Not a great deal of choices here with only the Fire and Dragon elements available. My thoughts were that seeing as there was the Equalizer ruleset in play, where the initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health, I decided to choose Fire. Let me explain why...
Battle Lineup
First of all I wanted my level four Tarsa summoner. She was going to give me an extra point of health on top of my max health in the lineup and, more importantly, she was giving me +1 melee damage which was going to be vital for my intended lineup.
My level one Living Lava was my first choice. I had other tank options but Living Lava was slightly lower in mana cost and still packs a punch. Added to that the extra point of damage and he was going to be hitting for 4 attack, if his slow speed didn't let me down!
Now for the star of the show, my gold foil level five Radiated Brute. Reach is such a useful ability when you go for melee lineups especially. With his modified 4 attack and average speed, I was really hoping he'd do some damage whilst sitting safely behind the Living Lava's shield, after all this battle was all about him!
Next up, my level four gold foil Radiated Scorcher. There was no real tactic behind this one but it's a great card when playing the Equalizer ruleset and only costs one mana. It can suprise you as well on occasions, especially with Tarsa giving it +1 attack and it has the Shatter ability which is good for clearing out armour. At this point though it wasn't going to be able to hit and was going to act as a blocker for my next unit in case they made short work of my front ranks.
This was an important unit for me and another one I try to bring along to fire element matches where there's the Equalizer ruleset. My level one Serpentine Spy, normally has low health so I often overlook him, but now he was looking healthier and had a decent 3 for attack with an average speed and that excellent Opportunity ability. To be honest, he was probably going to win this match for me.
My level four Lava Spider was going to be a bit of an anomaly. I had some mana left to spare, its got 2 attack and has snipe. Now snipe isn't as effective in Equalizer rulesets but it was potentially going to work well alongside Serpentine Spy's Opportunity attacks. And if not, then it was a rear buffer for my Spy.
And last, we have my level one Scorch Fiend. Again, these Fiends can be so useful in low mana matches, especially with Equalizer in play. Like Furious Chicken, they're free for 0 mana and can mean the the difference between a win and a loss, especially when you use them as a buffering unit. So, my Fiend was going to bring up the rear and act as a bit of protection in case I got hit with Sneak attacks.
After Battle Report
Living Lava was worth its weight in gold here, absorbing so much damage and drawing a lot of the attacks onto itself. It stood up really well to the battering it got. As I expected my Radiated Brute held his own and damaged the opponent from behind the safety of the Lava. And the Serpentine Spy sat safely cushioned between some low mana units, able to persecute the enemy without any threat of being targeted. My Fiend soaked up the damage from Sneak attacks as I anticipated, protecting my Lava Spider, who unfortunately suffered from Quix's -1 to range. Overall though I was happy with the result, I lost my Fiend in round five, but it did its job, the match ending in round 8 with a win for me!
