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# Rulesets & Their Specificities

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**At the start of my Splinterlands’ journey, I recall having read through articles posted by more experienced players sharing their tips and tricks for each ruleset.** This was very helpful to apprehend the specificities of each configuration. My post today is not to rehash what has already been written, but more to provide a simple list of questions a player should ask at the beginning of each battle.

**New players, especially those on a budget**, might not be able to have access to the best and most powerful cards in the game. Consequently, they’ll probably have to **rely a bit more on their wit** to grab a few wins here and there. **Trying to make the most out of each ruleset and taking full advantage of their benefits will therefore be a must when playing with low-level cards.**

If you’ve just joined the game, welcome to the community!
**Here are the 5 questions I suggest you ask yourself before submitting your lineup.**

# #1 - Which monster will be targeted first?

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In the **Target Practice ruleset**, for instance, the non-melee monsters will snipe the first non-melee monster of the opposition that is not placed in the frontline. This **might be quite confusing**, but unless your opponent goes with a sneak lineup, **you should prepare to assist your sniped-position monster.**

Other configurations are more straightforward.

In the **Melee Mayhem** or **Super Sneak** rulesets, your first and last monster will be respectively attacked by melee monsters. Nevertheless, **your opponent might decide to take you off-guard** by going with Magic or Ranged monsters that are swift enough to dodge your melee attacks.

# #2 - Which aspect of the battlefield has been flattened?

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An obvious example is the **Equalizer** ruleset. Even without leveled-up monsters, I generally manage to outplay opponents who have been used to relying on their powerful monsters. **Part of leveling-up monsters is that they acquire more health, but in this specific ruleset, it does not matter.**

HP out of the way, you’ll be able to **focus your attention on other stats**, such as the amount of damage or the abilities.

Another odd case is **Reverse Speed**. Players who leveled-up their deck usually have faster monsters than you and I own. **In this ruleset, playing with base-level cards can sometimes strangely become an advantage** as you’ll be able to attack first, which might be key in determining the end result.

# #3 - Which monsters can benefit the most from the ruleset?

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Continuing with the **Reverse Speed** ruleset, Grum Flameblade and Sand Worm are two monsters that can hugely benefit from this configuration. The allocation of their Mana Cost purposefully neglected their Speed, which is at 1 for both at base-level, for huge Melee damage.

**Close Range** removes one of the biggest drawbacks when it comes to Ranged monsters; their inability to attack once they reach the front unless they already have the Close Range ability. If the setup allows it, you might even want to place your Ranged monsters in spots where you wouldn’t otherwise.

# #4 - What do I need to keep in mind in this context?

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**This question is essentially targeting the Healed Out ruleset.** Up to recently, I’ve forgotten to factor in this ruleset uncountable times. **Playing on mobile, the Heal and Tank Heal abilities are still displayed for the monsters that possess those features, which makes the ruleset very easy to forget.**

**Silenced Summoners** might be another ruleset in this category. Sometimes, we are so used to running specific lineups that work only thanks to the buffs or debuffs of a summoner that once those pluses or minuses are canceled, we get caught off-guard.

# #5 - What are the abilities to watch out for?

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**Fog Of War** comes to mind. For this section, I’ll refer you to one of my Simplified Charts, *[Rules of Precedence SIMPLIFIED](https://peakd.com/splinterlands/@tt88/cheat-sheet-rules-of-precedence-simplified-rulesets-overriding-abilities)*, **In Fog Of War, for example, we always have to keep in mind that Opportunity and Scattershot are still effective**; only Snipe and Sneak attacks are disabled.

I hope this short list of questions will be helpful to you.
See you in the next post!

Thomas

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For new players interested in joining this amazing game, you can support me by using the following referral link (at no extra cost to you!):

https://splinterlands.com?ref=tt88

Thank you.