HELLO to all Splinterlands readers of my humble blog.👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Welcome to week 33 of the new iteration of the Splinterlands Weekly Challenges (at least, if I haven't miscounted so far, yet. 😜).

For any old Hivers/Splinterland players who've just come back and are confused, fret not! Even with the name and format tweaks, right at it's core, battles are still the foundation of these posts.

In this week's edition of Battle Mage Secrets, comfort zones and safe spaces are going to be pushed to the limit. This is where space is going to be a premium as everyone will be packed together like sardines ala Tokyo subway rush hour time!

No matter! I present to you the ruleset — UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL 🐟📦

The game's description of UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL is as follows: "Only Monsters with Melee attack may be used in battle."

This is yet another pretty direct description of a ruleset in the game. It is what it says and pretty much only Melee monsters may be used. Of course, the wording also allows dual attack monsters as long as they have a melee attack. So that is another way you can take advantage too! 😉

I will take advantage of this ruleset in my battle showcase today to show how 1 of my units in particular becomes a lot stronger than one would expect with UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. Introducing the unit, DUMACKE ORC.

The pale orcs of Dumacke spent their lives in the lowland caves that surround the windswept plains, scavenging and living off whatever they could find. They lost their natural sight centuries ago due to a virulent strain of fever, and the genetic defect was passed on through future generations. As a result, they developed a fine sense of hearing to compensate and were completely reliant upon it until the wandering technomancer, Yaalbraith, gifted them with the Bright Eyes: goggles infused by tech that synergize with the long-dead optic nerves, enabling the pale orcs to finally see again.

From Splinterlands Lore on DUMACKE ORC

DUMACKE ORC is a Common card released during the Soulbound Rewards expansion. At LEVEL 1, it has 2 ⚔️ ATTACK⚔️ and 2 🏃🏻SPEED🏃🏻, with 3 🛡️ARMOR🛡️ and 1 ❤️HEALTH❤️. It has the SHIELD ability. It's summoning cost is 6 🧪MANA🧪.

As a unit itself, DUMACKE ORC might look lacklustre. It has a relatively high casting cost and it's raw stats are pretty low for something which costs this much. In fact, one can probably easily find units with more stats than this card at half the casting cost!

However, what is often overlooked is it's SHIELD ability! This is an ability which is perfect for any anti-physical damage setup. With 50% reduced damage from melee and ranged units, this frail looking unit suddenly becomes a lot tougher than one would expect.

This could make all the difference if the battle comes down to the wire where the slightest advantage is the fine line between victory or defeat! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 This is definitely what I'd consider game changing! 😱😱😱

⚔️🛡️My Battle Showcase🛡️⚔️

Let me present a battle I fought recently in which the ruleset UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL was in effect. My opponent used the Soulbound Rewards edition Summoner Franz Ruffmane from the LIFE splinter as his main pick, while I used the Soulbound Rewards edition Summoner Eternan Brute from the FIRE splinter. 👼🏻 VS 🔥

At first glance, it would seem like I was at a distinct disadvantage.

• My opponent was using a Summoner which was gave a significant advantage to melee units!

• All his units received extra protection in the form of increased Armour thanks to his summoner.

• His units had an extra DEMORALIZE debuff and an INSPIRE buff, both of which played perfectly into a melee only battle.

• To exacerbate matters, his tank had the TAUNT ability, meaning I was forced into attacking it while he could release all the attacks he liked on my vulnerable units.

I was honestly expecting this to be a really bad matchup for me 😜🤣. This was a team who had an innate advantage in this ruleset. His team had one purpose only and that was to counter this ruleset. Would I be able to turn the tide of battle against such an opponent then? Victory or defeat would lie in the small details.

I would say that the ruleset UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL was DEFINITELY the MVP of this match, having played it's role in turning the tide of battle. The advantage it gave my team resulted in me outlasting my opponent in this battle. It definitely provided the edge that I needed to overcome my opponent.

This ensured that the other units could eventually wear down the opponent until victory was achieved! 🏆🏆🏆

LINK TO MY FIGHT

👯‍♀️👯👯‍♂️LINEUP CHOICES👯‍♀️👯👯‍♂️

1st CARD SLOT

The Dumacke Orc is chosen for this slot. He plays the role of the Main tank perfectly with his great stats. His high Armour stats AND the SHIELD ability will also allow him to have much longer staying power on the battlefield. This allows all other units to be kept safe until he is taken down.

