Hey guys,
we have a new Battle Mage Secret Challenge which is an updated version of the previous weekly Battle Challenge. Instead of sharing a battle with a certain card we now have to share one with a specific rule set. This weeks rule is Armored Up, where every monster gets +2 Armor. As always I'll share the specifics of my battle, including my thought process and strategy behind the line up as well as go over how the battle went in detail.
The Challenge's Rule
This weeks rule set is "Armored Up" which gives every monster on the field +2 Armor.
It's not the most impactful rule by itself, because there are monsters who have this ability and can provide the armor as well, but it can be tricky in low mana battles for example, when you normally wouldn't have enough mana to play a card with Protect (+2 Armor) and both line ups become quite a bit more resilient.
Magic is obviously very strong in this rule set, because it can ignore it completely, which makes for a nice guessing game, whether or not your opponent play magic and you should counter it or if you play magic yourself.
The Ruleset
The rules for this battle besides Armored Up were Briar Patch (all monsters have the Thorn ability, which deals 2 damage to any melee attacker) and Earthquake (all non-flying monsters take 2 damage each turn), with 23 mana and only the life splinter available.
The Line Up & Strategy
Only having life available obviously narrows down the choices, but I was quite happy with it, since I have a decent life deck. The combination of rules were a little funny, because on the one hand Earthquake deals some damage and melee sort of was off the table because of the Thorns, but at the same time the Armored Up rule would protect a bit against both of the other rules.
In the end I chose to go with Grandmaster Rathe for my summoner, because my General Sloan is not maxed for gold league and, because Rathe's Void Armor pairs really well with the Armored Up rule.
For my tank I chose Pelacor Conjurer which was perfect here, because it has flying to avoid getting hit by Earthquake and it doesn't have any attack, so I didn't need to worry about it killing itself through thorns. I also put a Gargoya Scrapper in front just to absorb one or two hits first.
For my damage I went with Gargoya Devil, again playing around the Thorns and Earthquake with a ranged flying monster, but also because it has really good damage and in Deathblow, in case my opponent would go for something big like Uriel. I also put a Adelade Brightwing in more for the repair, which is really good with Rathe's Void Armor, but also because she has some decent magic damage.
Finally I put the Fiend in the last spot to protect against the unlikely scenario my opponent would bring sneak attackers.
The Battle
Like I anticipated, my opponent went for a Uriel. Unfortunately they also put an Adelade behind him, which I can't target and because she has flying, she won't die to Earthquake, meaning Uriel will not be the single last standing monster and Deathblow won't be activated. Luckily for me they didn't bring any ranged monsters, so Ganeral Sloan is basically useless and I have an advantage here.
The first round starts with my Gargoya Devil taking off their Fiend's armor, which then dies to Thorns after attacking my Gargoya Scrapper. Both Scrappers hit each other and lose their Armor to Thorns, my Adelade repairs the Armor however and takes out the enemy Scrapper. Their Adelade then only hits my Scrapper's armor.
Uriel Can't do anything, because he has to charge his attack this round.
Round 2
Earthquake damage takes off my Scrappers Armor and Uriel blasts it into another dimension with his 9 attack. My Adelade resurrects it however and now Uriel has to charge up again. This is exactly what I wanted.
My Devil and Adelade deal some damage to the Uriel but the opponent's Adelade repairs most of it.
Round 3
I manage to destroy Uriel's entire armor and deal 2 damage to his health. Their Adelade repairs a bit of the armor and Gargoya Scrapper dies once and for all.
Their Adelade also attacks my Pelacor but doesn't deal any damage due to the Divine Shield. However, the amplified reflect hits Adelade back for 2.
Round 4
Uriel heals himself back to full health, but his attack again only hits armor and he takes 2 Thorns damage, as well as some damage from Adelade. Gargoya Devil manages to keep off the armor, but their Adelade repairs it. Pelacor Conjurer again reflects the Adelade's attack and leaves her barely alive at 1HP.
Round 5
Round five is underway and things start to shape up. Uriel has to charge and is unable to attack, which gives my Adelade time to repair the Pelacor's armor. After both healing himself and getting repaired by Adelade the Uriel is still down to 7HP.
The enemy Adelade finally kills herself through the magic Reflect, leaving only the Uriel.
Round 6
At long last the Uriel manages to hit his hefty 9 damage attack against my Pelacor Conjurer and take it out.
Without Adelade's repair it can't outheal my damage however and since Gargoya Devil has Close Range and can attack from the first position, it kills Uriel off with the double damage from Deathblow in the next round.
Conclusion
It turned out that my Gargoya Devil would get off a Deathblow strike after all in the end, but way more importantly the Magic Reflect which I always take from granted on Pelacor Conjurer, but didn't really think about too much in this battle turned out to be a game winner. Paired with Grandmaster Rathe's Amplify ability and the extra armor I just had the better line up.
The stats also show a 100% win chance, which means there was no luck involved or anything.
It was a fun battle and I really like this new format, because it allows for more variety. Especially with 3 rule sets battles get really interesting!
Disclaimer
None of this is financial advice. This content is for educational purposes only and might fall out of date as both Splinterlands and the Crypto Market in general are subject to constant change.
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Previous Posts
Check out my push into gold league: Part I, Part II
Check out my Bronze league strategy guides: Part I, Part II
Hope you enjoyed the read. Have a great day and until next time!
Pinkman45