Hello there.

Today I'll share my battle under the Even Stevens ruleset. But first, I will share some of my thoughts regarding it. With this ruleset, only monsters that has an even mana cost can be used [0,2,4,etc]. This does not apply to summoners. Since about half of the monsters are removed, strategies will revolve around those in the meta that remain.

In this ruleset, a lot of my strategies disappear. Sneak teams of fire are weaker without Tenyii and Uraeus. My Noa and Kulu combo is gone. Drybone Barbarian with War Pegasus is also unavailable. There are a few that come up. Double Strike monsters like Coastal Sentry and Grund are available, while Tank Heal monsters like Goblin Psychic and Venari Crystalsmith are also options. Thaddius with Cursed Windeku will be a good counter for both.

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 Wild Bronze battle with Up Close and Personal, Even Stevens, and Rise of the Commons Rulesets. A 37 mana battle is on the high normal amount, and only Fire, Earth, and Dragon are available. I can think of a lot of different strategies for each so I will try to counter as much as I can.

The ideal team for Fire is Yodin with Goblin Mech, Arkemis, Antoid Platoon, Kobold Miner, and Battering Ram. Eternan Brune with Chimney Wallstop is also an option. For Earth, Mylor is a no brainer. Adding Flesh Golem, Mycelic Infantry, and other tanky melee monsters should win easily. Llama with Flesh Golem is also very strong. For Dragon, Kitty is very powerful, and combining it with cards like Mycelic Infantry can be good. Vruz, Whelp Herder, and Dhampir Infiltrator can help deal with the backline.

The Lineup

For me, between the lineups I mentioned above, I'd go with the Eternan Brune and Wallstop team. I don't have Yodin, Mylor, Llama, or Kitty so I'll have to go with the best of what I have. Katrelba is not an option because I expect a lot of Thorns. If I face the legendary summoners, I would lose, but if I face a Mylor, I think I still have a chance if my Wallstop can refresh its armor frequently.

The Battle

Link to the Battle

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The Matchup

My opponent decided to go with a Mylor team that I expected. They used a lot of tanky monsters and even Dumacke Orc at the back. It was a good thing I didn't risk the Katrelba team. The good news is, apart from the Battering Ram, their only attacker is the first monster. I'm hoping my Wallstop can get all the kills and don't die from the Thorns.

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End of Round 1

So I'm dealing 4 damage to the Mycelic Infantry which will take a few turns to kill. I'll skip a few rounds until a monster dies because there won't be any action for a few turns. Their Battering Ram isn't doing anything, and the Mycelic Infantry got stunned.

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End of Round 2-3

I was finally able to kill the Mycelic Infantry, and it was perfect that Wallstop got the kill. It was also on its last armor, so it didn't take any damage. My Septic Slime missing its attack against the Terraceous Grunt was really nice since it saved 2 HP.

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End of Round 4-5

Both Wallstop and Septic Slime missed their killing blows, and the Terraceous Grunt ended up killing the Septic Slime instead. It isn't so bad though. As long as my Wallstop can kill the Grunt next turn, I should be good.

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End of Round 6-7

I was able to kill the Grunt, and the Ram was just an easy bloodlust stack. It did remove Wallstop's armor when it attacked and Wallstop took 2 thorns damage when it killed the Ram.

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End of Round 8

I got lucky that my Wallstop attacked before the Knifer. They had the same speed, level, and rarity, so it was just RNG. It might not have mattered in the long run, since it would have just been 1 damage after the bloodlust stack has been added.

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End of Round 9

I usually have bad luck so I was very scared of missing against the Gargoya Lion. Luckily I was able to kill it immediately. Facing the Dumacke Orc, I realized that if I missed 2 attacks earlier, I would have lost. My last two monsters only have 1 attack, and they won't be able to damage Dumacke Orc.

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End of the Battle

I will have to say that I was surprised that I won that battle. Mylor is usually one of, if not, the best summoner for Up Close and Personal. I know Gladiator stacks and Bloodlust can be useful against this strategy, and it is nice to see it work perfectly.

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 think they had a strong team, but I created my team to counter that strategy specifically, and I was able to get away with the win.