Strategy Corner #52- Close Range - How important is it ?

I think we finally see some movement around the area where my interest is the biggest: tournament. We have a lot of proposals where we can choose the most interesting format in new tournament system.
So far the most popular option is quite straight division to modern and wild format which some additional set, which should rotate. I think it's much better than what we have now and I cannot wait to see the the result.

Description:

Monsters with ranged attacks are allowed to attack in the first position.

Firstly, the description of the ruleset in the game is not perfect, sometimes you got just general information which not giving you all information you need. Best way to read the full description as above from the game documentation at least once. You can check all here.

I seriously encourage you guys to check this site, here is the precise link, even more advanced players could find something interesting there.

In my opinion, close range is not a very defining ruleset, as some of which we discussed in previous articles. Sometimes I just totally ignored it, or just tried to get some counterplay if my opponent would like to use some powerful range units against me.

Let's check the battle.

Today's battle is a Gold Wild Ladder match, but this time both players used max silver level cards.

Both teams are very similar. I would say almost identical :). The main difference is order of some key monsters and I bring healing to the table.
Unfortunately, the opponent's monsters are not on the max silver level, it could be the most important for Axemaster.
Let's check which team is better here.

Round 2, There were no casualties in this round, but we managed to deal more damage. The cripple ruleset is quite annoying here, let see if the heal will be useful.

Round 3, that small change in our setup could be the key to the victory. The opponent's Baakjira is dead, and we have a speed advantage now.

Round 4, no casualties in this round, but our team is doing good.

Round 5, the opponent lost a lot of firepower, so it seems we got this battle :).

Round 6 - another monster on the opposite side is down, it's a matter of time now.

Final Blow - Round 7 - a small difference in order it was this which brings us victory? we will take a look in the analysis section.

So despite a similar team, our victory was decisive. The healing unit was totally useless here, because of Cripple's ability from the ruleset. The most important difference was the position of the Baakjira, which guaranteed us the speed advantage. After that, the whole enemy team just collapsed, and even the Close Range ruleset did not help here. Let's check our choices.

BAAKJIRA, not the first time in core section, I remember the time when I was watching Splinterlands.tv and Truls was saying that those non-attack monster are quite useless (not exact words, but that was the meaning). I wasnt sure in the first place about monsters like Baakjira, but in the current meta, I think it's a very solid choice. A lot of great support abilities, and with updated Weapon Training ability, those monsters, and Baakira especially are very dangerous.

DJINN OSHANNUS I remember the time when that card cost like 300$+ :). It's still the top card for water splinter, with nice damage, and great defense capabilities. Void ability is great, and high speed helps a lot to avoid physical damage, so all of that guarantees Djinn high survivability. And of course, you cannot forget that two (and in Diamond+ league three) magic damage is still a lot. Great card.

MERDHAMPIR, I liked that card a lot from the first time I saw it. it has a very good damage-to-cost ratio. The abilities work perfectly together, so even when Merdhampir cannot do any damage, he still cripples the enemy and gets additional HP. In today's battle, the cripple was already in the ruleset, so the opponent choose a similar monster with higher HP, but I think Merhampir with his life leach was still the better choice here.

Close Range is quite an interesting ruleset, maybe not as important as some others already discussed on my blog. You can sometimes totally ignore it and play a normal team as always, or sometimes you could try to take advantage with some good range units which now can easily attack from the first position. I would say in 33% of fights I try to avoid giving any hints to opponents, so if I see Close Range I don't actually start thinking only of range units line-up. Usually, it's the opposite, but now it starts again some mind game that I mentioned before. That's the thing that I think still sticks me to this game :) Everything is not as obvious as it seems :) Remember think two steps before your opponent :)

I hope you like this kind of report, battle, and strategy presentation. More strategy analysis, discussion, and prediction games you can find on my Wednesday Twitch Channel stream. There will be schedule soon :)

If you have any comments, please do not hesitate. Do you think I could improve anything just tell me :)

If you wish to try out Splinterlands you can use my reference link.

Thumbnails and other pictures borrowed with permission from the Splinterlands team or made in Cooltext