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
Close Range
The Close Range ruleset states that "Ranged attacks may be used in the first position in battle". This removes the major disadvantage ranged attacks have when they reach the first position, which is not being able to attack at that position.
Battle Ruleset(s)
Details of my battle with this ruleset is as follows.
Close Range: Ranged attacks may be used in the first position in battle
Mana Cap: 30
Available Splinters: Fire and Water
Format: Modern
Cards & Line Up
vs
Summoner: Kelya Frendul - This increases the Speed and Shield of my deck by 1.
 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Position | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diemonshark | My main tank with a good amount of health and shields. It has the Trample ability which can really come in handy. |
| 2 | Venari Marksrat | It is here for its Martyr ability, which should give a nice boost to the Sultry Barmaid. |
| 3 | Sultry Barmaid | Normally, I would have placed this further back, but since it is able to attack in the first position in this ruleset, I placed it a little more in front. It's Ambush and Stun ability is a great combination for any battle. |
| 4 | Swamp Spitter | It has the Repair ability, which irritates me to no end whenever the opponent uses it. I hope it irritates the opponent here too. |
| 5 | Angelic Mandarin | It has the Triage ability, which hopefully helps extend the amount of backline damage I can take. |
| 6 | Torrent Fiend | It's 0 mana cost and here to absorb any initial damage from backline attacks. |
Strategy
The ruleset here meant that (1) Ranged attack monsters can be used in the first position, (2) All attacks will hit the target.
As this battle allows for only the Fire and Water Splinter, I opted to use Kelya Frendul as the additional shield it has gives a nice advantage against ranged and melee monsters. The Close Range ruleset also means that it can be good to place fast ranged monsters in the earlier positions, as they may be able to dodge some attacks with their speed. That's not the case here though as the Aim True ruleset is also in play. I also placed Angelic Mandarin and Torrent Fiend at the back to mitigate against backline attacks.
The opponent opted to use Tarsa as his summoner, with a mix of monsters that has the Opportunity and Sneak abilities. That meant mostly attacks on the weaker monsters and the backline! I thought I was in trouble when I saw Mordeus with its monstrous amount of damage it can do. Fortunately for me, Mordeus did not do as much damage as expected (element of luck too), and the Trample ability was key in giving extra attacks and provided the advantage.
Thoughts on the Close Range Ruleset
The Close Range ruleset makes all the attack types almost equal in the sense that all attack capable cards can attack in the first position. Magic attack monsters still have the slight advantage as their damage ignores the shields, mostly. This makes it advantageous to place fast ranged monsters and those with the Flying or Dodge ability in the first few positions, as it'll allow them to last a little longer.