Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge! BRIAR PATCH....

In my continued effort to bring you low quality, repetitive, cyclical, drivel on a weekly basis, in a change from the precious metals related rhetoric i usually bang on about, I now offer to you my loyal followers, a bang average #splinterlands blog.

Without much thought, or deep contemplation, ill be sharing with you few brave souls that have taken the time to read this post, my weekly BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge!. The "share your battle" challange has ended, where the @splinterlands team asked you to share a battle with a specific monster, and now its more about a specific ruleset. This new weekly challenge definitely has its upside, as it allows a wider audience to take part, even when their battle decks are limited.

This week, the team over at #splinterlands has asked us to share a battle with the ruleset "BRIAR PATCH". As the name suggests, all your monsters, now have the thorns ability.... You get too close, youre going to feel it!! All melee attack monsters will recieve -2 health damage in return.

This ruleset, can completely flip a battle on its head! conventional battle plans go straight out the window, it also creates a whole new style of play. With the correct selection, it is possible to field a suprisingly deadly team.

Lets go play #splinterlands...... Its not like you can pick and choose the rulesets for every battle!

After playing what seemed like my full allocation of 50 battles, I finally came across the ruleset I was waiting for:

But doing what #splinterlands does best, they threw a spanner in the works by adding additional rulesets alongside BORN AGAIN, just to mess with my mind and really get me thinking.

SILENCED SUMMONERS: Summoners do NOT have any stat buffs or debuffs!!

Taking these rulesets into consideration, and with array of summoner choices available to me, I actually decided that for this specific battle, with these specific ruleset, I would pick my tried and tested LVL 4 LYANNA NATURA. Theres some decent monsters to pick from with this summoner. Ive got an idea of the monster(s) id like to get involved as they could potentially be the difference between picking up a W or a L.

As you can see, its not a bad line up!??! My choice of monsters are not dependenton the summoner buffs. My heavily dependent MAGIC attacks not only circumnavigate the thorns issue, but with my level 4 mushroom seer having a negative buff and my level 2 Mycelic offering extra shielding, I pretty confident in my lineu. My failed summoner offering magic reflect, and good health, plus add to that my Krons healimf ability and my tank positions seem strong enough. Ive got a decent chance to defeat several potential opposition lineups. Putting all my eggs into one basket here with my heavy magic attack lineup, but with my lvl 4 Govlin adding some extra attacks and my PERYTON ready to go, this line-up may see me through this battle.

When ever I come across the "BRIAR PATCH" ruleset, it really is a bit of complete change from the usual..... I often weigh up the pros and cons of picking a high attack team OR a heavy magic attack team to negate the many pitfalls -2 health in return. But with the silenced summoners ruleset also in play and such a high MANA game, i really could only include some seriously aggressive magic monsters.

Welshies Top Tip: when given the ruleset "BRIAR PATCH", try to include monsters eith the MAGIC or RANGED attack ability. You wont adversely loose any health just from your own atrack

Watch the battle HERE

Once the two teams are revealed, I always have a quick look at my opponents set up, before hitting rumble. I like to playout in my head how I think the battle will unfold. I try and predict what I think the outcome may be, and judge how well my opponents have set up thier team. With restrictions on summoner choice but with these specific rulesets, I think ive done quite well and built a very competitive team....

My opponents choice of summoner has differed from mine, yet with "BRIAR PATCH" also in play it simply comes down to the choice of monster available by selecting your splinter. So lets see who gets the upper hand... can my EARTH splinter take down their LIFE splinter?

So can my lvl 4 summoner take out my opponents lvl 4 summoner?? Its going to be tough.... They definitely have some decent monsters out on display. With that said im sure its going to be a challenging battle. Lets hit rumble and see how this plays out!!

The stage was set, two strong summoners, with very different approaches, these teams are sure to give a great battle. I see the difference in lineup, but as the old adage goes - " you can only play whats in front of you!!"

Before the battle even begins, our summoner buffsDO NOT take effect, monster buffs take effect though.... So can my monsters over come theirs, and can the " BRIAR PATCH" and "SILENCED SUMMONERS" ruleset make any difference? Only one way to find out!!

With both summoners NOT adding that extra battle power, it truly is down to the monsters to make this battle memorable.

Round two carried off where round one ended..... My Failed summoner did exactly what i needed it to do, and die, giving my otjer monsters time to attack. Im not.making much impact at the moment, im loosing monsters faster than i can kill them. At least im not sufferingthe effects of THORNS, while my other monsters are attacking from all angles.

My opponents choice of tank, has proven to be a tricky monster, the "VOID" ability has caused me to miss(zero damage) a few times amd weaken my attack. But my superior attacking power is now beginning to take effect. The addition ruleset was in my favour..... I feel luck is definitely on my side today!

After breaking through my tank before I could take out his, I dont actually think i will hold out for much longer....I thought my superior monster levels and attacks would have starting to turn the tide of battle. After the fall of my tanks, this battle may not last much longer!!

Thankfully, my shielding worked in my favour and i managed to hold out thanks to my Mycelic's additional shiled ability. Thanks to the fact my opponents monster was doing very little damage(it always helps) becuaw my shielding took the brunt of the damage. IFinally managed to take down his tank. Was it too laye, could I still take out his remaining monster and winning the battle.

Now that his stubborn tank is taken care of, can i pick up the pieves of whats left of ny team and pull off a miracle and actually win this??

Just a few more attacks and this battle should be over. Luckily, my opponents high speed doesnt matter. So thats a job well done!!

Luckily for me, ranged attacks can not strike when in the tank position thus rendering them just cannon fodder....

Now out gunning my opponent, its going to be done in a blink of an eye.... Turns out my selection at tank and heavy magic attack was the key to winning this battle. The extra Armour certainly contributed to my not so heavily one sided victory.

VICTORY!!!..... If in doubt come out all guns blazing..... my opponents team was well thought out, but it was never in doubt. Superior monster level and a team more suited to the specific ruleset, gave me a very heavy advantage.

Turns out it was a complete and utter blowout in the end! Im pretty chuffed with how that played out.... it couldnt have gone any better i dont think?? Yes luck played a part, but my selection of monsters and ability came througg in the end

Would you have picked a different team/combonation? If so let me know in the comments below.

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