Hello there, this is my entry to the latest "Battle Mage Secret Weekly Challenge!". If you want to participate or know more about the challenge, click here. This week we have to formulate a strategy with the Taking Sides ruleset.
RULESET: Taking Sides
With the Taking Sides ruleset in action, no neutral monsters are allowed in your battle.
The 'Taking Sides' ruleset is very easy to understand as all the neutral monsters are no longer active so we can't use them, this punishes those players who focus on powerful neutral units and build their decks with them. Apart from making some units inactive during the battle, it doesn't change anything else so we should focus on the fundamentals of the game and play accordingly.
Let's see how this ruleset affects my lineup and how I strategies for the following battle.
My Lineup
This is my lineup for the battle
This was a 37-mana cap battle and had the following rulesets:
Taking Sides - Neutral monsters may not be used in battles.
Lost Magic - Monsters with Magic attack may not be used in battles.
All elements except Death were active during this battle. Since magic attackers were not allowed in this battle too I decided to add extra armour which is effective against ranged and melee attackers and that's the reason I used the Keyla Frendul as my summoner. It also increased the speed of all friendly units by 1.
I placed Noa the Just in the first position. It cost 5 mana but has an incredible speed and comes with 4 armour on its own, both of these are extremely effective against the type of attacks I was expecting during this battle. That's why I chose this unit even when it doesn't have any attacks of its own. Also, its 'rust' ability reduces the armour of all enemy units by 2.
Next in line was Flying Squid, a strong melee attacker dealing 3 melee damage with good speed and has a huge amount of health too. Its 'reach' ability allows me to place it in the second position comfortably as it will still deal with attacks from here.
In the third position, I placed the Hardy Stonefish, it was just a 1 mana costing unit and I used it just to fill all the slots as I had a spare mana to utilize. I could have placed it in the end but I was using a couple of ranged attackers and I didn't want to expose them to the front of the lineup, that's why I placed it in the position. I didn't have much expectation from this.
Another strong melee attacker in my lineup was the Deeplurker, it dealt 4 melee attack damage with decent speed and cost just 6 mana. Also, it came with the 'opportunity' ability. It had 7 health which was not too bad.
The first ranged attacker in my lineup was Edith Emberstar, a gladiator unit which dealt heavy ranged attack damage, 4 to be precise. And comes with the 'bloodlust' ability so the more units it eliminates the more its stats improve. That's why it was the most expensive unit in my lineup costing 8 mana to use.
Last but not least was the AxeMaster another strong ranged attacker which attacks twice each round because it has the 'double strike' ability. Like all other units, it had good speed too and cost just 7 mana which was a price I was happy to pay in this battle.
Now that my lineup is set let's talk about my strategy for this game.
My Strategy
'Taking Sides' ruleset tests how well you can assemble your lineup with just one element by inactivating all the neutral units from your battle. I tend to go to the fundamentals of the game and use a couple of good tanks at the front with good armour and health along with quick speed and then focus on adding in destructive firepower.
This battle also had the lost magic ruleset so it made sense to use a summoner which improves the speed and gives extra armour to all my units I used the Keyla Frendul which increased both of those stats by 1. Not only adding armour to your units but if you can remove armour from the enemy units then it would be perfect for your melee and ranged attackers and that's why I used Noa the Just as my tank.
As you will see, this strategy worked in my favour and gave me an easy win in the end.
I will share my battle here, which I have uploaded to YouTube. Battle Link
My opponent went with an interesting strategy, they did not focus on defense and used multiple low-health units but and looked like they had belief in their Grund which was placed in the first position.
But all hell broke loose on it and got eliminated by receiving a heavy amount of damage from my units. It didn't get the chance to attack and that was a massive blow to my opponent.
Now their Thane Newsong came on the first position but even that didn't last very long and got eliminated just at the start of round 2 and all hopes of my opponent were just over.
All my units were still standing on the battlefield with pride and confidence. Most of the hits were absorbed by my tank while some hits were taken by Axemaster who was placed at the end of the lineup but the extra armour prevented it from dying from those blows.
Their only hope was on their gladiator unit but it has low health and surely it didn't expect to be in the front of the lineup only in round 2. It shared the same fate as others before it. The only minor success my opponent got was the defeat of my tank but it was too little too late and I won this battle quite easily.
Conclusion
Taking Sides ruleset is a straightforward and easy-to-understand ruleset but not so easy to form a good lineup all the time because sometimes we get dependent on those neutral units, I sure do sometimes and then every once in a while have to force myself to play without them when I encounter this ruleset.
I treat it like a standard ruleset and go back to the basics like using a couple of strong tanks at the front and supporting them with maybe extra armour and heal if possible. Also sometimes we should keep an eye out for those who focus on the back of our lineup so we must have a strong unit at the back too, especially in lower leagues.
Let me know what your strategy is with this ruleset.
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