Hello there, this is my entry to the latest "Battle Mage Secret Weekly Challenge!". If you want to participate or learn more about the challenge, click here. This week we have to formulate a strategy with the Close Range ruleset.
RULESET: Close Range
With the Close Range ruleset in action, Range attack type monsters are allowed to even attack from the first position.
This ruleset is simple and easy to understand as now even the ranged attackers will be able to attack from the first position which was not the case without this ruleset. So, players can form new strategies by using range attackers even at the front. Sometimes we can bluff the opponent and use completely different attack type which they are not expecting and I used a similar surprising strategy in this battle.
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
It was only a 31-mana cap battle and had the 'Close Range' ruleset which allows even the ranged attackers to attack from the first position.
All elements except 'Life' and 'Death' were active during this battle. I went with the 'Earth' element as I wanted to go with a heavy magic attack setup so I used the Obsidian summoner which increases all the magic attack damage of friendly units by 1.
My primary tank in this battle was Unicorn Mustang. It costs 8 mana but comes with some nice stats, dealing 3 melee attack damage and comes with a whopping 11 hp. It also comes with the 'Void' ability which is effective against magic attackers and reduces the damage it takes from them by 50%. I had high hopes for this unit and it was the glue that should held this lineup together.
Tortosian Chief was placed in the second position in my lineup. It cost only 5 mana and dealt 2 magic attack damage with decent health. However, it didn't come with any abilities of its own. I used this unit just for its sheer magic attack damage.
In the third position, I placed the Queen Mycelia, another mage that dealt only 1 magic attack damage but the best part about it is its 'protect' ability which gives all the friendly units 2 extra armour. This is going to be extremely effective against melee and ranged attackers and since this was a 'close range' ruleset I was expecting some ranged attackers from my opponent. This only costs 4 mana which is such a bargain.
Goblin Psychic came in the next position, one of the most important parts of the entire lineup. It dealt 2 magic attack damage and comes with just 5 health points but what made this unit very useful is its 'tank heal' ability which heals the unit at the first position after each round. This can make a strong tank last much longer and can change the fate of the entire battle. Having a good tank that can take advantage of this healing ability is equally crucial.
Next in my lineup was Khmer Princess, another mage that deals only 1 magic attack damage and costs just 2 mana. This was a cheap unit and didn't have any abilities of its own.
In the last position, I placed the Halfing Alchemist. It was the only ranged attacker dealing just 1 ranged attack damage but it came with a powerful ability called 'halving' which reduces its target's attack to half. This is very effective against heavy attackers. And it only costs 2 mana so it was a no-brainer for me to add this to my lineup.
Now that my lineup was set, it was time for battle.
I will share my battle here, which I have uploaded to YouTube.
My Strategy
It was not the most interesting ruleset for me as I don't usually use the Ranged attackers but still, it encourages the use of ranged attackers in your lineup so I had that in the back of my mind while I came up with my strategy and that prompted me to add extra armour to all the friendly unit which was provided by Queen Mycelia. This was to counter the range attackers that I was expecting my opponent to use against me in this battle.
I used the Obsidian as my summoner which increased the magic attack by 1. I went with two heavy tanks at the front of the lineup. Unicorn Mustang was my tank in this lineup which got supported and healed by our highlighted unit, the Golbin Psychic which not only dealt heavy magic attack damage of its own but also helped my tank last much longer during the battlefield.
This strategy, as you will see, worked in my favour and gave me a comfortable win at the end.
My opponent went with a mixed attack type and used Mylor Crowling which should punish melee attackers but fortunately I went with a heavy magic attack setup. Both of us used the Unicorn Mustang as our tanks and supported it with Goblin Psychic.
My opponent used the Fungus Flinger which has 'martry' ability and once it got defeated early as the battle started it increased the stats of their tank by +1. But my Halfing Alchemist came to the rescue and decreased its attack by half.
After the first round, it looked even as both sides tried desperately to take down the other's tank. It was in round 3 when that stalemate broke and their tank got defeated and along with it was their Goblin Psychic.
But my tank was getting healed up and the synergy between my tank and Goblin Psychic was beautiful. It took 4 rounds for my opponent to get rid of my Unicorn Mustang.
With only a ranged attacker left against 4 of my attackers, it was all over. Their Hunter Jack didn't last long and at the end of round 5, I registered an easy win.
Conclusion
As you just saw in the above battle, close range is an interesting one where you can either choose to blast through the opponent by using strategies like triple ranged attackers or more, or just form a lineup to counter those ranged attackers from your opponent. I usually went for counter attacking measures and in the above battle I used the power of magic attacks to take down my opponents team. It was rather quick one too.
Just going to the fundamentals of the game is enough in some cases if you don't have a solid plan against a particular player.
Having a strong tank in the front of the lineup is a crucial part of the strategy as well and if you can support that tank with perhaps some extra armour then the healing plus the armour will make the front of the lineup very strong, just like you saw in the above battle. Let me know what are your strategies during this ruleset.
Thanks for reading...
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Note:
- Text dividers are from freeztag.
- Card images are from @splinterlands.
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