That is just getting silly, but entertaining!

@revisesociology

I agree.

What is silly?

Some of the battles.

One of the silliest in recent times was one I played last night using the funnest of cards, Olivia of the Brook. It is not that she gets so many wins, because there is some random chance with what she mimics, but there is something satisfying in seeing those abilities mount up and in some cases, it can eventuate in some pretty incredible stats.

Ruleset:

Starting Lineups:

You can kind of predict what is going to happen here, because both lineups have Iziar in there to draw fire and create some martyr power. @mythic534 has sandwiched her between Mantaroth with reach and Olivia, to pack a bit of a wallop to my Inevitable and hopefully squash my P2. My P2 however is Quora with a heal, and a backline heal also. This gives her some additional protection.

Like the lineup I am facing, a lot of people tend to put the backline and the scavenge on Olivia, but I try to go without that and instead look for the ability steal with mimic instead. It sometimes works out, but it is better when there is a taunt monster in there also, otherwise she might be the one that gets targeted. This is quite an important factor, because if the rounds are going to go the distance, with inevitable included, I am going to have three backline heals. And while I have no heal to steal at the start of the round from the opposing team, their Olivia is going to steal a tank heal, so mine will steal it from her. This gives me three back and two tank heals, plus the self-heal on Quora.

This is not the silliness though.

Now all monsters have the rebirth ability, and Mythic is playing with two resurrects and possibly a third with a mimic steal. I have one resurrect, possibly two with a steal. As no one has affliction, to stop Iziar from healing, and it is also a rebirth ruleset, it looks like we are in for a long match.

It is worth the watch.

While the start is a bit of a grind, as said, it gets a bit silly toward the end, because the other part of the ruleset is the enrage ability for all monsters. I have never seen this kind of level before, but I think it will be pretty common from now on. I can't do the math on the probabilities.

You'll see.

Because of the starting grind, I am going to skip through to some key points instead for the screenshots. The link for the battle will come later. As mimic plays a big part in the crazy, it is good to get a refresher.

Mimic

Mimic
At the beginning of round 2 and each following round, gain a random ability from the enemy team. 25% chance to gain a random ability from an attacker when hit. Dispel removes one mimicked ability in the order they were gained. Debilitations, Targeting abilities, Ambush, Weapons Training, Flank, Reach, Charge, and Taunt cannot be mimicked.

The key is "from the enemy team" here. I can't steal from my own team, unless the enemy has stolen it from me first.

Stolen bloodlust

As I have a Gladiator in there, blodlust is on the table and their Olivia stole it at the end of round 4. This is part of the fun times ahead. It doesn't come into play until much later though, because with all the backline heals and no affliction, Iziar is a solid taunt tank. My own Olivia stole the stolen bloodlust the next round.

I thought at round 10 it might end a little prematurely, because their Olivia hadn't stolen a reflection shield yet, and was taking some damage. She stole one soon enough and was getting triaged anyway. And while she got a reflection shield, my Olivia stole a charge. That is handy!

As I said, this was a grind, and the first card didn't fall until halfway through round 15. That is pretty incredible, isn't it? However, we are just getting started at this point, and there is more to come. But, with your prediction at this point, how many rounds will this match last?

Keep your guess in mind.

Round 17.

After I finally got rid of Iziar what I think was five times, getting some bloodlusts for my Olivia, but boosting their Mantaroth and Olivia with martyr, we were all looking pretty meaty.

At this point, I hadn't lost a card.

But round 17 meant that I lost my first Iziar also. However, I also took out their frontline tank in round 18, leaving the lineup looking pretty crazy already. Note the various stats, like speed and attacks.

What was your guess on how long this will last?

But in the same round 18, I lost all of my Iziars also.

Now, between the Mantaroth and the Olivia on the opsing side, they have a combined 22 melee, 10 magic and 27 charge with their shields to attack with. My Quora and Olivia have 26 melee, 18 magic and 16 charge. But I have a secret weapon.

Dispel.

Now that we are both attacking the frontline monster, dispel comes into play and my Quora stunts the Mantaroth, cutting it well back down to its normally meaty size. My tank is still the on martyr-ed Inevitable, so they can hit it all they want and it doesn't change much.

But the real crazy doesn't start for another two rounds. The Mantaroth is gone. at the start of round 19, now there is the Olivia in the way. In three hits she took out Inevitable and bloodlusted further.

But again, Dispel...

However, while the match is over, the crazy is not.

Fatigue sets in

And enrage takes hold.

At the highest point, Olivia looked like this:

That is 17 magic, 29 melee and 21 charge for a combined attack of 67.

Is that a record?

Oh, and a speed of 35.

So, what was your guess on how many rounds?

By 22, it was all over.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]

Here is the battle if you want to watch:
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_f4ab36aace9a39c05721c2c7dbc27fa8&ref=tarazkp

Worth the watch?