BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge! Holy Protection!
Hi everyone! It's time for the weekly Battle Mage Secrets challenge and the challenge this week is the Holy Protection Ruleset.
About the Ruleset
Holy Protection
The Holy Protection ruleset states that "All Monsters have the Divine Shield ability". This means that monsters will take no damage on taking their first hit. Divine Shield will also re-apply if a monster is resurrected, making it a pain if the opponent uses a monster with the Resurrect ability.
Battle Ruleset(s)
Details of my battle with this ruleset is as follows.
Holy Protection: All Monsters have the Divine Shield ability
Taking Sides: Neutral Monsters may not be used in battles
Only the Water, Earth and Life Splinters can be used
Mana Cap: 45
Format: Modern Tournament, Bronze League, No Legendary Summoners
Cards & Line Up
Summoner
vs
Summoner: Lobb Lowland - This reduces the Speed of the opponent’s deck by 1 and allows the use of 1 Gladiator card in my deck.
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| Position | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unicorn Mustang | It is the main tank, to take on the initial opponent damage, and to provide some shielding to my Flying monster. |
| 2 | Pelacor Mercenary | It has a good amount of attack and health and has the Flying ability, allowing it not to take damage from the Earthquake ruleset |
| 3 | Fungus Flinger | It's here for the Martyr ability, so that the Pelacor Mercenary and Quora Towershead can benefit from additional stats. |
| 4 | Quora Towershead | It's the main star of this deck, with its Bloodlust and Heal ability. The Heal ability will offset the Earthquake damage every round. |
| 5 | Queen Mycelia | It's here to provide additional shields with its Protect ability, so that the deck can last an additional round of hits from the Earthquake ruleset. |
| 6 | Goblin Psychic | It has the Heal ability and should be able to last 4 rounds if the opponent doesn't hit the backline. |
Strategy
The ruleset here meant that (1) Non-flying monsters take 2 damage every round, (2) Monsters take no damage upon receiving their first hit, and (3) No neutral monsters may be used, reducing the card selection available.
My strategy was to rely on Pelacor Mercenary with its Flying ability and Quora Towershead with its Heals and Bloodlust to carry the deck through the battle. The other monsters here play an important role in supporting these cards with the Heal, Protect and Martyr abilities. The Holy Protection ruleset helps offset the Earthquake damage on the first round, but it does give the opponent an advantage if he employs a full flying deck, given that I only have 1 flying monster in the deck.
The opponent did employ a deck that has most flying monsters, with the exceptions being Captain Katie and Venari Crystalsmith. The combination of Repair, Heals, Shatter and Recharge abilities from this deck is actually quite potent. From the first couple rounds, it did seem like the opponent was winning. Fortunately, I managed to take out Uriel the Purifier before it did any serious damage to the Pelacor Mercenary, and the rest did not do too much serious damage.
I was glad that my strategy worked, and Pelacor Mercenary and Quora Towershead, which constitutes the heart of my strategy, were the last two monsters standing.
Thoughts on the Holy Protection Ruleset
As the Holy Protection ruleset protects every monster from its first damage, it actually causes the battle to drag out a little longer than usual. One possible way to gain an advantage over the opponent is to use a monster with the Blast ability, as the adjacent monster will lose its Holy Protection with that 1 hit. Another ability that is useful is the backfire ability, such as Thorns, Return Fire and Magic Reflect. They will also lose their Holy Protection if they attack first, or take damage if not.
Thanks for sharing! - @yonilkar
