This post is an entry to the BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: EARTHQUAKE

Description: All non-flying units take 2 physical damage at the end of every turn.

Info: Snared units are considered non-flying. Since the damage given is physical, it can be reduced to 1 if the unit has the shield ability.

The Battle

Battle Rulesets	Description	Info
MELEE MAYHEM	Melee attack Monsters can attack from any position.	If you have melee monsters in the back-line with Sneak or Opportunity, those abilities take precedence. Select a summoner that increases melee attack or a summoner that reduces melee attack of enemies + a tank with Shield. Thorns, Inspire, Blast, and Retaliate help in this ruleset.
EARTHQUAKE	Non-flying Monsters take 2 Melee damage at the end of each round.	Using monsters with Flying or Heal is the trick for this ruleset, but if you are unable to choose such monsters, use monsters that have high HP and high damage. Don't keep heal units up front. Shield has a very important role. Keep monsters with Flying in the last positions when the Earthquake has done enough damage to both sides.
CLOSE RANGE	Ranged attacks may be used in the first position in battles.	You can use high HP or high-speed Ranged monsters at position 2 (or even at position 1 if it has Heal). Choose summoners that give a bonus to Ranged attack or speed and then choose high-damage Ranged attack monsters. Beware of the possibility that your opponent might pick Lir Deepswimmer as a summoner or monsters with Return Fire. High HP and Heal are the way to go in this ruleset.

Lineup

It was a high mana life-death game from my favorite Diamond Beginner Tournament.

Card	Strategy
	Lux Vega - My default choice in most of the games. +1 Armor is especially good for Earthquake games, but +1 life is also a good thing.
	Arkemis the Bear - My best natural big tank, armor, and halfling ability good for almost every game. If you don't have flying ability armor is the second best thing to do against Earthquakes.
	War Pegasus - Great ranged monster in general, but the flying makes it more useful for this battle.
	Time Mage - Nowadays teams with a lot of armor are very common. So decreasing armor and speed is always a good option. 3 magic damage for 4 mana is also a good value.
	Adelade Brightwing - Queen of the life support, almost every ability is great for every game and the flying ability is make her even more powerful for this game.
	Iziar - I think she is my favorite Legendary soulbound card. Taunt with huge health and martyr ability makes her queen of high mana life games. I would like to grab a Level 4 version from her.
	Pelacor Arbalest - A little weak, but very good DPS monster and also has flying ability.

Battle - Replay

Did your strategy work? What will you try differently next time?

No. I had only 5% chance to win. I tried different teams, but not found any good team for this battle.

Battle Results

Tournament Results

40 SPS from a tournament is one of my best this year :)

Do you like the EARTHQUAKE ruleset? Why or why not?

More or less yes. I had some great flying units, but I still need to get some more.