Introduction
Hi everyone! Welcome to another episode of Splinterlands Brawl Report brought to you by The Jedo! This post will explain how I approach some of my battles in Tier 4 Brawls while representing TeamPH. Keep in mind, this is a Wild Gold Fray where cards are limited to Advanced Level caps. I will feature one or two matches and will walk you through my thought process in deciding which Summoners and Monsters to select in different combinations of Rulesets and Mana Caps. To be fair, the games that will be featured may not always be the ones I win! Depending on the results and how unbelievable the games are, I might even add more games to the spotlight.
Now, I am not an expert player by any means and I will have some misplays from time to time. Any comments or suggestions that could help me improve my decision making and rules analyses are welcome and will be very much appreciated! Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a new player in the game, I would like to hear from you! We can all be better together! Let's get into it!
Preface
The following Brawl results are from the two most recent Brawl Cycles. My results from the previous Brawl can be found HERE for reference. For Brawl Cycle 277, I planned to put my games in around the same time I usually do - a few hours before the Brawl ends. For Brawl Cycle 278, I had to put in my games a day before the brawl ended. This is because I needed to prepare to be away from home for a week for work reasons and for a mini-vacation this past weekend. I couldn't wait until closer to the deadline before I play my games and I assumed playing this early would mean there would be a lot of pending battles. Unfortunately, I was not able to save links to the battles of Brawl Cycle 278 but I can still feature some matches from 277. Let's see how I did!
My Brawl Results
Brawl Cycle 277
The Brawl ended with me taking home 6 wins but suffering 2 losses. Again, not perfect, but still pretty good! Like last cycle, I got 2 free wins from flees! I'll take 'em!
Brawl Cycle 278
This is the Brawl Cycle that I had to play sooner than usual due to real life schedule conflicts. Two out of the three games that I played immediately turned out to be losses. I did win one but unfortunately, I was not able to save the links to the battles. I regularly checked the results and noticed I won other games. The rest of the pending matches became bonuses as my opponents ended up fleeing their games. Won five out seven. Still not a bad ratio.
Featured Battle 1
The first match I'd like to feature is my 3rd battle from Brawl Cycle 277. 49-mana match with only two rulesets: Hive Five and Rise of the Commons.
My Strategy: Double Sneak Attacks with a Shielded Tank. Sustain the tank while my Sneakers deal backline damage. Utilize Tofu's thorns as a secondary attack against opposing melee monsters.
Did it work? Absolutely not. Let's find out what went wrong!
During the Tactics Stage, I opted to put Triage on Katrelba Gobson. I assumed this would provide enough backline support, plus, the Scavenge ability will grow her HP with every elimination of any unit on the battlefield, further increasing her odds of survivability. Boy, was I so wrong thinking this would work.
When the enemy lineup was revealed, I was shocked to see Tofu on the opposing end. How could I forget my opponent can play Tofu as well?? (duh) I knew that my lineup was already countered not only with the summoner ability, but also with the battalion of magic monsters! He also used the Divine Shield Tactic instead of Triage for added protection to his units!
I should have at least prepared to encounter Tofu as the enemy summoner. I also should have expected to face a magic attack lineup instead of assuming my opponent will use Katrelba, too, as the chosen Gladiator.
As expected, my plan failed. My Sneak Attacks ended up hurting my own team due to the enemy Tofu's Thorns. The Divine Shields did not help my case either as I was doing zero damage and yet receiving damage back with every successful hit. I thought I might have a chance with my Katrelba finishing off the enemy War Pegasus, therefore buffing up her own stats, but the Thorns damage, without having any protection from it, was just too much for my units.
I embarrassingly lost this match with my last unit dealing the final melee attack only to die from the reflected Thorns damage.
What do you think my go-to lineup should be for a similar ruleset like this?
Battle 1 link HERE
Featured Battle 2
The 2nd battle I'd like to feature is the 7th match I entered for Brawl 277 and is a match I should be happy writing about. It's a low mana match, 14-mana max, with the following rulesets: Counterspell, Aim True, and Heavy Metal.
