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Hi everyone! It's time for the weekly Battle Mage Secrets challenge and the challenge this week is the Maneuvers Ruleset.

About the Ruleset

Maneuvers

The Lost Magic ruleset states that "All units gain reach". This means all melee monsters will be able to attack from the second position. In addition, the Armored Strike ability counts as a melee attack and can be used from the second position.

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Battle Ruleset(s)

Details of my battle with this ruleset is as follows.

Are You Not Entertained?: One additional Gladiator card may be used in battles
Maneuvers: All units gain reach
Mana Cap: 18
Available Splinters: Earth, Life and Death
Format: Modern

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Cards & Line Up

The Summoner vs

Summoner: Obsidian - It increases the Magic attack of my deck by 1.

The Line Up

Position 1	Position 2	Position 3	Position 4	Position 5

vs

Position 1	Position 2	Position 3	Position 4	Position 5

[Card image source]

Position	Name	Description
1	Hill Giant	It has the one of the highest health for a low cost mana monster and is used as the main tank.
2	Fungus	It is 0 mana cost and is used here to slow down the opponent's attack.
3	Queen Mycelia	It has the Protect ability and is used here to provide additional 2 shields to the deck.
4	Katrelba Gobson	It has the Bloodlust, Sneak and Double Strike ability. This is the key monster used against the opponent.
5	Mycelic Morphoid	It has the Thorns ability, and is here to fend off a couple of backline attacks, if any.

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Strategy

The ruleset here meant that (1) a gladiator monster can be used and (2) melee monsters can attack from the second position.

I took a look at the last five battles of the opponent and realised that he favoured using Thaddius Brood with Cursed Windeku as his main tank, which is at level 6 and has the Thorns and Heal ability. Making use of the Maneuvers ruleset in this case would actually put me at a disadvantage, as his combination of heals and thorns would get my monsters killed off faster. As such, I opted for a backline attack using Katrelba Gobson and higher health and shields to slow the opponent's frontline attack. Hopefully, I'll be able to grow the stats of Katrelba Gobson high enough that it can easily take out Cursed Windeku.

As I expected, the opponent did use Thaddius Brood with Cursed Windeku as his main tank. He also had Uraeus with the Poison ability. Luckily, I was able to take out his backline and Uraeus before it inflicted poison on Katrelba Gobson. Taking out the entire backline allowed Katrelba Gobson to grow to an attack of 7 and sufficient shield and health to fend off the Thorns of the Cursed Windeku as the last two monsters standing.

It felt good to come up with a strategy that allowed me to win against an opponent that had a better deck of monsters.

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Thoughts on the Maneuvers Ruleset

While I did make use of the Maneuvers ruleset, it is a fun one. With this ruleset, you can place monsters with the Double Strike or Armored Strike ability in the second position and it has the potential to do huge damage to the opponent's tank. Sometimes, you can also do what I did in this battle. That is to use a strategy that is opposite to the ruleset and catch the opponent off-guard. It's a ruleset that allows you to be creative with your strategies.

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Battle

Watch the battle here