Find out the best Strategies to be used on Matches with the Ruleset "Up Close and Personal"!
"Up Close and Personal" Ruleset
In "Up Close and Personal" matches, both players can only play Melee Monsters.
This means that you:
Can't Play Ranged Monsters (kinda obvious);
Can't Play Magic Monsters (kinda obvious, too);
Can't Play Pacifist Monsters (not-so-obvious!).
Almost no one remember about this 4th group of Monsters: Pacifists are the Monsters that doesn't have any attack value. For example, the Level 1 Creeping Ooze and the Level 1 Onyx Sentinel are both Pacifists.
These Monsters can't attack and, thus, can only benefit your team in other ways (useful abilities, absorbing damage, etc.). But, nonetheless, Pacifist Monsters can't be played on "Up Close and Personal" matches. Only Melee Monsters (eg Monsters with Melee Attack) can be played.
Basic Strategy #1: Thorns Ability
This is the easiest, most basic strategy to be used on "Up Close and Personal" matches, but it's also one of the strongest approachs to this ruleset.
Thorns: When hit with a Melee attack, does 2 Melee Damage back to the attacker.
In this ruleset, if your Monsters have the Thorns ability, each and every attack that they receive, they'll damage the attacker back, as every Monster is a Melee Monster and, thus, that's the only damage that can be dealt during the match.
Mylor Crowling is the to-go Summoner, as he literally gives ALL your Monsters the Thorns ability. He has an incredibly high win rate on this Ruleset, as it's extremely difficult to beat him when each and every attack against him gives 2 damage back to your own team.
There are also some Monsters that have the Thorns ability by themselves. The most common ones are the Cursed Windeku (currently available for free on the Death Splinter), and the Djinn Chwala (Dragon Splinter, currently being sold for less than 40 cents). These Monsters should be played as your frontline tank, in order to start the match dealing lots of damage back to the enemy team.
Basic Strategy #3: Retaliate Ability
Retaliate: when hit with a Melee attack, Monsters with Retaliate have a 50% chance of attacking their attacker.
The reason to focus on this ability is very similar to the reason that Thorns is OP: as everyone in this Ruleset will be a Melee Monster, you can be sure that Retaliate will be useful, as it only procs when the Monster is hit with a Melee Attack.
Retaliate isn't very commonly used due its random characteristic: it only works 50% of the time. But on "Up Close and Personal" matches, it has way more chances to be activated, becoming an interesting ability to be played.
This ability is kinda rare on lower-level Monsters. The most affordable Monsters that have Retaliate at Level 1 are the Stonesplitter Orc (2,50 USD) and the Naga Warrior (10 USD), but you can also find this ability on the Serpent of the Flame (11,30 USD).
If you're a move advanced player that uses High-Leveled Cards in your matches, you'll have way more options, like the Charlok Minotaur (Level 6) and the Phantasm (Level 9).
Basic Strategy #3: Maximizating Attacks through Sneak, Opportunity and Reach Abilities
As you already know Melee Monsters, without any special abilities, can only attack when they're on the first position of your team.
Your team will be full of Melee Monsters; if they lack abilities that allow them to attack while on the backline, only your frontline tank will be attacking. 1 Attack per Round isn't enough to win a match, and you'll be overpowered by your opponent.
That's why you need to focus on these 3 abilities: Sneak, Opportunity and Reach.
Try placing a Monster with Reach as your 2nd Monster, as he'll be able to attack. This Monster will also act as your secondary tank: when you primary tank dies, he'll be the one receiving the majority of the damage. So try chosing one with high Health/Armor, like the Sunkai Harvester, the Flying Squid, or the Fineas Rage.
In the other hand, Sneak Monsters will be able to hit the last Monster of your opponent. As this opens a new damage focus, you should avoid playing just ONE Monster with Sneak, as the damage that he'll be dealing probably won't be enough to actually kill something. Sneak Monsters are better in groups of 2 or 3. Each Splinter has a few of their own Sneak Monsters, that can always be complemented with Neutral Monsters like Uraeus, Sand Worm and Elven Cutthroat.
And finally, one of my favourite Abilities: Opportunity. Monsters with Opportunity always attack the enemy Monster with lowest Health, and they're ideal to easily kill low-Health Monsters on the first few rounds, giving you a huge advantage. There's lots of popular Opportunity Monsters, like the Deeplurker, the Venari Scout, the Parasitic Growth and the Serpentine Spy.
Basic Strategy #4: Minimize Incoming Damage through Armour and Shield
Knowing that all Monsters will be Melee allows you to tailor your own team exactly to counter the enemy team.
Armor protects your Monsters from Melee Attacks, as the receiving damage will first be absorbed by the Armor before actually hitting their Health.
Similarly, Monsters with the Shield ability halves the incoming Melee Damage.
High-Armor Monsters with Shield are perfect to be your tanks on "Up Close and Personal" matches: Mycelic Infantry, Gloridax Soldier, Harklaw and Living Lava.
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In this ruleset, mylor is king!
You know, a good shield tank - and the disintegrator (is that how you spell it?) that causes your opponents to lose -1 melee is often a massive advantage.
Although, I tend to go with a power play - bulk up the water team and bam! Sometimes mylor's thorns will take their armour, but - earth doesn't tend to have the same armour/health that water does. Guess depends on mana limitations.
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Thank you for sharing this great content, You have been manually Upvoted by @skylinebuds
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Good reading! It was nice to find same strategies that I often use myself. One very good card I'd wanna highlight is War Chaang. It has retaliate and can also use it's range ability cos it has both melee and range.
Nice strategies! Melee monsters that also have another type of attack are great as well. I loved to use Oaken Behemoth with Mylor before I retired from SL xD
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Love all your tactical posts!! Keep up this great work! Cheers!