Hello there.

Today I'll share my battle under the Holy Protection ruleset. But first, I will share some of my thoughts regarding it. With this ruleset, all monsters gain the Divine Shield ability. The Divine Shield is a buff that reduces the damage of the first attack received to 0. This buff is reapplied when a monster is resurrected.

In this ruleset, the initial strategy that comes to mind is using monsters with the Blast ability. The blast damage can trigger the Divine Shield thus setting up the next monster to be damaged. A similar strategy is using a monster with Redemption. The redemption damage can remove all Divine Shield from the opponent's team. Another strategy that I like to do is using Shatter abilities. Even though the Divine Shield can reduce the damage, the shatter ability still removes the armor. This can be a good setup for the next attacker. For my team, I try to focus my attack and going front to back. Using abilities like Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity/Scattershot splits the damage, and has the possibility of not killing a monster.

I believe that being flexible in battle is the ideal strategy. Check the opponent's history, check what they are most likely to use, and counter it. But always pick teams that can also counter different strategies. Without further ado, let's get into the battle.

The Ruleset

This was a tournament battle, so it was a Silver Wild battle with Up Close and Personal, Earthquake, and Holy Protection Rulesets. A 99 mana battle is the max amount, and only Dragon is unavailable. I can think of a lot of different strategies for each so I will try to counter as much as I can. Being forced to use only Melee monsters means we have to rely on Sneak and Opportunity to attack from the backline.

The ideal team for Fire is Yodin with a lot of Sneak and Opportunity monsters. The blast provided by Yodin makes spreading the damage more powerful. For Water, Possibilus with Coastal Sentry is really strong. They also have good Opportunity monsters that can work well to deal more damage. The additional HP from Possibilus also helps increase the team's survivability.

For Earth, Llama is really strong. Partner it with Flesh Golem and it can be difficult to kill. The Oaken Behemoth has Magic attack that can help it deal damage to HP directly. Lobb Lowland with Quora is another powerful team that has a lot of sustain and damage.

For Life, Chanseus can be a strong support summoner partnered with Uriel. Corsair Bosun in second position can help deal with Yodin teams. Those three can be strong enough to outsustain a lot of teams. For Death, Crypt Mancer can be good for the debuffs, Astral Entity to remove armor and add evasion, and even Lorkus can be good for its flexibility. Cursed Windeku can provide some Thorns damage, and they have a lot Sneak and Opportunity monsters available.

The Lineup

For me, between the lineups I mentioned above, I'd rather go with the Quora team. I don't have a lot of the summoners I mentioned, and I think this team can beat the Possibilus team. I placed Grund in front to deal as much damage as possible, even at the risk of a Thorns monster. I just want to soften them up for Quora. The Bramble Pixie is placed in preparation for when Quora goes to the first position. The Disintegrator is for the Demoralize, while Arkemis is there to give armor with Protect. The Terraceous Hulk is there to try and split the damage, with Arkemis next to it to tank any blast damage, and Sneak attacks once my Hulk dies.

The Battle

Link to the Battle

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The Matchup

My opponent decided to go with a Llama team. They placed a Venari Knifer in front which will really make my Grund pay. They also have Oaken Behemoth that can deal a lot of damage from the back. It was very interesting that they had the Pelacor and Nectar Queen at the back. I know they won't take damage from the Earthquake, but they are just there being idle. I guess they are good tanks against any Sneak attacks, and are not bad targets for the Last Stand.

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End of Round 1

With both of us not going for any Sneak or Opportunity monsters, this looks like it is going to be a long battle. My Hulk is going to save me a lot of magic damage from the Behemoth. My grund is dealing damage, but is also taking a lot from the Thorns.

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End of Round 2

The Earthquake took out all of my Divine Shield. Quora not getting the last hit on the Grund is a bit of a shame, but it is good that Bramble Pixie was able to hit its attack and removed the Grund's armor.

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End of Round 3

Llama cleansing the Demoralize is really frustrating. It was a good thing that their Grund missed one of its attack, or that would have been a lot of damage on my Quora. Leaving Grund at 3 HP puts it at the perfect health for my Quora to kill it next round.

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End of Round 4

Quora was able to get a Bloodlust stack from killing Grund, but Arkemis Halved its damage. Oaken Behemoth having Reach and further damaging Quora can be dangerous. My Hulk is getting low, so hopefully it bought enough time for my team.

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End of Round 5

Quora wasn't able to get the killing blow, but at least the Behemoth is now in the first position. My Pixie and backline are already pretty damage, while they still have 2 Flying monsters, and the Last Stand of Llama. This battle is still up in the air.

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End of Round 6

The Bramble Pixie addition is definitely a game changer. I needed all those damage to kill my opponent's monsters faster. Quora was starting to get in danger there but luckily it seems it can get another bloodlust stack next round.

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End of Round 7

Quora getting the kill there and going back to 2 magic and melee damage is huge. My Quora can take 5 damage from the Pelacor's attack and the Earthquake, but it heals for 4. It is starting to look better for me, but there is still the Last Stand to worry about. Since it will take a while to get a kill, I'll skip some rounds.

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End of Round 8 - 12

Nectar Queen finally got its Last Stand buff, and has high HP and attack. Luckily, it missed its attack against my Quora. I think that might have helped me win the game. My Quora having 3 magic and melee damage is very helpful in whittling down the enemy's life.

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End of Round 13

Their Nectar Queen missed its attack again. My Quora is healing 5 HP every round, while they have a max damage of 8. They need around 4 turns to kill my Quora, but I need a max of 4, assuming I just hit 1 melee attack. It is looking really good for me. Those 2 misses really messed them up.

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End of the Battle

Well that was an interesting last few rounds. The Nectar Queen was never able to hit my Quora even though there was only a 3 speed difference between them. My Quora on the other hand, barely missed against it with its Flying ability. I will have to say that I got very lucky in the end there. If the Nectar Queen was able to hit all its attacks, I think I would have lost.

The Result

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Conclusion

In tournaments where there are additional limitations on top of the Rulesets and banned elements, I try to make it a point to look at the possible teams and imagine them fighting against one another. I will then choose the team which I think is best. For this specific battle, my opponent used a team composition that I was ready for. I wasn't 100 percent sure that I'll win, but I believe I got very lucky in the end there.