The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Taking Sides ruleset this time! This means no neutral units may be used. It's not always easy to get the specific ruleset, but if you play hard enough, you definitely can find one! This time I was lucky enough to have one - woohoo!
So here's the interesting battle that I encountered.
Anyway, I thought it would be still be interesting to introduce some useful cards and show how their strengths can be maximised especially with a particular ruleset. In this post, the featured card is one of my rarely used but very important summoner, Brighton Bloom!
Brighton Bloom's main ability is Flying and in normal battles, the effect is not visible except that your opponents have a 25% chance of missing their hits. But when it comes to Earthquake rulesets, Brighton Bloom saves the entire team from 2 damage per turn and that is very, very significant.
As usual, here's the lore for Brighton Bloom for your reading interest:
Brighton was an eccentric young man of Shimmer City, the capital of Khymeria. He was always seen as a strange character among the Khymian summoners. In the best times, his peers thought he was simply a distraction from their important studies. In the worst times, his fellow summoners doubted and belittled Brighton’s abilities. They were also put off by the way birds always landed on his hands and shoulders. After just two years studying at the Shimmer summoning school, Brighton decided to leave Khymeria. His loyalty was available to the highest bidder, and that is where the Dragons came in.
The Gloridax cared not for Brighton’s strange idiosyncrasies; what mattered to them was his skills as a summoner. Furthermore, in Gloridax eyes oneness with birds has long been considered a sign of divinity. Brighton’s attraction to birds was quickly noticed by Suam Khepri, Empress of the United Gloridax, who assigned a team of aerial sorcerers to properly train the young man. When Brighton emerged from that training, he could grant the power of flight to any monster under his summoning control.
Battle Type & Team Lineup
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| Summoner | Brighton Bloom | 4 |
I usually use Water lineups, Brighton Bloom is chosen because of the Earthquake ruleset. Having him means I can afford to choose to field whichever cards I want without worrying about Earthquake.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sea Monster | 8 |
Have a Dragon summoner means I can go back to the comforts of my Water lineups, though at the back of my mind, there's the Equaliser ruleset in play as well. A little mixed going with Sea Monster because it brings everyone's HP to at least 8 because the self healing ability is just too great not to miss.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Tide Biter | 3 |
Mana is not a luxury here so I would go Tide Biter, who is a great secondary Melee fighter behind Sea Monster.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Torrent Fiend | 0 |
A filler card but very important in an Equaliser battle. Minimally it will be buffed up to 8 HP.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Isgald Vorst | 5 |
Because this is a Brawl battle, Isgald Vorst gets the pick and hopefully there are opportunities to clock some Bloodlust in this long drawn battle.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Dhampir Infiltrator | 4 |
I was looking for tricks to throw in my lineup so Dhampir Infiltrator seems like a decent card with 2 abilities costing only 4 mana to field. So I will have attacks from the front and back, plus Opportunity from Isgald Vorst.
| Position | Card/Level | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Axemaster | 7 |
Rounding off the back of my lineup is Axemaster, with a high HP and high speed, he should be pretty safe and hard to hit.
- Pre Battle: When the lineups showed up, I gave a loud sigh. The dreaded Quora Towershead is in the opposing lineup. But fortunately, or unfortunately, she boosted every card's HP to 11. So let's see if that is a bane or boon.
- Rounds 1-2: I am afraid we have to go 2 rounds at one go for a start because the long drawn battle is going too slow. With Flying ability, not only my cards escape Earthquake, they become harder to hit as well! 2 rounds went by and they lost their tank, while my Sea Monster was still holding up pretty okay. And Isgald Vorst got his first Bloodlust!
- Round 3: Slowly, round by round, my opponent's cards were succumbing to Earthquake except their Quora Towershead. They lost their card and luckily, the last hit went to Isgald Vorst, which meant another Bloodlust. All my 6 cards remained standing.
- Round 4: Opportunity ability is just too overpowered sometimes. Isgald Vorst clocked his 3rd Bloodlust this time and turned into a lurking monster already, while the team continued to hunt down on the opposing Quora Towershead.
- Round 5: And it was a very comfortable win, thanks to Brighton Bloom for keeping everyone Flying of course!
If you are interested to watch the battle, you can find it here.
Post Battle
Did my strategy work? Yes, of course. Sometimes it's not about the level of summoners or level of cards. Cards like Brighton Bloom have a very niche ability and can be employed at the right time to overcome specific rulesets like these. I also have Level 2 or 3 summoners in my deck, but I don't feel obliged to use them over this Level 1 Brighton Bloom. On second thoughts, maybe I might have still won this without Flying since Isgald Vorst become so strong throughout the battle. Hahaha who knows!
What's the Battle Mage Secret? Trust me, you need Brighton Bloom in your collection!
So that's all I have! What are your takeaways from this battle? Feel free to comment below, as I am always keen to learn and improve!
As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!
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