The battle challenge ruleset this week is Fire and Regret. In this ruleset all monsters receive the Return Fire ability. You are expecting your opponent to not use any Ranged attack monsters. Thus it makes sense to play as many monsters and/or summoners that nerf your opponents Melee and Magic attacks.
The battle I chose to showcase is a 59 mana battle with the Even Stevens, Fire and Regret, and Weak Magic rulesets. All splinters were available to play except Life and Dragon.
Here is a link to the battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_4d1c986b67d650fe493f4a9a7dc1d568&ref=ninjamike
I chose the Water Splinter and Keyla Frendul summoner which provides shields that all of my opponents attacks will have to get through before affecting health. I went with a tank that has a lot of armor because of the Weak Magic. Behind the main tank I placed a secondary and third tank. The tank in second position provides additional armor for all monsters. The third tank is a large health monster with self-heal that should provide plenty of cushion for the monsters behind it. After these tanks, I placed two Magic attack monsters and one Melee opportunity monster.
Start of Battle / Round 1
My opponent and I both chose the Water splinter. It is obvious that both of us expected to be facing only Melee and Magic attacks. There are many nerfs and defenses against Melee and Magic.
Round 2
After the first round, both sides are holding on strong.
Round 3
During the second round, both of our tanks in position were defeated.
Round 4
In the third round, both of our monsters in first position were defeated. We are now both down to four monsters apiece.
Round 5
During the fourth round, I started to gain advantage as my opportunity monster has done considerable damage to my opponents monster in last position. Meanwhile my opponents opportunity monster has missed during most of the rounds.
Round 6
In the fifth round, I defeated my opponents monster in last position. I still have all four monsters left while my opponent has three.
Round 7
During the sixth round, I defeated my opponents monster in first position.
Round 8
In the seventh round, we were still grinding away.
Round 9
After the eighth round, my opponent is down to one monster. Victory is near.
Overall my strategy worked for this match. The main key to victory was that once my Baakjira fell into first position, it became a secondary tank that my opponent could not get through. A combination of high health, self-heal, and the Void ability make it difficult for magic only attacks to defeat it. Another key component was that my opponents lone opportunity attack monster struggled to hit my lowest health monster. It had both the Dodge and Flying abilities in addition to having a high speed.
I like the Return Fire ruleset. You and your opponent both expect that there will be few if any ranged attack monsters used in the battle. Though sometimes I like to have a little fun and surprise my opponent with a strong Ranged attack. Your opponent is often anticipating Magic attacks. And Return Fire only does 2 damage back and there are some Ranged attacks that do significant damage. Sometimes this can result in a successful win.
