senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Featuring Going the Distance - Bronze Deck vs some Maxed cards in Wild!

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: GOING THE DISTANCE

Description: Only units with ranged attacks may be used.

Reasons Why I like it While at first I thought this was a difficult matchup to play, I've acquired few cards that have really helped to make my lineups easier. Limiting your options to only arrows simplifies to rules and the car to play. Those cards with close range, reducing my opponents attack, or adding return fire are clearly going to be keys. Plus any cards that have both melee, magic and arrows will be a big focus

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 33

Ruleset: Going The Distance: Only units with ranged attacks may be used.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Water, Earth, Life, Death

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets It's hard to believe it is one of the rare one rule set matches, I feel like most of my matches in diamond League have been three rule sets.

Mana 33 man I will leave plenty of room to pick and fill out a full team. It will allow plenty of options and it is not going to be too restrictive

Splinters I think that while each splinter available has its benefits, typically it will be life to add an arrow attack, death to subtract one, or maybe Earth for close range

Summoner ILTHAIN My recent go to move for all close range matches is to give all of my monsters returned fire. Dealing back damage every time I receive it it's just been too powerful

First Position VENARI MARKSRAT Well I got to start off by giving dry bone radar a boost to start to match. Well I will be losing it's arrow attacks the double melee strike is going to be welcomed

Second Position DRYBONE RAIDER One of the rare cards that speaks through enjoying the distance because of it's melee and hero attack.

Third Position ANACHRON BOLTER Also given the chance to have a magic and an aero attacking card is a benefit not to mention the fact that it has headwinds and will reduce my enemies attack by One

Fourth Position VENARI CRYSTALSMITH Might as well add a tank heel if I can to help my card's last as long as possible.

Fifth Position XENITH ARCHER Picked it really because I had two men left and this one was gold foil

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner GENERAL SLOAN Not excited to feel level 8 rare summoner but it is what it is. They'll get a plus one boost on their attacks

ANACHRON BOLTER One of the two cars not maxed, but it also has headwinds just like I do. It's a pretty solid play and can attack in first position since it has magic

PELACOR ARBALEST When are the heaviest hitting cards double strike with three or four arrows attacks is going to be a lot of damage

VENARI CRYSTALSMITH Great minds think alike they also wanted a tank healer

PRISMOLOGIST I like this place since it has splash damage, it will be doing either for 5 damage with three and splash damage

XENITH ARCHER Another card not maxed but it's got the same stats that mine has accepted one less health.

Round 1

Round one starts off and dry bone it gets a boost as Markscrat who's the first card eliminated. Luckily it doesn't miss a turn and it quickly secures and knock out of anachron bolter. This is great news as it has moved pellicore horrible list in the first position where it cannot do any damage to my cards. Passed around progresses the return fire is starting to make itself known and it is producing health and eliminating armor.

Round 2

Round two starts off and I'm feeling pretty good, I get another knockout with tribe on the radar and they have now lost pellicore arborist, and are close to losing Crystal Smith. Once again return fire is wreaking his havoc as prismologist is taking back half of the damage it's dealing out and it is significantly weakening my opponents lineup and chances. As the round comes to an end I still have dry bone radar in place and look to be cruising towards a victory

Round 3

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

I think dry bone raider had a massive impact on this match and it will be continued to be one of my favorite cards to use. I also think the return fire help to hasten the elimination of my enemy. I think my anime could have used a better card in first position to potentially help have a stronger tank but I'm not sure what cards they have available. I think the combination of dry bone raiders Plus giving all my monsters returned fire in going the distance has been a recipe for success. It's almost a cheat code to hurt your enemy every time I hit you plus having a double strike melee card to start the match to chew through their tank. I am feeling intended to keep running the same lineup every chance I get in going the distance until the mana gets down to 13 where I'll switch it up and go with fire.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS - Featuring Five Alive in Wild!

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: Five Alive

Description: Up to five Units can be used.

Reasons Why I like it

This is one of the new rule sets that I'm still figuring out. The five alive rule set along with the one that limits only four cars available make some of my decision making a bit harder. Sometimes it forces a combination of higher mana cards and it certainly makes it hard to use boosts like martyr, or tank heel as you are reducing your attackers in a trade-off for a healer and with fewer units the impact feels greater.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 45

Ruleset: Going the Distance: Only monsters with Ranged attack may be used in battles. Ruleset: Five Alive: Up to Five Units Can be Used.

SPLINTERS: Water, Earth, Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Five cards for 45 mana means that they can be an average of nine a piece. I'm not sure it will have too big of an impact since I can basically pick any cards I want minus those 13 to 16 meta cards. Combining this with going to distance makes it difficult as now I can only use aero cards. My options to balance out attack cards as well as some sort of defensive healing is going to be tricky.

Mana Mana isn't really in play here other than I get to pick whatever High man of cards I want as I doubt there are enough cards that are 10 plus that are only arrows.

Splinters Go to splinter for me is going to be life so that I can have return fire and all my monsters. There are great arguments to be made for every other splinter as you can reduce arrow attacks for both death and dragon, give everyone close up on Earth, and water also has the ability to boost arrow attacks. Likely I think it'll be dragon and life with the biggest usage

Summoner ILTHAIN If everyone's forced to be using arrow attacks, then I want to use that return fire to help drag their health down each turn. Nice part is return fire doesn't miss it doesn't factor in speed differential, flying, Dodge or anything else it's a great way to get guaranteed damage every time they attack

First Position DRYBONE RAIDER Almost feels like cheating but it does have arrow attack. Well it's not going to be used in first position a double strike with melee is always great and it does come with three armor to protect its limited seven health

Second Position COMMANDER GOFF Wanted this one's second since it has huge 7 armor and seven health along with a 4-speed and dodge. I'm hoping that they can generate a miss or two. It's a shame to use it as my second card since it is likely my heaviest hitter and most likely to hit. It's an equal trade-off though for the protection it might give me

Third Position ANACHRON BOLTER Since almost every card is going to be arranged aero based, I really wanted to get headwinds in my lineup. This will help bring their attack down and bring the return fire closer to a one-to-one damage ratio

Fourth Position VENARI CRYSTALSMITH If it has both arrows and tank Hill then it's always going to be in no matter the mana cost. Sure I could have one that has higher damage but healing a card and making it live longer to dish out more return fire is more important

Fifth Position PRISMOLOGIST A bit of a gamble if they also played the same summoner but I like having a little splash damage if it can connect. I can start to drain the health on two different cards

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner QUIX THE DEVIOUS No surprise here, reducing my speed and my aero attacks is a no-brainer.

QUEEN OF CROWS Great tank card, and even better in this format. 11 health is huge plus it has close range so it can attack from the front row

SUPPLY RUNNER Another solid card that I don't play as often as I think I would. Great speed decent health in attack

FUNIC SKYCLAW One of the best dragon range cards. It's got snipe with tremendous speed damage armor and flying overall it is a juggernaut.

DHAMPIR STALKER True strike, who doesn't love a guaranteed hit every single round. It's speed means it's also likely to go in the middle somewhere of the attack

RAVENHOOD WARDEN Well he's probably not being used for attack, the extra armor it provides will help keep everyone on the board longer

Round 1

Round one starts off and right away return fire starts to chip away at that extra armor they got. Outside of that I don't think any attacks for either team missed so it was a pretty straightforward round.

Round 2

I think I got a slight upper hand by the end of round one. Well we're both likely to lose our initial tank cards this round it is still slightly favored towards me. After I get healed by Crystal smith, dry bone raider is able to secure the second knockout of the round and really crippled their team. Having that double strike melee card on the front is critical in these matches

Round 3

Round three starts with a Miss for me, having a flying dragon card with six speed is going to be difficult to hit. I think over half of my attacks missed this round, but they're only doing three damage to drive on radar so it is going to stick around for another round.

Round 4

Ground floor starts off better for me, I get a knockout of sky claw. That pretty much spells the end in this round. This is quickly followed by another knockout of Dhampir stalker and then Raven Warden.

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

The two biggest impacts I think we're having dry bone radar in first position for a double strike melee which gives an advantage when most cards are arrow attacks. The second biggest advantage was having returned fire on all of the cards. That return fire is guaranteed damage back to help get through some of the armor before they moved up to first position. Luckily the five alive didn't have too big of an impact since we got lucky with the high mana cost of 45. Things could have been much different if magic and melee cards were added into the mix and things could have been a bit more spicy. I think I'm going to continue to focus on return fire and drive on radar on the doing the distance rule sets, while finding some way to get a healing card in in rulesets that limit how many cards you can use like five alive or lower.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGE - Show casing Bronze Cards taking down Silver level!

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 28

Ruleset: Standard: No modification to the standard gameplay rules and mechanics.

SPLINTERS: Water, Earth, Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Not much to talk about here, standard rule set doesn't have anything that requires additional thought or planning. It isn't really any changed cards becoming more powerful, or having a bigger weakness that needs to be considered. It should be a none of that for this matchup

Mana Honestly I remember a time where 28 felt like a big mana, but no it actually starts to feel small and constrained. I think I'm getting used to playing so many higher man of cards today feel like I need somewhere in the range of 38 to 50 to feel like I can get my optimal items in. 28 should still be high enough to allow almost any approach, the only truly limiting that's going to be done is on ultra high mana cost cards, anything over 10 will be difficult, and actually likely to create a disadvantage

Splinters Splinters are almost wide open just missing fire. Fire would be a great one to play in this rule said considering how powerful it's sneak and opportunity lineups can be in the sub 30 mana cost matches. Otherwise there's plenty of options in all the other splinters to put together

Summoner THADDIUS BROOD My go-to summoner when I'm playing against a potential Earth line up and I am not playing Earth. That negative one health and negative one magic is a really nice combination

First Position CURSED WINDEKU Hard to beat a decent melee card that has thorns in first position. Sometimes the thorns don't come into play while other times it can be a game changer on its own

Second Position VENARI MARKSRAT I wanted to boost any cards that I could potentially. I was hoping for an opportunity attack or potentially a snipe attack to help give it a boost to both my first and third position

Third Position RIFTWING Riftwing is a great play here after it gets weaponed trained for three arrow damage. It is potential to give boosted for both speed health and the damage if things go correctly for me. I love having a car that adds health via scavenger plus has a higher speed and flying which means it's likely to get missed a couple of times

Fourth Position ZYRIEL That wasn't sure when I first bought this card instead of to use it but weapons training is my approach in 70% of matches. The ability to add High attack volume to otherwise not attacking cards that tend to have higher health or armor for their mana cost is a no-brainer

Fifth Position CLOCKWORK AIDE Love this card. There's very few sneak magic cards so it provides a great rear tank, boosts everyone's speed, and has seven armor for those opportunity and sneak attackers to get through while delivering three arrow damage it's going to pick up in weapons training

Sixth Position CORPSE FIEND I thought it was likely that I'd be going against sneak so why not put this here just to have one more attack get wasted before reducing my armor

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner HELIOS MATRIARCH Interesting play, and not one that I used too much. It's biggest benefit is that it can summon those Gladius cards. If you take note it is a level 5, which aligns with silver decks and above I believe.

