When The Ground Starts Shaking

In this week’s Battle Mage Secrets, we look at the Earthquake ruleset and see what strategy works when all non-flying units take 2 physical damage at the end of every round.

Units that have been snared are considered non-flying as well. Also, since Earthquake is considered physical damage, you can reduce it's effect by using units with the Shield ability.

For this battle, i've gone with Tyrus Paladium as my summoner because I want to get an extra shield boost for my non-flying units. Hopefully, this helps them survive another round at least.

There are two main strategies I've seen for Earthquake battles. The first is to use flying units as much as possible. This is an obvious choice because they don't suffer a penalty each round.

The other strategy is to boost the shield of the units as much as possible and to also use units with the Shield ability to minimize the damage each round. My preference is typically the former. Keeps things simple.

1st position - Kralus - Flying ability makes it an obvious choice. But beyond that, it has a lot of health and shield for a low mana battle.
2nd position - Soul Fiend - Just a bit of buffer before my opponent can reach my back line and costs 0 mana.
3rd position - Gargoya Scrapper - A gargoyle that can't fly. But otherwise, it has some health and shield to be useful as a buffer.
4th position - Light Elemental - Flying and decent magic attack. Only weakness is its low health.

Looking at my opponent's cards, I knew it was going to be a good battle because he prioritized shields over flying. That leaves him vulnerable to magic attacks.

And we can see how vulnerable that strategy is when there isn't enough shield to begin with on low mana units. By the start of the 2nd round, you can see that my opponent was already on the ropes.

Another big risk is relying on a range attacker because once it makes it way to the front of the battle, it becomes ineffective and just a sitting duck. At the very least, you got to use one that can attack from close-range if the front units are light on health and shield.

Eventually, victory was mine. You can watch a replay of the battle here: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_0822eb6d67276be21a749c7d4c223cfb&ref=charcoalbuffet

Well, that's all for this Earthquake edition of Battlemage Secrets. See you in the next one.