Thanks for coming to my daily #Splinterlands Battle of the Day #BOTD for your reading and watching enjoyment. All hail the #ageofthebattlemage!

BATTLE LINK -- June 29, 2024 -- Day 181 of 366 vs. @jmaan

Back to ranked play with this high Diamond 1 battle on the second to last day of the season. I needed a late push to get a safe placement back in Champion 3 to end the season! This 99-mana battle excludes dragon and has 3 rulesets: Stampede, Aim True, and Equalizer.

Today's featured card -- Djinn Inferni -- is a darling of mine in both 99-mana battles and Equalizer battles. In the latter, the low health of the Djinn does not matter. In the high-mana battles, the giant killer ability is lethal against opponents stacking their lineup with double-digit giants. My opponent here has three giants in his lineup: the new Rebellion legendary, Barashkukor; the Riftwatchers fire promo legendary, Immolation; and the Chaos Legion soulbound reward legendary, Usut.

Inferni also has stun and passable 4 speed. Lorkus bumps it up to 6 magic attack and I love using the life leech ability in Equalizer to stack more health on otherwise weak monsters. Also, I'll just say it, but not running Venka with the Stample rule is risky, even when you can expect a forcefield up front.

On the surface, the battle looks somewhat equal. We both have Lorkus giving the life leech to a maxed soulbound legend, Usut. We both have the same forcefield monster, Djinn Muirat, slotted as tank. We both jam with the blasting force of Immolation in the middle of our lineup. But the differences make all the difference. Watch the battle...

Flawless victory! Let's see about those other three choices. Sinash gives me the swiftness edge and provides a 4-power blast attack that gets under forcefield while gaining a big health boost from Equalizer. We've already discussed my featured card, Djinn Inferni. The final monster is Venka and she's so vile she needs no introduction. She feasted with the Stampede ruleset!

The key to winning this battle was the stun from Inferni paired with the knockout ability of Muirat, allowing me to wipe his Muirat off the board much more quickly without all the reflect damage. My opponent's Cabalist to leverage amplify for the magic reflect on their front two monsters paled in consequence compared to the stun hitting from Inferni and the double damage dealt from Muirat's knockout!

My opponent's other two choices didn't fare well against forcefield defenses, with my Muirat also "dodging" fury from Barashkukor and ambush from Rush. Sometimes when you get it right, you really get it right! The shots just kept landing, peeling off their monsters left and right. Watching this battle is an encouraging sign for the last day of the season and the drive for Champion 2 in 24 hours!

Enjoy the content? Leave a like/comment and check out BOTD 180 from yesterday!