BAAKJIRA While only a level 1, it's void plus slow and 11 health makes it very devastating. After getting weapons trained it's going to be a heavy hitter as well. I feel fortunate now to have thorns in first position

KULU MASTERMIND Really a great card. Opportunity, high speed high health and high damage plus weapons training means it's really going to help turn my opponents line up into a heavy hitting mainly attacker

VRUZ Great card at this level. At the level I have it it doesn't have martyr but now that it does it's going to provide a nice boost to the surrounding cards when it gets knocked out

ISGALD VORST

One of the least favorite cards to see when my opponents lineup gets revealed. It is a real juggernaut with high-speed, damage, armor and decent health with opportunity and bloodbust. That combination means it's likely to be adding stats via bloodlust early and often. If it gets boosted with murder as well it could be really hard to take out

Round 1

Round one starts off and while I have six monsters versus only four they definitely have the upper hand in speed. They go ahead and get the first three attacks gone before I even get a chance. I lose all my armor on clockwork and also lose corpse fiend. As my turn comes around I do deal out some heavy hits and knock out Baakjira before finishing the round by taking the majority of mastermind's health.

Round 2

Round two starts off looking good for me. I quickly knock out Mastermind leaving them only to monsters. Vruz as quickly knocked out providing a martyr boost to Osgald Vorst. Things look like they're turned into my favor but Vorst knocks out cursed Wendeku and triggers bloodlust. This translates into one missed by the end of the round. It currently has six melee damage 7 speed and 6 health left. It will be attacking first the rest of the match and dealing significant damage.

Round 3

Around 3 starts off with it Knocking out Markscrat triggering a blood loss for both sides. I get very lucky in this round and I manage back-to-back hits that take away the armor and drop his health down to four. I was only a 50%, followed by a 40% chance to hit so the fact that I head back to back was a huge break in my favor, and I need to give the RNG got a hug

Round 4

It has almost enough melee damage to take out rift water at 13 health but it misses its attack even with its greater speed due to flying ability on wristwatcher. That small Miss chance really was powerful. I continued to run good as both of my attacks hit yet again. The stats are the same it was a 50/50, followed by a 40% chance to hit. I know I've been on the other side of these screaming at the RNG on why it hates me and wants me to lose the match. It clearly could have gone a different direction.

If my opponent managed to hit riftwatchers and drop its health down to five, while evading to attacks I believe I'm likely to lose this match given the speed differentials and the fact that it will trigger blood loss and add armor each time which requires a hit to clear before reducing health.

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

Well I'm happened to win this match, I'm not so convinced it had to do with my lineup being better as it did my opponent being fairly unlucky for consecutive hits when my mis percentage was so high. I will probably likely to select the exact same lineup if given the opportunity again, I just think that it is a higher probability that I lose more than half the matches if I ran this 100 times.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGE - Highlighting Bronze Cards Beating Near Max Gold/Diamond Level

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: STANDARD

Description: No modification to the standard gameplay rules and mechanics.

Reasons Why I like it

Standard just takes you back to the OG days before they were all these rule sets. It was just you, your cards and the strategy you wanted to play. Nothing funky nothing special no three rules sent to try to decipher and get to get best game plan for. It's just your card your approach and your opponent.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 39

Ruleset: Standard: No modification to the standard gameplay rules and mechanics.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Earth, Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Since it's standard rule sent I think that each of the splinters can build in exceptionally well-balanced team. They all have some excellent lineups especially considering to hire mana. I would not be surprised to see Earth with heavy magic used, fire with the devastating multi-stack sneak attack or some other gray combos

Mana 39 man it means you can play any card you want plus a couple of other heavy hitters. Well it's not truly unlimited usually it's provides you the ability to use several legendary or + 10 and a cards and still fill out the rest of your team

Splinters Water is missing which is great in the iron Man of rule sets, but I feel like having the rest of them available is really a great opportunity for just about any splinter. The only one I think probably is least likely to be used is Earth as I tend to feel most of theirs have lower health and struggle a bit more in higher mana matches that have most splinters available

Summoner THADDIUS BROOD I wanted to try to counter potential Earth line up so I went with Thaddeus to reduce the magic attack

First Position CARRION SHADE

Purely cannon fire and first position. Maybe I'd get lucky with a melee Miss but likely it's just going to take the first attack and to die. It was either here or last position given my lineup and I felt the first was probably most beneficial

Second Position ULUNDIN OVERSEER

One of my most used cars now with weapons training. It's gargantuan 13 health +6 armor means it is a long-lasting tank when you give it a couple of magic attack through weapons training

Third Position SKOK DUSKBLIGHT Used a ton for the weapons training, I love to stack my weapons training if possible and giving some of those non-attacking cards and attack makes it much more useful

Fourth Position RIFTWING The card that used to be relegated to not much use is now an amazing card, especially when you can stack a weapons training card on each side of it. Flying plus speed plus scavenger plus two attacks means it just becomes a war horse

Fifth Position ZYRIEL It wasn't sure about this card at first, but the fact that it has likely changed what constraining of the three arrow attack is big. That means you can get both surrounding monsters to also have three arrows which is a big nine damage attack per round

Sixth Position CLOCKWORK AIDE Another card that became super useful with weapons training. It is a great rear sneak protection card to do its a seven armor, the additional speed boost that gives is great and when you add three arrow attack it is a great card that can usually last to the second or start a third round

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner THADDIUS BROOD Great minds think alike and I also decided to play thaddeus, except for theirs is a level 8 rare. That means it is at max level and can pull level 10, 8 rare six epic and four legendary. Truly a maximum level card

CURSED WINDEKU The second maxed out card, bringing in massive damage of four melee plus thorns Plus tank heel Plus slow means it is a really great choice

VENARI BONESMITH Another great card to use here, it has to spell, likely and poison which makes it very dangerous

REVEALER Another ability card with stun immunity and reflection Shield it's a great choice to be able to stun your opponent

BARASHKUKOR A heavy hitting five magic attack card that does additional damage to high Rena cards. This is the first card that's not maxed for the summoner it's only a level two legendary

SPIRIT HOARDER Another level 2 legendary with both triage and dispel is looking good in this lineup

SILENT SHA-VI Almost Max this is only a level six common but it has blazing speed of six with seven health and three melee damage. I didn't realize this thing got so fast as it leveled up

Round 1

On the surface things are looking interesting but not great. Do they have a lot of powerful cars, speed and heavy hitters and I'm not 100% sure jealous will play out.

As the first round starts those higher level cards with their bigger speeds attack first and get the first knockout. Is the rest of the round plays out every attack hits until the last one where clockwork misses cursed windeku

Round 2

Not much change, other than I'm done one monster, some armor and half of my 11 health for my new tank. Good news is as is round starts off I am able to secure my first knockout via rift wing. As the round progresses we are trading monsters quickly. I lose Ulundin overseer before I get a knockout on bone Smith. The round ends and we both have four monsters left

Round 3

It feels like it's coming down to the wire. Luckily clockwork still has one more armor to Shield off the attack and then it's my turn. Rift Wing comes through with another knockout giving me a slight advantage. I quickly lose dusk blight but rift Wing has built up a nice base of health to 10. As the round ends we now both have three monsters, and both have some with low health

Round 4

Round four starts and I lose clockwork on the first attack this limits my attacking ability to one magic plus three arrows for a total of four damage per round. Luckily I managed to knock out Barashkykor . There was a 10% chance I could have missed the net would have spelled disaster.

Round 5

Luckily I have enough health due to my life leaks to Shield off at least two attacks. By the end of the fifth round I knock out Spirit hoarder leaving them only one monster. But the trouble is that Silent Sha Vi has some blazing speed. It still has six health when it moves to first position and I'm only guaranteed a one magic damage per round. It will need three rounds to knock out riftwing so I'm going to need to get lucky

Round 6

Around six we trade blows and I do get lucky to start with as Zyriel connects on a devastating blow bringing his health down to two. Even with this hit I still either need a Miss due to my flying ability, or a second hit from Zyriel with only a 60% chance to hit.

Round 7

I managed to pull it off. It hits again for the second time and what essentially is a coin flip. There was still a chance if I missed that I could win if their attack missed rift Wing to the flying but that is a low probability. I got lucky to get two hits a row given the speed differential but I'll take the victory. I think it's pretty impressive to be able to take a bronze deck and compete against a gold league team that is well built.

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

I definitely got lucky to win. There were several instances where a single Miss would have cost me the entire match. I also could have gotten luckier and been missed on their attacks with flying but the probabilities are relatively low.

I'm not sure that my lineup is the best lineup that could have been used but I do believe it was probably the best counter lineup to the one by enemy picked. I probably could have been beaten by some Earth or fire lineups that attacked the middle or back of my lineup more efficiently. Having only one sneak card let me get away with minimal rear protection for too long.

I'm definitely jealous of some of the cards abilities they had with tank hill, or poison. Having those abilities seems like a really great way to get some more wins. I'm sure everyone else as you level up has those same abilities but down here in bronze those are harder to find and have a much higher premium. Part of my brain is wondering if it's worth it to rent a few maxed out cards like thaddeus, and cursed Windeku to get some cheap wins.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Featuring Explosive Weaponry in Bronze!

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: Explosive Weaponry

Description: All units gain the Blast ability.

Additional damage is equivalent to main damage divided by 2, rounded up.

Include a unit with Reflection Shield in your lineup to absorb blast damage and protect your back line.

Reasons Why I like it Giving all monsters the blast ability, which gives them all blast damage on your tax can make some monsters exceptionally powerful. Typically cards that have blood bust, or high attacks are more powerful than normal. Classically this rule set has been dominated by cards that play snipe as it will damage up to 3 monsters versus your typical 2. This also has a big focus on cards with reflection Shield.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 32

Ruleset: Explosive Weaponry: All monsters gain the blast ability.

SPLINTERS: Water, Life, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets As I said before, I think this rule set papers fast attacking cards, with an additional focus on big attacks, bloodlust, or snipe. Some way to get additional damage in the first few rounds that can turn out to be critical

Mana P 32 mana is a little light but leaves enough room to play most of the cards you want while still making some sacrifices. And 32 minutes I don't think it'll be too big of a deal either way and you should be able to make a fairly good team from either splinter

Splinters

Going down to only two splinters plus dragons makes it a little bit more difficult. I think that fire death and Earth all have great cards that could be used and benefit from explosive weaponry. There's still some good options and I think it would be an even split between water life depending on if you went with opportunity attacks, or kept in Katie's snipe magic attack.

Summoner POSSIBILUS THE WISE Decided to go with an overwhelming mailing attack hoping to get a lot of splash damage to reduce monsters health that will allow trample to be triggered and get bonus attacks

First Position DIEMONSHARK High armor and health plus speed needs it should attack first and might be missed a few times. Biggest concern is no protection against magic

Second Position VENARI MARKSRAT

Since they'll be a lot of splash damage, I might as well give both cards a boost to the stats and see if we can't turn things in my favor

Third Position COASTAL SENTRY If I'm going to give a card reach, then coastal century is my primary choice. Double strike with three to four melee damage and trample means it could really get on a roll

Fourth Position VENTAR KINJO Reflection Shield here to help protect my healer as much as possible. Likely not going to make a difference but I figured it was a decent idea

Fifth Position MERDAALI GUARDIAN Trying to heal either demon shark or coastal century if I get the opportunity.