My Strategy: Not expecting Magic so I planned for a melee team. Lots of limitations due to the Heavy Metal rule, plus only Fire and Water were the available Splinters. I used a 2-mana summoner in Xia Seachan to save mana usage. I had leftover 12 mana and that was just enough to play a huge demoralizing, taunting, angry monster, The Kraken. I don't own this card so I quickly rented one, and off to the battlefield I went!
As soon as the lineups were revealed, I knew I was in good shape. The enemy Clockwork Aide's Rust ability removed 2 points off of Kraken's armor but had enough armor leftover to block an incoming melee attack from Isgald Vorst. A small amount of damage went through the Shield, though, due to Isgald's Piercing ability. This boosted Kraken's stats due to Enrage. Thanks, I guess, for hitting my Kraken.
Shortly after Kraken sent the Clockwork Aide into oblivion, the Rust ability wore off, and therefore returned the 2 Armor that was taken from the Kraken at the beginning of the battle. This effectively increased the Kraken's total hit points. After exchanging a few melee blows, the Kraken ended up victorious, giving me the W for this match.
Battle 2 link HERE
Featured Battle 3
The third and final featured battle is a 50-Mana match with the Life and Death Splinters rendered inactive. Rules of the match include: What Doesn't Kill You, Earthquake, and Target Practice.
My Strategy: Flying Dragons. I could have used Risqruel Drath for the Flying ability to be applied to my whole team but I wanted to use big, solid Dragons in this match. Brighton Bloom is a trusted summoner in Earthquake rulesets so I solicited his services to ensure the rest of my non-dragon units levitate while in battle. Let's see how this went.
My opponent used the same summoner, though his lineup were mainly units from the Earth Splinter. I might have selected Water to partner with Dragon, but as you can see, I only picked Neutral and Dragon units.
Agor Longtail was my main tank in 1st position, followed by Almo Cambio, Rage, and Runeseer Sevaya. A typical Weapons Training play. Elanor Bravefoot was also selected considering she doesn't cost any mana at all, just a spot in your line up. Dr. Blight was also present in my lineup for that Affliction ability.
Agor absorbed most of the damage directed at my team due to his Taunt ability while he was still on the battlefield. After Agor was eliminated, my speedy tank in Almo Cambio covered the 1st position (while still able to deal magic damage), and Rage stood right behind him to take on Snipe damage from enemy magic attacks. Sevaya acted not only as a recipient of the Weapons Training ability but also as a Repair and Cleanse unit specifically for Agor early on.
My team, aside from Agor, focused all their attacks on the enemy unit with Taunt, in this case, Mycelic Slipspawn. All damage dealt to the Slipspawn was reduced because of it's positioning next to Thanalorian Blade, who had the Lookout ability. Unfortunately for the Slipspawn, even with the Lookout damage reduction (all units have Snipe), my team's relentless attacks were enough to eliminate the enemy taunting unit.
As this was all happening, Agor stood strong up in front, taking in all attacks sent his way. He was sustained by his self-heal and Cleanse and Repair from Sevaya. He eventually perished from a melee hit due to a perfectly timed Affliction, which happened right before he could have healed himself or cleansed by Sevaya.
Almo was the next batter up, taking up the first position, and the rest of my team made quick work of the remainder of the opposing units. And with this, I took home another win.
Battle 3 link HERE
Summary
I got a winning record for both of these cycles: 6-2 for Cycle 277 and 5-2 for Cycle 278.
We finished 2nd overall for the past 4 consecutive brawls, if I'm not mistaken. Congratulations to all winners! Our eyes are set on the Grand Prize. We will strive to achieve 1st place next time!
Final Thoughts
As always, Brawls are so much fun! I understand that I still have so much to learn. Some of my wins might have been because of luck. Some might be actual good plays that other players can learn from. Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this article and if you have questions, comments, or feedback for me, please let me know! Let's all learn and grow together and set each other up for success! Vonak! Together We Thrive, Kapamilya!
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