CLOSE RANGE is the focus of this week's Battle Mage Secrets challenge! It is an unique ruleset that allow ranged attackers to employ their strikes in the first position, which is typically against the rules of the game. In Splinterlands combat, one of the most frustrating situations is losing a battle with a powerful ranged attacker as your last monster standing, but it is unable to attack since it is trapped in the first slot. However, in this particular ruleset, it is definitely not a problem we have to worry about!
Due to the fact that ranged monsters may practically be put in any position, the disadvantage of them being stuck in the first position was eliminated. This particular ruleset forces players to be more imaginative when planning their setup and often players will get to witness interesting lineups that are not commonly seen in other battles.
Hybrid monsters such as The Vigilator and Runemancer Florre that are equipped with ranged attacks are the clear victors under the Close Range ruleset! Their range attack appears to have gain additional strength in their attacking prowess now that they may assault from the front as well and would undoubtedly excel in such confrontations. Of course, I don't have the luxury of using such cards, but one can always dream, right? 😅
The Battle
In my alt account, jimbei, I was able to engage in a compelling battle under this ruleset. To get right into the action, the battle link can be found here. Otherwise, do read on as I go into more detail regarding the lineup and fight.
First up, let us run through the ruleset. We have Briar Patch, which will grant all monsters with the Thorns ability. We also have Fog of War, which removes all Sneak, Snipe and Opportunity abilities. And finally, the main highlight of this challenge, we have the Close Range ruleset that was discussed earlier on. A 37 mana capped battle with only the Death Splinter banned.
Summoner, Quix The Devious - I chose Quix as this was a Closed Range ruleset and I would think that most players would be taking advantage of ranged monsters in their setup. Moreover, there is also the Briar Patch ruleset which will reduce the likelihood of players sending out melee monsters in this battle as they would then be receiving Thorns damages whenever they attack. So Quix The Devious is a great summoner in this fight thanks to his ability to to reduce the speed and range damage of all opposing monsters which will definitely help!
First Position, Baakjira - I choose Baakjira as it is probably the best non-melee tanker with Void, Slow, Strengthen and Heal abilities. A non-melee tanker is useful here since we have to keep in mind that there is the Briar Patch ruleset.
Second Position, Tide Biter - Tide Biter is a useful second tanker with its Reach ability and is mainly used for its Reflection Shield to prevent any Thorns backlash.
Third Position, Chaos Agent - Tbh, this was only picked because I had only 1 mana left to spend after selecting the rest of the lineup. This could easily act as a pretty decent non-melee tanker if all else fails.
Fourth Position, Riverboat Captain - Loving this SB card for its Affliction ability. In a Fog of War ruleset, this ability is extremely useful as players would usually place a Healer in their backline when setting up their team.
Fifth Position, Angelic Mandarin - Silencer ability complement Baakjira's Void ability to reduce magic damage while Triage would be useful for healing my backline if there are any monster with Scattershot.
Last Position, Chaos Dragon - In a Fog of War ruleset, Chaos Dragon's Scattershot is the only way of hurting the backline. Together with its Blast ability, be prepared to deal serious damages.
The Analysis
By correctly predicting how the opponent would set up, the battle turned out to be rather straightforward. I undoubtedly struck gold when I applied the Affliction on the opponent's Baakjira early on, hence preventing it from healing. By taking down the tanker quickly, the game is pretty much done and dusted. My team's Angelic Mandarin also saved the day by reducing the effectiveness of the enemy's Chaos Dragon attacks on my backline. My only concern under these rulesets is that the opponent would play Conqueror Jacek with its Scattershot ability to wipe out my backline by completely bypassing tanker, Baakjira 👊
If you made it this far, I sincerely appreciate your perseverance 🤣 Please excuse the length of this post; I'm just getting started with writing (this is only my third blogpost and my first-ever SPLINTERLAND BATTLE MAGE SECRETS CHALLENGE), and I sincerely value your encouragement. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions so that we can discuss about other strategies.
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All banners, dividers card and battle images used in this article are open source and obtained from the Splinterlands team or made by @flauwy. Do check out his link for other amazing designs!