Sixth Position TORRENT FIEND

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner HELIOS MATRIARCH Interesting to the voice to go with dragon. Also gives them access to Gladius cards and an additional speed so it's always a decent option

VENARI MARKSRAT This card gets put everywhere in anywhere that we expect it to provide the most benefit from the Martyr boost

DJINN OSHANNUS Dangerous card to get boosted from martyr. If the speed starts to get too high it'll become almost unhittable and could be really troublesome to take out

TORRENT FIEND Looks like an attempt to place it here to soak up one of the splash damage tax and allow Larissa a chance to keep itself

LARISSA KERATO Great card, and one that I don't have yet. A double striking magic attack card with bloodlust and now splash damage means it could really start to build up its stats and become overpowered to the point that it wins the marriage

RIVER HELLONDALE Sneaky play here, playing that resurrect to give a double boost to Djinn Oshannus

CHAOS AGENT

Similar to myself, it looks like it's just a rear sneak attack protection.

Round 1

Round one starts off and the additional health I got for my seminar is actually making an impact and allowing a couple cards to stick around longer than I would have expected. I do suffer the first knockout of Markscrat. Luckily it gives a boost to both demon shark and coastal century. Additional speed is critical. Ending round one that's the only card lost

Round 2

Around 2:00 is about to get crazy. Additional speed I picked up from martyr weighs heavily in my favor and I now have two cards second second and third in the order. Demon shark knocks out their Markscrat. Since I have trample it follows up an additional attack on Djinn Oshannus before the murder boost is applied and that attack triggers splash damage to knock out torrent fiend. Luckily for me Markscrat kids resurrected and the next attack comes from coastal century. The splash damage which hits every single time brings Djinn Oshannus down to three health before the trample from the second knockout of Markscrat. The trample is enough to knock out Djinn, and bring the health and Larissa down to two. The second attack knocks Larissa out and remove the armor from River hellondale. That knockout triggers yet another trample which knocks out River Hellondale and the splash damage takes out Chaos agent.

Because of the extra damage done by explosive weaponry, and the travel effect coastal century attacked a total of four times knocking out pretty much their entire team. That was a 16 melee damage done on a primary attacks and eight splash damage done from explosive weaponry. It went from looking like I was thinking of a hard time hitting Djinn Oshannus to wiping them off and getting a picture very early.

LESSONS LEARNED - STRAGEGY FOR NEXT TIME

Explosive Damage always hits - not matter the speed. My first take away is that the explosive weaponry splash damage always hits the adjacent monsters. Doesn't matter how fast they are, if the attack hits the first monster then the splash damage always hurts the second monsters. Sometimes that can hurt you as it did in this case for my opponent where I was able to deal significant damage to the second tank current prior to getting boosted the moving to the front

Trample Triggers before Martyr Another key factor here is that trample appears to trigger prior to Martyr boost if I had it reversed, and Martyr was applied first then the additional speed might make my trample attack mess. Something to consider especially when you're playing cards that have bloodluster boost the trample will take effect prior

Don't underestimate reflection shield If my opponent had used reflection Shield somewhere in the lineup, I think they could have really protected themselves a bit more. It would have been available to hold on to their armor and not lose it on the splash damage, or lose their health from splash. While it doesn't always work it does provide some huge benefits

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands Social Media Challenge - Showcasing Runemancer Kye getting to 80 HEALTH!!

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

Weekly Highlight -Runemancer Kye

Edition: RIFTWATCHERS Rarity: LEGENDARY Element: WATER Attack: MAGIC Abilities: FLYING Abilities" LIFE LEECH Health: 8 Speed: 3 Attack: 2 Armor: 5 Reasons Why I like it It's becoming one of my favorite cards to play when you can build the correct stack around it. It's likely means you can start to build a dominant wall of health that might be too big to overcome on an attack side where each round you're able to heal more than your enemy is able to deal with damage. Especially when you're able to give a few boosts with martyr, and benefit from its flying, speed, and armor.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 44

Ruleset: Born Again: All Monsters have the Rebirth ability

SPLINTERS: Fire, Water, Earth, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

** Rulesets The Born again rules set is intriguing because of its pros and cons. One oneside you're able to stack multiple martyr boosts to your team, while having to acknowledge your opponent is likely to do the same. Bloodlust is also able to be triggered multiple times, especially for low mana fighter cards where it might not be ideal to play them anymore if they're just going to give bloodlust boosts to your opponent. Once their resurrected, they're able to be healed and sometimes coming back with one health and full armor is enough to allow the tables to turn and to get a big enough health back to where your opponent's not able to overcome

Mana 44 mana is plenty of money to do anything you want with about any splinter available. Sometimes it gets difficult but in this matchup I don't know if you could really use any more mana to build a more effective team ** Splinters Losing life and death isn't too big in my opinion. I don't think they're particularly the strongest suits although they both have a couple of scavenger cards that might benefit from born again but overall they would not be a splinter that I focus on for this skill set

Summoner POSSIBILUS THE WISE While not a traditional selection given the rest of my lineup, I really selected it for the additional 2 health. Given my sellout into building Runemancer I need to give it an advantage possible

First Position VENARI MARKSRAT

Hoping to start the match with a martyr that turns into a double marker boosting Kye.

Second Position RUNEMANCER KYE The star of the show, hopefully going to get a couple of boosts and build those steps up

Third Position ANASTH SOOTHSAYER One of my go-to cards now given the fact that it has both thank you and cleanse. Luckily cleanse goes before tank healed and it helps eliminate some of those pesky monsters that take away healing on your most important cards

Fourth Position MERDAALI GUARDIAN If one tank heel is good then two tank kills is even better. To start the match I'll be able to heal eight damage per round and it should go up each round as my health grows

Fifth Position RIVER HELLONDALE If everything goes right I will get a triple marger boost on Kye to really help my health and attack stats

Sixth Position SWAMP SPITTER Since it has armor repair I definitely wanted around to give Kye every advantage and be able to avoid some heavy melee attacks each round if my opponent plays them

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner ROBB LOWLAND Solid choice, opens up a couple of powerful Earth cards to be played.

FUNGUS FLINGER . Great minds think alike and they'd like to start to mess with a double March of boost

QUARA TOWERSHEAD Probably the scariest card to face against in a born-again matchup where it will get a double marterboost or more. If it starts to take out cards then the bloodlust might be too much to overcome

GLBIN PSYCHIC Having quora tank heel plus another human behind as much like my approach hoping to keep it around long enough to get ridiculous stats

QUEEN MYCELIA Adding some additional armor for protection is always a good idea

DOCTOR BLIGHT One of the cards that I struggle against the most until the new release and a few more cleanse cards have come into the picture.

MYCELIC SPLIPSPAWN Not sure I love this play without a triage card in conjunction but it will help focus my text on the rear lineup until Quora gets her double boost

Round 1

Before the round starts I'm not sure how this is going to go. Quora a is very difficult monster to overcome sometimes especially after a few boosts and bloodlust. It'll be interesting to see how it all goes. The first round is extremely uneventful as no one actually loses any cards given the extra health and healing that we all have.

Round 2

Round two triggers my first martyr boost that gets doubled up by the end of the round. It also marks my final knockout of slip spawn.

Round 3

Round three starts with the third and final knockout that triggers a martyr boost. This pushes me to five magic attack, five speed, 8 shield and 17 health in round 3. Pretty solid stats that should heal about 9 to 10 health at my current rate and adding 1 to 3 health every round to my base. The rest of round 3 is mostly an eventful. It's turning out that my cleanse is very important as I have been afflicted about every single round.

Round 4

Quora has some seriously damaging stats at 6 magic and melee each. If it wasn't for my armor that keeps getting repaired each round I'm pretty sure I would have lost his match. It's very important that I have double tank heel, with cleanse, with repair to ward off the massive attacks that I'm feeling.

Round 5

It's hit me that around 5:00 no one made any progress anywhere and that we are now into a endless loop until around 20. From here on out things will just continue to build until later.

Round 15

Round 25

It took forever but I finally managed to pull off the victory. This is what it looks like before the five health damage to fatigue hits and wipes out my opponent.

It was interesting to see all of my cards leave, and then get reborn to give me another heel, armor repair, and then the next round of my final heal. These certainly helped push me to having 80 health as you can see in the picture.

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

I absolutely love when I started healing over 10 health per round. At the end each healing card could have healed Kye 20 health per heel making it almost immune to any attacks. I think this strategy is likely to work out well most of the time unless your opponent somehow plays a heavy sneak/snipe attack match that takes out your healers.

I don't think I've ever gotten a card to 80 health before. I have certainly gotten cards to higher speeds and damage I think I've had over 10 on each but I'll save that for another day.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Featuring Even Stevens Bronze Brawl

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: EVEN STEVENS

Description: Only units with even mana costs may be used.

This rule does not apply to summoners.

Reasons Why I like it I like playing The Even Stevens or odd ones out rule sets because it eliminates half of the cards. These rule says will sometimes dictate which splinter you pick simply because it has a tank heal card available while the others may be excluded. More often than not I'll start down a path only to realize the card I was going to use it was critical to my lineup is actually an available and I'll have to switch tactics halfway through my timer. I think it adds a nice little wrinkle especially since I don't have all the cards and their mana costs memorized.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 36

Ruleset: Equalizer: All monsters start with the same health, based on the highest health in either team. Ruleset: Even Stevens: Only monsters with even mana may be used.

Ruleset: Ferocity: All Monsters have the Fury ability.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Water, Earth, Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets This is another big rule set match. Having three rule sets really can make it difficult to think through the pros and cons of lineups before you start setting one up. Going from left to right, I don't think ferocity will have two big of an impact in my lineup other than I'll have to make sure not to use any monster that has taunt

The second rule set of having equalizer and having all monsters being equal in health means that tank healing is important as well as some of those smaller health cards now becoming much more useful as protectors or guards in the lineup.

Finally Even Stevens, I don't think it has as big of an impact as it might otherwise do to the fact that there are only two primary splinters in Earth and life. While dragon is available it would only add a few additional cards into the mix.

Mana 36 minute is a sweet spot where most cards are available to be played while not allowing too many legendary cards in the mix. Not quite as important when you add equalizer rule set as you're able to add some difficulties to your opponent just from Total health.

Splinters I can't really think that losing water fire or death has a major impact on this match. I feel that water and fire both sometimes benefit from having cards with lower health that can be double or triple teamed up on and your team can be eliminated either from travel or sneak/opportunity attacks. Death seems better suited for a higher match, I think some of their better cards are odd numbers and it might be difficult to fit a even team out on the field competitively.

Summoner OBSIDIAN I figured that since death was not available to reduce magic attacks I might as well give myself a boost of the attack type that is the hardest to counter. There's just not that much void or

First Position QUORA Showerhead Good old Old faithful Quora, since there's no three men of martyr cards to boost it first, it ends up in first position

Second Position FAILED SUMMONER

A card I haven't played for a while but have not forgotten. A favorite of mine in brawls given that it has the ability to reflect magic, and when it gets boosted to the max health it becomes even more powerful. Paired with a weapons training card it is going to get a substantial increase in its normal utility

Third Position MOXIAN REBEL Weapons training plus magic equals a great use here. Normally it's health is a concern but given that it is also boosted then there's no real worry.

