Prelude
Hello everybody, how is it going? It's time for more Battle Mage Secrets. Last week, we studied on how to level set everyone by evening the stakes, today we will look into trying to stay away from being the lowest in HP and getting taken out by opportunist. So that is why I titled my post disturb the equilibrium in order to secure kills. Being even make it hard to create opportunity, but there are differences, opportunity arises.
The ruleset of the challenge this week is: Equal Opportunity
Ruleset Spotlight
Equal Opportunity
All units gain the Opportunity ability which allows them to attack the unit with the lowest health on the enemy team.
Abilities/Cards that get shutdown with this rule set
Since everyone's gonna aim at the low health cards, it is kinda obvious that we should avoid playing too many health cards. And if these low health cards needs to be played, the speed of them cannot be too slow such that before it acts, opponent lineup already taken it out. Key is not to be a free kill for opponent even when hiding behind, else they can be put at front position.
What thrives with this ruleset?
Survival instincts: Protect, Divert or Sacrifice
Protect
To ensure more delicate cards can be protected, various means of protection will do good to the lineup. On such a ruleset, we will expect low health backline be easily taken out. To prevent so, cards with protection such as Queen Mycelia, Ferox Defender, Ravenhood Warden or Venari Wavesmith are fantastic additions to the lineup. The ability gives 2 additional armour to every card, enhancing time in play. Summoner like Grandmaster Rathe, Kelya Frendul, Drake of Arnak and Lorna Shine are also good choices to start the game, giving armour and divine shield to the whole lineup.
Divert
Low health is where opportunist strikes, so why not divert them through taunt? Cards with taunt buy sufficient time for the low health cards to do their thing. So the likes of Wave Brood, Shield Bearer, Mycelic Slipspawn, Night Ghoul and Iidri Fyre will serve good as taunt targets for opponent opportunist to hit.
Sacrifice
Abilities that will do good in such occasion will be the likes of reversing the damage back onto our opponent or to die in glory to buff others. On reversing damage, porcupine abilities such as return fire, thorns and magic reflect are great to have for this rule set to return damage to the aggressor. Next will the ability Martyr which allows the card that had sacrificed to boost the stats of its nearby compatriots. Usually Martyr cards come with low health, so it will be great to plan them between cards that you intend to boost so that when opponent strikes it down, the cards nearby them can get a good boost in stats.
Taking Advantage: Double Strike/Double Attack
These are the times when not standing at the front line brings loads of benefit. Double strike abilities from the likes of Axe Master, Raa, Silvershield Assassin, Possess Puppet and Grund becomes real scary when they strike from the backline and most certainly anything struck will be smashed. Double attack cards such as Quora, Runemancer Florre and Agor Longtail are amazing as well since they can punish from the backline too. So such cards if you have them in your arsenal, do include them if mana permits.
Stats
| Stats | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Health | High. To ensure card will not be targeted by opportunist early |
| Speed | High. To ensure card will strike first |
| Armour | Yes. Good to have to protect from backline melee or range attackers |
With these in mind, let's start to talk about the battle proper.
The Battle
Link: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sm_uCyObpvcvFPEIh7n5cZo&ref=vaynard86
Rules
Equal Opportunity, Born Again, Are You Not Entertained?
Mana Limit: 14
| Splinter | Mana Cost | Position | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thaddius Brood | 4 | Summoner | Death summoner that make opponent cards more juicy to hit with -1 health |
| Crypt Beetle | 3 | 1st | Low mana tank |
| Corpse Fiend | 0 | 2nd | Fiend is placed in lineup in order to take a blow from opportunist instead of other cards |
| Life Sapper | 3 | 3rd | Life steal helps to make it less enticing |
| Whistling Damon | 3 | 4th | Main killer with blood lust to grow bigger |
| Carrion Shade | 1 | 5th | Backline tank with flying which can help in reducing chances of getting hit |
| Total Mana: | 14 |
Opponent Lineup
- Summoner - Franz Ruffmane
- Position 1 - Pelacor Conjurer
- Position 2 - Spirit Hoarder
- Position 3 - Uraeus
Prediction before pressing rumble
Smart choice by my opponent to use a +1 armour summoner. From the looks of it, my opponent main attacking force will come from Uraeus while I prepared an array of cards that can attack.
Battle Synopsis
Round 1, Life Sapper take out Uraeus, which was resurrected and my Corpse Fiend was also taken out then resurrected.
Round 2, Whistling Damon took Spirit Hoarder and gains blood lust. The resurrected Spirit Hoarder get taken out by Life Sapper while the Uraeus also got taken out this turn. Leaving only the Pelacor Conjurer.
Round 3 onwards, it was my lineup coming together to taking out the Pelacor Conjurer twice to secure the victory.
Post Battle Summary
Short and sweet battle and to be honest, the star of the lineup was actually Thaddius Brood.
Did my strategy work? Yes it did. With a low mana match, I had to be careful with my selection so that it can bring me the best yield. If you look at my lineup, I actually fielded 5 cards, this gives me 5 attacks. Also, I tried to line up cards with slightly higher speed so as to gather some advantage when attacking. And definitely the health reduction from Thaddius Brood just makes things even easier for me to snipe of any card easily.
What's the Battle Mage Secret?
Health and speed is the key. Fast to strike first, even when there is resurrection. Next will be how Thaddius's ability to reduce 1 health. This made small health cards even more enticing to kill. A single strike can take them out easily.
Another secret that I discovered here was that, it is also a good idea to fill up the lineup to as full as we can. The more we are able to fill, the more the cards on the field means more attacks and definitely be able to help divert some attention away.
While this is what made this match worked, the above mentioned tips in the earlier section "Protect, Divert or Sacrifice" is what I would recommend for this ruleset. Then when mana permits, let all the double attack and double strikers be placed into the lineup for them to do their magic.
Wrap Up
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my sharing on the rule set Equal Opportunity. I would really appreciate it if you liked and/or commented to let me know what are you thoughts.
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Till my next battle sharing, take care, stay safe and happy battling!
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