This post is an entry to the BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge!

CHALLENGE RULES

RULESET: BRIAR PATCH

Description: All units receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that use melee attacks receive damage back.

Info:

• Damage returned is equal to damage of the attacker divided by 2, rounded up.
• Melee attack units with the Reflection Shield ability do not take damage from thorns.
• The Amplify ability increases damage.

The Battle

Battle Rulesets	Description	Info
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 the mana points of a few monsters helps in predicting what your opponent can and cannot use.
BRIAR PATCH	All Monsters have the Thorns ability.	Try to avoid uses of melee monsters or use monsters with Reflection Shield.
LOST MAGIC	Monsters with Magic Attack may not be used in battles.	Don't use Magic Reflect monsters or summoners. Focus on high speed and abilities like Flying, Dodge, and Blind. Thorns and Shield are the keys in this ruleset.

Lineup

It was a high mana, no magic, even mana Gold-level tournament game.

Card	Strategy
	Lux Vega - My default choice in most of the games. Most of the time, her stats are ideal for all games, especially in this game, cause without magic all three abilities are very useful.
	Arkemis the Bear - My best natural big tank, armor, and halfling ability good for almost every game. It has enough life to survive some reflected damage.
	Pelacor Conjurer - My favorite 2 mana tank/second tank. Magic Reflect was useless in this game but was speedy and hard to hit.
	Supply Runner - It has good support abilities which are good for this game and as a ranged monster ideal against the Briar Patch.
	Pelacor Arbalest - A little weak, but very good DPS monster as a ranged also ideal for this game.
	Prismologist - Ranged monster with a blast, a good fit for this game.
	Drybone Raider - Not a lot of options remain, so I selected her. Double strike is a very good ability, and also has armor destructor skill.

Battle - Replay

Did your strategy work? What will you try differently next time?

Yes. It was not a very clean victory, but I have a limited card set for this game.

Battle Results

Tournament Results

It was a good result for 4 SPS:

Which cards are good/bad for the BRIAR PATCH ruleset? Why or why not?

• Obviously, melee monsters are not good for this ruleset, except monsters with Reflection Shield
• Magic / Ranged monsters are the best for this game