Fourth Position CLOCKWORK AIDE Usually I put this card at the rear guard with a weapon trainer to protect it, but for some reason today I decided to put it in this position. I think this was a mistake and would be better served putting it at the end, but either way adding a speed to all of my attacking monsters plus having 11 health, and a double-wielding attack of two magic and three arrows after getting the dual weapon trained is fun.

Fifth Position AVA THE UNDAUNTED Weapon training has really kind of broken the mold, and I find myself using dual weapon training more often than not. The ability to stack them with low mana non-attack cards just seems too convenient in My level to summoner setups.

Sixth Position LURKERING PUFFER I think this should be flipped and be in third position and not sixth, but it's okay here too. Only benefit it has here is that sneak attack cards will destroy any potential armor from the corrosive support.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner OBSIDIAN Looks like great minds think alike and they also went with the same magic boost.

MYCELIC INFANTRY Great traditional card, but very weak towards magic even with the health boost. Otherwise it's armor and shield does make it very formidable

PRISMATIC ENERGY One of my favorite cards from the beta days. I love getting it in Loveland it up they reflection plus magic attack was just too hard to pass up

KATRELBA GOBSON Double melee sneak attack card with bloodlust is always troublesome, and I don't have much protection it looks like this was a really smart game plan

GOBLIN PSYCHIC Critical that they got tank Hill involved, as it will be able to heal most of their team for 3 to 4 health per round and that will make it more difficult to secure knockouts

VENARI SPELLSMITH Good magic attacking card with dispel to remove any boosts from bloodlust

FURIOUS CHICKEN The OG mana card, the furious chicken is perfect in any lineup

Round 1

Round one starts and I am enjoying the speed boost and the attack order. While I do secure the first knockout of my cilic infantry, I have several cards that have taken significant damage and are unlikely to survive much into round two

Round 2

As around 2/3, things are not Quora and lurking puffer are looking vulnerable. I do manage to score a knockout on prismatic energy but I am then quickly knocked out by katelba triggering a bloodlust. Good news for me is that I have a lot of attacks left in round two to deliver some significant damage.

Round 3

Round three starts and trouble secures another knockout boosting their stats once again. Lucky for me while I only have four cars left, I have five attacks and two with magic. Halfway into the round I secure The knockout of the trouble and all but lock up a victory. Once they lose their double attacking heavy-hitting melee card it switches heavily into my corner.

Round 4

Around four doesn't look that bad until you figure in that I am doing 13 damage per round potentially while they are doing five, I think that's just too much to overcome. I quickly mow through goblin psychic and in the round with a three card advantage.

Round 5

It looks like I just need to put in work for a couple of rounds to secure my victory. I do manage to knock out the last attacking card of my enemy in round five foot won't have enough to push through all the health until around 6:00

Round 6

Pour chicken never stood a chance especially since it did not have an attack. I was able to mow through the rest of its health and close out the victory in round 6.

Thoughts - and Takeaways

Looking back I really should have had clockwork in the rear position to provide seven armor over the 11 health, versus lurking puffer that would have been just as good in place of clockwork aid. The biggest benefit that I had was having all of those weapon trainings cards be such heavy hitters allowing me to stack nine arrow damage on top of an additional four magic damage that otherwise would have been lost without weapons training. It was these boots that allowed me to pull through to a victory even with a suboptimal lineup

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Featuring Earthquake in a Bronze Brawl

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: EARTHQUAKE

Description: All non-flying units take 2 physical damage at the end of every turn.

Snared units are considered non-flying. Since the damage given is physical, it can be reduced to 1 if the unit has the shield ability.

Reasons Why I like it

Originally when this rule set was first released, it was one of the more annoying ones. My lineups typically heavily favored dragons if possible since many of the cards have the fine ability, or even to use the seminar which granted everyone fine. Another common tactic was to employ a seminar or monster they gave everyone some armor which would help protect their health at the start to be drowned.

My new strategy, is to play as many Marta cards as I can, using their guaranteed deaths to boost the cards left behind. This allows you to play Marta cards in the middle of your lineup to boost as many cards as possible, and ensure they die but this start of Rome two versus needing to get lucky with your enemy using snipe

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 42

Ruleset: Earthquake: All non-flying monsters take 2 physical damage at the end of every turn.

Ruleset: Heavy Hitters: All monsters gain the Knock Out ability.

Ruleset: Fire & Regret: All monsters have return fire ability.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Earth, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Bras are always tough when there's three rule sets. This time it's earthquake, heavy hitters, and fire and regret. The focus is going to be earthquake as it is a guaranteed damage taken to physical damage at the start of each round. Return fire will also make arrow cards what to us appealing, while getting a card with stun in your lineup choice. Given the splinters, I don't see too much of an impact for heavy hitters, or fire and regret since they'll be plenty of melee and magic cards.

Mana 42 mana is a great number to play with. It leaves you the option of as many big cars as he wants as long as they're supported by some small amount of cards. Anything less might start to be a struggle but 42 allows me to get just about any lineup I want

Splinters Losing death is a little painful as death is typically very flying friendly, and there's also a couple of good cards in life that I can build a solid line up around. Either way I think this will be a dragon focused match.

Summoner Akane I have been toying around with my new summoner and I like the ability to give two monsters the ambush ability. I think this will really be powerful given that I'm going to pick a couple of strong monsters to start with.

First Position Quora Towershed Great card overalls, in a strong first position card. When boosted with ambush it will get a double attack in the first round and increase the likelihood of triggering bloodlust

Second Position Venari Markscrat Excited to have it here in second place, knowing it will die before the second round get started and will give a boost to both Quora and Chaos dragon

Third Position Chaos Dragon What's not to like about chaos dragon. High health flying magic speed and armor. Is a perfect card for this rule set plus it's about to get boosted

Fourth Position Fungus Flinger Love getting my second Marta card in here. It will provide a second boost to chaos dragon and a boost to void dragon making it also faster and more powerful

Fifth Position Void Dragon Flying plus void, and hopefully boosted to two magic and 6-speed means it will be very difficult for most cards to hit.

Sixth Position Halfling Alchemist Unlikely to have too much of an impact, won't make it into the second round but has the opportunity to cut its lead monster of my enemies attack in half.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner Lobb Lowland Interesting choice, looks like you're trying to stack Gladius cards and make a run at bloodlust

Palidon Rakk One of my least used Gladius cards that I actually really like. It's just that most the times where I can use this card I could also use Quora or other cars that have slightly better stats

Fungus Flinger Very good choice just like me, will die and give Katralba the boost

Katrelba Gobson One of my favorite Gladius cards, that double sneak attack is cute perfect

Venari Marksrat Looks like we both in the same approach, this will give a boost to both Katrelba and slip spawn

Mycelic Splipspawn Not a bad idea to keep the focus away from the primary tank and focus all of the attacks towards the rear. Once it gets boosted it will have even a heavier magic damage

Disintegrator This choice confuses me, unless they thought I might be going melee heavy and wanted to counter that. Clearly not many people are using heavy air attacks, but I would have thought it would have been smarter to try to counter magic

Round 0

As round one is getting started I am feeling pretty good about my chances. I really like my round zero attacks with the ambush that gives six damage to their tank card before we officially start the match. That leaves their tank down to six health before we even start.

Round 1

As we move into round one, I get very lucky again with chaos dragon randomly attacking the primary tank versus another card and really dwindling it's helpdown. This is quickly followed by Quora delivering The knockout blow and triggering bloodlust.

My opponent then gets a couple of turns and turns the table.Katrelbs takes out The halfling alchemist and gives a bloodlust boost. The round comes to an end and there's not too much change.

Round 2

While things look good at the start of round two, havoc is about to send as the physical damage is applied for earthquake. This will knock out several cards and start the motor boosts. We both lose Markscrat and after the boosts are all applied I quickly knock out fungus flinger followed by Katrelba.

Things really worked out for me as the bloodlust and murder boosts were able to boost the attack High enough to keep hitting cards only one time to secure the knockout.

As the round comes to an end I lose fungus flinger from return fire and while the game is already over and decided I do love the final boosts I get to chaos dragon and void dragon. Chaos dragon is up to five magic damage, while void dragon is up to, combine this with Quora who is sitting at 6 magic and five melee in my team is completely overpowered.

Round 3

It feels like most of the damage applied is actually from earthquake, after it runs through I am only left to face off against disintegrator and the magic attack is strong enough to do a one shot knockout.

Thoughts on Stragegy

I'm a huge fan of stacking Marta cards in the back of the lineup to boost cards that are strong but could always be stronger. The double boost to chaos dragon is a strategy I'll have to remember, and surrounding it with things like quora or void dragon really helps give them the initial boost to start the ball rolling. Giving void dragon additional speed and having flying mean to be much harder to hit for those pesky sneak attack lineups I seem to always face.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Featuring Counterspell

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: COUNTERSPELL

Description: All units receive the magic reflect ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that attack with magic receive damage back.

Damage returned is equal to the damage of the attacker divided by 2, rounded up. Magic units with the reflection shield ability do not take damage from reflected magic attacks. The amplify ability increases damage.

Reasons Why I like it This is a great little rule set to help eliminate the overwhelming power of magic attacks. Having them take half of their damage back in reflection will reduce the likelihood of having in all my team. While some of this can be negated with void or high health or triage, overall there's a lot of low health magic cards that are simply too risky to play in the school set. Having it means that you are more likely to face melee and arrow attacks

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 34

Ruleset: Broken Arrows: Monsters with ranged attack cannot be used.

Ruleset: Counterspell: All Monsters have the Magic Reflect ability.

Ruleset: Taking Sides: No neutral monsters may be used.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Water, Earth, Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Another three rule set match. Having counter spell for me makes magic a hard play. I think there can be one maybe two magic cards to contend against. This becomes even more complicated as all arrow cards are excluded in the broken arrows will set meaning only magic and mainly can be used. This means it's likely to be a melee focused team that I am both going to play and face. The last rule set taking sides which eliminates the neutrals won't have as big of an impact on the game as the first two.

Mana 45 mana is a great number. I can play any card I want and multiple legendary high mana cost cards while still fill it up with you. Anything more and it starts to just be all 12 minute cars, and anything less and sometimes you have a hard time fitting your optimal line up in

Splinters Losing fire and water are both blows considering that these are going to be melee focused. Fire is a long-standing melee juggernaut with availably boost from the summoner plus a lot of good cards but I'm really focused, well water has the great ability to use the team full of boosted opportunity and reach cards that have trample.

Summoner UNDERBOSS FABINO I decided if I was going to play melee, I might as well boost a couple of cards with plus two May late to start the match.

First Position UNICORN MUSTANG One of my favorite cards from untamed, it has decent speed a solid attack plus void which means it's a great way to counter any magic cards I see while still attacking relatively early in the lineup. It also has a decent health which means it can get healed at least once before being eliminated

Second Position BRAMBLE PIXIE I don't use bramble pixie too often, but I don't have a good excuse. It's high health and we attacked with reach means it's a great second card especially with a healer behind. In this match it just seems logical as I am trying to build the biggest melee team I can.

