Broken Arrows: A battle for dominance

Broken Arrows:

"A high HP first monster with Void ability will deal with both melee and magic. Give your tank a back up with a tank heal support. Using Thorns or Magic Reflect is also very useful in this rule set. Defend against either Magic or Melee attacks by using the right summoner and then use monsters' abilities to deal with the other attack type." - Splintercards

Ruleset:

Line ups:

Thaddeus Brood:

With magic being a real threat in a ruleset such as broken arrows and with the focus on either Death or Earth, I wanted to give something different a shot to my typical Earth tendencies. Death is one of my favourite Splinters and it really comes alive at Silver level and I hope to utilise the advantages of reduced magic damage from Thaddeus Brood to my advantage. By using this card at fourth level, I unlock the Rares up to level four and the Epics can go to level three. This in my experience, at Silver can be game changing and I will highlight a couple of cards below in my lineup where new abilities are gained at various levels.

Cursed Windeku:

Going ahead with the advice from Splintercards, I went for Thorns in the first position and where better than with Cursed Windeku. A good stack of hitpoints and some decent damage allows this card to sit in the first position and take a few hits whilst dealing some pretty good damage - especially if the opposing lineup selects a melee focused attack.

Carrion Shade:

With a little mana left over, I wanted to go for a little additional hit points in the second position to absorb any remaining damage to allow my Life Leech monsters in the next positions to build up a few more hit points if possible. I am not expecting great things from the Carrion Shade but with the Flying ability, there is always a chance of a melee miss from the opposing lineup.

Venari Bonesmith:

At fourth level Venari Bonesmith gains the Poison ability. I am hoping for a Poison to be inflicted on the opposing tank nice and early but with this being a percentage chance of inflicting poison there is always a possibility it will not work. The benefit here would be an additional two damage at the end of each turn which would be a great increase to the damage output of my lineup. This is a card which for four mana is good and the Life Leech ability makes this card grow in strength which is great if the damage direction can be predicted.

Life Sapper:

I am glad I managed to take this card to fourth level to gain the addition magic damage which makes this card much, much more potent for the mana cost. Also with the Life Leech ability, I am hoping to build the health of the Life Sapper and the Venari Bonesmith to make them a bit more tanky to shield my lineup as best possible.

Uraeus:

At the maximum level for Silver, this is a great reward card that comes very cheap. It is certainly on my Gold Foil purchase list as it is used so heavily across lineups due to its Neutral Splinter alignment. I hope to slow down the opposing lineup from the front and attack hard and fast with Sneak damage from behind. I hope to combine this with the next card to enjoy this strategy to maximum impact.

Silent Sha-vi:

For five mana, this is one of my more expensive cards on the battlefield. This is a highly utilised card in my deck and I aim to have this at maximum level in the short term. A fast attacking Sneak monster which should cause some chaos for the opposing backline, especially in combination with Uraeus.

Opposing Lineup

Obsidian:

This is exactly what I hoped to see when I used Thaddeus Brood. With my summoner I have nullified the benefit the opponent was hoping for and this is a good win for me here. I would expect to see magic damage with some melee thrown in as well. The total mana of 27 is relatively low so this could be a couple of high mana cards or multiple low mana cards to attack with full magic damage. If the opponent is using magic then I hope to counter with my faster monsters attacking their backline.

Kron The Undying

With the Self-Heal ability, Kron The Undying has a tendency to stick on the battlefield for rather unwelcome periods of time. I hope to be able to inflict Poison as early as the first round to prevent the heal from soaking up all my damage dealt. A costly card both in the wallet and for the mana but also well worth it. A real threat when combined with Obsidian to gain the additional magic damage so I am glad to have countered this with Thaddeus Brood.

Mushroom Seer:

With the reduction in Magic damage due to the Silence ability, this is a great card. Having spoken and written about this card several times, I am well aware how important this card can be especially given the damage and Silence for the five mana cost. If I want the best out of my Life Sapper, this card needs to go! A great choice for an Anti Magic play.

Queen Mycelia:

Strengthening your lineup with additional armour is a great idea in a ruleset such as this. It takes away some of the vulnerability which can be there for the Magic focused lineups. As they tend to be much slower than some of the ranged or melee strategies.

Venari Spellsmith:

This was one of my most underused cards prior to the Gladiator rulesets. Since then, with the introduction of the current reward summoners I have found a rising need for the Dispell ability. I am not surprised to see this card and for the mana it is a great card. Definitely one to level up to maximum level to gain the Amplify ability (incidentally also the same for Queen Mycelia at her next level). Unfortunately for my opponent this will be a mostly wasted card as it will not have any impact with regards to its ability. The magic damage will however, be useful which makes this a less effective choice than other cards for less mana.

Post Line Up Thoughts:
Overall, I think I have countered my opponent’s strategy quite well with the use of Thaddeus Brood as it will reduce magic damage by one and health by one. Whilst I do not believe the minus one health to be too useful, the reduced magic damage is clutch here as it will stop cards such as Kron the Undying from being too powerful and blowing away my lineup. I think much of this battle will rely on hitting my mark from behind and inflicting as much Poison damage as I can.

The Battle

Battle Link

Round 1:

Round 2:

Final Rounds:

Overall it was a good strategy from my opponent but the use of fast monsters to attack their rearguard made the difference. Poison was very useful at the end of the battle and it is good to see it took effect. I am glad for my selection of Thaddeus Brood as that card in particular kept the damage at bay.

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