Battle Mage Secrets: Melee Mayhem - Defence Up

Prelude
Hi all, hope all is well for you and it is time for another Battle Mage Secrets. Last week, we looked a ruleset which is launched not too long ago which allow us to reach in from the 2nd position. Today, we look at a ruleset that had been there for quite a while since I started playing.

Ruleset Spotlight

Melee Mayhem

Description:

• Melee units can attack from any position.
• Prime use case for melee units with Bloodlust.
• Abilities take precedence where targeting is concerned.

What thrives with this ruleset?
Melee mayhem is like a playground for all melee cards, especially those that do not have sneak or opportunity, not they have the ability to go rampant and whack from wherever they are.

And with such a situation, my suggestion is to mount up the defence through protecting your lineup, enduring the damage and finally reducing their damage.

When I mean protecting the lineup, you should have guessed I am referring to the ability Protect. This ability gives you 2 additional armour for every card. Since every melee attack is coming your way, having that additional armour will buy you more survivability for you to return the attacks the opposite way.

Next will be on the enduring the damage portion. And this is done so with the Shield ability. Shield reduced the damage taken by melee and is a good way to sustain in such matches. If you can, plan for them as front and back tanks, as they will help to hold onto the team longer and allow you to retaliate back.

Lastly will be to reduce the melee damage throughout with a debuff and this can be done through demoralize which reduces all melee damages by 1.

Of course there are other abilities not discussed in detail such as Retaliate and Thorns. These are actually good as well so do consider them as well as they can make the favour swing in your direction.

Stats wise, all are important but armour if able to, will be good for this ruleset.

With these in mind, let's start to talk about the battle proper.

The Battle
Link: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_198649e8ae0aa55ff8bfaa00ad5798c9&ref=vaynard86

Ruleset
Reverse Speed, Melee Mayhem

Mana Limit: 49

Splinter	Mana Cost	Position	Reason
Tarsa	4	Summoner	Melee ruleset, why not make melee even stronger one more melee attack and also give one extra health for longer sustenance
Antoid Platoon	4	1st	This card carries shield and hence it becomes a great candidate for the front line as a tank.
Ferox Defender	8	2nd	This card is the protector which gives everyone 2 extra armour
Forgotten One	9	3rd	A hard hitting card that is not easily taken out due to its strong armour stats.
Disintegrator	7	4th	The debuffer planted in this lineup to reduce opponent's lineup melee attack.
Sorriel the Bale	9	5th	This is placed here to take out those pesky big cards with a tonne of armour, becaus this is magic, we can direct access the damage.
Septic Slime	8	6th	This card hit hard and has the ability to stun which is great as stun will totally disrupt gameplay for the one hit by the stun.
Total Mana:	49

Opponent Lineup

• Summoner - Tarsa
• Position 1 - Arkemis The Bear
• Position 2 - Grum Flameblade
• Position 3 - Drybone Raider
• Position 4 - Exploding Rats
• Position 5 - Tusk The Wide
• Position 6 - NA

Prediction before pressing rumble
My goodness, looks like I am in a very difficult position with such a strong opponent that carry so many strong and good cards while I am using a much "reduced" form. Both of us planted a fire lineup and used some similar ones. Gonna be a tougb one and let's how things turn out.

Let's battle!

Battle Synopsis

Round 1, Fast and furious with all kind of crazy things happening all about. Key moment in the first round was the stun that Septic Slime inflicted and this card Arkemis The Bear fell within this match. Now a tough card stands in our way which had Blood Lust and if not handled properly, we will get eaten up fully by it.

Round 2, All damages went one direction towards Grum Flameblade while thankfully my Antoid Platoon is killed by Tusk The Wide instead of Grum which can lead to crazy consequences. Otherwise Ferox Defender is also in an awkward state to get possibly killed next turn.

Round 3, A double strike from Disintegrator and Septic Slime somehow overtook Grum but killed it. Whew that was dangerous. Ferox was killed by Tusk The Wide and we are moving towards the closing stages of the match.

Round 4, In this round we took out Drybone Raider and the Exploding Rats which triggered its redemption. Otherwise a relatively straightforward round as we walk towards clearing out the last card my opponent had.

Round 5 and 6, both round focused on killed Tusk which had a tonne of health points. Forgotten One fell in Round 5 while the remaining hits landed on Tusk The Wide and brought me the vicotry!

Post Battle Summary
Whew, against a crazily strong deck, this result really makes me happy to see how my cards work in sync to bring victory!

Did my strategy work? Yes totally. While I did doubt myself when I see such a strong lineup put up by my opponent. However, the lineup did not fail me in terms of the strategy I fielded. The cards that were planned for whatever reason all did what they need to. 2 cards that were added into the lineup did exceptionally well, in the likes of Sorriel The Bale and also Septic Slime. Both had special reasons for the inclusion while the rest all had their main strategy of improving defences when facing a strong melee lineup.

What's the Battle Mage Secret?

The Battle Mage Secret today is simply to up your defences. Protect, Shield and Demoralize when combined are just so good to contain the damages brought about from melee. The key to this ruleset is to survive and outlast, if you can't outlast, you will get taken out because this ruleset induces so much beat down.

A smaller secret that I put here is to include Septic Slime and Sorriel The Bale. Septic Slime might look like abit hard to play, this card is exceptional because it can be in non front position and knocking out Stun from there making it tough for your opponent to handle, not forgetting that Septic Slime hits hard too. Next will be Sorriel, many a times because of high defence that we put, this arises to an opportunity to strike using magic attacks and bypass those thick armour. Hope the main and small secret can help you do well in your future matches!

Wrap Up
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my sharing on the rule set Melee Mayhem. I would really appreciate it if you liked and/or commented to let me know what are you thoughts.

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Till my next battle sharing, take care, stay safe and happy battling!

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