Third Position QUEEN MYCELIA Yes it's magic, yes it's only up for health, but the real benefit comes from the protection it's going to give everyone with the armor. It will die in fourth round on reflection from its own attack, but I don't really play it to music attack, I want to protection on each one of my cards

Fourth Position KATRELBA GOBSON One of the most powerful cards once it gets on a roll the double sneak attack with bloodbus can be devastating. Once I give it to boost to start the match of a plus two melee, it will be doing four damage each with double strike for up to eight maybe damage in the first round.

Fifth Position GOBLIN PSYCHIC Wanted to heal my primary attack clients to allow Katrelba as much time as possible to get on a roll

Sixth Position MYCELIC SPLIPSPAWN In an attempt to also allow the Katrelba to get as much time going as possible I want to play slip spawn as a way to both counter Katrelba since his health is high enough to avoid a first round knockout in most cases.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner HELIOS MATRIARCH Solid choice, adding speed and the ability to pull another Gladius card is always a solid choice

CHAOS DRAGON Bit of an odd choice, it does have ten health and a three magical attack with flying but overall it seems a little awkward in first position

CARNAGE TITAN A great card with a reach double strike decent health and very high armor, only thing I don't like is that it only has a base to melee attack which leaves it vulnerable to dispel.

GOBLIN PSYCHIC Please nicely with the first two monster choices as it can give them a decent heel in the first couple rounds to allow them to continue to protect the

KATRELBA GOBSON Much like me, the double sneak melee attack is the primary option. Luckily for me it doesn't appear to be boosted and with attacking slip spawn I have 11 health to get through before they start to build via bloodlust

BERTROL GOBSON Another nice Gladius card with great speed and bloodlust with opportunity. If it wasn't for slip spawn it could start to also become a heavy hitting card.

Round 1

That's around starts I'm feeling pretty good, I feel like I have a very nice counter to their lineup while at the same time having a significant advantage in the attacks. They do have the greater speed from their summoner and get to do most of their attacks first. Fortunately for me not much damages taken for all because I've got the extra armor. When it is my turn I get slightly unlucky on Katrelba first of it s double strike attacks that creates a mess, while the second one connects and knocks out Bertrol. I do have a second Miss from bramble pixie on chaos dragon, I guess the speed and flying was a good combination overall. We end around with only the one knockout.

Round 2

How's the round start again, I'm feeling pretty good. I have a double strike sneak attack dealing five day with each time that should significantly wipe out my opponent. My Katrelba attacks first this round, the first hit knocks out there's, and the second of the double strike knocks out goblin psychic. But this point I am already at an obscene 7 melee damage, 6 speed with five armor and seven health. This is already in a bag as I have not lost a monster and they are down to one.

Round 3

Who's around 3:00, but there's only four moves in round 3. And it is all Katrelba, her attack is high enough to eliminate that seven armor and the first round, and we're meeting health by the end. Securing yet another knockout and victory for my team.

Thoughts -

I think someone are choice and the addition of a taunting card really turn things around to my favor. Boosting the double sneak melee attack by 2:00 allowed me to secure a first round knockout. I also benefited heavily from having a high health taunting card which attracted all of their attacks and was able to sustain the damage without giving them a knockout and triggering bloodbust for them. Without building their stats Like I got to with mine things quickly got out of hand for them and I was able to just mop up the back line..

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands Highlights - Featuring Possibilus the Wise in Explosive Weaponary

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

This week I'd like to share the new strategy that has turned out to be a major part of my gameplay in 

Weekly Highlight -Weapons Training

Weapons Training and No Attack Cards changing the game

A unit with the Weapons Training ability will “train” any adjacent unit with no attack, thereby giving them the same attack as the unit with the Weapons Training ability. Reasons Why I like it

This can be an absolutely massive boost to some cards. It takes a very powerful card that has weapons training and amplifies it by utilizing other lower mana and otherwise boosted cards with abilities and gives them a powerful attack. My two favorite cards to use are Skuk Duskblight, Zyriel and Moxian Rebel. These cards have some of the best boosts, either because they are heavy hitting aero attack cards, or they have magic attacks that can be utilized and boosted depending on the splinter used. You now have the ability to take some one and two mana not attacking cards that have decent health and some additional beneficial attributes and turn them into heavy hitters, you also have the ability to take some of the mass of not attacking tanks and give them an attack to go along with their massive health

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 39

Ruleset: Explosive Weaponry: All monsters gain the blast ability.

Ruleset: Silenced Summoners: Summoners do not give any buffs/debuffs.

SPLINTERS: Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets These two rule sets are nice combination. Explosive weaponry will favor lineups that have heavy magic, heavy snipe, or the ability to have more attackers or have all of your attackers go first and deliver enough damage to eliminate your enemies line up before they get a turn. I think these rule sets will favor life and death, while dragging will be underutilized in most cases.

Mana 39 mana is plenty to fill all spots, but not so much that you can just load it up with your 10 plus Man of monsters and not worry. Since this is a brawl I will have to consider what cards they're likely to use that can get a bloodlust boost.

Splinters Personally I think this will favorite death or life. While dragon has some of the most powerful cards, it's summoners usually cost more and might not be worth the additional cost

Summoner CONTESSA L'AMENT I wanted a 3-minute summoner so I went this route. Since it's that's boost and debuffs have no impact I just wanted to save a man up

First Position ULUNDIN OVERSEER

One of my favorite cards in rebellion for stacking as much health in the front line as possible. It's six armor and 13 health are unparalleled in the modern rule set, while it can give the reachability to cards in the second position, I find it most beneficial when I use weapons training on it

Second Position SKOK DUSKBLIGHT Hey Great and powerful legendary card that provides weapons training to anyone attacking card, giving a two magic attack to my tank is an exceptional boost. All I would have loved to surround it without attacking cards, I have to factor in explosive ruleset on my next card

Third Position VENATRO KINJO I am confident I will lose my first card and second position will move up, I put this here strictly to block all of the splash damage from my last three heavy hitters and I hope to front run the damage enough to win

Fourth Position RIFTWING Getting a three Aerotek with four speed is great but handing it to a card that has scavenger is really beneficial as The Three monsters before it die we'll give it a boost, and my opponent should also have some monsters that die which will give it additional

Fifth Position ZYRIEL Another crazy powerful legendary. Adding three arrow attack to both not attacking cards surrounding it gives it a tremendous boost. In bronze there are not many cards that have a three arrow attack.

Sixth Position CLOCKWORK AIDE Maximum sneak protection with seven armor, gives all of my monsters a plus one speed, and after the weapons training also does three range tax damage. This combination almost feels overpowered, but I use it every chance I get

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner JARLAX THE UNDEAD It's been a while since I've seen too many summoners, I forgot these are even an option and kudos to them for saving one more minute than I did on the seminar

PRISMATIC ENERGY Another classic card for my past. I forgot how good these are with reflection and high health for first position.

VENATOR KINJO Very similar strategy to protect from my splash damage attacks it will absorb way more damage than it gets out but it doesn't step

UNDEAD PRIEST Our choice for me, it does have weekend but it's not doing any damage and I think it could have used a better spot

LIZA FOX Really nice heavy hitting Gladius card. Four range attack with three speed means it's likely to get a knockout and start to build the stats. As it starts to build then they splash damage we come even more powerful

BARASHKUKOR One of the cars I don't have yet, this legendary delivers a massive five magic damage with splash of three. It will be an absolute nightmare to deal with.

SILENT SHA-VI They really saw the choice for a sneak attack, high speed and high damage means it's going to hit. Biggest weakness is getting through armor.

Round 1

Round one I'm feeling pretty good, my biggest risks are not hitting my opponents due to my slower speed.

Is the round starts off, the immense health and armor of my front tank is clearly paying off. We both trade blows back and forth but they are the first to secure a knockout of SKOK DUSKBLIGHT. Lucky that the weapons training stays on the cards even if the original weapon training card gets knocked out. As the round works its way to conclusion. I knock out both prismatic energy, and venator kinjo.

Round 2

Round two starts off and I'm looking to be in a fairly strong position. The nine arrow damage I'm doing plus four magic in the first round was just too much. I start the second round with another knockout moving their biggest hitter to the front row. As the round plays out and we trade blows, I secure my new account of Liza Fox. This is all but sealing my victory at this point.

Round 3

The nine range attack with the speed boost is just too much to handle. While they might have a monster doing one attack at a higher damage, the cumulative effect of weapons training and giving not attacking cars and additional three range attack is just too powerful. I start the round off with a knockout on my first turn, followed by the victory blow on my second term. I am around with my tank and tack and only having lost the one monster.

Thoughts -

Weapons training is exceptionally powerful when you're able to boost the attack of a monster and especially boosted to such a high level in bronze. This gets compounded when you add in the explosives rule set where it's now dealing 50% rounded up damaged on a splash damage. That means it's delivering 9 range attack on my team to the primary monster while delivering six damage on splash damage to most monsters. That is simply too much damage every round for most seems to overcome. Weapons training is a significant part of most lineups I set since there are a number of monsters that provide this ability on both magic, melee, and range. They've all been super beneficial and it provided opportunities to boost and otherwise mediocre lineup to become great.

Weapons training has also turned what was otherwise marginal utility cards into high impact cards. Chaos agent with one health and Dodge is okay on a rear guard, but now adding a three arrow attack to it means it's delivering a heck of a punch. There are a lot of cards that were at one point barely ever getting into my lineups that are now being heavily used. This is why I go for a complete collection when a new set is released, cards that were at one point not considered to be very powerful will be boosted down the road with a team at the new ability or ruleset combination that means that they are in the demand optimal lineup

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Feauting Broken Arrows

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: BROKEN ARROW

Description: Units with ranged attacks cannot be used.

Units with 2 types of attack (which include ranged) cannot be used.

Consider utilizing units with Thorns or Magic Reflect, as your opponent will have to use either melee or magic units.

Reasons Why I like it Sometimes I forget just how powerful rain to text can be, and especially now with cards like Zyriel giving massive weapons trainings to otherwise non-attacking cards means frequently used a lot of arrow of cards. This takes that away and leave the only magic, focusing the details on your best attack strategy and the best counter to your enemies attack. If you remove one of the variables, then your lineup selections have to really be on point where you'll get blown out of the water

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 19

Ruleset: Broken Arrows: Monsters with ranged attack cannot be used.

SPLINTERS: Earth, Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets It is a single rule set match, being only broken arrows. From my personal play style I think that broken arrows will most largely impact life and death, although Earth is also strong in the right situations. Given the 19 mana, I think the biggest impact is the removal of VENARI Crystalsmith it is thank you. While there is a new rebellion card with thank you and magic attack, it does cost another mana

Mana 19 minute is really going to limit your options. There's only so many cards you can pick that fits under the cap when four or more of those will be going towards summoner. I think the limited man that will have the biggest impact of the three.

Splinters Fire and water can both be significant losses here. This rule set would favor fire and it's heavy melee attack romantic cards, while losing water with Djinn Oshannus followed by a tank heel is another classic lineup.

