I've been tinkering with battle strategies again and it has paid off. I've gone from playing in low Silver to being within touching distance of Gold. It has taken my earnings from around 3-5 SPS in a day to 15-20SPS excluding brawls.

The following is my strategy I've been using having faced similar opposition from time to time in Silver as I begin to transition toward a Gold level player.

The Ruleset

Silenced Summoners

The choice of summoner will only impact the available monsters and the total amount of mana remaining. The buffs and abilities they provide will not be of any benefit or detriment to the battlefield.

Briar Patch

Melee attackers will be greeted with Thorns which will inflict 2 damage for every melee hit they make. Reflection Shield will negate this effect.

Elements available

With every summoner available to choose from the only caveat to this is my opponent and I will not be able to utilise Gladius cards (which I am grateful for, especially not seeing another Quora!) Therefore with the strategy I have in mind, I'll be choosing the Life element.

Battle Link Here

Lineups

General Sloan

A super cheap summoner at 4 mana. Whilst the summoners will not add any abilities or buffs in this battle, it is important to have my General Sloan levelled up high enough to take advantage of the higher levels of stats and abilities I will need in this battle. By having level 5 General Sloan, I have access to Level 6 Common, 5 Rare, 4 Epic and 3 Legendary.

Iziar

Using Taunt, Iziar is aiming to take every bit of damage and protect it's backline. With the Void ability, magic damage is halved and any damage less than 2 is nullified. With 14 health and 2 damage this is a tank first and an attacker second. For 11 mana this is a monsterous card and no wonder it has the highest win rate in the lower leagues for the Life team. I'd love to level it up for Martyr but it is unlikely for my budget. A great card and without this card, I'd be looking at a completely different strategy.

Pelacor Conjurer

With Magic Reflect, I am hoping that any Blast damage may get reflected back at the opponent. Mostly though, I am utilising this zero attack monster alongside Weapons Training to gain magic damage. This little speedster will give some damage out as well making their cheap 2 mana cost for 6 health, 4 speed and -through Weapons Training- 2 magic damage. With Flying this monster is a little hard to hit but very cost effective.

Aves Sturgis

This is one of my favourite reward pulls from the previous reward sets. With Weapons training, both adjacent cards will receive magic damage of 2. With Divine Shield, the first attack will be nullified but further attacks against Aves Sturgis will take effect. For 6 mana you get Weapons training and Divine Shield. 2 damage and speed alongside 1 armour and 3 health is not the strongest of cards but the effect of Weapons Training lasts beyond the lifetime of Aves Sturgis so it makes a valuable trade off.

Evelyn Auvera

I often place this card at the rear of my lineup due to Thorns but given my healing strategy, I want to place this near the center to give my healers as much time as necessary to heal my Taunt, away from opposing damage where best possible. The Immunity is nice in the correct ruleset but the 8 armour and 5 health are real bonuses here with a low 2 speed to go alongside it. Decent value for 5 mana with Weapons Training added on.

Venari Crystalsmith

Freshly levelled to 4th level, gaining the additional ranged damage. For those Little League matches the extra level of damage makes the difference. In this battle, time will tell. For 4 mana a cheap Tank Heal with good health and decent speed help to ensure my tank will stay alive. 2 dmage and 3 speed means it can contribute to the fight and if the opponent is using a Shield, then damage will go through it. A great addition to my Life lineup.

Meriput Magican

My most recent purchase. I wanted an additional healer for my life teams and it made sense to go for Meriput Magician. I noticed that at 5th level, it gains Shield which I found to be a very interested skillset for this card. For me the benefit here is the additonal Tank Heal which will help to keep Iziar alive but in the long term, if Venari Crystalsmith is unavailable, then I have an alternative healer available. I'd recommend everyone to get one as they are incredibly cheap still. With 1 damage, this card is a healer first and a backline attacker last. If it was levelled up to 5th level, then it would make a superb last line defender against Sneak etc.

Opposing Lineup

Kelya Frendul

As always, Kelya Frendul is an incredibly strong summoner and a great choice for most battles. In this instance the buffs Kelya provides will be negated but lying behind them is a wealth of good options at the Water team's disposal. A good choice and a cost of 4 mana which means there is plenty left for the big choices where needed.

Diemonshark

A solid choice of card and level. Diemonshark is at an important level here, gaining Enrage which powers the card up when it takes damage to its health. 8 mana gets you 3 melee damage, 4 speed, 6 armour and 8 health. A strong tank and combined with Trample, this is a significant threat on the battlefield.

Flying Squid

Reach and Blind are very useful and at 6th level Flying Squid has them both. 7 mana and 3 damage make this a strong reliable melee weapon. 4 speed means it is no slouch and with 8 mana it is strong in the health department. A good choice overall.

Djinn Oshannus

At second level, Djinn Oshannus gains Phase. A really annoying ability which can turn the battle due to the high speed of this monster. Phase gives it the ability to evade magic attacks and combined with the high speed and Void, any magic damage which connects will be significantly reduced. 8 mana, 2 magic damage, 5 speed and 11 health mean this is an incredible speed tank which is capable of winning a fight alone with the correct RNG.

Venari Wavesmith

At 4th level Venari Wavesmith gains a second magic damage which turns them from a utility card with Protect to a good option for damage for 5 mana, 3 speed and 4 health. Overall it is a good option and one worth levelling to a cheap point such as 4th level. With it having that second point of damage it will be able to damage through Iziar's Void ability.

Musa Saline

Shatter is an awesome ability and one that causes some real damage to an opponent. Fortunately, I am not running armour so this ability will be less useful. With a single magic damage it will not be able to damage Iziar. The Scavenger ability means my lineup will need to get through more health should we get to that stage but overall, this card will not impact me and my strategy.

Swamp Spitter

At 6th level Swamp Spitter gains Giant Killer which makes it a genuine threat to my lineup. With 3 speed and 3 ranged damage it is powerful but the damage will double to 6 against Iziar, my healers will have their work cut out for them. Costing 7 mana this is an excellent card which just gets better at 6th level. Repair will be key in many battles. Will it be an important factor here though?

The Battle

Round 1

With such a heavy focus on magic damage, Diemonshark never stood a chance as it tore a hole straight through the armour, directly attacking the health. A solid hit from enrage took place but it was not enough to take down Iziar.

Rounds 2 & 3

Flying Squid is the next to succumb to the mighty magic force behind Iziar and a slow grinding dance of magic weaves the battlefield as two impossing monsters of Water and Life meet ont he frontline. With little by way of healing for Djinn Oshannus, it is a matter of time. But can Iziar withstand the beating with the heavy ranged hits from the opponent as well?

Rounds 4 & 5

The extremely stubborn Djinn Oshannus is beginning to falture but it came mighty close for Iziar down to a single hit point before a barrage of magic damage and healing came to save the day.

Final Rounds

With at times low health, Iziar comes through strong with a full complement of support and damage behind them, victory is near.

I think that the overall strategy was correct and worked well for me but I'd like to level some cards up further to take advantage of a few boosts.
One of which would be a higher level Venari Crystalsmith who gains additional damage.
My opponent should have probably considered a heal to support Djinn Oshannus.
The battle was long and drawn out and a heal or increasing their damage output just slightly would have made for a much more interesting battle as both teams would have raced to the finish line.

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