The broken arrows ruleset does not allow monsters with range or range as a second attack type. This leaves melee and magic. As it narrows the attack type down to two, it is advisable to include some protection against both, like magic reflect and thorns. This can be done by summoners, like Mylor Crowling or Owster Rotwell. Thispa is another good option, if you have a larger choice of summoners at your disposal. Monsters with such defenses are Prismatic Energy or Cursed Windeku.
Depending on whether you are playing defensively or offensively, you can apply a more specific strategy, when one of the three attack types is not available. In such situations, I prefer to put together a heavy hitting team and take losses as they come, rather than being too defensive and thereby possibly compromising offensive capabilities.
As rulesets rarely come alone these days, it is important to pay attention to other rulesets influencing those attack types that are available, when coupled with broken arrows. This is nicely illustrated by the battle in question today.
The battle I have chosen to look at today is a 41 mana bout with the following three rulesets: broken arrows, equal opportunity and up to eleven. The only splinter not available is death.
This battle environment is especially interesting, because of the opportunity ability given to all monsters. So the battle is basically not about what you cannot use but what you can use, and that with increased abilities. The choice is magic or melee. I went for a red team and here is the lineup:
TARSA is summoning the fighters in this battle for two reasons: to beef up melee attack for the equal opportunity ruleset throughout the lineup and provide hard hitting tanks with more power at the front. She is also my highest level summoner, so from all the available splinters, she was the ideal choice. As I also have several leveled up fire monsters, I was confident that the fire deck was my best option for this battle.
COEURL LURKER is one of my favourite tanks. I appreciate him as a neutral card and like the taunt and dodge abilities. His special role here is to thwart the equal opportunity ruleset and divert all enemy fire towards himself to allow the rest of the team to attack for as long as they can survive on the battlefield.
Next comes HYDRA as a second tank. This monster is fast and has heal, making it a powerful enemy. As melee monsters can attack from any position, I was confident, that my team will last for a while, once the LURKER is dusted. HYDRA is a great frontline tank in her own right with 3 melee to deliver at a solid pace.
As only melee and magic are available in this battle, nerfing the enemy's melee is a must. The DISINTEGRATER not only does this, but also provides 3 melee with trample at level 6. In an opportunity setting, this card can surely score the odd trample during the fight.
URAEUS is in fourth position to launch sneak attacks to the backline, together with poison at level 5. With 4 speed, this little neutral snake can create havoc and keep the enemy in check. The fourth neutral card so far, this seems to be an all neutral monster lineup. Comes to show how valuable neutral cards are, when you have multiple rulesets, where it is essential to have a large choice of cards.
SERPENTINE SPY is a firey customer in 5th position. Although he already comes with the opportunity ability, he is super effective with 2 melee/5 speed at level 4 and very affordable at 3 mana. In most cases he fires the first blow, hopefully catching an important support ability monster in the enemy camp.
GARGOYA LION is the plug in this lineup. He has flying and shield, which does very well against enemy sneak. At level 6 he also has void, which would also have made him a good frontline tank in this situation but I opted for last position to defend there.
ROUND 1
Four of the opponent's monsters attacked first, before the Spy had a chance to take a dab. This was not a good beginning for a speed freak. To make matters worse, my teams first 2 hits after the spy had his turn, were misses. Hydra struck but 2 more misses followed from my team. I was not happy.
ROUND 2
Again Oshannus hit my Coeurl Lurker first but then got missed twice. That was some consolation in the fight between the two Lurkers, but mine was down to 1 health. Then came the beginning of the comeback: Coeurl hit hard, followed by Hydra kicking butt. The battle of the dodge was won for now.
ROUND 3
Both Lurkers were history at the beginning of the third round, opening up the opportunity field, which Serpentine Spy was not able to take advantage of. But neither was the Pelacor Bandit. More misses on both sides and the round ended evenly.
ROUND 4
During the fourth round, Hydra delivered a deadly blow to the Tide Biter and Uraeus spread some poison, making the battle look almost won. To top it off, Demoralizer wiped out that annoying Merdaali Guardian healing and repairing everywhere.
ROUND 5
In round 5, my opponent's team was reduced to Diemonshark and Oshannus. Hydra stood strong, Uraeus poisoned again but Diemonshark withstood any attack heading his way.
The water duo continued to show its defensive skills while inflicting regular damage to my team. Hydra did an amazing job to survive the entire battle, yet it took another 4 rounds to finish off an enraged Diemonshark. Finally in the ninth round, Diemonshark stood down and it was adieu Thaddius.
Once again, my favourite playing card, Hydra, proved her worth. Once again, battles like this one, confirmed my preference to play Wild League. There are different ways to approach the broken arrows ruleset but I prefer my heavy hitting principle.
But moreover, I was annoyed yet intrigued by one of my enemy’s cards: Merdaali Guardian. At level 5, she has both tank heal and repair.
She almost turned the tables in today’s battle, healing and repairing Coeurl Lurker and then Diemonshark for several rounds. In Kelya water teams, she is a secret weapon, one that I haven’t really paid attention to seriously until this battle. At today’s price of $0.40 per BCX to bring her to level 5, she is out of my reach, but I will certainly put her on the rental list.
I appreciated today’s challenge beyond my liking for blogging about Splinterlands and the token rewards for writing the post. Battle Mage Secrets Challenges motivate me to look at my battles and my cards more closely than before, making me a better player. Hope it does the same for you my fellow Splinterheads. Cya next time!
