This week's ruleset is one of my favourites as I have blogged about Little League several times now as part of my Ability In Focus series. The featured battle contains two Silver level decks. With new abilities on offer with Level four summoners, Silver is a great place to be. Join us for this Little League Battle.
Aim True
"Melee and Ranged attacks always hit their target.
Blind, flying, dodge are useless. This Ruleset doesn't give Ranged monsters the ability to attack from the first position. Choose higher speed or higher health combined with high damage output. Return Fire ability is great in this ruleset." - Splintercards
Little League
Only Monsters & Summoners that cost 4 Mana or less may be used in battles.
"Monsters and summoners of 4 Mana or less will be the only ones available in this ruleset. Try increasing your defense by using summoners that give +1 armor or +1 health.
Use monsters with at least 2 magic damage and 2 ranged damage. Using Mylor as summoner in this ruleset helps a lot." - Splintercards
Mana
With Little League, 16 mana is plenty to work with and with the options available, Life or Water will be my best choices as I have both decks at Level Four. Having these at Level Four - particularly in the case of Water will give me access to some new abilities for Silver level which may give me the edge over my opponent.
I could go with Life due to the Aim True rule as all ranged attacks will hit which means my single speed archers could wreak havoc but I believe the speed of Water will be the victor here. I should still be wary of Opportunity and Sneak from a potential Fire deck here too.
Kelya Frendul
In the Silver league, Kelya Frendul at fourth level is a must! A strong summoner who offers additional speed and armour, they make the lineup mobile and more robust. To utilise this, I am to use quick attackers with as high damage as possible to ensure I work past any potential abilities my opponent may have.
Cruel Sethropod
With two damage and good armour this is a semi decent tank for the mana cost. I selected this card over a Xenith Monk due to the extra armour as I don’t want my opponent to rush through my front line. Realistically, a Xenith Monk at level two would have sufficed as it would have Self Heal. This is a card I should level up to fifth level just for the additional health. I may sacrifice the Gold Foil to do that but I think for Little League it is worth it as a good tank option.
Tide Biter
I really think this card is brilliant and highly recommend it. Reflection Shield is an awesome ability against pesky Thorns but the reach ability with two damage is what I wanted mostly here. A good second line attacker at a very low cost.
Pelacor Bandit
When this card gets its second damage point it becomes pretty strong. Great speed, with Flying, makes this card an ideal attacker from the back line and Kelya Frendul complements this card very well. I use this enough to warrant a Gold Foil Level five card.
Angelic Mandarin
At fourth level the Angelic Mandarin gets Triage. This is one of the first cards I pushed to max Silver because this ability is fantastic to have in a back line. In a battle like little league you’d need huge damage from an ability such as sneak or snipe to be able to take down this card with its six health. A good alternative would be Spirit Hoarder but it has much less health and I wanted my lineup to have a tanky health about it.
Torrent Fiend
I have placed this card in the backline to absorb an attack or two from my opponent. I don’t expect it to survive long but I just wanted to slow down my opponent from breaching the backline of my lineup. For zero cost, it is just a question of where I put this card. For me it makes sense in the last position as a plug. An alternative would be in third position behind the Tide Biter. But I think it will be more useful as backline “kill me first with your sneak” fodder.
Opposing Lineup:
General Sloan
Boosting damage with a summoner in Little League is always an excellent choice. In most cases the largest issue in Little League rule sets is the lack of damage to go around so increasing the damage output of a lineup can be key.
Pelacor Conjurer
At fifth level the Pelacor Conjurer gains Magic Reflect, which turns this nimble two mana card into an Anti Magic fiend. Luckily for me, I am not using magic but not so fortunately for the opponent. But for the cost a good mini tank either way. Typically I may have trouble hitting the opponent but due to True Strike in the rule set, that won’t be a concern.
Sunkai Harvester
Attacking with Reach, this card is very good at what it does. With the extra armour as well, this card is pretty well protected. A good choice for the second position. This is a decently fast card and this could certainly cause the frontline some issues.
Celestial Harpy
At third level, with its two attack, the Celestial Harpy will utilise its Opportunity attack to good effect. At first it will target the Torrent Fiend, after that it depend on how much damage my lineup sustains. A good choice here. While this card is at third level it does not benefit from the additional speed offered by fourth level - I always think Opportunity cards being as fast as possible is important particularly when they are low on health themselves such as the Harpy here.
Venari Crystalsmith
A superb choice as a healer and a base of two damage at fourth level. This card buffed by the summoner will be dealing three damage. It is important to take this card out as soon as possible- either that or take away it’s range attack. Make no mistake this card is a serious threat to my lineup and a big threat to any Little League lineup. An outstanding choice and synergy with the summoner General Sloan.
Soul Fiend
I think the Soul Fiend was selected for exactly the same reasoning as my own Fiend. At zero cost, it makes sense to utilise the extra hit points to prevent a Sneak attack from doing too much damage early on. Another good choice.
Pre battle thoughts:
On another day, the opposing lineup is one I may have chosen for myself. Whilst it is rare that I would use Sunkai Harvester over the Blinding Reflector at fifth level - where it gains Magic Reflect and with its good attack and stats in general it is a bit of a combination of what I opponent utilised in the first and second position. But that is more of a nitpick to be honest.
The Battle
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3 & 4
Final Rounds
Conclusion
Overall I think this was a pretty even battle. Angelic Mandarin did very well to keep itself alive and the initial combination at the front of Cruel Sethropod and Tide Biter with their decent speed due to Kelya’s summoner buff, made things a bit easier. Overall, I think the battle may have been different if I had used magic in my lineup as my lack of it rendered the Pelacor Conjurer fairly inert. On another day perhaps without True Strike, the result could have been very different.
Final Thoughts:
What I did enjoy here and this is something I have noticed more often since the Anti Bot changes of the previous mid session proposal;
- I am now facing higher level decks. This is making the matches a lot more tactical and as a result I am encountering more Silver level abilities to play against than ever before.
- I really should level up my Cruel Sethropod to Level five for the extra health
- As I move further into Silver with my deck, I am starting to phase out the Gold Foil cards into a regular foil collection. I play Gold Foil brawls with my guild so I will continue to hold at least my commons and any cards I do collect along the way.
Either way, I’ll just keep stacking that SPS and get ready for the next battle.
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