Up Close and Personal
"Only Monsters with Melee attack may be used in battles.
Choose a summoner that increases/reduces Melee attack or Mylor. Keep a monster with Shield, Retaliate or Thorns in the first position. Reach, Sneak, Opportunity help in this ruleset."
Strategy:
With a max mana limit, this will be fun!
My strategy here is utilising Mylor's Thorns ability to inflict damage and at the same time protect myself with Shield for as long as possible. Ideally I'd like to use Double Strike to attack more than once and where possible utilise damage from range with a multi attack.
Mylor Crowling
Mylor was the clear choice here for me in this ruleset. The maximum mana available meant that there was a great opportunity to utilise big cards. Having seen my opponents last 5 line ups I noticed something.
The use of Fire melee damage for four out of five battles and the last remaining battle used Mylor. I therefore felt it made sense to use Mylor and combine this with complementary abilities.
Mycelic Infantry
With the Shield ability, the Mycelic Infantry should be able to tank a lot of damage in this battle. Ideally I want to buy time for my Double Strikers to be more effective when the opponent is weaker. This is an awesome card but I find it works so well in this ruleset or combined with an Immortalis.
Grund
I love Grund and the Double Strike ability. Once this card gets going it is nasty. If my opponent uses Mylor then unfortunately Grund will be toast. It is a risk worth taking for certain as Grund offers good damage and health stats. Ideally opponents will be weaker by the time Grund is involved.
Disintegrator
Reduced damage in this battle is always a good thing if I can get it to work well. This will ensure my team's longevity. This was an easy pick for me. Given the opponents tendency to use sneak it became a question of where do I place the Disintegrator to avoid losing this support ability too early. I felt somewhere closer to the front made sense as there are two fairly beefy cards ahead of it.
Dry Bone Raider
This was the first card I selected and it makes a lot of sense to use it here. Double Strike allows this card to strike twice. But because it has two attacks this card could potentially attack more times in the right circumstances. I felt that the lineup was only causing damage from the front and rather than play weaker (health) cards, I wanted to use the flexibility of this card to my advantage by providing a constant barrage of damage from range.
Arkemis The Bear
I often forget this is actually a promo card. I rarely use this card but it can come in clutch. Worth taking to fourth level for the Halving ability that so often plagues me and my battles. For this battle though I am looking to use its high health and Protect ability to provide additional armour for my line up. I placed it behind the Dry Bone Raider in case the opponent's sneak does too much damage. I wanted to ensure my Double Strike cards last as long as possible, especially one with ranged damage in a ruleset such as this.
Terraceous Grunt
With the Dodge ability this card has the chance to avoid attacks entirely. I figured it could be in the rear of the lineup and avoid any slow moving damage and with ten health it could be a decent tank for the backline.
Opposing Lineup
Eternan Brune
With this summoner, I expect to see a powerful Gladius card alongside it. Either that or it is a very new player. The good news is that Arkemis The Bear will cancel out the reduced Armour. The Gladius card is the one to worry about, there is one in particular I really do not wish to face - Fina Voxom.
Chimney Wallstop
I quite like Chimney Wallstop with the Bloodlust ability and Reach, making it a powerful second position option. In a melee only ruleset such as this, it has the potential to do some very strong damage and this is a card to be reckoned with earlier the better.
Grum Flameblade
For me this is a misstep. I would swap the positions of the first two monsters so that Chimney Wallstop can use the Reach ability to deal more damage. I was considering this exact combination initially but felt Mylor would be the better choice.
Arkemis The Bear
A solid choice as it adds armour to each monster. The high health and decent damage make this a great tank and I am happy with my own choice of this card so belive the opponent made a good choice.
Ferox Defender
The opposing strategy is clearly to buff the armour stat as hard as possible to make it impossible to beat them. The Ferox Defender is a great card as it has good health and decent armour already. The only thing I would say is it is quite expensive for this purpose. Too costly?
Tenyi Striker
A solid member of most sneak teams on the fire side. Great health and two damage make it a decent option for the cost. Well worth increasing the level here to get a higher damage output. Overall a good choice.
Disintegrator
A great choice as it reduces the damage for my line up. Again a costly card but a real must in a ruleset such as this as it nerfs every opposing monster. A strong choice and well worth it in my opinion. This card is held back by the summoner level so definitely worth using a higher level summoner here.
The Battle
Rounds 1-3
Rounds 3-6
Rounds 6-10
Rounds 10+
Conclusion:
I am happy with the outcome. The ranged damage combined with the double strikes has helped to combine and improve my chances. I do think for the opponent they need to consider swapping their front two monsters to ensure a better chance at victory. This would massively increase their damage output and may cause my lineup more danger in future battles.
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