Don’t take this ruleset literally. Every Splinterlands monster is of magic origin. Anyway, with magic strikers out, you have two reasonable options – bet on agility or brute force. Yes, you can either outpace your opponent (and rely on a bit of good luck) or try to beat the crap out of them with blunt power. If you read my strategy insights regularly, you’ve most likely guessed the strategy of my choice is when magic monsters take their leave. Yes, I always go for agility if I can. Just like in this battle.
I wanted to draft a Gladiator, so I had to rely on one of the summoners with Conscript. And as I intended to be too fast to lose, I naturally picked Helios Matriarch. Besides, she comes with one monster that fits my strategy.
If speed and agility are key, Terraceous Grunt is a great tank. Its magic vulnerability is not an issue under the Lost Magic ruleset, and you get great stats for only 6 mana points.
Mycelic Morphoid was a cheap filler to keep my opponent away from my power cards once my tank perished.
Katrelba Gobson is arguably the best sneaking monster in the game. He becomes almost unstoppable when buffed to speed 5, as long as you protect it from monsters with Opportunity or Scatter Shot during the first two rounds.
A monster dealing damage of 3 for only one mana point? Yes – Kra’a Xoc with Weapons Training. Its Scavenger ability is a bonus.
Ava the Undaunted effectively provided most of my offensive potential, buffing the surrounding two monsters with a melee attack of 3. A great value from that quite expensive monster.
And here’s another proof of my fast and furious strategy. Clockwork Aide not only buffs my monsters with a +1 speed point; it also comes with a significant offensive potential thanks to Weapons Training. Besides, it’s a rear card that can hold Sneakers and Opportunists for several rounds.
The Battle
My opponent bet on a similar strategy, assembling a powerful and well-balanced set. Noa the Just unbuffed my armored monsters and is quite hard to tackle due to its high speed. Also, it got Weapons Training from Kulu Mastermind, so it turned into an outstanding tank, especially when it kept having its armor repaired by Swamp Spitter and being healed by Merdaali Guardian. The only rather weak monster was Daigendark Surveyor placed as a rear tank, but it was only meant to keep my Sneakers on hold for a round or two. Possibilus the Wise then granted Trample to all monsters, which is extremely handy if you play a melee set.
I had a bit of bad luck in the opening rounds, so I failed to take down Noa the Just until the fourth round. Then luck turned to my side, helping Catrelba Gobson avoid two blows in a row that would have killed him and allowing me to eliminate Kulu Mastermind. Since then, it was just a matter of time. The last two monsters of my opponent were no match for my surviving cards.
This time, two well-assembled sets crossed swords, and both had a portion of luck at certain moments in the battle. Fortunately, the luck switched sides just in time to help me emerge victorious. If ten same battles took place in a row, I believe I would win six or seven of them.
See the full battle here!
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