Yesterday I published the second part of my of my "Ultimate Stratytorial" where I went into detail for the first seven of the fifteen rulesets of the game. Before, I discussed same basic principles for the game inthe first part. Now, it is time to finish of this series by covering the last eight rulesets in depth.
I hope my series will help you to get your share of the many prizes given out in the automated tournaments- over 10.000$ in prizes have been already given away to players. Let's get started!
8. Silenced Summoners
When all of the summoners loose their influence on the battlefield, the only difference between them is the amount of mana they cost. Since the Epic Summoners from the Beta Edition don't have any abilities in the first place, they loose nothing in this mode and suddenly are the best summoners, as they only cost two mana. The legendary summoners definitely need a break here, no reason to use them at all in this ruleset.
The dragons of the game are obviously in a little disadvantage here, as they have no level two summoner. "Life" is probably hit the least by the ruleset, as the loss of armor from the expensive summoners can easily be worked against by using the effective "Defender of Truth". "Water" also stays quite interesting in low mana settings due to there many small but effective monsters - high mana "Magic" wars are not the best choice for this setting though ;)
The most important hint for this mode is the most obvious one - USE THE EPIC SUMMONERS!
9. Standard
In athletics it is the 100 meter sprint, in Steem Monsters it is the ruleset "Standard" - the royal discipline everybody is looking at. All cards can unfold their true power here, no special rules are hurting their strength.
Coming down to strategy, the tips from the very first "Stratytorial" probably apply the most in this gamemode. The games are clearly dominated by "Earth", "Life" and "Water", as "Fire" and "Death" lack armour and healers. Especially on the top and in high mana games, the last two splinters basically are not useable if you try to win in this format.
10. Super Sneak
A crazy rulesets where each and every "Melee" attack monster that doesn't have the "Sneak" or "Reach" ability get's "Sneak" when it is not standing in the front of your army. This obviously is a huge boost to all "Melee" attack monsters, as they are now useable from any position.
It is wise to either put a really heavy tank in the back (*if possible with the ability "Thorns" and/our "Retalitate" - "Hydra" is by far the best choice here!) or try to escape those sneaky attacks with a fast monster like "Cocatrice" or "Spirit of the Forest". If you go for the second approach, having monsters that will fasten your own or slow down your opponents ones is a great thing for more escapes.
On the attacking side, it is either wise to go for some strong but not too slow "Melee" monsters to sneak with - or oyu use the fact that the front is usually a little less protected in this mode to start a heavy attack on your enemy there.
As mentioned above, the MVP card in this mode probably is the neutral "Hydra". When at MAX level, her abilities can take down an entire opponent alone when "Thorns" and "Retalitate" get combined with "Trample". (CAVE: There is no "Trample" when the last monster of a squad is killed!)
11. Taking Sides
All neutral monsters are banned in this ruleset, which has the big effect that double "Sneak" and/or double "Snipe" strategies are not possible in most cases (Only exeptions are the Promo cards "Shin-Lo" and "Royal Dragon Archer"). It therefore is far more important to focus on the front, both in terms of attacking and defending.
Since one of the best defensive options against "Magic" attacks is gone when the neutral "Lord Arianthus" is banned, going for a "Magic" attack with blue seems like a good choice, especially since this strategie only uses the "Magi Sphinx" as option. "Earth" with their unique chance to have three healers heal the tank monster "Flesh Golem" is also a powerful weapon, especially with the strong legendary summoner "Prince Rennyn". "Life" is also quite a great option as they have many monsters with strong attack values against the front.
All together this is a mode where a great front fight will decide who will leave the battlefield victorious. If your opponent likes to play teams without armour, an occasionally surprise "Sneak" monster like the blue "Sabre Shark" can still be a great tactic move. But only, if you don't loose the front too quick due to that loss in mana availability.
12. Target Practice
In this ruleset, all "Ranged" and "Magic" monsters get the ability "Snipe", which leads to two consequences:
The choice of the first "Ranged" or "Magic" attack monster (or monsters without attack values like the "Lord Arianthus") is key, as it is going to be the target of many attacks from your opponent. Monsters with many protective and countering abilities ("Void", "Magic Reflect", "Shield") like the neutral "Prismatic energy" or monsters who heal themselves like "Earth Elemental" or "Golden Dragon" therefore are a great choice for that spot.
