Attention, battle mages!
This week's Splinterlands Battle Mage Secrets challenge features the Born Again ruleset and it just happens to be my favourite one so we are gonna have so much fun with this one.
Born Again rule means that each monster on the battlefield will have the Rebirth ability. This usually leads to quite long but difficult-to-predict and exciting battles.
There are 3 key factors to take into consideration while playing Born Again:
In this post, I am going to explain and show how I use all these to my advantage. Let's take a look at my team first.
My Team
As a summoner I chose PEMBROOK NYMPH who will add +1 health to all of my monsters. More importantly, she allows me to use one additional Gladiator unit on my team.
Compared to other Water Splinter summoners such as Alric or Kelya, Pembrook Nymph is rather costly at 6 mana points. However, the gladiator I have in my mind is a big part of the game plan especially as this is a Born Again battle.
VENARI MARKSRAT is not your typical tank unit but in this battle, he will have a very special purpose.
I have occasionally used him as a tank before if I needed to boost the stats of the unit standing behind him and who will eventually take the tank spot. In cases like these, the second monster is the actual tank and the Marksrat will make the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life to help a friend.
This noble deed is done with the Martyr ability which will then boost all of the stats of adjacent units. Because of the Born Again rule, this is done twice so we will get twice the benefits.
My real tank is THANALORIAN SCION, an Epic Water magic unit with an interesting set of stats and abilities.
At first look she doesn't seem that great as her magic attack, speed, and health are all at one point. However, she does have a really strong armour of massive 10 hitpoints and this is the exact thing I'm going to use for my benefit in this battle.
You see, Thanalorian has the Void Armor ability which will make all the magic attacks hit her armour first before reducing her health. Since the Born Again -ruleset is in play, Thanalorian should be re-born with full armour in case she happens to die. The enemy would then have to work their way through that again.
Also, when the Rat has died twice, that would mean +2 points to all of her stats once she takes the tank spot.
If that wasn't enough, Thanalorian has a Corrosive Ward ability which means if she's hit with a Melee attack, the attacker will suffer damage and get its max armour reduced by 2.
Because of all of this, I'm pretty sure she'll be an excellent tank unit for Born Again battle.
TORRENT FIEND is another unit I'm willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
Even though this one perhaps isn't as useful as the Marksrat, it will serve as a bumper unit for the next one in line and don't forget that this creature will also die twice. Who knows what kind of massive strikes it will be willing to take for the team?
ISGALD VORST is one of my favourite, and probably most used, Gladiator monsters.
There are very good reasons for that.
Isgald has the Opportunity ability which will allow her to target the weakest opponent units first and using her great speed(4), she'll be able to do this very early on.
This will then hopefully trigger her Bloodlust making her even stronger and faster after every victim. Since every monster is born again, there will be twice as much prey for her, meaning her Bloodlust is also activated twice as many times.
To pave the way for such madness, I've added Noa The Just on my team to remove some of the opponent's armour. Ain't that nice!
I think I mentioned I was planning to have the Marksrat killed twice... In fact, if I'm lucky enough, it can be killed three times because of RIVER HELLONDALE and his Rebirth ability. That's three times the fun!
Other than that, this LOTR-kinda character has some pretty basic stats but can offer some firepower from behind with his +2 magic attack.
NOA THE JUST was already mentioned but I do love this card.
It has only been a couple of weeks or so since I pulled this from a daily chest and have been using it very actively in all sorts of battles.
Noa has the Rust ability that will reduce enemy armour by 2 - a great way to mitigate the annoying Kelya Frendul's buff.
He is well-armoured himself and very hard to hit anyway because of his speed(6) so all in all, Noa is a great multi-use unit. You can even add some attack strength to him using the Weapons Training ability.
So, this is my squad. Now it's time to take a look at the opponent side.
Entering The Arena
Well, well! If it ain't my old friend Kelya himself... That +1 armour buff won't help you now. Not this time.
Interestingly enough, they had chosen to use the same Sacrifice The Rat -strategy as I am. This means their Djinn Oshannus can pose a real threat once he gets into the tank position. He is also supported by a tank healer unit, Merdaali Guardian.
My first impression of their team is that I would be in serious trouble because of Oshannus if it wasn't for Thanalorian's Void Armour ability.
The Battle
This actually turned out to be a real thriller and really wasn't just a walk in the park as I thought it would be. To watch the whole show, you can click HERE or/and continue reading my battle report below.
ROUNDS 1 & 2
In the first two rounds, the focus was obviously on the two poor rats that were quickly swept away as both Oshannus and the Thanalorian grew stronger and were now full of sheer power.
ROUNDS 3 & 4
My main concern in the beginning had been the enemy tank healer. In the second round, our Isgald Vorst got to her but unfortunately, the Merdaali Guardian had just enough health to save her life. Finally, in the third, we got to kill her but only for the first time.
Meanwhile, our Thanalorian had been under heavy bombardment as every opponent unit was focusing on her.
In the fourth round, we got rid of the tank healer for good but it was also time for the Thanalorian to die for the first time. I can only imagine the frustration of my opponent as Thanalorian came back with her full stats - even those that she got from the Martyr ability.
ROUNDS 5 - 12
I was now feeling pretty confident as we got to reduce the health of Oshannus without needing to worry about healers. Still, it was the Thanalorian who was permanently killed first...
My Torrent Fiend then did some amazing work by buffering two very dangerous attacks that would otherwise be meant for Isgald Vorst and potentially to end her Bloodlust streak.
River Hellondale and Isgald then ended the earthly journey of Oshannus but the danger was war from over. They still had some heavy firepower in the back and the only armoured unit was now in front of us.
I was lucky enough that Isgald Vorst had gained some strength during the battle and was able to hold on even though she came very close to her end.
After we had destroyed their Swamp Spitter for good the game was pretty much over the opponent's Ranged units were now played in the first spot being unable to attack from there.
Conclusion
Even though my strategy worked well it was indeed a close call. I think what eventually saved me was the use of all the fundamentals I mentioned earlier - the use of armour, Martyr and Bloodlust abilities.
Each of my units performed very well and choosing the Thanalorian as a tank unit was a good decision as every opponent unit ended up targeting her. Isgald Vorst was also great as there were buffers(Torrent Fiend) in front of her giving her some desperately needed time to fully evolve through the Bloodlust ability. This was of course made possible by Noa The Just and his Rust ability.
The use of Martyr was also one of the key factors of my strategy and the Marksrat was absolutely phenomenal when boosted by Riverhellondale.
This, and some variations of the strategy are how I approach the Born Again ruleset. What's your play? Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for reading!
Also Playing:
Overline
Terracore
Rising Star
Disclaimers:
Thumbnail background image made with Canva
Other pictures are screenshots from Splinterlands
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
