BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge! - Equalizer Ruleset

Hi Guys! In this post we are exploring on another Splinterlands ruleset. The ruleset we are focusing on is Equalizer.

In an Equalizer ruleset, all units start with the same health, based on the highest health on either team.

Buffs and debuffs are done after after the Equalizer takes effect.

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Lets take a look at a Silver Wild ranked match with Earthquake as one of the ruleset. The battle restrictions are:
Equalizer with a max mana of only 20. Water, Earth, Death and Dragon splinters are allowed in this battle. The Video for the Full Battle can be seen here:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_9c149cf72af3262e3cea69f728db6acd&ref=genming

TEAM SETUP:

Splinter	Mana Cost	Position	Reason
Quix the Devious	4	Summoner	I chose Quix because it is my highest level summoner with the least mana required. I didn't go for any summoner that needed more than 4 mana because I wanted to have enough mana to summon units to take up every slot. In a Equalizer ruleset this is important as every units has the same health points and the more units you have the better.
Hardy Stonefish	1	1st	My first tank. The 1 armor of this unit should allow it to take one extra hit before dying.
Kra'ar Xoc	1	2nd	My 2nd tank and my first time using this unit. I used this unit because it cost only 1 mana and has the Scavenger ability. Scavenger allow this unit to gain 1 health each time any unit died be it mine or my opponent. This is also why I placed it in the 2nd position instead of 1st.
Venari Wavesmith	5	3rd	My most expensive unit in this lineup. I needed this unit to give armor to all my units in this low mana matchup.
Dhampir Infiltrator	4	4th	My main DPS. DPS is another important things to look out for in an Equalizer ruleset. Double Strike here allow me to hit twice at the back of my opponent lineup.
Sabre Shark	3	5th	My 2nd DPS unit. Sabre Shark is a hard hitting sneak unit with low health.
Naga Assassin	2	6th	Naga Assassin is my back tank as it is fast and has Backfire ability. To top it off it only need 2 mana to summon.
Total Mana:	20

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Opponent Lineup:

My opponent went with a Earth splinter lineup with Lyanna Natura as the summoner. Lyanna Natura only needs 3 mana to summon and will give all her units +1 health. Very good summoner to use in this ruleset actually. On top of that my opponent put up Mycelic Morphoid as the first top. Mycelic Morphoid has Thorn ability which makes it a good low cost tank. And with Queen Mycelia giving it another 2 armor, this 1 mana unit now became a pain in the butt.

Overall my opponent had a very good lineup put on based on the ruleset so it should be a very close fight.

End of Round 1:

As you can see the opponent, Mycelic Morphoid, was a pain to get passed. My tank killed itself trying to attack it. My back tank was also facing problem because the opponent used a magic attack Sneak unit instead of the usual melee Sneak unit. The only consolation at this point was my own sneak units are getting through my opponent backline.

End of Round 2:

I lost my Naga Assassin at the back to the enemy sneak unit, Goblin Sorcerer. But before it did, it did manage to reflect back an attack from the enemy Venari Scout. I also managed to kill off the enemy Halfling Alchemist at the back and now moving on to Queen Mycelic.

Meanwhile my 2nd tank, Kra'ar Xoc was proving to be a much better tank than I thought it would be. It keep gaining any lost health back because of the number of units that has died in this round. Kra'ar Xoc inability to fight also means it wouldn't suffer any Thorn damage. Prefect countering against the opponent Mycelic Morphoid.

End of Round 3:

The opponent Queen Mycelic was killed in this round. This was huge as it immediately removed 2 armor from all the remaining opponent units. This will allow my sneak units to kill faster. The opponent Goblin Sorcerer was still giving me problem as it was cutting through my backline fast with its 2 magic damage each round.

End of Round 4:

I lost my Sabre Shark this round but the opponent also lost the Venari Scout. At this point it was cleared I am winning as the opponent Goblin Sorcerer will died to my Dhampir Infiltrator next round. The Double Strike ability of the Dhampir Infiltrator has proved to be very useful in this battle.

End of Round 7:

In the end it took 7 rounds to finish this matchup, a very long match for just a 20 mana battle. Offense overcame defense in this one.

KEY STRATEGY
My strategy for this battle was first to put up a full lineup using just 20 mana. This is to take advantage of the equal health points for all units situation. Next I look at which units have high damage and low health. I also look for a unit that has Protection ability to get armor for everyone. Scavenger wasn't on my top priority but it turn out to be extremely important in this match.

SUMMARY
In a Equalizer ruleset, do not use deploy high health point especially if it is a low mana match. This is because these units usually cost more mana and you are indirectly letting your opponents' units inheriting the high health points to their units. So focus more on damage and speed over health in this ruleset.

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=