Hi Guys! In this post we are exploring on another Splinterlands ruleset. The ruleset we are focusing on is Briar Patch. The battle below will also showcase the power of some of the new Rebellion cards.
In a Briar Patch ruleset, all units will receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. This means that units which use melee attacks will receive damage back.
Damage returned is equal to damage of the attacker divided by 2, rounded up. However, melee attacking units with the Reflection Shield ability do not take damage from Thorns.
Amplify ability though will increases damage suffer from Thorns. So it is common to use a unit with Amplify ability in the lineup when Briar Patch is the ruleset.
Lets take a look at a Modern Bronze ranked match with Briar Patch as one of the ruleset. I usually don't fight in Bronze league level but this season I dropped to Bronze league and am finding it very hard to climb out of it. Anyway the battle restrictions are:
Briar Patch with a max mana of only 16. Fire, Earth, Death and Dragon splinters are allowed in this battle. The Video for the Full Battle can be seen here:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_dd4b21cc15de75d109018abf5bb9e924&ref=genming
| Splinter | Mana Cost | Position | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thaddius Brood | 4 | Summoner | Of the 4 splinters available in this battle, I straight away eliminated Fire as Fire summoner's focus was on Melee and Melee was to be avoided in Briar Patch ruleset because of the Thorn damage. I wouldn't be using any summoner higher than 4 mana as well because this is only a 16 mana match. Since Life was also not available, this meant my opponent was most likely going to use a Magic lineup with either Obsidian or Thaddius Brood as the summoner. I went with Thaddius Brood myself because Thaddius Brood will counter Obsidian +1 magic damage with its own -1 magic damage debuff. On top of that, Thaddius Brood also have a -1 health effect on opposing team units. |
| Carrion Shade | 1 | 1st | Carrion Shade was just a cannon fodder as I was left with only 1 mana after setting up my core team. |
| Chaos Animator | 3 | 2nd | Chaos Animator is one of the new Rebellion card. It was also the core of my lineup. It has Amplify and, more importantly, Void as well. Amplify will boost the Thorn damage that my opposing team will take if they are melee units. Void on the other hand will reduce magic damage by 50% rounded down. This means if the opposing unit has only 1 magic attack, it will do 0 damage to my Chaos Animator. This is important as it was a low mana match and my opponent was unlikely to field a high magic attacking unit. |
| Moxian Rebel | 4 | 3rd | Moxian Rebel is another of the new Rebellion card. It had 1 magic attack and more importantly Weapon Training ability. Placing it behind Chaos Animator would gave my zero offensive Chaos Animator a magic attack. |
| Chaos Agent | 1 | 4th | Chaos Agent is a 1 mana none attacking unit that will gain 1 magic attack due to being beside Moxian Rebel. |
| Life Sapper | 3 | 5th | Life Sapper is my last magic attacking unit that has the Life Leech ability. By placing it at the back, I wanted to give it enough time to grow a big health through its Life Leech ability. |
| Total Mana: | 16 |
Opponent Lineup:
My opponent went with an Earth splinter lineup using Obsidian as the summoner. Interestingly 2 rebellion units was used, Moxian Rebel and Lurking Puffer. Lurking Puffer is another no attacking unit that has a good health and cost just 2 mana to deploy. Apparently my opponent was using almost the same exact strategy as me in this battle. Tbis is why it is so hard to climb out of Bronze...
End of Round 1:
The opponent Earth lineup was a slower lineup than mine so I started my attack first. Even though my opponent had Queen Mycelia to provide armor to the enemy lineup, it was useless as my lineup was mainly full of magic attacking unit. By the end of the turn my opponent 2 front cannon fodders were killed while my Carrion Shade was destroyed as well. But here was where all my opponent's attack will stopped.
End of Round 2:
Because the 4 remaining opposing units had only 1 magic attack, they can't hit pass the Void ability of my Chaos Animator. Within that this round alone, 3 opposing units were killed without a single damage to my Chaos Animator.
End of Round 3:
It took me just 3 round to win this match and all this was due to just 1 rebellion unit, Chaos Animator.
I subsequently encountered a similar setup battle in a Wild Silver league and again used the same method to win. You can see the whole battle at https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_962c0579c585186814987aabaa8ffe0f&ref=genming
KEY STRATEGY
My strategy was to setup a magic attacking lineup with Moxian Rebel's Weapon Training combine with Chaos Animator's Void as the tank. It worked very well as the opponent magic attack couldn't get pass my Chaos Animator's Void.
Other Possible Strategies
There are a few other strategies that could be doable:
- Using melee units with Reflection Shield.
Example of such units are Tide Biter and Corsair Bosun. These units wouldn't be affected by Thorn and could be placed at the 2nd position because of their Reach ability. Could cause a nasty surprise for the opponent who aren't expecting melee units. - Using units with Magic Reflect.
As magic units are likely to be use in a Briar Patch ruleset, Magic Reflect would be a very good counter measure to these units.
To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK 😊.
My guild, The Guild of Kingshaven, is also actively looking for new members. The guild is currently battling in tier 3 and is able to get very decent SPS and Merits from brawl competition. If you are able to fight at least in Silver and above league and is committed to do your brawl battles, do feel free to apply.
Our guild link is https://splinterlands.com/?p=guild&id=07ab9325eea386c3570db41f53fd991e78806485&tab=
