Battle Mage Secrets: Shades of Grey - Throw In The Kitchen Sink

Prelude
Hi all, hope all is well for you and it is time for another Battle Mage Secrets. Last week, we looked a ruleset which restricts our available pool of cards to be used to be only rare and common cards. Today, we look at yet another ruleset restricts our arsenal and this time round, honestly it is a more difficult kind of restriction.

Ruleset Spotlight

Shades of Grey

Description:

• Only Neutral Units may be used in battles.

What thrives with this ruleset?
Many of us have been using neutrals as fillers because of their various utility, but to assemble a lineup solely on neutral cards suddenly becomes a headache to many. When this ruleset first came out, I also freaked out when I tried to form a lineup.

We do not have luxury of cards that we used to have for the various splinters. So with that, we need to re-identify cards that will suit various roles in a lineup similar to that when we used coloured splinters. The suggestions below all are modern, so my apologies if you are looking for something on Wild.

In the category of tanks, some that I use are listed below and traits they carry:
Arkemis The Bear - Big stats be it health or attack and gives protection, very desirable choice for tank
Gargoya Lion - One of the reward cards that many didn't want to see back then. But looking at it, a very good stats to mana ration and equipped with Flying even at level one. Still a worthy choice.
Ulundin Overseer - This new big wall from Rebellion is also a good choice especially if you have Moxian Rebel whom can give it Weapon Training and giving it a magic attack than just being a wall.
Grimbardun Fighter/Dumacke Orc - Shield ability, one of the best ability for the tank position.

Hitters:
Magi of Chaos - Good stat line and good magic attack
Supply Runner - Fast speed and good range attack, boost speed when higher level too
Gargoya Devil - Close range and high attack with flying
Mad Ogre Anarchist - This new rebellion card is awesome as well with the opportunity, hits really well
Uraeus - Who could forget this snake that hits from the back and gives poison at higher levels.
Rune Crafter - Great for aiming those with taunt
Gobson Bomber - Charge it up and send them a blast of range attack

Utility Cards:
Disintegrator - Melee disabler with demoralize
Scavo Hireling - Repairs armour
Moxian Rebel - Weapon Trainer to give magic attack
Venari Spellsmith - Dispel those Blood Lust and make them reset
Venari Marksrat - Martyr card to boost stat line
Spirit Hoarder - Gives Triage
Venator Kinjo - Prevent blast with reflection shield
Clockwork Aide - Give swiftness to boost the team

Tonnes of amazing cards to choose from. So pick accordingly to the rulesets and maximize how you play to give the best result.

With these in mind, let's start to talk about the battle proper.

The Battle
Link: https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sm_wbqN1kKVPnKmc3ybLJPb&ref=vaynard86

Ruleset
Tis But Scratches, Close Range, Shades of Gray

Mana Limit: 45

Splinter	Mana Cost	Position	Reason
Kelya Frendul	4	Summoner	Gives additional one speed and also gives the whole lineup one additional armour
Gargoya Lion	6	1st	Flying tank to hold up first while back line fires.
Arkemis the Bear	12	2nd	2nd tank with protect and big stat line to continue sustaining the lineup to give more attacking space for the backline.
Magi of Chaos	6	3rd	One of the damage dealer with consistent magic output
Supply Runner	6	4th	The first of the range attacks to do damage
Rune Crafter	8	5th	Another heavy hitting range to deliver good damage
Gobson Bomber	7	6th	The charging range attacker to give a nasty blow to any card that stands in the way.
Total Mana:	49

Opponent Lineup

• Summoner - Kelya Frendul
• Position 1 - Disintegrator
• Position 2 - Venari Marksrat
• Position 3 - Gargoya Devil
• Position 4 - Dumacke Orc
• Position 5 - Clockwork Aide
• Position 6 - Gobson Bomber

Prediction before pressing rumble
Very different lineup fielded by me and my opponent but I see that there is less attackers planted in my opponent lineup and seems like the strategy by my opponent was to hand on long enough for Gobson Bomber to smash everything.

While on my end, I am aiming for consistency and hence cards with more stable output to ensure every round there is damage dished out. 2 different styles so let's see which is the better one.

Let's battle!

Battle Synopsis

Round 1, A very uneventful round with everyone just scratching one another with no casualties and barely any damage as well.

Round 2, Slightly more action with Disintegrator being taken out and subsequently Marksrat got taken out as well. And with martyr boost, Gargoya Devil become more boosted in stats and standing right front.

Round 3, While a boosted Gargoya Devil is strong, it was no match for my magic and range artillery and soon after it fell. And now it was me trying to clear up my opponent's card one by one hoping not to be out blasted by Gobson Bomber.

Round 4, One by one in this round, both Dumacke Orc and Clockwork Aide fell and it was down to Gobson Bomber to face my full lineup.

Round 5, A simple hit by Magic of Chaos sealed the match and bring home the victory before opponent Gobson Bomber could do anything. Victory secured!

Post Battle Summary
Glad to have won this with the limited neutral cards that I have in my collection. Was not very certain of the outcome at the start but pleasantly surprised by the strong win.

Did my strategy work? Honestly, the strategy that I deployed wasn't truly a strategy as compared to those I did for other rulesets. The strategy deployed here was essentially to just find tanks and attackers to do basic attack and sustain opponent's attack to finally bring victory. So it was simply a very basic lineup based on each card's own stats and ability. When assembled together, they prove to be a very viable lineup for use.

What's the Battle Mage Secret?

Today's Battle Mage Secret is actually what I call a kitchen sink strategy. Throw everything in base on whatever capabilities each of the cards have to form a basic lineup and see how they come together to bring victory. And if you have a bigger collection of neutrals, then definitely you will have more to choose from and form a stronger lineup.

And with that, one other thing that needs to be done is to not neglect your neutral collection and spend some effort to expand it or level the cards up to be less off guard when met with such a ruleset.

Wrap Up
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my sharing on the rule set Shades of Gray. I would really appreciate it if you liked and/or commented to let me know what are you thoughts.

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Till my next battle sharing, take care, stay safe and happy battling!

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