The battle challenge ruleset this week is Weak Magic. In this ruleset, Magic attacks hit armor before affecting health. So this week the more armor the better.
The battle I chose to showcase is a 50 mana battle with the ‘Weak Magic’ and ‘Stampede’ rulesets. In both these rulsets armor plays a crucial role. Only the Magic and Dragon splinters were available to play this match.
Here is a link to the battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_cb8468f4343296f4b5bcbe2e696eee4c&ref=ninjamike
I chose the Water splinter so I could go with Kelya Frendul as my summoner since it provides one additional armor which all attacks will have to through. This will also stop a stampede if my opponent uses a monster with the Trample ability.
Next I chose a tank with a lot of armor. Specifically it has 6 armor and 8 health which is a total of 14 that an opponent has to get though. I will include an armor repair monster in my backfield. I will go without a tank healer or cleanser which is a risk because a monster can still be poisoned in this ruleset which will deplete its health by 2 each round. I filled out my backfield with a combination of Magic and Ranged attack monsters.
Start of Battle / Round 1
My opponent went with the Water splinter and Kelya Frendul summoner just like me. The main difference in their team is that they went with a couple of opportunity monsters. And they used a monster that takes away 1 armor rather than a monster that repairs armor.
Round 2
In the first round, I defeated my opponent's tank and mine is down to 3 health.
Round 3
During the second round, I defeated my opponent's monster in first position. Unfortunately for me I lost my tank and my backfield Shield Repair monster is down to 1 health.
Round 4
In the third round, I lost my Shield Repair monster.
Round 5
During the fourth round, my opponent and I both lost our monsters in first position. It is down to 3 monsters apiece.
Round 6
Still 3 apiece.
Round 7
In the sixth round, I defeated my opponent's monster in first position. They are down to just 2.
Round 8
My opponent is down to just one monster. But it is a Magic attack monster so it can still attack. In addition it has 7 speed plus the Dodge ability which will make it very difficult for my remaining Ranged monsters to hit.
Round 9
One of my Ranged monsters is in first position and can no longer attack. I still have one Ranged monster in the backfield with the Double Strike ability. But if this monster falls into first position I will lose.
Round 10
During the ninth round, I missed both shots with my Double Strike monster. If I cannot deliver one final hit soon I will lose. Nervous time.
This is it. In the tenth round my first monster took a hit and was reduced to 2 health. But then finally I connected with a final blow and was able to declare victory.
Overall my strategy for this battle worked. In a Weak Magic ruleset the more armor the better. I also provided Armor Repair to restore as much armor as possible. The Shatter and Pierce abilities can be very useful in Weak Magic, but I cannot think of any monsters in the Water splinter that have these abilities
I find that most Weak Magic battles are stressful to watch. They tend to be grueling and last many rounds. All attacks have to go through shields. This can be exacerbated with the use of Shield Repair or even worse the Resurrect ability. There’s nothing worse than defeating a monster only to have it resurrected. Then you have to go through all of the shields and health again.
