Hey yall!
This will be the first of a simple series explaining the basics of the deployment phase and how to win games of Splinterlands before your monsters ever hit the field! Due to how the Rule Set and Mana Cap systems effect each match understanding these systems is critical to success.

Lets take a look at a Rule Set:

I think a lot of people see this screen and feel like they understand enough to get them through what they don’t. First, you’ll see the Earthquake ruleset. What you’ll see when you hover over this will read something like “Monsters without flying suffer 2 damage each turn”. Next we see a MANA CAP of 36 and that all splinters but Fire and Death are forbidden.

This is a great! I main Death so some of my most powerful cards are Death cards and many of them happen to have flying. I can see from my opponents “Recently Played Teams” they are also a Death main having played Death teams in five of their 5 last games. You can hover over these icons to get additional information too as seen here. In a browser you see what Summoners and Monsters your opponent last ran along with their level. But you better be good at recognizing art in small icons! Eyesight and card knowledge becomes important here. On mobile you also see the icons but next to it is the damage type the Monster deals. I love this and really hope some version of that comes to browser.

Upon looking at all five of my opponents last matches I found they have a Magic Damage line-up they enjoy running which looks pretty fierce. But maybe there is something we can use here.

Our opponent is running some serious cards but they look to all be level one. The Mana Cap is about average and, due to Earthquake, if we can deploy a nice flying team it’s ok if they do a bit less damage.

Here is how each side looked upon the battle starting:

My opponent is playing a speed-bump creature in their front row, Goblin Mech as their tank, a Roc to Reach, and that magic offense they bring to most fights! I playing summoner you almost never see in Owster Rotwell who grants my entire team Magic Reflect (not only avoiding magic damage but reflecting it back on the attackers). For my team lineup I dropped Cthulhu in my back-field and a team specially designed make getting to him as difficult as possible. With Big C having Flying to cancel out the Earthquake and the ability to take on small teams by himself I felt confident.



Who do you think won? Comment below?