HELLO to all Splinterlands readers of my humble blog.👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Welcome to week 40 of the new iteration of the Splinterlands Weekly Challenges (at least, if I haven't miscounted so far, yet. 😜).

For any old Hivers/Splinterland players who've just come back and are confused, fret not! Even with the name and format tweaks, right at it's core, battles are still the foundation of these posts.

In this week's edition of Battle Mage Secrets, we explore a ruleset that completely removes an entire subset of monsters from the game! Gasp! What is this discrimination? 🤣 Well, if the Splinterlands Gods declare that all Bow and Arrow users are banned, then so it shall be. Take it up with the higher powers, not me. 😅

I present to you the ruleset — BROKEN ARROWS 🚫🏹

The game's description of BROKEN ARROWS is as follows: "Ranged attack Monsters may not be used in battles."

I think this ruleset is pretty direct and obvious. The ruleset literally means what it says. If the unit has ANY form of a ranged attack at all, it is completely banned. That means all those "dual attack" units which also happen to have ranged as an extra attack are likewise affected. 😱

What does this mean then? The implications of not having any ranged units at all might not seem that obvious. However, that means summoners or units which give ranged attack buffs are completely useless, so we should avoid using those. It also goes to say that debuffs which affect your opponent's ranged units should not be used too, since they aren't going to have any possible target at all.

Dig deeper in, and we will also know that the only units we face now will be melee or magic units. This means you have some knowledge of what the opponent will be playing (and likewise your opponent will know that about you too).

I will take advantage of this ruleset in my battle showcase today to show how one of my units in particular becomes a lot stronger than one would expect with BROKEN ARROWS. Introducing IMMORTALIS.

Immortalis, one of the most powerful battle mages of the era, was the leader of one such guild. His training regimen was brutal and demanding, and he required nothing less than absolute perfection from those he accepted into his ranks. The weak were soon weeded out, while the strong flourished and grew even stronger. Immortalis and his guild proved all but unbeatable, and spectators from across the Splinterlands packed the stands to watch him swagger into the arena and direct his guild members as they mercilessly crushed their opponents.

❤️🪄🛡️From Splinterlands Lore on IMMORTALIS❤️🪄🛡️

---

Immortalis is a Legendary card released during the Chaos Legion expansion. It has definitely found it's place in many Earth decks given its availability and usefulness. It's effects on the battlefield are ❤️-1 HEALTH❤️ and granting the 🪄VOID🪄 & 🛡️SHATTER🛡️ ability to all your units. It's summoning cost is, like all other Chaos Legion Legendary Summoners, 6 🧪MANA🧪.

The stat buffs it gives are nothing out of the ordinary, so at first glance, he might look pretty bland. However, it is the VOID and SHATTER ability it confers to all your units that makes this Summoner one of the strongest in the game!

Remember the Ruleset BROKEN ARROWS? We can eliminate all ranged units from the game, so we need to prepare for a melee or magic heavy battlefield (or even both). Immortalis give a general -1 HEALTH debuff, which is all round useful, but it is the VOID and SHATTER which will cover all your bases. SHATTER will reduce the effectiveness of melee tanks who will lose all their armour with just one hit. The VOID ability instantly gives all your units added protection from all magic units!

So do you see how important this summoner is when playing in a BROKEN ARROWS ruleset now? 😉

This could make all the difference if the battle comes down to the wire where the slightest advantage is the fine line between victory or defeat! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 This is definitely what I'd consider game changing! 😱😱😱

⚔️🛡️My Battle Showcase🛡️⚔️

Let me present a battle I fought recently in which the ruleset BROKEN ARROWS was in effect. My opponent used the Promo edition Summoner Delwyn Dragonscale from the DRAGON splinter as his main pick, while I used the Chaos Legion Summoner IMMORTALIS EARTH splinter. 🐉 VS 🌱

At first glance, it would seem like I was at a distinct disadvantage.

• His summoner level was higher than mine. My level 1 legendary Summoner is about the equivalent of a lv 2 Rare. Here he was fielding a level 4 Summoner!

