on the best possible advantages for your team, you need to understand both the ruleset and the monster’s abilities and how they relate to each other. The true aim ruleset means that your monster, whether it has magic, melee or archer attack, will hit its target no matter what. Speed differentials play no role and all abilities to evade an attack play no role, such as flying, dodge or phase. What plays a role in this circumstance are shield, striking order and health, or at least, that’s my way of approaching this ruleset.
The speed freak that I am, I never feel too sure what team to field and in what order to put my bloodthirsty little darlings, when deal with true aim. One the one hand, I don’t necessarily need to play the fastest cards to hit my targets without fail but on the other hand, I am often left a little clueless when I can’t scheme an evasion ploy in the war room. For quite some time, I thought that first strike would do the job but the track record says differently. Frankly, true aim is a strategic weakness of mine and I appreciate the task to look at it closely in this week’s challenge.
The battle I am studying in this challenge has two rulesets, true aim and tis but a scratch, another strategic weakness of mine. Like many other players, I still don’t know what to make of cripple. The mana cap is 48. Of the four available decks, Fire, Water, Death and Dragon, my best equipped team is purple and… welcome to the Raa fan club.
My strategy for true aim nowadays is more or less a mathematical calculation with firepower and scattering it, hinting at the ability I would look to use. Here is the line-up I chose:
THADDIUS BROOD
Let’s start with fundamentals. I go for summoners, who either buff or nerf a fire type. That’s kinda old school but when you don’t like a ruleset, you should play a little defensive. Thaddius Brood takes 1 magic and 1 health. When I can’t manipulate speed, I try to manipulate firepower and loaded magic teams are common, even when Obsidian isn’t around. My favourite deck anyway, Brood is it to run this show.
NIGHT GHOUL
While we are on the subject of playing defensively, I like a good taunt when I am uncertain about the bout. The Night Ghoul is one of my preferred front-liners nowadays. Although he is as slow as a snail on a dreamwalk, this savage beast can take a heavy beating with tons of health and shield. In high mana games, he is a must. When I have plenty room to move, Windeku has to stay on the bench.
QUEEN OF CROWS
The crow lady herself is essential for this battle to nerf range attack. She is a good fit for second spot with close range and high health to make up for slow speed. Mana caps have been getting higher to cater for the rift watcher monsters, so these first two monsters in the line-up feature more regularly now.
SILENT SHA’VI is a speed player, there to strike early and get rid of dangerous back-liners quickly. With two solid tanks in front of him, I am confident to slot him in third position and protect the Bonesmith for a bit, while he soaks up life leech. His speed will also aid him in self- defense, should he reach first position. Traditionally, this dude occupies last spot, but when running a Raa, the Egyptian’s protection comes first.
Next comes VENARY BONESMITH. This sneaky little customer is a force to reckon with. At level 6 he has life leech and poison, very effective with magic. He has good speed so he strikes quickly. His job here is to gain in health to cloak Raa as long as possible, should the front-line collapse. Sometimes Raa only needs one turn to decide the fight so we need to create a buffer. On his own accord, my favourite rat is a great inclusion in any line-up at a very reasonable cost of 4 mana.
Enter RAA. He is not the fastest, but he will throw two triples anywhere he wants and hit his target. Any other details about him are just a ramble about how much I like him. His health is ailing, so he may not get many chances to shoot. I never put him in last spot. At high mana cost and the job to leave a trail of doom, this guy has to perform and not get snapped up by sneak. He needs to survive two rounds for my mathematical strategy to work.
Last but not least, the SOUL STRANGLER. There is not much mana left so a solid attacker who may only get on chance to strike fits his bill nicely. I need to have lots of high mana monsters to withstand the enemy’s true aim, because fire power decides the match, as far as I seem to think. With three range for three mana, he will be satisfied with one shot.
Here is what the line-up looks like to play true aim: a big shot with skatter shot, or stealth otherwise, and a high firepower team with lots of health.
Let’s see who is left standing!
I was happy to see a magic line-up for Thaddius to thwart, but a level 6 Alric? Luckily it was all hot air with low level fighters, but there was some speed over there and a resurrect. Hm, but purely mathematically, I think we were on the safe side. Wavesmith would surely slow the offensive and Obsidian may have a word to say but the first round was pretty even. The front-liners on both sides were decimated. Coastal Sentry was resurrected in the second round for a moment and then Raa skillfully spread his fury. Silent Sha’vi shielded the Bonesmith long enough to reach 6 health. The fourth round was Raa Raa Raa. The end.
I was happy to take a closer look at the true aim ruleset today, but I must admit, I am not so confident with this ruleset when I have a low to medium mana cap. When I have the entire deck to pick from and am able to pull out the big guns like Raa or another one of my new favourites, Kain Hace, I feel more certain that I can compete and play an effective strategy. I am an little disorientated when I cannot use speed differentials to encourage misses, but as we saw, my firepower strategy worked well: Raa inflicted 24 whopping damage! I guess I had luck on my side in this battle, too, as my opponent didn't field a sneak. This way, Raa remained untouched and the Soul Strangler, too, didn't get a scratch and himself contributed 12 damage himself.
