Hey!
For this week’s Battle Mage Challenge, we have the “Born Again” rule, which grants the Rebirth ability to all of the Monsters on the field, so this time we have a much more fun rule.
Born Again
Pretty simple rule this one; your Monsters revive and when they do so, they revive with one point of Health, important detail. Another important detail is that the Monster’s Armor, if they had one, comes back in one piece.
This is a great rule to take advantage of the qualities of certain Monsters. One of those qualities is the Void Armor, since as said before, Monster’s Armor fully come back and, because of the Void Armor skill (Magic attacks hit Armor first) your team has much more time to recover from that death by healing and not being vulnerable as soon as they revive.
The other great qualities to exploit are both Bloodlust and Martyr. In regular battles, these effects could be complicated to handle, but with a Rebirth skill a battle can turn into mayhem and unstoppable Monsters could be created. With a little bit of luck, a Gladius can kill double the Monsters, since they are constantly reviving, especially those with a Double Strike ability.
A Martyr, if strategically positioned, can also create an insane killing machine, especially if you also use the Resurrect ability on him to triple the benefits. You can end up creating an undying or an extremely evasive Monster.
At last, a card falling could be profit for other Monsters… Scavengers. It tends to be an overlooked skill nowadays, but it could save you, like it happened in one of my battles. Before the introduction of all these new sets, we had the Gelatinous Cube, which at level six was able to heal. It was typically used to be a barrier and led the opponent to fatigue. And remember that with this rule, Scavengers double their meal, which potentially gives them a lot of Health Points.
Battles
Battle #1
Ruleset
Lineup & Analysis
Battle done in the Modern Silver League. Alongside with the Born Again rule, we had the Little League rule, which only allows cards of four or less Mana. I was expecting Magic attackers, so I decided to try to counter that.
- As a Summoner, Thaddius Brood. Debuffs Magic and Health. Lowering Health in Little League rules could be devastating, since the Monsters are already weak.
- In first position, the Marksrat, as my reviving Martyr to double boost the next card stats.
- As the boosted tank, the Xenith Monk, one of the few Monsters that are able to heal with such a low Mana value.
- Next, the Shadow Snitch. It has a decent amount of Mana and his attack is not bad for this rule.
- In fourth position, the Spirit Hoarder. Besides attacking, his purpose was to use Dispel on a potential Monster boosted by a Martyr, but that wasn’t needed. I also expected him to use Triage in the back line, but that wasn’t needed either.
- Then, the Life Sapper. In such low Mana battles is good to have a card like this that constantly increases its Health when attacking.
- At last, the Riftwing. I placed this card here with the sole purpose of protecting the back line from potential Sneak Monster.
To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to win; I didn’t expect my Xenith Monk to fall so soon, and I didn’t expect my opponent to have a Monster with Void for this ruleset, which almost compromises my victory. However, the amount of Health reaped by my Riftwing allowed me to extend the battle to the twentieth round, where fatigue starts wearing down both teams.
Battle #2
Ruleset
Lineup & Analysis
Splinterlands tournament battle here. Bronze cap, only Modern cards, no Legendary Summoners allowed. Since “Thorns” where part of the ruleset, Melee cards were not an option. At the same time, I was worried of my opponent using Ilthain to reflect my Ranged attacks, so I opted for Magic attacks.
- As a Summoner, the Helios Matriarch. I was particularly interested in summoning the Void Dragon and Larissa Kerato, and for that I needed her.
- As a tank, the Drybone Barbarian. Even though there is a “Thorns” rule, I think it’s an okay card to use here, because of its high Health and the potential damage it can cause when hurt.
- As a backup tank, the Void Dragon. I expected my opponent to use either Magic or Ranged attacks, so for that matter this card is great. It has Void, it can Fly and it has high Speed.
- Next, the Spirit Hoarder. Among Gladius cards, Captain Katie is a very dangerous one, so it’s a good idea to position Monsters able to heal the back line, alongside with a Monster with respectable Health points, in this case the Void Dragon, which also halves Magic attacks.
- Then my Martyr, the Marksrat, to double boost my Gladiator’s stats.
- In fifth place, Larissa Kerato. Even though her initial stats are not that great, if she manages to get that first kill, she becomes an insane killing machine. She has to be very well guarded though, since her Health is quite low.
- At last, the Pegasus. I wasn’t expecting sneak attacks, but just in case there it is. Besides, it’s Shatter effect could help in case of a Monster with Void Armor.
This battle was easier than expected, thanks to my approach and also because my opponent made a couple of mistakes:
- Using a card with “Taunt” when a Ferocity rule is in effect, especially with such a Mana cap. I would only be right, if the card has Forcefield. Anyways, my Barbarian obliterated Iziar.
- Not using a Healer of any kind.
- Not taking advantage of the “Born Again”, which is a great rule for experimentation.
In my case, I was on point by using a Monster with a Double Strike in this ruleset, especially if those strikes are magical and especially if that card is a Gladiator. Of course it was very fortunate for me, that the Chaos Dragon’s first attack landed on my Martyr, allowing Larissa to start her killing spree.
This is it, thanks for reading!