Summoner UNDERBOSS FABNO I decided to go 100% all in a melee. If I'm going to do that I'd like to boost my melee a card by 2:00.

**First Position LURKING PUFFER **

Well not emulate tracking card, just two minute cards does provide six health as a buffer to the back row and that's all I need

Second Position FUNGUS FIEND My second buffer card, is it has 1 meler attack and just has a couple of help

Third Position CHAOS AGENT Really this is my third buffer card, and by now you can tell that I completely sold out my lineup 100% for Katralba

Fourth Position KATRELBA GOBSON I decided to go all in, boosted with melee, and hope it gets on a roll before it hits the front line. I chose not to use any martyr boosts and just go with some added armor, and heavier melee attacks

Fifth Position QUEEN MYCELIA I felt that getting armor was critical as it was likely to face a thorn monster and I need Katralba to survive and start to build its stats

Sixth Position MYCELIC MORPHOID Speaking of thorns, it's even better when you add some armor to it so it takes at least two attacks to get through, which is just enough to either kill Katralba or something with ambush.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner IMMORTALIS Great choice, since this match was either going to be me later magic, it's a excellent choice to both neuter any magic attacks, while also shattering any armor your opponent might have played

QUORA TOWERSHEAD One of the most powerful cards he came, bloodlust, thank you, now with void and shatter, with a double attack both doing two damage means it's a real threat. If it starts to get knockouts then I'm in trouble

SCREECHING VULTURE A oldie but goodie card that I forgot about given that I only play modern normally. It's decent speed, flying plus opportunity means it can start to take over those cards that are the weakest

MYCELIC MORPHOID

Just like me, some rear Thorn protection is always a good idea

Round 1

I know most of my monsters are relatively light in health and I'm a little worried before the round starts on how I pulled up. If I can get rolling the two melee boost received from my summoner should be a significant factor. Since the speed kills I am lucky enough to survive Quora first round attack without giving her the best yet. Luckily screeching Vulture takes it out and protects when the next turn. The real fun starts when Katralba secure a double knockout on its double strike. Taking out both of mycelic morphod and screeching vulture. This provides a ridiculous boost to her stance leaving her at 6 melee damage, on a double strike with five health. It's speed has all so been boosted to five which means it is now the fastest monster on the board.

Round 2

While I look completely out matched, it's not usual to see Katralba with a 6 melee damage this early. As the round starts I go first and actually secure The knockout victory on the first attack via double strike. Not sure how that came across, but it took both attacks, delivering 12 damage to knock out Quora. If I was not that lucky, she would have started to trigger bloodlust and up her attacks as well which did not bode well for me. I completely sold out all stats for Katralba.

Thoughts -

This lineup is not balanced whatsoever, but it was built with the sole purpose of trying to boost Katralba as early as possible and start the bloodlust run. Having it deal so much damage or turn was the only way I could think of to get through those higher health monsters with decent speeds. I got lucky with how it played out in the lineup for order to get a double boost in the first round, but I think this might be my favorite brawl lineup for under 20 mana to counter Quora!

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands Social Media Highlights - Katrelba Carries the whole team to Victory

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

Weekly Highlight -KATRELBA GOBSON

Edition: GLADIUS Rarity: COMMON Element: EARTH Attack: MELEE Abilities: DOUBLE STRIKE Abilities: SNEAK Abilities: BLOODLUST Health: 4 Speed: 3 Attack: 2 Armor: Reasons Why I like it

Having sneak, double strike, and bloodlust means this card can really do some damage. It's biggest weakness is getting taken out by thorns before it builds his health up, or not getting through their armor to trigger bloodlust and start to really build those stats. It's really great when you can boost it with inspire before the match even starts, or protect it with some extra armor to help ward off those pesky thorns

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 23

Ruleset: Lost Legendries: Legendary monsters may not be used.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Earth, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Losing access to the legendary cards might go to lineups. Clearly there are some great cards that can no longer be used especially in earth, and fire. Losing access to those legendaries means that I'll need to change up my strategy and go different direction

Mana 23 minutes is fairly limiting, and if you spend big on a 10 plus manic card like Quora Towershed it gets hard to bounce your team and you rely too heavily and just one card

Splinters

I don't think losing water or life has too big of an impact. Water is always a favorite but losing the legendary card means it's less likely to be used.

Summoner ROBB LOWLAND If you want to use Katralba Gibson then I have to pick up Robb since this was not a brawl.

First Position FUNGUS FLINGER I know it's uncommon to have this in first position, but it has the most health so it might last a little bit longer. I also want to give a larger boost to Katralba.

Second Position KATRELBA GOBSON Really need her to go first and get some knockouts quickly to build that bloodlust. I need more damage, more speed, more health.

Third Position VENARI MARKSRAT Just in case I get attacked from behind I'd like to give another boost to Katralba

Fourth Position UJURAK MYSTIC One of the new cards that I have bought recently. Clearly I took it for the lookout ability. I wanted to take one less damage from attackers with sneak snipe more opportunity. And I also wanted to cut the damage from ambush in half if I could.

Fifth Position MYCELIC MORPHOID Hoping the combination of Ujurak mystic and more Floyd I can get a knockout with the thorn damage.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner TARSA Solid choice for fire, the additional health and melee damage is always a big win

TUSK THE WIDE Looks like it's a perfect counter if I was playing a magic heavy lineup, mass of health while the rest of their team attacks the back

URAEUS Could have put it in last position, could have put it here either way it's a good option for the sneak team they built.

GOBALANO SOLIDER Sneak, plus opportunity and 4-speed means it's going to go first every time.

TENYII STRIKER Might have put this one in second place personally, and allowed for more health ahead of Global o Solider

FLAME MEPHIT Solid Little Bull Minor card. It has flying plus one range attack three health to help with sneak attacks. Normally it's a little weak and underpowered, but I think it only costs two mana

Round 1

I'm a little nervous before round one starts. I'm not sure how everything's going to factor in, but I know that I need to get a serious run of knockouts and bloodlust triggers to have any shot

Is the round starts off, it's critical that I have lookout to help reduce the damage received from the ambush in round 0. It will also help morphoids stick around long enough to knock out Gorbolano sollider

Round one place out mostly as expected, while both teams get a nice miss that could have been a hit. I'm really loving the lookout feature as it's really slowing down how quickly I lose the back of my lineup

Round 2

It's amazing that fungus finger lasted the whole first round, even though it only had four health to start. I start off around true with my first knockout and blood loss trigger for Katralba. As the round continues I do happen to lose Ujurak, putting me at higher risk. It's starting to look a little unbalanced and slightly out of my favor. Around ends with fungus finger getting knocked out and giving me a martyr boost for Katralba.

Round 3

Round three starts off with bang. I get my double attack draining 2/3 of the health of tusk the wide. I do get lucky as the next turn knocks out Markscrat and gives me another bloodlust boost. At this point I am going to have a sizeable speed differential against all of their cards. It should be six versus ones or twos at least until I get my next knockout..

Because of the speed differential it's a 50% chance for miss, and both tusk and Ureas Mr tax saving a bunch of money

Round 4

Round four starts and it's one card versus three. But luckily on my first turn I go first, and I get a knockout of tusk the wide, while also removing the armor on Ureas. Not to mention the additional speed that gives me a 50 or 60% chance to be missed an attack. This equates to both cards missing again this round.

Round 5

round 5 is here, and it's time for my victory. Quite honestly six melee damage on double strike is dealing 12 per round and a 7-speed is going to be difficult to hit. This also ignores the fact I've managed to build the health to eight but no need, my first turn which is a double attack is enough to knock out both of their monsters. It leaves me with a potential eight may lay, nine speed and 10 health. Absolutely bonkers that it managed to work.

Round 6

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

I think I had the perfect lineup for my opponents lineup. I do think that this lineup is a high risk for getting taken out if Katralba gets moved to the first position before building up her stats. It was critical to me that their entire team actually focused on sneak and and I play the lookout card. This significantly slowed their approach on the back of my lineup.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Featuring Briar Patch

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: Briar Patch

Description: All units receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that use melee attacks receive damage back.

Damage returned is equal to damage of the attacker divided by 2, rounded up. Melee attack units with the Reflection Shield ability do not take damage from thorns. The Amplify ability increases damage.

Reasons Why I like it

Briar Patch really changes up the landscape by punishing Melee cards. Unlike the rulesets that block Melee cards this one just makes you date 2 base damage every time you attack. You have to plan for it and see if you can either avoid it, or counter it with armor and shield.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 16

Ruleset: Briar Patch: All Monsters have the Thorns ability.

Ruleset: Born Again: All Monsters have the Rebirth ability.

Ruleset: Fog of War: All monsters lose the sneak and snipe ability.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Earth, Life, Death

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Another 3 ruleset match makes my headspin. Briar Patch will harm melee cards and make them less likely to be used, leaving mostly the magic and arrow cards. Given the limited mana, I epect more magic cards to be used since they can attack in all positions. I also expect Martyr cards to be used for the rebirth loop.

Mana Given the limited mana I expect most the time my opponent will focus on magic attacks, and likely use earth to give it a boost. It will be hard to get enough health out there to counter heavy magic attacks

Splinters I think the two favorites are Earth and Death. One boosts magic while the other reduces magic attacks. I expect most teams to have one of these.

Summoner IMMORTALIS I figure if I can add void, plus thorns my tank will be reducing damage as much as possible as well as giving a little back potentially. Shatter will also help if they play heavy void armor on monsters.

First Position QUORA TOWNSHEAD Hard to resist playing it here, Tank heal, blood lust, thorns, rebirth, void, all the goodies. Really hoping have the bloodlust and heal carry me through the game.

Second Position FUNGUS FIEND Just in case it come down to it, added to the back for rear guard and last chance melee/thorn guy. Afraid to put it first incase my opponent also played Quora and ended up giving them a double boost and wrecking my chances.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner THADDIUS BROOD Logical play, -1 health plus -1 magic is a really solid choice.

REVEALER Interesting choices for first position, 5 health is a little low potentially but the stun could be devastating.

VENARI MARKSCRAT Going to be a big boost, double Martyr is always dangerous, and could really change the game depending how it hits.

WITCH OF WARWICK Normally its a little light on health, but after getting a double Martyr boost and potentially a bloodlust it could be a decent chunk of magic damage and health with it hits the front row.

Round 1

Before this round starts things look interesting, but I am slightly worried. The combination of stun, rebirth for the Martyr and the possible RNG look could come back to bite me. I am clearly banking everything on Quara.

Round one starts off in lucky I get the first round of attacks in. I do take two Thorn damage to drop my health and I get bit by the stun bug right away. As the rest of the round progresses they start to chip away at my health and knock me down.

Round 2

Having a higher speed and going first would usually be good, but now I have to wait until the stun card has turned and I don't get to regenerate my health and get an attack. The bad luck continues and I get stunned for the second round in a row, causing my health to dip to a dangerous level of four.

Round 3

Round three starts off and it's yet another round that I don't get to tank hill, and they get absolutely ridiculously lucky again with the third stun in a row, they are three for three on stuns and my health dips down to two.