Your front monster will face way less attacks and most often only "Melee" attacks or splash damage. Therefore it is far more interesting to use a cheap "Cocatrice" and hope for many escapes on the front, giving you more mana for strong "Ranged" and "Magic" monsters.
In terms of offensive power, monsters with "Blast Damage" are really powerful, as they now do not only blast one but two other enemy monsters. Therefore the "Fire" Splinter gains a lot of attractivity with it's "Elemental Phoenix" and "Fire Demon".
Many opponents however make the mistake to only focus on the "Snipe" part while completely forgetting about their back. If you assume something like this could be true for your upcoming match, a double sneak strategy could take out an "Elemental Phoenix" or "Gold Dragon" in the back before he get's to attack for the first time ;)
13. Unprotected
Since no team his armour in this ruleset, the splinters most obviously profiting here are "Death" and "Fire", since they don't have any possiblity to gain amour anyways with the cards available yet.
The absence of amour has the consequence that the game gets faster, making the factor speed a key element. Strategies involving a double attack with "Sneak" or a double "Snipe" profit here, as the monsters involved in this strategies belong to the fastest monsters of the game.
Monsters with healing abilities or high chances of escaping attacks also gain a little bit in value, as these things make up for the loss of armour at least a little bit. By being the only splinter with the ability to target three healers at the front monster, "Earth" is pretty strong in this ruleset once again. Additionaly they have a strong double "Snipe" combo with "Centaur" and "Spirit of the Forest" plus a very effective "Swamp Thing" and long lasting "Earth Elemental".
As "Magic" attacks no longer have the advantage to ignore amour, they loose a lot of attractiveness, especially since the strong "Magic" monsters are usually rather slow or at least not the fastest. All of this leads to "Water" loosing a lot of its strengths, making the splinter rather unattractive for this ruleset.
14. Up Close & Personal
The biggest winners of a ruleset where only "Melee" monsters are allowed obviously are the splinters with strong "Melee" monsters and/or summoners that affect the "Melee" attack values. I am mainly referring to "Fire" and "Death" here, the two splinters that dominate this ruleset.
When looking at the most powerful card in this game, the black "Lord of Darkness" probably wins by far, escpecially in the high level areas. His "Shield" abilitiy combined with the effects of the "Death" summoners make him really tough, his "Stun" ability can and will take out opponents completly by itsself. The best strategy against the dark lord is to posion him by either using the black "Skeletton Assasin" out of his own splinter or the "Serpent Snake*" from the "Fire" splinter.
Unfortunately, this mode involves a lot of luck as well, as mirror matches where the only deciding factor is luck with "Stun" and/or "Poison" are not uncommon. Therefore speed is a huge factor here, making the legendary summoner "Crypt Mancer" and the cheap but effective neutral "Creeping Ooze" very interesting.
It's also possible to go for a double "Sneak" strategy in this gamemode, however a raging "Hydra" or quick "Cocatrice" in the back can destroy those attempts very quickly.
In the lower leagues the blue "Sea Monster" is very strong, as it combines a lot of attacking power with a tanky amount of health points and the ability "Heal". Using it together with the "Dragon" summoner "Daria Dragonscale" and the "Reach" monster "Manticore" right behind its back can be a great option there ;)
15. Weak Magic
Last but not least we have a ruleset where the attack mode "Magic" looses the advantage to go around armour, making it obviously way less attractive. Since they have the best "Magic" monsters, "Water" is the biggest looser here. On the other side, the "Life" splinter can be seen as a winner of this mode due to their easy way of getting amour on all monsters with their summoners. When using the legendary "Peakrider", the armour he give will weaken "Magic" while his second ability weakens "Ranged" monsters - Not a bad deal to weaken two out of three options with only one card ;)
With "Magic" attack monsters loosing a lot of strength, "Ranged" monsters get stronger in relation, empowering the summoners "Selenia Sky" and "Prince Rennyn" who boost the "Ranged" attack values of your whole army. Monsters giving armour to the rest of your team obviously also become more attractive for your squad.
Since attacks against the front are less powerful with weaker "Magic" monsters, "Sneak" and "Snipe" strategies become interesting since they don't loose any power (expect the two "Sneak" monsters with "Sneak").
Now that we have covered all fifteen different rulesets, I hope that you feel ready for the virtual battlefield and are able to secure your share of the prizes that are given out in the daily tournaments.
Good luck applying all of the above - Unless you face my ingame-account @taug of course :P
Greets,
Martin