This week's Social Media challenge features an easy enough topic - share a battle, any battle! For my entry this week I will be taking a look at an updated take on a classic strategy - the good old Sneak attack! The Little League ruleset sets the stage for out fight and will be the focus of our battle. And despite the fact that they eliminate the splashier expensive cards, Little League battles still have their charm - they allow the smaller guys to have their chance to shine.
In Little League fights, only monsters and summoners that cost 4 or less mana are eligible to be selected. So there are some very clear winners and losers - every card that costs 4 or less is a winner, and every card that costs 5 or more is a loser. Beyond that though, there are some subtler differences. Since stats are at more of a premium at lower mana costs, monsters that are cost efficient for their mana are great. Have a card that is an extra hard hitter or is bulkier than the norm at 4 mana or less? Well, that may be a star in Little League. Abilities such as Sneak or Opportunity also gain a bit of value, since monsters will tend to be a bit weaker and therefore more easy to knock out with an indirect attack or two.
If you wanted to jump right to the action, the Battle Link is right here. Want to hear some more about the lineup? Read on further!
First up: the ruleset. We have the Little League ruleset, which means that only monsters that cost 4 mana or less are eligible for this battle. To go along with it we have Lost Legendaries and Unprotected, which means that we can't select legendary monsters for our lineup, and that all armor will be negated. Finally, we have a mana cap of 36 (plenty for Little League!) and can choose from any of the splinters for our team.
Given the Little League and Unprotected rulesets, I decided to go with Tarsa as my summoner. The Fire splinter has plenty of solid low mana monsters, and Unprotected means that indirect attacks are more likely to knock a weaker monster out of the fight early - with no armor, monsters may have half their normal bulk! So we will be going with a melee Sneak strategy for this fight.
I started my team with my tank and secondary tank. Antoid Platoon and Xenith Monk are two tanks who both shine in Little League battles. Antoid Platoon loses a bit of bulk on account of Unprotected, but 4 health isn't so bad if you also have Shield. Xenith Monk's combination of 6 health and the Heal ability gives it some sustain, which can come in handy if the opposing team's damage output is relatively low - a situation which becomes much more likely in Little League!
The middle of my team consisted of some Sneak attackers - Uraeus and Gobalano Soldier both attack the back of the enemy lineup, where I hope to find some fragile and potentially valuable targets. Gobalano Soldier even comes with the Ambush ability, which means that he will get an extra attack off at the start of the battle. With Little League and Unprotected in play, every bit of damage is an additional chance to knock out some of my opponent's monsters!
I finished off my team with Scavo Firebolt and Nimbledook Scout. Scavo Firebolt isn't a particularly flashy monster, but it combines a fair amount of bulk with 2 damage per turn - not bad for just 4 mana! Nimbledook Scout served as a buffer at the back of my team to intercept any opposing Sneak attacks. With 5 speed and Backfire, it could potentially deal a bit of counterdamage while also protecting my other monsters.
With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I am hopeful - my opponent and I have both chosen similar lineups, with tanks at the front and a bit of Sneak damage. But my team has the advantage in Sneak damage, while my opponent has focused their team more to deal damage and protect the front. This means that my monsters have a great chance to chew through the back of the opposing team, taking out the bulk of their attack damage before my frontline tanks fall.
In the first couple of rounds of battle things go about the way I expect - my team's advantage in Sneak damage begins to show and my monsters are making good progress on my opponent's back line. At the front, my Antoid Platoon's Shield ability is proving to be awfully useful, resulting in tied health totals at the front despite my opponent having decided to dedicate more of their team's resources there.
One more round and things are beginning to snowball. There are just two monsters left on the other side of the battlefield, with one of them being unable to attack from the front position. The enemy Xenith Monk will get a boost from Martyr, but with nearly my entire team still in the battle I like my chances!
By the start of round 5 the battle was all but over. Xenith Monk is a great tank and the enemy one had some extra stats, but it is hard to win a battle when it is 4 on 1. A few more attacks and my team was able to claim the victory! And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.
My strategy for this battle worked out perfectly. By focusing on attacking the back of the enemy team, my monsters were able to knock the important opposing cards out of the battle while stalling at the front with a combination of Shield and Heal abilities. This is a strategy that is as old as the Sneak ability, and is is great to see that it still works with Rebellion cards in play!
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. Interested in seeing some more of my writing in the future? Be sure to give me a follow! In the meantime, if you'd like to see some of my recent posts:
Tried and True - Battling with Rebellion! - A Splinterlands battle analysis, featuring Rebellion cards!
Eyes On the Prize - Setting your Splinterlands Goals - Starting out in Splinterlands? Be sure to come up with a plan!
Rebellion Sale Plans and Goals - My plans and goals as we approach the Rebellion release!
Thinking about giving Splinterlands a try but haven't signed up yet? Feel free to use my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=bteim, and be sure to reach out to me if you have any questions!
All images used in this article are open source and obtained from Pixabay or Unsplash. Thumbnails borrowed with permission from the Splinterlands team or made in Canva.