Round 4

So much for tank heel, if you spend your entire life stun you don't get to use it. Around starts with me stunned and this is the first time I don't get stunned. Unfortunately my health dips down to zero. In most matches this would be the end of me, and they would have pulled out a low probability victory and I would be cursing my bad RNG look. Fortunately for me the Born again rules said comes through to save me and I get brought back to life. I'm also very lucky this happened at the very end of the round

Round 5

My tank heel gets to be triggered for the first time in round five. It gives me a much needed plus three health before I attack. The first magic attack secures me a bloodlust trigger boosting my health to five, and my damages to two magic two three melee. I follow up with another knockout on melee damage, but unfortunately take two Thorn damage in return. I do get another bloodlust boost, boosting me to three magic, unfortunately , and for health.

Round 6

I think I may have turned the corner and I'm able to pull out a victory, I start to round off with a double knockout of Mark's grant. While this provides a double marter boost to the witch of warwick, it also triggers a double bloodless boost for me. The plus to health is a perfect offset to the plus two magic of my opponent's card. I end the round with five health and I'm looking like victory is possible.

Round 7

Since my base health has improved so much my tank heel now gives me a plus four which is crucial. I'm able to secure another knockout on my first turn and only take two Thorn damage. While they get to be born again they come back with only one health and won't have enough time to do anything to me.

Round 8

One more knockout for good measure with a stab boost to make things start to be a little ridiculous. But glad to get the win

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

I think I have a high probability to win this matchup again if played a hundred times. The biggest risk is bad RNG like I experienced where I was stunned the first three rounds in a row. It's unlikely that happens frequently, but without the Born again rules that I clearly would have lost this match. I still think I would choose this lineup if faced with the same choices again, but I am completely aware that it may be closer than I anticipate.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands Highlights - Featuring Prophet Rosa delivering a powerful boost to a Bronze Brawl.

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

Weekly Highlight -PROPHET ROSA

Edition:REBELLION Rarity: RARE Element: DEATH Attack: Abilities: ADD TWO RANGE TO TWO MONSTERS Abilities" OR ADD SHIELD TO ONE MONSTER

Reasons Why I like it This seminar can provide a boost in multiple ways, and sometimes you might change your strategy once you see your opponent lneup.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

Withdrawals this is a little more difficult as you do not get to see their lineup when you select your boosts, so you just have to make your boost given your best knowledge at the time.

You have the ability to either add a +2 range arrow attack to two monsters, or at a shield which should halve the damage from melee were arrange attacks to one monster only.

Having the ability to add two range attack to two of your monsters can really make a couple monsters and water be heavy heavy hitters. I feel like I am more likely to use this of the two, but there may be times where adding Shield to certain monsters could also be game changing, especially if magic is removed, or it's a melee only match.

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 46

Ruleset: Aimless: All Monsters have the Scattershot ability.

Ruleset: Going the Distance: Only Monsters with Ranged attack may be used in battles.

Ruleset: Taking Sides: No neutral monsters may be used.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Water, Earth, Life, Death, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets There's a lot to factor in when looking at the rule sets. Having a three ruleset match complicates things and makes it a little harder to think through. The biggest and most impactful rule set is going to be going the distance which limits The monsters available to only those which have a range attack. Any other monsters unless a dual attack monster will not be available for selection. This will eliminate 2/3 or more of the monsters, and limit the positions they can attack in. The taking sides which eliminates neutral monsters will be less impactful as the three splinters available to choose should have plent of monsters to choose from. I don't think that aimless which gives everyone the random scandershot will have a big impact while selecting the teams, but it can and usually does have a significant impact to how the game plays out given the rng. If things attack One monster, or the most important monster over and over again versus spreading them out then things can really pile up and turn the tables

Mana 46 mana is plenty of mana to use any monster you want and several high cost men monsters while still developing a full team

Splinters Losing life which has both the range attack boost as well as return fire as an option is a big Miss here. Both fire and Earth can't have some really good range focused lineups, especially when boosted correctly with the right summoners they will be missed but I feel that water and death and dragon have just as much to offer.

Summoner PROPHET ROSA If we're going to all be using arrows, and I don't have to worry too much about return fire it might as well get boosted in my mind. I want to add plus two to two monsters and start dropping some heavy blows

First Position WAVE BROOD Hoping to hi mana card in first position with taunting will help absorb some of those hits

Second Position COASTAL NYMP Put this in second place just to absorb as many hits as possible when it moves to second position. I am trying to protect the monsters in the rear as well as possible

Third Position MAR TOREN SEEKER Well not high in health, it is a sniping attack card plus it has Dodge so it may miss one or two

Fourth Position SULTRY BARMAID I originally considered putting a boost in this car to given that it has ambush. It's almost guaranteed to get what feels like a double strike in round 0 and 1 but I decided against it

Fifth Position AXEMASTER I miss playing x-master since I've only play in modern unless it's a brawl, giving x-master a boost to double-striking for range attack is a ridiculous amount of damage

Sixth Position EDITH EMBERSTAR Edith had tremendous power to start even before the boost. Add it possibility of bloodlust means it could get out of control. To start the round after the boost it's already doing seven range damage.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner HELIOS MATRIARCH Wanting to pick a card that allows you both access to dragon and 2 Gladius cards is a valid choice. The additional speed is also nice

OCTOPIDER Well I understand wanting to protect your bloodlust cards in the back, it only has seven health for first position which seems a little light. More than likely there aren't too many options that provide more but seven is not a lot to start a 46 mana match with.

GRIM REAPER. really a light health card, it's biggest advantage is going to be affliction if it gets applied, although most splinters won't be a healing anyways

FIRE SPITTER I miss playing with fire spitter, the flying and speed make it hard to hit. Not a bad choice of a card at all

RAVENHOOD WARDEN Well a non-traditional powerhouse, adding protection to everyone with some armor will help protect every card until it's removed

LIZA FOX The more powerful of the two Gladius cards hoping to get a bloodlust boost going at the end which makes it really powerful and hard to hit.

WHISTLING DAMON While not as powerful, it is an opportunity to build its stats via bloodlust while everything else is getting attacked

Round 1

As we approach on one and Ellicott the two teams I'm starting to feel rather confident just with the sheer amount of potential damage on my side. Having a monster that can delve out eight followed by a monster that can delve out seven, before the other four monsters attack with their potential nine damage means things are really pile. As round one starts I get lucky and remove their armor in the first wave of attacks. I then turn around to get slightly unlucky as X-Men is attacked and eliminated before round one is over. That is two attacks on a single card out of six, and I just lost 8 potential damage for each round.

I did manage to get a bloodlust boost to Edith before the round ended which means it's up to 8 range damage

Round 2

Is around two starts I'm feeling very confident, I have enough health of monsters that has long as I don't lose all of my heavy hitters I should be fine. The round starts off with a knockout and a boost for Edith to be nine damage. And then secure my second knockout and during the health of fire spitter to the point of where I am all but guarantee the victory.

Round 3

There is a third round but it's not really around. It's just waiting for me to take a turn so that I can win. This was much faster than I originally anticipated and I'm a bit shocked at how quickly this match ended in my favor.

Thoughts - and likelyhood to use again

Adding plus two to ax man which gave me a double four strike attack quickly followed by the seven damage from Edith is a bit unfair for bronze league. Between those two monsters alone I managed to have a potential 15 damage attack before other monsters to go over. If you're combining this with wave brood, a magic resistance and or healer then you can really start to build some ridiculous offensive teams in water with range of tax now. This won't apply to modern, but in the wild format some of your options are mind-bending for sure.

You could add plus two to neutral cards and other matches, including Cornelius. There's a lot of other potential combinations of adding plus two range in rule sets that could be massively beneficial I think I'm going to try to play around and see what else I can do in the modern format by adding plus two range attacks in the water splinter.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Featuring Born Again in Bronze Brawls

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

I am back this week with another battle-made secrets post featuring my bronze League tech in the fearsome battle. This week is going to feature born again and we'll talk about all the potential opportunity this rule set provides.

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: Born Again

Description: All units receive the Rebirth ability which allows them to self resurrect once.

Reasons Why I like it

You have to be very careful with how you pick your lineups, some of the things you're used to doing are now a potential negative. Adding zero or one minute cars on the back of your lineup could be devastating if they use a sneak attack bloodlust card. Giving them all of those free easy kills might mean that they become unstoppable. It's now better to only have cards that provide an attack, or heel or cleanse and should last a little while or when they get retriggered bring back a full void armor stack to allow it to have a longer life.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 31

Ruleset: Born Again: All units receive the Rebirth ability which allows them to self resurrect once.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Water, Dragon

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Having born again in conjunction with fog of war means that I'm less likely to worry about sneak or snipe or opportunity cards as none of these will have an impact and I can force the attack order to benefit me as much as possible. Either water or fire could be good, dragon unlocks a few more cards but with only 31 mana many of them will be of limited usefulness without burning too much mana

Mana 31 is just about enough to do anything you want, while also restricting the number of legendary cards you can use. It's easy to overspend and not balance your team out well leaving you not enough heavy hitters while you can get overrun by a full team of smaller hitters

Splinters It's pretty limited between the three, I personally think either one is a fine choice and both have their merits. I would tell to lean towards water as you're able to give an additional boost of armor that will reappear on every reborn trigger.

MY TEAM

Summoner KELYA FRENDUL I wanted to add the extra armor every time a monster is reborn. While it might not be a significant advantage it can certainly help especially against range or melee cards

First Position VENARI MARKSRAT If it's going to be reborn I'd like to give a martyr boost twice, or three times if possible. That can really help change the direction

Second Position RUNEMANCER KYE Started to play this lineup more and tweak it a little bit here and there. Having a card that is decent stats of two damage three speed five armor innate health with flying and life leech is interesting. If I'm able to boost it three times with murder, that could get me to five magic damage and 11 health before I like that it attacks very early in order and while it has limited health and only two damage, the fact that it will be reborn helps make sure it should be around for a whileth- Third Position TIDE BITER

Fourth Position TORRENT FIEND Nothing big but I figured it could sit here in front of my healer and it might help me out if it gets to that

Fifth Position MERDAALI GUARDIAN Clearly like to heal ruinmanser, and as it built its health be a life leech get to a point where my healing is larger than its potential damage via enemy and at that point I should be guaranteed the victory

Sixth Position RIVER HELLONDALE The only way to ensure I get a triple martyr boost is to have my own resurrect in conjunction with born again, that should bring it back two times for a triple martyr boost

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner KELYA FRENDUL Great minds think alike and they also went this direction. Speed and armor is great but for the two teams they'll most likely just cancel out the most part

DJINN OSHANNUS great card to have in the lineup but it would really benefit if they had their own Marta card first

NERISSA TRIDAWN Another trusted water go to favorite, three magic damage and nine health means it's a solid attack card against any lineup

RIVERBOAT CAPTIAN I really like the magic splash damage as it will help eliminate cards in a second row and get them weekend or eliminated once before they come to the front

MERDAALI GUARDIAN Again healing their front monster is the key as if they can keep Djinn Oshannus healthy then they can hopefully stay in front

CREEPING OOZE Not providing much other than slowing me down and eliminating the speed boost that I got at the start

FURIOUS CHICKEN Should probably be earlier in the lineup given it protection from fog of war

Round 1

As I look at round one this is going to be a race between building health and getting Runemancwr eliminated. My plan starts off perfectly as Markscrat gets eliminated all three times in the first round providing three martyr boosts to Runemancwr.

