Going The Distance : Battle Mage Secrets

Going The Distance

The Going the Distance ruleset ensures that only ranged monsters can be used in this ruleset and abilities such as Close Range are a good idea to deploy.

Even Stevens

"Only Monsters with even Mana costs may be used in battles."

"There are no special tricks for this ruleset, but having an idea of mana points of a few monsters helps in predicting what your opponent can and cannot use." - Splintercards

Mana:

Overall combining these two rulesets alongside the mana pool requires the depth of the deck to be strong in order to select the best available cards. Looking at the available cards I am between Life and Water and most likely I'll push for water this time around as I have the perfect card to utilise.

Line Up:

Kelya Frendul

I had two thoughts in this scenario. One option would be to use General Sloan and boost my damage output. The other was Kelya Frendul to increase speed and add a small chunk of armour to protect. I went with the latter here and for a completely different reason. The Tank I have in mind should explain all.

Wave Brood

In a Going The Distance ruleset, there are two ways to attack the scenario. My first choice is typically to utilise a heavy tank such as Wave Brood. With Close Range and Taunt, it controls the flow of damage and keeps it where I want it. For a hefty bunch of 8 mana you gain 12 health and a constant flow of 1 damage from first position. This is one of those really underrated cards in the Chaos Deck and I would expect this card to shoot up in price once the market returns to a more bullish state.

Supply Runner

The Supply Runner is an excellent card and a no-brainer to utilise in this ruleset. 4 speed, 5 health and 2 ranged damage make 6 mana an easy spend here.I've placed this in second position as it has good speed and health and therefore could act as a second tank. Ideally, it won't get to that stage.

Merdhampir

With the Life Leech ability, the Merdhampir will grow in health for each successful hit it makes against an opponent. Therefore, placing it in this position allows it to protect those cards behind it. A good speed of 3 means this former Reward card is a decent spend of 4 mana.

Kulu Swimhunter

The partnership of this card with Kelya is one of my favourites. Solid damage of 2 ranged alongside a speed of 3 and a health of 6 makes this 4th level common a superb 4 mana choice. One of my favourite cards to use and Kelya will just improve it that little bit further.

Xenith Archer

For 2 mana you cannot go wrong with the Xenith Archer. Having levelled to 3rd level we get some minor improvements for the card but in general this is more a ranged filler in the lineup and with the extra Armour from Kelya Frendul this card will take at least two hits to take down.

Igor Darkspear

For 2 mana we get 3 speed and 4 health which makes this card very strong compared to the Xenith Archer or even the Herbalist alternative on the Life deck. I could have swapped this with the Kul Swimhunter in order to reserve some damage for the last position to maintain the fire rate throughout.

Opposing Lineup

Mother Khala

This is not the summoner I would have chosen due to the 1 extra mana point for General Sloan who would have boosted all damage by +1 which certainly will improve the offensive capabilities of a ranged lineup.

Pelacor Arbalest

This strikes me as a very odd choice. With the mana cost and the offensive potential, this could be the hardest hitter on the opposing lineup. Placing it in first place completely nullifies it as a threat. I'd like to place this further back in the lineup to give it time to do some real damage.

Supply Runner

A strong card and one I'd look to protect by sinking it further into the lineup. With 4 health it has some longevity to it but it is also the second best attacker in the lineup so I'd want to keep it alive for longer than second position behind a weak tank selection.

Xenith Archer

The Xenith Archer is a great card for filling in 2 mana gaps and offering some extra damage from range. Beyond that though the card is not the best for damage and really benefits from a damage boost or additional speed or protection. Both of which are lacking in the summoner choice so I'd expect this card to not offer too much going forward overall.

Mantoid

With Snipe, this card has the potential to disrupt my lineup but Wave Brood's Taunt will keep the damage focused where I want it.5 health, 2 speed and 2 damage make this an excellent 6 mana card and one the opponent will want to maximise.

Herbalist

Very similar to the Xenith Archer but less versatile as it is a Life deck card. It does gain healing abilities at later levels but in this instance it is mostly just 2 mana fodder. Perhaps could have been combined with a General Sloan to maximise its damage?

Tower Griffin

Within the selected cards, I'd have placed the Tower Griffin in first place to utilise the flying ability. This combined with 3 speed would have, in my opinion have bought some time for the Pelacor Arbalest to have done 4 damage at least which in the selected line up for the opponent would have been a significant contribution toward the outcome.

Pre Battle Thoughts:

I think there opponent has chosen some good cards here and the ruleset certainly tests the depth of any deck. Ruling out the 7 mana cards such as the Gargoya Devil which is an extremely effective option in Going The Distance. With 34 mana there is a good range of options available to either lineup so it will be interesting to see which strategy is the one which works out.

The Battle

Battle Link

Round 1:

Round 2:

Final Rounds:

Final Thoughts:

I still think the opponent made a few good selections overall but they mostly where not synchronised to make an effective combination.

• I'd look into changing the Summoner to General Sloan. This would increase damage output by 7 points asumming the opponent went first. Equally Ilthain would make an excellent choice of summoner here.

• Second, I'd look at changing the order of the cards to protect the Pelacor Arbalest as much as possible with Double Strike it can produce 4 damage or 6 damage with a General Sloan supporting it.

• Whilst these changes may not have taken the opponent to victory, it would have also been aided by increasing the level on the summoners to ensure they were able to get the most from their cards. The Gold Foil Mantoid is currently held back to first level as opposed to the 3rd level it should be playing at. While it is only 1 speed and 1 health point, Splinterlands is a battlefield of fine margins.

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