BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge! - Equalizer Ruleset (LOST)

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 unit will start with the same health, based on the highest health on either team.

Buffs and debuffs are done afterward - this impacts base health.

Lets take a look at a Wild Silver ranked match with Equalizer as one of the ruleset. The battle restrictions are:
Equalizer and Close Range with a max mana of 35. Only Water, Earth 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_c4dd7a6c252fc02d0d8d210ef9a6108f&ref=genming

Splinter	Mana Cost	Position	Reason
Helios Matriarch	6	Summoner	With Equalizer as the ruleset, I decided that healing and offensive power would be the important factors to consider in this match. I decided to go with Helios Matriarch as the summoner because it would allowed me to use Gladiator card. Gladiator units all come with Bloodlust which gives them the ability to grow into powerful single unit killer.
Void Dragon	5	1st	I placed Void Dragon as the tank because it had Void. I was worried of magic attacking units so having a unit with Void as a tank would help. Plus Void Dragon is a fast flying unit and would also be able to dodge Ranged and Melee attacks.
Thane Newsong	5	2nd	Thane Newsong was deployed because of its Inspire ability. I intended to use Katrelba Gobson and having Inspire would increase my Katrelba Gobson's melee attack by 1. This would allowed my Katrelba Gobson to kill faster and thus became an unstoppable monster.
Goblin Psychic	6	3rd	I needed a healer for my Void Dragon so as to keep my Void Dragon alive as long as possible. Goblin Psychic also has Affliction which will blocked healing on the opposing team tank.
Katrelba Gobson	6	4th	My main attacking unit. I wanted to grow this unit into an unstoppable monster via its Bloodlust ability so that it can clear out the opposing team via the back. It has Double Strike so Inspire would give this unit a much needed boost in damage.
Vruz	2	5th	Vruz was placed beside Katrelba Gobson as a safeguard to buffer Gobson from sneak attacking. If Vruz died, Gobson would also gain a boost in its stats cause Vruz has Martyr.
Clockwork Aide	4	6th	My back tank. It has a very high armor and only 1 health. Equalizer ruleset would fix the 1 health problem. Clockwork Aide also has Swiftness which will give my entire team a +1 speed boost.
Total Mana:	34

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Opponent Lineup:

My opponent went with a Earth splinter lineup with Lobb Lowland as the summoner. Similar to my strategy, my opponent also decided to use Katrelba Gobson as the main offensive unit. Only different is my opponent used 2 Martyr units in the lineup. But what was more troublesome in my opponent lineup was my opponent's back tank is a unit with Shield ability. Shield would effectively reduced all melee damage by 50% and this was a good counter to my Katrelba Gobson's melee attack.

End of Round 1:

While I was winning on the front, I am finding it a problem to get through the opponent backline. The opponent's back tank, Dumacke Orc, proved to be a very big pain for me. Not only were my sneak units having trouble getting through Dumacke Orc's Shield ability but Dumacke Orc also has Retaliate.

End of Round 2:

Luck wasn't on my side in round 2. My sneak units missed twice against the slower Dunmacke Orc just because there was a Blind status affect on my team. Blind status would give you a 15% chance to miss so to miss 2 out of 3 attacks was really bad RNG here. Meanwhile my back tank, Clockwork Aide, was about to fall.

End of Round 3:

Once again I missed an attack on the enemy Dunmacke Orc due to Blind. This Blind was more annoying than I thought. I also lost my Clockwork Aide to my opponent's Gobson meaning my opponent Gobson gained extra stats for the kill. Things were very bad at this point.

End of Round 4:

I was furious when I missed another attack to Blind. I knew at this point I had lost the match. Even though I had managed to break through the opponent's front line, it was too late.

End of Round 5:

I finally killed off the opponent's Dunmacke Orc but it was too late. The opponent's Gobson had grown too big by now and was going to eat my own Gobson next turn.

End of Round 6

I lost my Gobson this round and the match was basically lost as that was my only unit with any noticeable offensive power. I ended up lasting till round 8 before losing my last unit.

KEY STRATEGY
My strategy was to use my Katrelba Gobson to sneak attack my opponent backline and grown in power. To aid that strategy I also deployed a unit that gave Inspire to give an additional +1 melee attack.

Unfortunately it didn't go as planned as my opponent placed a unit with Shield and Retaliate ability at the back. Not only that luck wasn't on my side as I kept missing due to Blind status.

COMMON STRATEGIES
One of the most common strategy to use in a Equalizer ruleset is to employ low health units. For example in the above battle, both me and my opponent used low health units like Clockwork Aide and Dunmacke Orc respectively. Equalizer ruleset strategy even off the health disadvantage of these units.

Another strategy that is quite common is to employ healers. If it is a high mana battle, you can be assume there were be high health unit being deployed which then raise the health of every units in the battle. Having health will keep you outlast someone who don't use healer.

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 actively looking for new members. The guild is currently battling in tier 3 and is able to get very decent SPS and Merits from brawl competition. If you are able to fight at least in Silver and above league and is committed to do your brawl battles, do feel free to apply.
Our guild link is https://splinterlands.com/?p=guild&id=07ab9325eea386c3570db41f53fd991e78806485&tab=