Battle Mage Secrets for the Explosive Weaponry Ruleset!

Here's the ruleset for this week's battle

In the lost magic ruleset I can't use magic attacks and neither can my opponent. That improves the value of monsters with abilities like protect and shield, flying and dodge.

In the explosive weaponry ruleset speed is king. I generally like to use Conqueror Jacek if there's a high mana cap or Kelya Frendul if the mana is a little lower. I also like other summoners that incorporate speed like Ilthain and Quix the Devious.

Jacek and Quix are both out because their splinters are unavailable for this battle, so Ilthain or Kelya are probably my best options. Kelya is wildly popular and the +1 armor is a whole lot like the protect ability which is also great for the lost magic ruleset, so I expect to see Kelya on the other side of the battlefield.

Here's the starting frame

Think about how this might play out before watching

https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_7985dc8f95dc645a16f9f7d5ced6fcd6&ref=jingo-submo

My opponent chose the summoner that I expected and looked really smart in doing it. They chose some super fast classic favorites to lead the way. I also like their choice of Coastal Nymph as the scattershot ability pairs so beautifully with explosive weaponry.

Let's talk about my lineup

Summoner: Ilthain

+1 speed is perfect for the explosive weaponry ruleset. Return fire sends back all of my opponent's ranged attacks which are multiplied thanks to the explosive weaponry and I can expect ranged attacks to be overrepresented thanks to the lost magic ruleset.
You may notice that 50% of my opponent's monsters have ranged attacks and 67% of mine do.

Tank: Uriel the Purifier

Uriel comes with flying and decent speed which make Uriel harder to hit by non magic attacks which are all of my opponent's attacks in this ruleset. Not to mention that when Uriel swings there is massive damage at the other end. Level 1 Uriel is good. Level 2 Uriel is bonkers when you start getting self healing.

1st position: Corsair Bosun

Corsair Bosun is a great contributor from this position and having the reflection shield in this position is amazing for preventing blast damage in the explosive weaponry ruleset. This was a big part of my choosing Ilthain over Kelya for this battle.

2nd position: War Pegasus

A big fast flier is great for this ruleset. It's so easy to forget the War Pegasus also comes with the shatter ability which is better than ever for the lost magic ruleset and the Diemonshark on the other side of this battlefield. That first shot from War Pegasus would have been a major dagger if my opponent hadn't brought wave brood to absorb it.

3rd position: Venari Crystalsmith

The only thing better than Crystalsmith's tank heal in this setting would be to have self heal on my Uriel. Hopefully someday I can afford to level up my Ilthain.

4th position: Pelacor Arbalest

Even without the General Sloan pairing Pelacor Arbalest has the potential to hand out tons of damage. It may have been wishful thinking to include this here without a taunt monster to soak up some initial damage.

5th position (rear tank): Venari Marksrat

As usual the Marksrat is just here to die and beef up a neighbor. I was thinking about how great it would be to beef up Pelacor Arbalest with that double strike, but this monster would have been better placed in the first position between Uriel and Corsair Bosun.

Did we win?

Yes. This one came right down to the wire and I was lucky to pull it off.

What will I try differently next time?

I should have put Venari Marksrat further up in the lineup. I also would have loved some Kelya lineups with Axemaster and Swamp Spitter.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the upvotes, reblogs, comments and follows. I'll see you in the game. I hope the updated format that I'm using is helpful. Feel free to share any specific feedback in the comments.