Round 2

Round two starts off and I will say that Runemancer looks great with the speed armor and health not to mention the five damage. If getting a full life bleach that will be adding two health from Djinn Oshannus or three health from someone without void. Passed around plays out. I only end up losing zero net health on my tank, it helps that at this health level it's already getting a plus 5 health from healing. I'm only taking seven damage, so I'll be net negative to health until my next life leads triggers adding two more health. It's actually at the round of in two that I start to realize I cannot lose this match and I've already won. My healing plus likely is equal to the attack total for my enemy

Round 3

Things start to really go my way and my base health is starting to climb quickly. Getting a heel of 5 health this round and six next round means my total potential house will be through the roof and my enemy will continue to do less and less damage. My monsters keep whittling down Djinn Oshannus

Round 4

Round four start looks much like Djinn Oshannus is starting to show signs of weakness as its health is only. It isn't long into the round before he is knocked out and retriggered. Even after getting healed at the end of the round I'm still looking great

Round 5

Runemancer is putting on a clinic and secures another knockout. All of this means I'm now healing six health per round while only receiving five magic damage allowing me to arbitrage slightly

Round 6

As we get into these later rounds not every round is going to justify a comment but the match is over the only thing I'm really interested in is just how high of a health I can get

Round 7

Health is up to 24 in this round and I have no signs of slowing down.

Round 8

I end round eight with 25 health total potential in Runemancer, that is a wild number to think of.

Round 9

Another One bites the dust, and another record falls. I'm up to 26 health by the end of this round

Round 10

I'll continue to add health but to this point it's just a matter of time.

Round 11

28 health wowser

Round 12

That 12-round battle was amazing and left me with 29 base health on Runemancer. My best so far in bronze league is 52 health, and getting that healed each round was absolutely mind blowing.

Thoughts - and Chances to Win Again

Adding as much health to the base it's critical to do it as early as possible. Also adding heavy damage for Life leech is important as it will play a role in your total health and how much you can get healed each round as a counter

It looks like I had the perfect counterpunch to my opponent, and this lineup does not always work. There have been times where I am a round or an attack order out of place which makes me lose.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands Highlights - Share Your Journey - Featuring @senstless

Splinterlands Social Media Challenge - Theme: Share Your Journey!

Discovery of Splinterlands:

I'm not exactly sure how I discovered splinter lands, I'm pretty sure it's from a fellow member of the silver gold stackers community who told me I should check out the game and it seemed like something that might enjoy. I have never played a trading card game before and I was intimidated before getting in. I was immediately frustrated and hooked at the same time. Trying to understand all of the rules attack orders and abilities was overwhelming at first but was something that has been the joy to learn.

Duration of Participation:

I joined splinterlands at the end of alpha and start of beta. While I have not been around since the very beginning, I have certainly been around for a very long time and have seen tremendous changes in both gameplay, the community, and the ideas put out forth by the team and the future state.

I have been around for what feels like forever and have seen and have participated in a game of many aspects.

I started a brand new account called senstlessmonster where I blogged about starting a account with just the $10 play pass and did nothing but cell reward cards to grow the account. I was able to grow that account to Silver before I called it quits and felt that that was about as far as one could grow just based on earnings before it became simply too large of a task to upgrade cards to diamond.

I also went through a phase where I didn't sell any cards I acquired and instead spent every spare time I had a new cards and grew the number of counts I was playing. This was back before bots were around and I was manually playing senstless, senstlessmonster, initech and bill-lumbergh. This would require me to be playing two at the same time and two different browsers, and sometimes a third and a second computer to try to get in all my daily quests and when those chests. This causes of strife as I was probably spending too much time playing the game an acquiring cards versus spending time with my family and focusing on other activities. I eventually had to take a step back and reassess how much time I was spending playing each day and every prioritize.

Time Spent in Splinterlands:

I try to get my matches in first thing in the morning as I drink my first cup of freshly ground coffee. Between the time it takes to percolate in my cup, cool down and drink it I can usually get enough matches in to hit my target chests for the day. Plain and bronze I Target 11:00 for the simple fact that then I can push button to reveal all. Once I get up high enough I feel that my earnings are pretty good and it usually takes me enough games to win I have 11 chests, my recovery rate somewhere down in the i-20s to mid-30s.

I also participate in brawls but honestly they don't take that much time fill in. I feel like it's significantly improved over the years for matchmaking and it never takes too long to find an opponent and to get a match as where I used to spend forever just waiting to find someone. This is great especially considering I only play in modern where there should be no bots and that means that there's that many regular people playing

Accomplishments:

Having been around for so long I've had a bunch of different accomplishments over that time. I've placed very well in some gold foil tournaments back when I was building one of those collections, I grew my collections to what I considered to be a significant value worth over $5,000 before the release of SPS. Unfortunately for me due to some life circumstances I had to sell out of my collection mere month before the explosion and value happened and I lost out of a significant gain in both value and earnings. Of course hindsight is always 20/20 but there was no way at the time to know that I should have sourced the refrigerator we needed from different funds, or just bridge the gap until the price is magically exploded up 40x.

I am proud to say that I decided to get back into the game with chaos. I was able to build a almost complete chaos legion deck, I believe the only thing I was missing is potentially not having all of the epics maxed for bronze. I think I chose to go with all of the epics at level one and focus on completeness.

Upcoming Goals:

I am now working my collection to be complete for a bronze level at rebellion as well, and continue to keep a complete runs account for the modern rule sets.

I am trying to learn all the new abilities and strategies. I'm having a lot of fun implementing them and winning. I'm also continuing to stack as much SPS as I can, and I'm happy that I just crossed the 13k threshold. Right now I'm a little lost with how land works since I don't have any and I don't think I'll have any intent to go out and buy some right now. I'm not sure if get into land or how I can find a way to participate

Advice for Beginners:

My advice for beginners is to watch to replace slowly, and a couple of times as you figure out how things work. The splinter lands help page has improved significantly from when I started and having all of the abilities and rule sets listed out now helps clear up any confusion that you might have around why cards attack, how they attack, and potential ideas on how to counter.

~~@senstless

[senstless]

Splinterlands BATTLE MAGE SECRETS featuring Back to Basics

Featuring Bronze League Summoner and Monsters in Action!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: BACK TO BASICS

Description: Units lose all abilities.

Summoner effects are still active.

Reasons Why I like it It really changes which monsters are most useful. It becomes very difficult to balance the need for a decent amount of help to be absorbed by your opponent's attacks, well still having attacks that hit, and have enough damage to burn to your opponent. You don't have to worry about anything but speed differential, and potentially armor. This can make certain cards that are otherwise not nearly as useful much more useful and vice versa. Taking a car away that normally gives martyr or has healing might make the card not worth the mana cost anymore.

The Matchup - Where Rules Sets, Splinters and Mana Collide

The Rule Sets

Watch the Match Here

MANA: 16

Ruleset: Back to Basics: All monsters lose their abilities.

SPLINTERS: Fire, Water, Earth, Death

Initial Rule Set and Mana Gameplay Thoughts

Rulesets Anytime you play with back to basics it means that a large portion of cards are no longer favored. Anything with sneak, reach, or opportunity are out. Playing cards with snipe no longer have an impact as everything just targets the tank, and melee monsters in general are not favored outside of potentially the first tank.

Mana 16 mana is pretty low to start with, and then when you have a back to basics match it makes it extremely difficult. There is a typical blend to have between cards that might actually do some damage, and having enough health on the field to not get wiped out by your opponent. At 16 mana it won't be many cards that have a decent attack and decent health.

Splinters Only losing life dragon, so I don't see much impact. I'm anticipating it is to be a earth favored lineup although water with its additional speed and armor and also be used, and death is great to reduce your opponent's magic attack and take away one of their health. There's a decent argument to be made for all three if you have a full selection of cards

My Team

Summoner OBSIDIAN I chose to play heavy magic and just wanted to get as much damage out there as possible while hoping my opponent did not play death

First Position HILL GIANT One of my favorite three mana cards provide seven health for only three mana and even has an opportunity to attack if it lives long enough.

Second Position DJINN BILJKA

Honestly I think I messed my order up here. Should have played this one last and given the fact it only has two health and I think I messed up my order. Otherwise one magic with potential boost to two makes it a good card p for only three mana.

Third Position SPIRIT HOARDER Another three magic mana card that can get a boost to two even though it's health is very low

Fourth Position BLACKMOOR NYMPH Probably should have been my second position card but it's another romantic card with for health.

Opponent Lineup & Match Play

Summoner KELYA FRENDUL Water is a decent splinter and adding armor to every monster is great if your opponent is using me later arrows it can really keep you around for another round

TORRENT FIEND Looks to be just Cannon fighter to protect their offensive cards that are in the back

HARDY STONEFISH Another good card to absorb a couple of hits especially if I wasn't all magic focused

CHAOS AGENT Since there's no sneak or opportunity you might as well put all these cards up front to leave Djinn Oshannus protected in the back

DJINN OSHANNUS Normally this devastating card would have void but since it loses that and now it's just a Ted health card with five speed and two magic damage

XENITH ARCHER

Solid play, adding a one range attack at the back never hurts and it might sneak a couple of extra damage points in against my low health cards

Round 1

Honestly pretty concerned has this lines up just given the total lack of health on any of my cards that are going to be doing magic damage. Overall I think we have similar Total health but it feels like I'm behind somehow.

As the round starts off, on the last to attack but I do secure three knockouts in a row. This changes things a little bit and leaves me dealing significantly more damage each round in my opponent for route 2

Round 2

If all of my monsters lived then I would have the potential health damage of eight damage this round. Unfortunately for me I will be attacking last and I lose Hill Giants before he get attacked, and then deliver my six magic damage against Djinn Oshannus.

Round 3

Things are looking okay I guess, I'm going to lose Djinn Bilka when around starts, and likely take another hit. But the good news is that I will knock out Djinn Oshannus this round and lock up the victory. It was really crucial for me to have more magic damage each round as a potential being delivered than to have one big monster with all of my attacks

Round 4

. Ground floor starts but it's lopsided, they don't have any attacking cards and I quickly knock them out for the victory.

Round 5

Thoughts -

This is a good showcase of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. At times it's easy to have too many small cards out there that can get overpowered by a dominating epicure legendary card supported by summoner. When you play back to basics much of that traditional powerhouse lineup goes away and things become much more about volume. Choosing to play three or four small magic attacking cards increased my total potential damage dealt each round to a level that cut through their team too quickly. Dealing six to eight magic damage health for round means that any card they can put in the field was just too vulnerable to my total attack, and they did not have enough attacks to get through my health and eliminate them first.

Back to basic matches are basically a race against health, this is why you typically see people stack as much health as a can up front while protecting your heavy hitters in the back. My opponent likely would have been fitted much more from having even a 2 minute not attacking card in front of Djinn Oshannus that would have made their Total health too high for me to overcome. Back to basic games are as much about stacking health as they are stacking damage. Spreading your attacks and damage out also allows you to continue to dwindle your opponent as your team starts to be eliminated

~~@senstless