Taking Sides ruleset in Splinterlands - encourages broad card collections

So again it is a silent week in the Splinterverse with the sale going on, but not developing too much pace.
Otherwise I did not hear too much news and again no new releases. All is starting to become a bit quiet...

However a new week means the opportunity to share another battle!

This week features another of those mysterious rulesets none can guess what it actually does until you read its restricions. So here it is: "Taking Sides".
-Yes, your guess is correct!

However let us read its more detailed description:
"No neutral units may be used."

So simple and plain: You will not see units of Neutral Splinters in battles that include this ruleset.

But are there other things to consider besides the obvious which has been just read by you?

Let us explore one of my battles here:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_d5cda5dc48a16478e927168cf91de2bb&ref=jdike

Basically mine and my opponent's lineups looked quite similar. But due to different summoners our strategies were different. While I again wanted to employ the power of magic. My opponent went with a bit more of a melee-oriented choice of units. But there was more to it, I guessed..

Round 1 went well for me, while my Mycelic Infantry held the line, my opponent's main tank already left the field.
But something seemed odd, though. It seems like my opponent was very far away from maxing mana points in his line-up. While I had two more rather expensive units, he had not. So his healer, Goblin Psych already ended functioning as tank.

Which did not wen well, obviously. And you can see the beginning of Round 2...

... which brought me a flawless victory without the loss of a single unit.

So what to learn? -It is (sometimes) useful to have a wide array of units available for selection.
Therefore the versatility of Neutral Splinter units can lead to your downfall if "Taking Sides" ruleset comes up and you have not enough units to choose from.

Furthermore if "Taking Sides" ruleset meets with only a select few of Splinters available to play even having one or two strong Splinters can not be enough.
Therefore I come to the conclusion "Taking Sides" rulesets encourages players to broaden their collection a bit.

You are still not into the Splinterverse, but you consider joining? -Consider using my sign-up link, too: https://splinterlands.com?ref=jdike