BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge! - Briar Patch Ruleset

Hi Guys! In this post we are exploring on another Splinterlands ruleset. The ruleset we are focusing on this time round is "Briar Patch".

In a "Briar Patch" ruleset, all monsters receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy monsters that use melee attacks will receive 2 melee damage back on them. However monsters with Shield ability will get a reduced 1 damage back instead while those with Reflection Shield can totally negate any return damage.

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Lets take a look at a Modern ranked match with "Briar Patch" as one of the ruleset. The battle restrictions are:
Briar with a max mana limit of 23. Water, Earth and Life Splinters are allowed in this battle. The Video for the Full Battle can be seen here:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_3d32548413b808c06ee58af45239e359&ref=genming

TEAM SETUP:

Splinter	Mana Cost	Position	Reason
Franz Ruffmane	6	Summoner	There is only 1 reason why I chose Franz Ruffmane in this match and it is because I wanted to use Captain Katie. Captain Katie is a gladiator card with magic attack plus Bloodlust and Snipe ability. The only way to summon gladiator in a ranked match is to use soulbound summoner like Franz Ruffmane. It does cost more to use such a summoner though as you can see the mana needed is 6. But I still think it is worth it as Captain Katie is ideal for this battle.
Pelacor Conjurer	2	1st	My favorite low mana tank. Too bad my Franz Ruffmane is only level 2 which means I can't activate Pelacor Conjurer Magic Reflect ability.
Gargoya Scrapper	1	2nd	Another cheap tank. I chose Gargoya Scrapper because of its Void ability. I am expecting my opponent to put forward magic attacking lineup.
Venari Crystalsmith	4	3rd	Crystalsmith is here to keep my Conjurer alive as long as possible to give time for my Captain Katie to grow.
Captain Katie	7	4th	It is incredibly hard to stop Captain Katie once she got her killing spree going. Being a low mana match with Briar Patch ruleset, it is hardly likely I would be facing plenty of small units that can feed Captain Katie later. I put her at the middle because I needed her to be protected so she got time to grow.
Scavo Halfling	3	5th	As Franz Ruffmane gave every of my units an armor, Scavo Halfling will be useful to keep repair armor of any units that has lost its armor to enemy attack.
Soul Fiend	0	6th	My back cannon fodder to protect my Halfling and Katie.
Total Mana:	23

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Battle Lineup:

My opponent went with a Water lineup using Kelya. A lot of people like to use the summoner Kelya for Briar Patch battle because Kelya gives +1 armor and +1 speed. The +1 armor is especially helpful to block any melee or range attack. The most worrying thing in my opponent lineup though is that Djinn Oshannus is in the 2nd position. My Katie would have a hard time sniping that Djinn Oshannus cause it has a high health and has Void, prefect counter to my Katie.

End of Round 1:

The enemy Torrent Fiend was killed because it used melee attack and was killed by Thorn's damage. This brought Djinn Oshannus down to the front position and allow my Katie to start hitting my opponent now weakened backline. Next round you would see my Katie starts to grow in power.

End of Round 2:

My Katie killed the enemy Riverboat Captain and gained 1 magic attack, 1 health, 1 armor and 1 speed. Already she is a beast at this point. Meanwhile my Crystalsmith is keeping my Pelacor Conjurer alive.

End of Round 3:

Katie killed the enemy healer in this round and gain another 1 magic attack, speed, armor and health. At this point she has 5 magic attack, 4 speed, 3 armor and 8 health. I have lost my Conjurer but it no longer matter. My Katie can faced toe to toe against Djinn Oshannus now.

End of Round 4:

The enemy Djinn Oshannus is stuck. It can't killed my 1 mana Gargoya Scrapper because it has Void and Oshannus only have 2 magic attack. Furthermore I have Crystalsmith healing up the Gargoya. LOL! At this point I basically have won the match.

KEY STRATEGY
My strategy was to grow my Captain Katie into a terrifying monster through its Bloodlust ability while preventing it being hit by enemy units for as long as possible.

SUMMARY
It is important to try and avoid using melee units in a Briar Patch ruleset battle as Thorn only affects melee attack. Magic is the best offensive attack to use as ranged attack still has to go through opponent armor whereas magic bypass armor (unless the unit has Void Armor).

To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK 😊.

My guild, The Guild of Kingshaven, is also looking for new members. For added incentive to joining us, our guild leader will also be assigning Runi to any new member that can actively participate in brawl battles and give donation to our guild buildings. Runi is extremely powerful and is the only unit that has the Rebirth ability.
Our guild link is https://splinterlands.com/?p=guild&id=07ab9325eea386c3570db41f53fd991e78806485&tab=