In this week’s Battle Mage Secrets, we look at the Holy Protection ruleset and see how we can use this to our favor. “Holy Protection” gives all monsters the Divine Shield ability which reduces the damage of the first attack received to 0. Blast damage or the first strike in a double-strike will remove the Divine Shield.
For this low mana battle, my first choice would have been Alric Stormbringer to use the many blast monsters in the Water splinter but since he was not available, my next choice was Tyrus Paladium with his added shield to all monsters.
My strategy for the battle was to pack the front with as much life and shield as possible and then take out the opponent from the back with the Silvershield Assassin and his double strike. This was my lineup:
1st position - Blinding Reflector - provides a total of 9 health and shield for only 3 mana.
2nd position - Soul Fiend - gives you 1 shield and 1 health for 0 mana
3rd position - Furious Chicken - another 1 shield and 1 health for 0 mana
4th position - Creeping Ooze - slows down the opponent and also builds up a buffer to my assassin for 1 mana
5th position Silvershield Assassin - the main killer in the lineup. His doublestrike will disable the divine shield first and then my opponent's shield in the first attack, effectively giving an extra turn.
The battle was intense and I didn't expect my opponent to use the Goblin Mech with its piercing ability. That sort of neutralized the extra-turn advantage I get from having the shield and double strike. But as you can see, my assassin took out his rear-guard pretty quick and by round 3, it was 5 vs 1.
The divine shield was really helpful as it gave my assassin the time to grind down a total of 14 health and shield while being protected by some basically buffer cards.
Eventually, my opponent's Goblin Mech was vanquished and I climbed a little bit higher up the league for my efforts. You can check out the entire battle here: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_4e24cb8ae20a9e0ef957b62a518a6883&ref=charcoalbuffet
Well, that's all for this Divine Shield edition of the Battlemage Secrets. See you in the next one.