Thorns is a really strong ability when you use it against melee opponents. Whether it is a Mylor with Thorns applied to all summoned monsters in the line up or Cursed Windeku or -in my opinion- the much better Djinn Chwala for the Dragon deck, each of these monsters have their place in a strong lineup.
Briar Patch:
When hit with a Melee attack, does damage back to the attacker
Has an upper cap of 2 Splintercards
So avoiding physical contact with the opponent is of great importance here. So abilities such as Double Strike with a melee based monster (Grund for example) are a death wish. So how can we build a lineup to utilise Thorns to our advantage? Well our next ruleset will make things interesting...
Up To Eleven:
Increases Magic Reflect, Return Fire, and Thorns damage to all enemy monsters by 1 Splintercards
So by combining the above two rulesets Thorns Damage + Amplify = More Thorns Damage
Even Stevens:
Only Monsters with even Mana costs may be used in battles.
There are no special tricks for this ruleset, but having an idea of mana points of a few monsters helps in predicting what your opponent can and cannot use. Splintercards
Splinter Choices & Mana
This ruleset will make it more challenging but certainly not impossible. It will just limit our choices a bit further. Fire and Water elements are not available but all other options are ready to battle. At 25 the mana is good and with the even mana monsters only, it means one player won't be able to over power the other with having plenty of very high mana cards.
The Lineups
General Sloan
In a Briar Patch ruleset, the trick is to not use Melee attacks without Reflection Shield. In this instance, I want to focus on Ranged damage throughout the line up. Due to the Even Stevens ruleset this might not be possible throughout the lineup but I already knwo the first card I will synergise with General Sloan to ensure maximum damage.
Pelacor Conjurer
By placing this into the first position, I am hoping to draw in magical damage for a Reflect. Doing so would combine the Amplify ruleset and really maximise my damage output as best I can. With 5 health, 4 speed and Flying, this is a good mini tank especially when combined with Magic Reflect and Amplify.
Dax Paragon
Dax is here partly due to the Even Stevens ruleset making this card a bit of a necessity but also in part due to the Magic damage on offer for such a low mana card. I am due to level this card up as it will provide Amplify for my lineup which is interestingly one of the provided rulesets for this battle. I am looking forward to seeing the synergy between Pelacor Conjurer and Dax Paragon. (Perhaps a missed opportunity to have used Ilthain? Or would that have been pretty evil?)
Vulguine
I selected this card to become a mini tank. While I could have used a Xenith Archer, I wanted to have a different ability with Scavenger to have another mini tank. With my damage output, assuming my volleys of arrows hit the target, I expect to get through their frontlines quickly enough that Vulguine should hopefully have a few more hit points which will make the 2 mana cost seem cheap.
Venari Crystal Smith
The Crystal Smith is a healer first and a ranged attacker second. But with General Sloan this attacker with healing abilities becomes quite a good card and one the opponent will want to remove from the battle as quickly as possible.
Time Mage
A classic card for the Life deck to play. Typically the Life deck is on the slower side of things so a Time Mage with the Slow ability brings the opponents into a closer match of speed. This should reduce the number of misses that my lineup makes... in theory.
Pelacor Arbalest
This is the card I want to power up as much as possible. With Double Strike ability the Pelacor Arbalest is going to be strong but does have a tendency to miss at times. Given the ruleset, I took a calculated risk the opponent would not use sneak abilities as they are majority melee with a few exceptions. Now it is possible for a randomly targetted attack to hit this monster as well. But at this stage and with this mana pool I have to hope the opponent does not build my team around that weakness. Overall though this is a powerful card and one I want to stay alive for as long as possible.
Opposing Line up:
Obsidian
Selecting Obsidian is a good choice for my opponent as it focuses on a ranged attack buff which enhances any damage they make. Unfortunately for them, I have used Pelacor Conjurer in first position and with the Amplify ruleset, they will be getting a good amount of magic Reflect damage.
Failed Summoner
My opponent has used a similar strategy here as myself by placing a magical Reflect ability monster in first position. I do have two monsters with magical damage and Dax Paragon is relatively low health so I'd expect them both to fall foul of this ability in this battle.
Terraceous Grunt
I think this is where I would utilise a different card in the lineup. The use of Melee damage here is quite costly considering Thorns is amplified. Whilst the monster is quite healthy in terms of hit points perhaps a card with a Shield ability or armour may have been a better selection? Looking through the possible cards, Hunter Jarx or Mycelic Infantry both would be viable options here assuming they were available. You might have to slightly rejig the lineup to fit in the Mycelic Infantry but both of these cards would prevent unnecessary Thorns damage taking down your highest mana card too quickly.
Khmer Princess
I like this selection as it synergises with the mostly Magic plan of attack. The buff for the Magic damage from Obsidian makes this a great card for the mana cost.
Elven Mystic
Pretty similar to the Khmer Princess in that it prevents Thorns damage. With 3 health and 2 speed this card is a good choice and only the stronger hitting cards should take it out in a single attack.
Goblin Psychic
A classic choice of Modern Earth. A great selection and one I undoubtedly would have selected myself. What is not to love alongside Obsidian? Boosted Magic damage to 3 and 5 health. This card is strong and able to keep a Tank alive. A great selection especially in Even Stevens rulesets.
The Battle
Round 1:
Round 2:
The Final Result:
Post Battle Thoughts:
I am happy with the outcome here. By using Pelacor Conjurer at the start, I managed to get some extra free damage by combining the Amplify ability along with the Magic Reflect. Briar Patch is an excellent ruleset for ranged attack either by archery or by magic damage. By providing myself with a different damage set, I have beaten the final monsters due to their lowered health. In part due to the damage sustained by Pelacor Conjurer. Overall, the opponent had a strategy and stuck to it but for me, if I was to use a high mana, melee damage card in a Briar Patch match up, I would need to ensure it had a Shield ability to protect it from itself.
What I have learned from this Briar Patch ruleset is the value of Amplify. This ability can really take an average card and transform it. As a result of this battle I have levelled Dax Paragon to level 2 in order to capitalise on more opportunities to combine these abilities.
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