Battle Mage Secrets Weekly challenge... and a giveaway!

Almost at the end of season, and this will be may last day battling; reached Gold I, and was really hoping to be able to push to Diamond... but vacations are here, and they have full priority! That means taking a break from the game, and a giveaway that will last for two weeks, since I will be away from the computer. Fortunately, I still have time to write this post and join the weekly Battle Mage challenge! And this week's prompt?

This ruleset is a pain, because your team is being poisoned every round, and especially in low mana matches this can mean a very quick game! So we have to focus in units with immune and cleanse, decent heals, and if possible high hp cards: it's as important to stay alive as damaging the opponent! Sometimes focusing on keeping your hp is enough to win the game, even without big attackers.

Of course, you can also use this ruleset in your favour: for example, placing a unit with martyr ability strategically, knowing the poison will take that card out quickly, buffing your two adjacent cards! Kind of what I did in the battle I'm showcasing this week:

Two more rulesets in this battle: Odd ones out, meaning only monsters with odd mana can be used; and equaliser, meaning all cards start with the health of the highest hp card.

My strategy and lineup:

• Grandmaster Rathe as the summoner: shield and void shield are good defensive skills, and in this ruleset the more defense, the better!
• Drybone Barbarian as tank: quick enrage due to poison, and very high melee attack!
• Djinn Renova: very good support card, with high magic damage and triage
• Iziar: taunt with martyr, perfect for this strategy, as it wil lconcentrate firepower and when dead, will buff adjacent cards
• Adelaide Brightwind: immune to poison, so perfect here; besides, repair works almost as a heal with Rathe as summoner
• Venari Marksrat: another martyr, and with shatter to take out enemy tank's shield
• Stitch Leech: life leach is a great skill to have here.

My opponent chose a similar strategy as me, also going with life team but choosing Genersl Sloan as the summoner; also Izira, Brightwing and Djinn renova at the team, and finishing with two ranged damage dealers.

I mounted my team in a rush, and screwed up partially the lineup, since marksrat would be a lot better placed between tank and djinn; but it was done, and I had to let the battle roll!

Given the equaliser ruleset, a lot of time passed until first casualities; I had to wait to round 3, and Iziar from both teams was killed, buffing cards and getting ressurected by the Brightwings. My opponent's Iziar gets killed on the very same round and buffs tank and Adelaide again.

And mid round 4, it's my Iziar turn to get defeated again, providing a much needed buff to djinn and brightwing.

My team was holding up but tank was lost; stitch least was gathering some health with the life leach, but game was pretty balance until now, and I was still unsure where would the battle go.

Round 7, and both djinn and adelaide down, placing my marksrat at the tank position, unable to attack! I only had stitch leech as an attacker, and still 4 cards in the opponent's team; things were looking bad!

And round 8, my markstrat was about to get killed, leaving only stitch; the good thing, with the life leech it was still at 15 hp, and most cards from my opponent were pretty low on health.

Poison at round nine leaves only my stitch leech agains a 3hp djinn as tank and a 4hp runeslinger... and with 5 melee attack, djinn was an easy target, leaving a hopeless runeslinger in tank position shortly after! You can see the whole battle here!

A close battle! But these are the funnier ones, right?

---

By the way, if you haven't joined a guild yet and you're a dedicated player, our guild Roaring Twenties is at level 10! If you're thinking about joining in, you can check the info on the guild page, or reach us on discord here to discuss membership!

---

So, and who won this week's card?

Congratulations @blitzzzz! The Time Meddler is going your way!

---

For this next giveaway, the card that will be switching hands is...

The Arachne Thug!

---

Rules:

No upvote, follow or resteem required. Just comment! Or even better, tag a fellow player! Winner will be randomly chosen at post payout; good luck everyone!

Still haven't joined Splinterlands? In what planet do you live in? Click the banner below and join the fun! (It has my referral link; you can go directly to the website if you don't want to use it; either way... join in! 😎 )