BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge! - Counterspell Ruleset

Hi Guys! In this post we are exploring on another Splinterlands ruleset. The ruleset we are focusing on is Counterspell.

In a Counterspell ruleset, all units receive the magic reflect ability at the start of the battle. This means 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 while the Amplify ability will increases damage receive.

Lets take a look at a Wild Silver ranked match with Counterspell as one of the ruleset. The battle restrictions are:
Counterspell and Weak Magic with a max mana of 27. Only Fire, Death and Dragon splinters are allowed in this battle. The Video for the Full Battle can be seen here:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_4ff7cc0e0538de3076054fe540df3fea&ref=genming

Splinter	Mana Cost	Position	Reason
Quix the Devious	4	Summoner	With Counterspell as one of the ruleset, I wasn't expecting to face many magic attacking units. I decided to use Quix instead so I could reduce incoming ranged damage and also to gain some speed advantageous.
Djinn Chwala	8	1st	Beside ranged damage, the other damage I was expecting from my opponent was melee damage. Using Djinn Chwala as the tank would then be a good choice as it provide much needed defense due to its good armor and health and also its Thorn ability.
Ravenhood Warden	4	2nd	Ravenhood Warden's Protect ability was extremely useful in this battle setup as the armor provided by Protect would help against both ranged and melee damage. On top of that Ravenhood also had a decent ranged attack of 2.
Venari Bonesmith	4	3rd	Putting Venari Bonesmith was a sneaky move. I knew it will suffered from the Magic Reflect due to the Counterspell ruleset but I wanted to sneak magic attack that bypass armor. Another important reason why I used Bonesmith was its Poison and Life Leech abilities. If Bonesmith managed to trigger Poison on the target, the target will suffer an additional 2 damage to its health even if it was heavily protected by armor. Life Leech on the other hand will keep my Bonesmith alive from the Magic Reflect because it will gain one health to replace the health lost to Magic Reflect.
Dhampir Infiltrator	4	4th	Dhampir Infiltrator was placed to sneak attack the opponent backline. It had Double Strike so could potentially caused massive damage to the opponent lineup if there was no protection at the back.
Naga Assassin	2	5th	Naga Assassin was placed here as a buffer to keep Dhampir Infiltrator safe from Sneak attack. Furthermore Naga Assassin has Backfire and is fast. Any miss melee attack on Naga Assassin would cause a backfire melee attack back on the opponent unit.
Chaos Agent	1	6th	Chaos Agent was also placed a cannon fodder. Its Dodge ability would increase its survivability by giving it a chance to dodge melee and ranged attack.
Total Mana:	27

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Opponent Lineup:

My opponent went with a full melee and ranged Death splinter lineup with Thaddius Brood as the summoner. The opponent putting Cursed Windeku at the back would caused my Dhampir Infiltrator huge problem. My opponent strategy was focused on the back with a few sneak attackers and a huge tank while using Chaos Agent and Riftwing to hold the front.

End of Round 1:

The round didn't go that well for me as I lost my Dhampir Infiltrator to the Thorn ability of my opponent's Cursed Windeku. However my backline still held its line with Chaos Agent managing to dodge one attack from my opponent sneak attack. Meanwhile I also took out my opponent Chaos Agent and now faced the evasive Riftwing.

End of Round 2:

I lost my Chaos Agent this round but fortunately my units managed to poison and also hit the opponent Riftwing. This meant the enemy Riftwing will died next round and the opponent's Silent Sha-vi will dropped to the first position. This would then relieved the pressure of the opponent's sneak attacks and gave me time to wear down the opponent from the front.

End of Round 3:

Not only did my opponent lost its Silent Sha-vi this round but its remaining sneak attacker also missed its attack and got backfired. It now looked set that I will win this match at this point as my opponent other strong unit, Cursed Windeku, was unable to do anything sitting pretty at the back while the frontline was getting devastated by my lineup.

End of Round 4:

With only 2 melee units left, my opponent now faced a huge problem facing my Djinn Chwala which not only had armor but was also backed by ranged and magic units at the back.

End of Round 5:

As you can see my opponent Cursed Windeku had no chance against my remaining units. I officially killed off the last opponent unit in the next round.

KEY STRATEGY
My strategy was to use my Djinn Chwala to not only tank but try to attack and break the opponent frontline with the help of some ranged and magic units. The strategy almost didn't work as my opponent placed non offensive units as cannon fodder in front and attack my backline with sneak units. Fortunately I was faster in cutting down my opponent frontline and bringing those opposing sneak units down to face my Djinn Chwala.

OTHER STRATEGIES
Another strategy to use in a Counterspell ruleset is to make use of magic units with Void ability. Units with Void ability will decrease the amount of magic damage deflected back by Magic Reflect. A unit with 2 magic damage typically will not get any reflected magic damage as the reflected damage will be halved by the Void ability which will then round down to zero. Most people like to put up huge armor in their lineup in Counterspell ruleset so it would be a shock to them when it turned out they are facing magic units with Void.

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

My guild, The Guild of Kingshaven, is also actively looking for new members. The guild is currently battling in tier 3 and is able to get very decent SPS and Merits from brawl competition. If you are able to fight at least in Silver and above league and is committed to do your brawl battles, do feel free to apply.
Our guild link is https://splinterlands.com/?p=guild&id=07ab9325eea386c3570db41f53fd991e78806485&tab=