This week's Battle Mage Secrets challenge features the Fog of War ruleset! Fog of War is one of those rules that significantly simplify the battlefield. No Sneaking around, no Sniping off some of the weaker monsters, and no Opportunistic attacks. In this battle I will be showcasing a few monsters (and one summoner) that really shine in this ruleset.
In Fog of War battles there are two groups of monsters which benefit. The first group is the monsters that are strong in a stand up fight. Fog of War means that the large majority of attacks that are occurring will fall on the front line monsters. So any monsters that are bulky and can stand up to those attacks, or who can offer powerful support abilities to the front line monsters will do well here. Monsters with Repair or Tank Heal, or beefy tanks all are a part of this category. The other group is the monsters that can get around the ruleset in some way and get some damage onto the back or mid-line monsters - be it through Scattershot, Blast, or some other means.
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!
Here are the rules of our battle. Of course we have Fog of War, which removes the Sneak, Opportunity, and Snipe abilities. To go along with it we have Close Range and Up to Eleven. Close Range allows ranged monsters to attack from the first position, and Up to Eleven grants every monster in the battle Amplify. While neither of these are gamebreakers, they do encourage the use of ranged monsters and monster with counter-damage abilities.
Mylor Crowling is a great summoner to use whenever Amplify is involved. The Up to Eleven ruleset turns up the volume on Mylor's Thorns ability, which means that any opposing melee attackers will be receiving 3 Thorns damage rather than the usual 2. In this particular battle Mylor is a bit of a gamble, since ranged monsters are more likely to see play on account of the Close Range ruleset. However, melee monsters tend to be more cost effective relative to ranged or magic, and I still expect to see a melee attacker or two on the other team.
With the rulesets we have for the battle and our summoner selection of Mylor, our biggest concern is the possibility of our opponent going heavy on magic or ranged damage. Unicorn Mustang helps to cover that first possibility - while magic attackers may not take Thorns damage, they will at least be dealing less damage thanks to Void. We'll bring along Fungus Fiend as a free secondary tank to hopefully soak up an extra hit or two.
Recall that the main strategies we are concerned about are magic or ranged attackers. With Unicorn Mustang up front to deal with magic, the middle of our lineup is designed to deal with the ranged possibility. Queen Mycelia is outstanding against any physical damage, which happens to include ranged attacks. Her Protect ability grants our entire team an additional buffer against those attack types. Throw in Scavo Hireling and his Repair ability and we have a potent anti-ranged combination.
We'll finish off our team with some additional support monsters. Goblin Psychic with his Tank Heal ability is great in Fog of War battles since we know that the vast majority of the damage should be landing on our front monster. Halfling Alchemist is a budget option for just 2 mana, and gives us a chance at reducing the enemy damage output if they happen to position a large monster at the front of their lineup.
With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I feel pretty good about my chances. I had expected to see a melee monster or two which would be perfectly countered by my Mylor Crowling summoner selection. Instead, my opponent has somehow decided to bring a team consisting entirely of melee attackers! It is a curious decision since a couple of their Sneak attackers won't be attacking thanks to the ruleset, but I'm not going to complain about that at all.
In the first round of battle things go about the way I expect - Thorns goes to work on the enemy team, and my ranged and magic attackers are able to chip in some extra damage on the enemy monsters.
One more round and the battle is already poised to come to a finish - that Amplified Thorns deals quite a bit of damage! A bit more counter-damage and another volley of ranged and magic attacks from my back line are more than enough to seal the deal. And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.
My strategy for this battle played out perfectly. The opposing team brought monsters with much higher levels to the fight, but their suboptimal monster selection ended up being perfectly countered by Mylor Crowling and his Thorns summoner ability. My front line tank of Unicorn Mustang was able to stand up to the enemy attacks while Thorns and a few long range attackers at the back cleaned up the opposing team. Fog of War is a ruleset that often rewards having some ranged or magic attackers to boost your damage output, and in this fight that certainly paid off!
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:
A Bit Too Basic - Battling with Up Close and Personal! - A Splinterlands battle analysis, featuring Up Close and Personal!
Splinterlands Economics: Causation - A look at causation, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
Splinterlands Economics: Ceteris Paribus - An introduction to the concept of Ceteris Paribus, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
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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.