Hi everyone! It's time for the weekly Battle Mage Secrets challenge and the challenge this week is the Close Range Ruleset.
About the Ruleset
CounterspellThe Counterspell ruleset states that "All Monsters have the Magic Reflect ability". This puts Magic attack Monsters at a disadvantage as they take damage every time they attack. This is mitigated if the Magic Monster has the Void ability.
Battle Ruleset(s)
Details of my battle with this ruleset is as follows.
Earthquake: Non-flying Monsters take 2 Melee damage at the end of each round
Mana Cap: 45
Available Splinters: Fire, Life, Death and Dragon
Format: Modern
Cards & Line Up
vs
Summoner: Thaddius Brood - This decreases the Magic attack and health of the opponent's deck by 1.
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| Position | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cursed Windeku | My main tank with a good amount of health. It has the Thorns ability which hopefully reflects some melee attacks. |
| 2 | Will-o-wisp | It is here for its Flying ability, and has high health. It's excellent here as the secondary tank. |
| 3 | Skok Duskblight | It has the Weapon Training ability, and I placed it in between Will-o-wisp and Riftwing to allow them to benefit from 2 added Magic attack. |
| 4 | Riftwing | It has the Flying, Scavenger and Backfire ability, which along with Counterspell rule, is an excellent monster to use. |
| 5 | Ravenhood Warden | It has the Protect ability, which will allow my non-flying monsters to last an extra round. |
| 6 | Usut | It has the Flying and Bloodlust ability, which is handy in this ruleset. |
Strategy
The ruleset here meant that (1) All magic attacks will get reflected, (2) Non-flying monsters will take 2 damage each round.
While the ruleset doesn't favour magic monsters, I still stuck Skok Duskblight in between Will-o-wisp and Riftwing to give them magic attacks. I figured that the earthquake damage will take the opponents monsters out faster than the magic reflect. Riftwing is awesome here with the Scavenger ability helping to balance out the damage from Magic Reflect.
The opponent opted to use Quiz the Devious as his summoner, with Uriel the Purifier as the main tank. His deck is made up of mainly flying monsters to avoid the earthquake. Uriel the Purifier is a force to be reckoned with if used together with Grandmaster Rathe, and monsters with the Tank Heal and Repair abilities. Fortunately for me, taking it down is possible with 4 magic attack monsters in the deck and the rest was easier once Uriel was taken down.
Thoughts on the Counterspell Ruleset
The Counterspell ruleset gives magic monsters a significant disadvantage. I like to use magic monsters for my decks, so I dislike this ruleset a little. However, it does give a little challenge on deck selection which I like. I try to use monsters with the Thorns or Return Fire ability to make things a little difficult for the opponent. I also try to add some shields, and use abilities like Flying, Dodge and Shield to avoid or reduce damage, since the opponent is less likely to use magic monsters.