Hello there.

Today I'll share my battle under the Five Alive ruleset. But first, I will share some of my thoughts regarding it. With this ruleset, up to only 5 monsters may be used, instead of the usual 6, and that is it. It is very straightforward, and just limits the monster slots in a team. Most of the strategy will depend on the other rulesets with it. This only becomes a factor when the battle has a high mana cap, and it might be wise to maximize the available mana.

Another thing I consider is adding Taunt monsters. Since there is 1 less monster in a team, the amount of total damage decreases. This can open up sustain teams since less damage means less chance that the taunt monster can be killed. This strategy is possible when there are around 30 mana available.

I believe that being flexible in battle is the ideal strategy. Check the opponent's history, check what they are most likely to use, and counter it. But always pick teams that can also counter different strategies. Without further ado, let's get into the battle.

The Ruleset

This was a tournament battle, so it was a Bronze battle with Five Alive, Reverse Speed, and Noxious Fumes Rulesets. A 34 mana battle is on the normal amount and only Earth and Dragon are not available. I can think of a lot of different strategies for each element so I will try to counter as much as I can.

The ideal team for Fire can be Tarsa with Grum Flameblade. It has 1 speed, Void Armor, and high damage. Including Scavo Chemist can remove the poison. Forgotten One in the back can be another win condition of outliving the opponent while also having some damage. A martyr between the two melee monsters can make them even stronger, but it could be risky because of the Reverse Speed.

For Water, River Nymph is almost a requirement. Possibilus is a good option for the extra HP. A problem is that a lot of their monsters are fast. Ulundin Overseer with Kulu Mastermind to give it an attack is possible, and then add Merdaali Guardian to try and heal it for a few turns.

For Life, Evelyn Auvera who has Immunity is an option. It is a bit risky since there are other teams with Cleanse. But adding Aves Sturgis to give Evelyn damage can be an option. The availability of Death can make it a gamble since Thaddius can lower the overall damage by a lot.

For Death, Thaddius with Riftwing, Skok Duskblight, and Will-o-Wisp is an option since it lowers the enemy team's HP by a lot, has good damage, and Riftwing can survive for a long time. Facing another Thaddius makes it a lot weaker though. But since Earth isn't available, going anti magic against melee teams can be dangerous.

The Lineup

For me, between the lineups I mentioned above, I'd rather go with the Aves + Evelyn team. I even used Franz and Helmet Kharafax for an additional win condition. I included Iziar to prevent any backline attacks, and a Marksrat to refresh the armor and give them more damage. Since there are two elements that can use Cleanse, and both will most likely use Melee, Death with Thaddius isn't looking that enticing. So me using a magic team can catch them off guard. If I face the Death team though, I would probably lose.

The Battle

Link to the Battle

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The Matchup

My opponent decided to go with a greedy Fire team. I said greedy because they used two of the Martyr monsters. I was initially confused on why they have the Lava Launcher, since it has high speed and low HP. I guess it is there to protect against Sneak attacks. The Xenith Monk is nice since it has heal, but my team will focus all their attacks on it, so it should die early.

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End of Round 1

I was able to kill the Xenith Monk as expected, and my Iziar can still tank some more damage. The Forgotten One is still at the back, and I would like to put it in front as early as possible to start dealing damage. Only Evelyn has the capability of surviving the poison on my team and it will need to do a lot of damage to kill the Forgotten One.

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End of Round 2

My Iziar finally died, but at least we were able to finally bring the Forgotten One in front. It took a few damage which is good, but my other monsters are starting to get low. I think the battle is still close and I will need my opponent to miss some of its attacks.

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End of Round 3

In just one round, the remainder of my team got wiped. The good thing is that my Evelyn has a lot of armor, and hopefully it can survive three rounds to be able to kill the Forgotten One.

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End of Round 3

The Forgotten One missed its attack, which is huge. If it was able to hit the attack, Evelyn's armor would have been gone, and the Lava Launcher's attack would have hit the HP. I think that miss might have won me the battle.

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End of Round 4

The Forgotten One missed its attack again. With just a 2 Speed difference, it should only be a 20 percent chance to miss. I guess my Evelyn is just really good at evading attacks. This battle is now over.

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End of the Battle

I will have to say that I was surprised that the battle was even that close. Looking at it from the start it seemed like I had a lot of damage, and armor against their attacks. It was insane that it came down to the wire and I needed a miss from their attack to secure the win. I thought the two Martyr was greedy, but it almost worked out for them.

The Result

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Conclusion

In tournaments where there are additional limitations on top of the Rulesets and banned elements, I try to make it a point to look at the possible teams and imagine them fighting against one another. I will then choose the team which I think is best. For this specific battle, my opponent used a team composition that I was ready for. I underestimated its power, and was actually surprised that I almost lost. I was so confident that I had the better team, but Forgotten One is just too good in the Noxiuos Fumes ruleset. I'll take my close win.