After learning last week that sometimes all Monsters on both sides of the battlefield get poisoned and their time left in battle starts ticking really fast, the Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge is back but this time it is a bit more forgiving but still as discriminatory as usual and only odd-cost Monsters are allowed to take part in the fun and games on the battlefield. Yeah, I know you've already read the title but even if you haven't, you have positively figured out that the Challenge this week is to display a battle involving the Odd Ones Out ruleset.
Let us see what this ruleset does before we get into the nitty-gritty of the line-up and the battle itself.
The Odd Ones Out ruleset is pretty straight-forward - only Monsters with odd Mana costs may be used in battles. Well that's definitely as easily understandable as a Ruleset can get.
Now that we've got a good idea of what the Odd Ones Out ruleset practically does, let's see how it can be effectively utilized.
- So, there's not that much to say about this Ruleset in terms of what you should choose for your team, so I've just listed the Monsters I most often use from each Element right now, as well as Neutrals. There are really strong Odd-cost Monsters across all Elements so there are always good options besides your opponent faces the same constraints as you so more often than not you play against line-ups pretty similar to yours.
Now that we have a decent understanding of the featured Ruleset and its potential advantages and disadvantages, let us have a look at the battle I have chosen to showcase.
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- The line-up of the Battle and the Ruleset:
The rulesets for this battle are Going the Distance (only Monsters with Ranged attack may be used in battles), Unprotected (Monsters do not have any armor and do not get armor from Abilities or Summoner Buffs) and Odd Ones Out. The mana budget is 24 which is rather low so I will have to work with a limited line-up as I am very mana-dependent this battle. The available Splinters are all but Water. I have decided to go with the Dragon Splinter and Life as a sub-element.
I've decided to start with one of the most often played soulbound cards currently in the game - the Venari Marksrat. I am interested in its main ability - Martyr (When this Monster dies, adjacent Monsters get +1 to all stats). I've placed it at the front of the Ranged pack so it can buff the card following it. It has only 3 health so it's generally easily killed. Apart from Martyr, at higher levels the Marksrat also has Snare (when attacking enemies with Flying, removes the Flying ability and cannot miss) and Shatter (target's armor is destroyed when hit by an attack from Monsters with Shatter).
Following immediately after is the Gargoya Devil. I have it in the 2nd spot so it can get buffed by the Muskrat's Martyr ability and potentially manage to tip the scales in my favor even though in this particular battle it does not have its signature 2 Armor due to the Unprotected Ruleset. The Gargoya Devil has 3 abilities - Flying (has an increased chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks from Monsters who do not have the Flying ability), Close Range (monsters with the Close Range ability can perform ranged attacks from the first position) and Deathblow (this Monster does 2x damage if their target is the only Monster left on the enemy team).
The 3rd spot goes to the Portal Spinner. I don't normally rely on Scattershot (this Monsters attacks hit a random enemy target) Monsters since I've found RNG to be really unreliable when I happen to count on it, however, I think that when it comes to Ranged vs Ranged battles, having Scattershot in your line-up could potentially have a higher than usual pay-out. In a addition to that the Portal Spinner packs a pretty good punch with its 4 Ranged Attack. In addition to Scattershot, the Portal Spinner also has Snare in its arsenal.
Last but probably not least is another Scattershot Monster - the Gem Meteor. It is actually a pretty good Ranged Attacker with its 5 Speed and 4 Ranged Attack as well as Piercing (If Melee or Ranged attack damage is in excess of the target's Armor, the remainder will damage the target's Health) even though Piercing is not really relevant this battle since no Monster has armor.
It is time for a quick round by round analysis:
- The Summoner I am going with for the battle is Quix. He is my favorite Dragon Summoner, and is probably one of the Summoners I use most often in battles together with Immortalis and Kelya. He is also a nice fit for this particular battle as he nerfs the Speed of the enemy Monsters by 1 as well as their ranged attack by the same amount. My enemy has chosen to go with Quix as well as but they have chosen the Earth Splinter so their approach is slightly different. Let's see how this goes.
- After 1 round we can see that I have lost my Venari Muskrat, and my Gargoya Lion has moved to the tank spot with its Attack and Health totals buffed by 1. On the other hand my Scattershot special forces have brought the enemy backline to near-death Health figures so I hope I will manage to capitalize on that next round.
- Round 3 - I have managed to take down two of the enemy Monsters so I have basically managed to put myself in an advantageous position. Let's see what happens next.
- Round 4 - Both of the enemy Monsters are 1 hit away from dying, however, it is up to the backline to determine the winner in this battle.
- Round 5 - My Gem Meteor has managed to take down the enemy Venari Seedsmith before it could take down my Portal Spinner so that has sealed the deal for me. It was a quick but very cool battle. RNG is... sometimes.. fun.
Well this was definitely a fast but fun battle, and an entertaining way to showcase the Odd Ones Out ruleset. See you next week with another exciting post related to the brand new Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge!
Over and Out,
Thanks for sharing! - @alokkumar121
