BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: Counterspell

All monsters receive the Magic Reflect ability at the start of the battle. Enemy monsters that attack with magic receive damage back.

Damage returned is equal to the damage of the attacker divided by 2, rounded up.
Magic monsters with the Reflection Shield ability do not take damage from reflected magic attacks.
The Amplify ability increases damage.

Ruleset and line-up:

Counterspell - All Monsters have the Magic Reflect ability.
Broken Arrows - Ranged attack Monsters may not be used in battles.
Mana Cap of 17.
Available Splinters - Water

My Team:

Summoner: Lux Vega (+1 to Speed, +1 to Armor, +1 to Health)

1. Cruel Sethropod - Tank, Melee Damage Dealer
2. Tide Biter - Melee Damage Dealer with the Reach, Reflection Shield and True Strike abilities
3. Uraeus - Melee Damage Dealer with the Sneak and Poison abilities
4. Pelacor Bandit - Melee Damage Dealer with the Sneak and Flying abilities
5. Torrent Fiend - Melee Damage Dealer

Strategy:

Ranged Monster can't be chosen with the Broken Arrow Ruleset and Magic Monsters hurt themselves thanks to the Counterspell Ruleset. So I focus on a melee damage team and I believe my opponent will do the same.

Position 1 - Cruel Sethropod:

Great tank especially when you don't expect magic damage. Can take a punch with the high armor and health.

Position 2 - Tide Biter:

Always nice in the second position because of the Reach ability. I also wish more Monsters in my deck had the True Strike ability, then I wouldn't lose so many matches because of misses...

Position 3 - Uraeus:

Hoping for a lot of poison procs but even without it is a great card with 3 damage decent speed and the Sneak ability.

Position 4 - Pelacor Bandit:

Very high speed and the Flying ability equals a high chance to dodge. In case my opponent decides to choose more than one Monster with sneak, a dodge can make the difference.

Position 5 - Torrent Fiend:

Just placed for some Sneak protection.

Round 1:

Similar teams but my opponent decided to choose sustain over damage. So it seems the winner will be decided by dodging and poison procs. Maybe it helps that my Monsters are higher level.
No poison procs for either team in this round and my opponents Chaos Agent manages to dodge.

Round 2:

Feels like a repetition of the first round. Again no poison procs and the Chaos Agent manages to dodge again. So far the odds are slightly in favor of my opponent.

Round 3:

My higher level Pelacor Bandit takes out the opponents lower level Pelacor Bandit leaving only Deeplurker as a Monster with damage in the opponents team. Still no poison procs in this game after 3 successful attack for Uraeus and Deeplurker. What are the odds?

Round 4:

My Pelacor Bandit finds its next victim - Merdaali guardian. This also is the last round for the Chaos Agent, the dodge ability doesn't help him against Tide Biters True Strike.
A bit late but poison finally starts to proc - for both teams.

Round 5:

The poisoned Deeplurker stands no chance versus my remaining 4 Monsters. In the end the match was more one-sided than I expected it to be.

Final Round:

The fastest Monster of the game with the last killing blow.

Result:

My tactic worked out nicely, but I wonder what the outcome would have been with my opponents Monsters at the same level. Either way it was nice to see a damage focussed and a sustain focussed team clash and I won't complain about the result :)

The full battle can also be watched here

Thanks for reading and happy battling!

In case you don't have a Splinterlands account yet, why not create one now