Another late event, one day I'll get to the current challenges 😄, for today we have the Briar Patch rule, it took me about 3 days to get a win with this rule, during this time this rule appeared about 3x, but I lost the first two, luckily when I was almost giving up I managed to win one 😅, let's go to the post!

🌟 BRIAR PATCH 🌟

Rule	Description
BRIAR PATCH	All monsters have the Thorns ability.

Briar Patch is a melee damage return rule, every time you hit with this type of damage the attacker will take 2 damage right after, that is, all units will gain the Thorn skill in this match, with this in mind cards with this type of damage have to be careful to enter on the battlefield, especially the weaker ones, because they can easily get themselves killed 😅.

When this rule appears I try to avoid units with melee damage, if it's really necessary I always prefer the more robust ones or ones that have the reflection shield ability (excellent ability for this rule).

Most skills will be situational, as the best way is to avoid melee damage, but there are some skills that will help you face this danger, I have separated the ones I usually use in this type of match.

Abilities	Nome	Description
	Amplify	It's an interesting ability since all of your cards have the thorn skill, if your opponent appears with a melee card he will suffer much more.
	Divine Shield	This shield always helps, and if you're going to use a melee attack, it will at least protect you from the thorn's return damage once.
	Enrage	This ability activates very easily if you use it in a match with the Briar Patch rule (if it's melee of course), it can be a big risk, but sometimes it can help.
	Heal	Healing is always welcome and here it would be no different, as the card can always be injured due to the return damage, it will almost always be used.
	Reflection Shield	With this ability your card can attack carefree, it was made for this type of match and still holds some blast damage if there is any on the field.
	Protect	Bonus armor can give melee cards one more life turn, much like divine shield.
	Shield	An interesting choice, as the return damage will be reduced to 1, being able to stay in line longer.
	Triage	If you have a card with a melee attack (opportunity, sneak and rules) in your back line, this skill will help a lot, as you will always have a target to heal.

⚔️ My Team ⚔️

---

A game with 16 mana and only the Briar Patch rule, knowing that I avoided cards with melee attack as much as possible, and focused on cards with magic damage to take advantage of Obsidian's bonus, because in games with low mana like this, magic damage is very effective.

---

Card	LineUP
	Summoner : Excellent summoner, its bonus is very strong, especially if the opponent has no defense against magic damage.
	Tank : Cheap and very resistant unit, should be able to hold the front line for a couple of rounds.
	Off-Tank: Zero cost, it will be a good meat shield for my DPS.
	Suport: It will be my decoy for any sniper and opportunity card, protecting my DPS..
	Suport/DPS :Its armor bonus is always welcome, plus Amplify has put me at an advantage in any melee combat, and with Obsidian's buff it will do good damage.
	DPS: Cheap and strong, for 3 mana it will cause 3 magic damage, in addition to removing 1 HP from all opposing cards, all without being bothered thanks to its camouflage skill..
	Suport: Positioned in the last position only to protect my DPS against sneak attacks.

🤜The Battle 🤛

Analyzing the match: A mirror match, both players bet on the same cards with magic damage and tank, the only difference is that I put more meat shields in front of my DPS and my opponent used a unit with ranged damage on random targets.

Round 1 - Even though they are weak units, all stayed alive until the end of the round, the Acid Shooter's damage will be neutralized by the armor given by Queen Mycelia.

---

Round 2 - Right at the beginning both Hill Giants killed each other due to the thorn, then my Djinn Biljka eliminates the opponent's Queen Mycelia with a single magic hit, almost at the end his Djinnn takes my poor meat shield out of the game, I have a great advantage in the match now.

---

Round 3 - Finally, the victory came, hard for me to lose at this point of the game, Queen Mycelia knocks out the Acid Shooter and right after that my Djiin Biljka takes the last card of the opponent out of the game.

---

🎊 Conclusion 🎊

After 3 tries I got a win, this match was quiet, because I think my opponent made a wrong move scaling the Acid Shooter, I think that's why I won.

Briar Patch is one of those rules that if you don't pay attention can destroy your line-up, but it's easy to circumvent it using other types of damage like magic and distance, except if it's really worth putting a melee card in play 😄. I like this rule, it helps modify the game a bit and puts an interesting layer of complication in the match.

Game Link: Splinterlands

Battle Link: ZALLIN Vs. SAD01988

---

Image sources: https://splinterlands.com/ and https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@freeztag/splinterlands-or-art-contest-173-or-a-free-to-use-splinterlands-divider