The battle challenge ruleset this week is Unprotected. In this ruleset, all monsters have no armor and cannot gain any. So naturally Melee and Ranged attacks are more effective in this ruleset. Since Magic attacks go through shields anyway unless a monster has the Void Armor ability.
The battle I chose to showcase is a 40 mana match with the 'Monsters Lose All Abilities' and the 'Unprotected' rulesets. All splinters were available to play except for Water.
Here is a link to the battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_aa7d0c7837286f0d92bdabe684c1b24a&ref=ninjamike
Normally going for backline attacks like Snipe, Opportunity, and Sneak is a good idea in Unprotected rulesets. With no shields these attacks have the potential to quickly decimate an opponents’ backline. But of course this battle also has the Monsters Lose All Abilities ruleset, so all attacks will be directed at whatever monster is in first position.
Without shields being a factor in the battle, I decided to go for an all out ranged attack. The liability with ranged attack monsters is that they cannot attack once they fall into first position. The exception is when a ranged attack monster has the Close Range ability, but in this battle monsters do not have abilities anyway.
I chose the Death splinter and picked the summoner that reduces opponent magic and health by one. I will start my lineup with two Melee monsters. Then my last four monsters will be ranged attack. Because monsters lose all abilities I cannot be attacked from the rear. So I will put my highest health ranged monsters first and the one with the lowest health in the very rear.
Start of Battle / Round 1
My opponent chose the Fire splinter. They went with some high health monsters in first and second position. Their backfield has a mix of Magic and Ranged attack monsters. This is good for me because my summoner reduces Magic attacks by one.
Round 2
During the first round, I defeated my opponents’ first monster and my first monster is down to 1 health. Luckily for me my opponents’ second monster which has fallen into first position is a ranged monster so it cannot attack. Though it might take a while to get through because it has 10 health.
Round 3
In the second round, I defeated two of my opponents’ monsters. I lost my first melee monster, but my second one still has 4 health.
Round 4
In the third round, my leading ranged card fell into first position and cannot attack. However, I still have three ranged monsters behind it which are still able to attack. My opponent only has two cards remaining. Things are looking good for me.
Overall my strategy for this battle worked. My strong ranged attack was too much for my opponent. Their attacks were simply not as strong as mine. This was in part because they used a combination of Magic and Ranged attacks and my summoner subtracted one from magic attacks. Placing two Melee attack tanks in front of my ranged monsters gave them just enough time to attack while they still could.
Unprotected is one of my favorite rulesets. For one thing under most circumstances I rarely play very many ranged attack monsters. So it is fun to get to make use of some of my ranged cards that do not get much use. The ruleset also provides an exciting opportunity to attack an opponents’ backfield. Because backfield monsters usually have less health than tanks, they are often vulnerable without any shields.