2nd CARD SLOT

The Chimney Wallstop this slot. It's main role here is to be a the DPS and secondary tank thanks to it's REACH ability. With it's high DPS and BLOODLUST ability, he will be a force to contend with.

3rd CARD SLOT

The Tenyii Striker occupies this slot. This is another hard hitting and durable unit that has the SNEAK ability to take out the opponent's backline.

4th CARD SLOT

The Molten Ogre occupies this slot. It's main role here is to debuff the opponents with it's DEMORALIZE ability. However, it also has impressive health stats and DPS and can be an attacking force if needed.

5th CARD SLOT

The Disintegrator occupies this slot. It's role is to also be a debuff with it's DEMORALIZE ability.

6th CARD SLOT

The Antoid Platoon occupies this slot. It's role is to be the backline tank with it's SHIELD ability.

I hope you're starting to see the pattern here in my team setup. 😉

⚔️🛡️Battle Action Report🛡️⚔️

As you can see, both of us fielded very different units in our matchup. My opponent went with a mix of melee debuffs and buffs, while I went for a more defensive lineup. 😱

🔥FIRE🔥 VS 👼🏻LIFE👼🏻

My opponent used the Shieldbearer as his tank in the 1st slot which was a VERY good choice. With his great defensive stats and TAUNT ability, this is a unit which will protect it's entire team until it falls.

The Luminous Eagle occupied his 2nd slot and was another great choice. It's REACH ability allowed it to attack, while it made for a great backup tank with it's FLYING ability too!

The Silvershield Knight occupied his 3rd slot, and it's role was to provide a Melee DPS buff to all his units via the INSPIRE ability.

The Disintegrator then provided more defence to his team with it's great anti melee ability, DEMORALIZE.

His Cave Slug occupied the next slot, being the assassin DPS for his team thanks to it's OPPORTUNITY ability.

His Elven Defender occupied the last slot, being able to protect the backline from any sneak attacks thanks to it's impressive raw stats.

All in all, I would say that the opponent picked a really strong team.

The battle started out with all our units just duking it out pound for pound. It was a high mana game with 48 mana as the limit. The rulesets were UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL & RISE OF THE COMMONS.

• The first round saw both our sides launch a flurry of attacks. However, with everyone being geared for melee defence, the round ended with all units still standing.

• This is where the performance of the Dumacke Orc exceeded all my expectations. Instead of taking any damage from all the attacks which were targeted at it, it received completely ZERO damage!

• The next round was where his Shieldbearer finally fell, with the killing blow launched by my Chimney Wallstop, thus activating it's BLOODLUST!

• It was all over for the opponent now as I eventually mopped up his entire army. 💀💀💀

• Every round saw one of the opponent's units die to Chimney Wallstop as it's BLOODLUST kept allowing it to grow more out of control. And in the frontline, the Dumacke Orc was still completely unscratched with ZERO DAMAGE TAKEN!

Talk about doing WAY MORE than it was supposed to!!! 😱🤯🥳 All I expected was for the UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL ruleset to give me a slight advantage. Individually, on their own, my units would face a huge disadvantage against an enemy which was built to be anti melee. However, thanks to my choice of the Dumacke Orc with his SHIELD ability, I was able to turn the tide of battle! The opponent simply could not handle all that at all.

Well as you can see here in this video recording of my battle, the results were pretty good! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This was truly an eye opener! 😁🏆

Slowly, but surely, I wore down the opponent's team and the match ended up with me inflicting a crushing defeat. My team selection proved to be the edge I needed to eventually overpower my opponent. 💪🏻

🔮🔮🔮Hindsight is 20/20🔮🔮🔮

Would I have done anything differently? 🤔 This might have seemed like a disadvantage at the start but I ended up winning handily. IF I had to use the same cards again, there would be no better lineup than what I had already used for the match. Any other combination MIGHT have resulted in a loss for me. I'm really satisfied with the results against such a worthy opponent. 🏆🥇

💭🧐💭Ending Thoughts💭🧐💭

I definitely can appreciate the ruleset UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL and how it changes the dynamics of usual gameplay. This is one of those rulesets which can be turned into a huge advantage if surrounded with the proper team. The role it brings to the battlefield will give a player the edge in squeezing out every tiny advantage to get the win. 👍🏻

I hope this article has given you some insight into its potential. 😉

To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK 😊.

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Don't miss out more events that are always being organised. Join the PIZZA DISCORD. Even if you aren't interested in the 💰🍕🎁GIVEAWAYS & AIRDROPS💰🍕🎁, there is a vibrant and friendly community there awaiting you.