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**Prelude**
Hello everybody, how is it going? It's time again for Battle Mage Secrets. The passed us so quickly and I am looking forward to each Battle Mage Secrets challenge to see what everyone put up and learn from their strategies and tricks. Some ruleset that I usually struggle after reading the post from other fellow players, I get deeper insights. 

The ruleset of the challenge this week is: Back to Basics.


**Ruleset Spotlight**



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*Back to Basics*
Monsters lose all abilities.

*Abilities/Cards that get shutdown with this rule set*
No more sneak, snipe and opportunity which means back row is safe. Melee cards effectively become sitting ducks. Cards with no abilities which such as failed summoner become nothing more than a meat padding instead of having the usual magic reflect. 

*What thrives with this ruleset?*
Since melee and cards with no attack effectively lose their value, their counterpart in Magic and Range attackers stand to gain in such a rule set. Personally I prefer Magic to ranger attackers because in Back to Basics, there will be no more Close Range ability, which means ranger attackers upon reaching the tank position will not be able to attack whilst Magic attack cards will still be able to. 

Stats is also important in this ruleset. More health, armour (if facing range attackers) and speed is very important. Health to outlast, armour to block off damage from range/melee cards and speed to dodge attacks. 

Since we know that we will be seeing more magic and range attackers, summoners become exceptionally important. I will list down some summoners which will help the team in this rule set. 

Yodin: Give blast
Owster Rothwell: Gives magic reflect
Byzantine Kitty: Give tank heal
Astral Entity: Resurrect one monster
Immortalis: Gives void and shatter
Fernheart: Give close range

And the list goes on, many amazing summoners to choose from. Pick them based on what you expect to face and the available splinter of choice.


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With these in mind, let's start to talk about the battle proper.


 **The Battle**
Link: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_e8121b1d4392197a2eb0e9378d62dfb5&ref=vaynard86




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 *Rules*
Back to Basics, Taking sides
Mana Limit: 46


|Splinter|Mana Cost|Position|Reason|
|---|---|---|---|
|Kelya Frendul|4|Summoner|Summoner to give additional speed and additional armour|
|Diemonshark|8|1st|Good tank with high health, high speed and high armour|
|Djinn Oshannus|8|2nd|High speed, high health and high magic damage|
|River Hellondale|7|3rd|Magic attacker with armour with high magic damage|
|Riverboat Captain|6|4th|Magic attacker|
|River Nymph|4|5th|Magic attacker|
|Nerissa Tridawn|9|6th|High damage magic attacker|
|Total Mana:|46|||


*Opponent Lineup*

- Summoner - Kelya Frendul
- Position 1 - Diemonshark
- Position 2 - Flying Squid
- Position 3 - Djinn Oshannus
- Position 4 - Angelic Mandarin
- Position 5 - River Nymph
- Position 6 - Kulu Swimhunter


**Prediction before pressing rumble**
My opponent opted for a mix lineup consisting of both magic and range backline, while I went for a full magic backline with a single melee tank. I should be able to secure a win fast since the armour from opponent's Kelya will not do him any good.   

*Battle Synopsis*

Round 1, Full magic barrage on my opponent's Diemonshark and it fell. My Diemonshark still holding up strong. 

Round 2, Flying Squid disposed while my Diemonshark continue to hold on. 

Round 3, Finally Diemonshark after last 2 full founds of barrage. But it did not go down without anyone, it brought opponent's Djinn Oshannus down as well.  

Round 4-5, Picking up the scraps and blasting off the remaining monsters on my opponent's lineup. In round 5, victory was secured by Djinn Oshannus taking out Kulu Swimhunter. 


*Post Battle Summary*
A simple and straightforward match capitalising the goodness of speed and magic to smash home a victory.  

Diemonshark did really well to survive the match with the high armour and health. At certain occasion even executed dodges due to its high speed stat. 

Oshannus was a regular performer with the high damage it gives.

Nerissa was another key performer, smashing almost anything once her attack lands on. 

The remaining cards also contributed in one way or another to help secure the victory. 

Did my strategy work? Since this is Back to Basics, I chose water splinter which gave me access to Kelya which me 1 extra speed and 1 extra armour. Then it also game me access to my high damage magic attackers in the likes of Nerissa Tridawn, Djinn Oshannus and also River Hellondale. I also had Diemonshark with a very good stat line in all aspect for a good tank.

What's the Battle Mage Secret? 
Here are the Battle Mage Secret pointers for Back to Basics ruleset:

Summoner choice - Consider summoners that can help boost magic/range attacks or reduce them or abilities such as blast, magic reflect, close range etc. 

Non melee - Backline melee possibilities are all shut down, so change them to magic or range attackers. 

Higher stats - Fast, high health, big armour and damage are key here.

Hope the general guidelines in squad selection will help you secure more victories as you encounter this ruleset in the future. 


**Wrap Up** 
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my sharing on the rule set Back to Basics. I would really appreciate it if you liked and/or commented to let me know what are you thoughts. 

I am currently part of PIZZA, an active gaming and creative arts crypto community on the HIVE blockchain and part of PIZZA guild. Popular cryto games such as SPLINTERLANDS, RISING STAR and HASHKINGS are actively discussed in this community.

Many events are being organized from time to time. Join the [PIZZA DISCORD](https://discord.gg/59tV2dSZkU). This is a place filled with 💰🍕🎁GIVEAWAYS & AIRDROPS💰🍕🎁 and most definitely consisting of a friendly community to be in. 

Till my next battle sharing, take care, stay safe and happy battling!

If you are keen on playing Splinterlands, feel free to join me via this link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=vaynard86

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