Who Needs Magic?

Hi,

After missing the last week's Splinterlands Battle Mage Secrets challenge I sure didn't want to miss this one! Lost Magic allows players to try out all sorts of strategies and utilizing various buffs and abilities. In this post, I am going to share one approach and one example battle with you guys.

In this particular match, I was kinda forced out of my comfort zone since my absolute favourite splinter, Water, was excluded. Either Fire or Life is usually my second choice and since my opponent chose Life, I decided to counter that with Fire.

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Rules of Combat

Since the magic will be gone, my primary approach to Lost Magic is usually to add to the armour of my units. This is done by monsters with the Protect ability.

As for the Super Sneak rule, I often add a monster with a Shield or Thorns in the back. However, this time I came up with something even more sneakier but more of that later!

Because there is no magic, there is also a good chance of my opponent using the Demoralize ability which means I have to make some preparations for that possibility!

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That's Why Tarsa

If my opponent should choose to use Demoralize against me, my mostly melee squad could prove to be quite weak which is why I chose Tarsa and her +1 melee buff. So at least we will be at the starting point by doing this.

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My Team

FEROX DEFENDER is my choice for the tank spot. It will also provide armour to other units with its Protect ability. Because of the Lost Magic -rule, Ferox Defender can take a lot of hits as the enemy will have to work around its armour first.

If the first line of defence should crumble, the DISINTEGRATOR is also able to stand a hit or two with an armour of its own. The absence of magic will force my opponent to rely on either Melee or Ranged units(or a mix of both). In the case of going all melee, the Disintegrators Demoralize will soften the sharpest edge of their attack.

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TENYII STRIKER will have the attack strength of 3 because of Tarsa's summoner buff. If the opponent should also use Demoralize, the base attack of 2 points would still do some damage.

This way of thinking applies even more to SAND WORM who has a whopping 5-point base melee attack. Together with Tenyii Striker, they will hopefully be able to start taking out enemy lines in the back using the Sneak ability.

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FIRE CALLER & COUNTESS SINASH are carefully placed.

Since Countess Sinash has the Camouflage ability, she cannot be directly targeted. Fire Caller on the other hand has the Martyr ability which will boost the adjacent monster's stats if he should die.

So if would've put the Fire Caller in the back, only the stats of Countess Sinash would've been boosted. Now that the Sinash is out of reach and all melee monsters have the Sneak ability, they will attack the poor Fire Caller. In a very likely case that he should die, not only Sinash would benefit from that but also the Sand Worm.

Both of these monsters will also provide excellent attack strength with 3 ranged attack points. Besides that, Countess Sinash will be targeting the weakest links among enemy ranks using her Opportunity ability.

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Entering The Arena

After all the summoner buffs and demoralizations had been done, this is how the setup for the battle looked like:

My opponent indeed went with the Life splinter but instead of Tyrus Paladium, they chose General Sloan as their summoner. This one will boost all ranged attacks by one although they didn't go all-ranged but chose a clever 50/50 split between melee and ranged units.

The first monster on their team I paid attention to was Shielbearer. This unit has the
Taunt ability making my monsters attack him instead of the usual targets. The well-armoured Shieldbearer will keep more vulnerable units safe - at least for a while.

One of those monsters is Pelacor Arbalest, a card I like to use very often myself. He has the Double-Strike ability allowing him to strike twice in a single round. With the General's boost, he will be even more lethal.

Oh, yes. As I suspected, there is a Disintegrator on their team. Glad I chose Tarsa. Other opponent monsters are Chaos Knight, Supply Runner, and Goblin Chariot

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The Battle

You can watch the battle on Splinterlands or/and continue reading my battle report below!

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ROUND 1

Right from the beginning our focus was on the opponent Shieldbearer and if it wasn't for my Sand Worm, bringing him down could have easily lasted to second round. Meanwhile, my Ferox Defender was doing what he knows best - defending. Then again, while doing so he took one hell of a beating but managed to survive at least for now.

ROUND 2

I had an absolutely amazing start for the next one! Countess Sinash used her speed and Opportunity to make the first strike and take down the most menacing enemy unit - Pelacor Arbalest. Just after that the opponent Supply Runner destroyed my Ferox Defender. This was still anyone's game.

Overall the second round was packed with events. My Disintegrator was now holding the tank spot and taking some serious hits. At the end of the round the spearhead of my offence, the Sand Worm, did it again and Goblin Chariot was no more.

ROUND 3

At the beginning of the third round, my opponent saw an increase in their melee attack strength as they were successful in defeating my Disintegrator. Gladly we had managed to weaken their tank, Chaos Knigth, enough so it was an easy task for Fire Caller to take him out.

ROUND 4

I began to smell the victory as Countess Sinash opened the round by getting rid of Supply Runner. Tenyii Striker, my current tank unit had enough health to withstand the futile attacks made by their Disintegrator who had only 1 health left as went on to the fifth and final, very quick, round.

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Conclusion

Playing the Lost Magic ruleset is actually quite simple - just make sure to use buffs and abilities that weaken the power of either melee or ranged attacks. One other crucial thing in my opinion is to make sure you are well armored as well.

In this battle, I chose to go with Protect and Demoralize which both worked pretty well in my advantage. Other ways to tackle the ruleset would be by using the Return Fire ability for example.

Even though I've put a lot of resources into building my all-magic Water team, I actually quite like the ruleset. The reason for that is on the side I have also been focusing on building a strong Fire deck with an emphasis on melee attacks and how to counter them.

Thank you for reading!