These four battles all highlight something I’ve been noticing more in my games lately. It's how positioning, unit roles and some basics can completely decide the outcome. From near mirror matches to modifiers limiting my lineups and even one surprisingly one-sided final game, each fight had a clear turning point that came down to understanding how certain cards function in specific situations. Whether it was protecting a key unit, maximizing magic damage or taking advantage of an opponent’s formation mistake, these matches reminded me that small details often make the biggest difference.

Battle 1:

https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_640833d1fa7bc53684c84c6fa2eb366d

The first battle is very close to a mirror match with a defining difference between Great Bear Druid versus my New Beluroc Aegis. I added new Beluroc Aegis because I wanted some more protection. I don't want any unexpected Sneak targeting Kicking Roc so I have New Beluroc Aegis defending him with Taunt.

I think the enemy added Great Bear Druid because they wanted more damage but I think having more defense and ways to defend your team is better in this situation. There's also a difference in positioning. My Time Bandit was placed somewhat in the front and while this means Kicking Roc can be exposed to Sneak, I can use Time Bandit to protect Kicking Rock from getting in the front.

This is what happened to the enemy so when their Kicking Roc went to the front since their tanks died, that unit cannot attack due to having range attack and the difference in damage allowed me to win.

Battle 2:

https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_1d8cedbe9d19270fb5b53085b50b0d51

This battle has a unique modifier called, "Beefcakes." This modifier only allows units with 5 or more health to be used in the battle. This extremely limits the unit pool in Frontier Ranked especially if you have lower leveled units like me.

Even with this limited picks, I managed to use a solid team using Water element. With Water Element, I have Port Guardian as my tank, Spitting Camel as a range unit but also acts as my emergency tank, Saltwater Mage and Mystic Scaleweaver as my magic damage units. I also have Great Bear Druid in between Port Guardian and Spitting Camel since he can be a front line and also a magic damage unit at the same time.

The enemy fielded New Beluroc Aegis, A'Lan Musketeer, Dire Bear and Great Bear Druid with Aurelia for the Earth Element. I would say that their team has a really low damage and this might be because some of their units are unavailable due to Beefcakes modifier.

I'm just happy to have these big magic damage units around since other units like Water-Logged Wizard and Lunaki Howler cannot be used in this battle due to their low health.

Battle 3:

https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_5960839289c3f10bf4fdc31fda5377cf

This is probably the most balanced battle in these examples. Both the enemy and I used magic damage as the main attack and strategy. They have more units but I have better units. I have Mystic Scaleweaver and while I am not a fan of the Slow ability, it helped in this battle. Since my units attacked first, I was able to kill one unit before my enemies attack so their damage got reduced even before their turn begins.

This continued for a few more rounds and since I am always attacking first, I got the upper hand. That advantage continued increasing the damage difference between the units in the two teams.

Battle 4:

https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_2f62c39138657d0dcbceb54b7fd3587f

This last game was a very anti-climactic end. I added it because it feels funny to have this as the last battle.

I don't know what happened with the enemy player and to answer his in-game name, yes, I do question him for having this lineup. With Frostguard Warrior in the front line, he cannot attack since he has range attack. The next unit is New Beluroc Aegis which is a melee unit and without abilities like Opportunity or Reach, he cannot attack from behind the frontline. So, for the first few rounds, no one is attacking my team.

On my lineup, I have Spitting Camel in the front and while he cannot attack, that is by design. I want the big health to block the damage. Behind Spitting Camel is Spellmonger. I though the enemy will be using Opportunity units and I placed him as sort of a trap with Spellmonger's Thorns and low health. The last unit is my trusted Saltwater Mage. I am using Marlai Singariel so that is a given.

My Saltwater Mage can attack them starting with New Beluroc Aegis and then Frostguard Warrior. I won without taking any damage in this battle.