• Needless to say, my units were also vastly out levelled. My opponent was able to field a much higher level team against mine. 😭

• As expected, my opponent chose to focus on just a single type of unit to concentrate all his strength from his summoner choice.

I was honestly expecting this to be a really bad matchup for me 😜🤣. This was a team who was of a superior level. Pound for pound, there was no way my units could match up against them. Would I be able to turn the tide of battle against such an opponent then? Victory or defeat would lie in the small details.

I would say that the ruleset BROKEN ARROWS was DEFINITELY the MVP of this match, having played it's role in turning the tide of battle. The advantage it gave my team resulted in me outlasting my opponent in this battle. It definitely provided the edge that I needed to overcome my opponent.

This ensured that the other units could eventually wear down the opponent until victory was achieved! 🏆🏆🏆

---

LINK TO MY FIGHT

👯‍♀️👯👯‍♂️LINEUP CHOICES👯‍♀️👯👯‍♂️

1st CARD SLOT

Grund is chosen for this slot. He plays the role of the Main tank perfectly with his great stats. This allows all other units to be kept safe until he is taken down. He also does an amazing amount of DPS with the DOUBLESTRIKE ability.

---

2nd CARD SLOT

The Chaos Agent takes up the second slot. With his 1 mana cost and 1 health, he will also take the place of the main tank as a sacrificial one hit backup tank.

---

3rd CARD SLOT

The Goblin Psychic occupies this slot. It's main role here to be a support unit with it's HEAL ability. He also does pretty decent magic dps.

---

4th CARD SLOT

The Wood Nymph occupies the 4th slot here. Like the unit before, it's main role here to be a support healer.

---

5th CARD SLOT

The Mushroom Seer occupies this slot. Once again, like the unit before, it's main role here to be an anti magic unit debuffer. This is all thanks to the SILENCE ability.

---

6th CARD SLOT

The Regal Peryton takes the last slot. This is high speed unit with FLYING and a decent amount of health. The aim of having it back here is to defend against SNEAK attacks.

I hope you're starting to see the pattern here in my team setup. 😉

⚔️🛡️Battle Action Report🛡️⚔️

As you can see, both of us fielded a similar mix of unit types. Both of us had a huge melee tank, although in my opponent's case, it could be said that his was a semi melee unit only. Our tanks were then backed up by dual healers and the DPS choices were all magic units. 😱

🐉DRAGON🐉 VS 🌱EARTH🌱

---

My opponent used Agor Longtail as his tank in the 1st slot which was a VERY good choice. With his great tanking stats and the VOID ARMOR and TAUNT ability, he makes a perfect tank that can easily take a hit, thus protecting the entire team even more effectively. Not to mention he also packs a huge punch and will easily kill anything in his path!

The Furious Chicken occupied his 2nd slot. With it's ZERO mana cost, I can assume that it is just there as a sacrificial tank.

In his 3rd and 5th slots were the Goblin Psychic and Wood Nymph. Those 2 are his healers who will do their utmost to keep up the main tank.

The same goes for the Uraeus in his 4th slot. A low cost unit to hold the line, albeit one that could deal some damage unlike those that came before it so far.

His 4th and 6th slots were occupied by low cost magic DPS units in the form of the the Goblin Sorcerer and Magi of the Forest.

All in all, I would say that the opponent picked a really strong team. 👍

---

The battle started out with all our units just duking it out pound for pound. It was an average mana game with 37 mana as the limit. The rulesets were BROKEN ARROWS.

• The first round saw both our sides launch a flurry of attacks at each other. My high speed Regal Peryton attacked first just as I had planned and instantly removed all the armour from his main tank with just 1 hit thanks to SHATTER!

• Both our hefty tanks were still standing even after all those blows thanks to the healing power of our dual healers.

• Thanks to my foresight in putting Regal Peryton as the SNEAK protector, his Goblin Sorcerer wasn't able to decimate my backline.

• Round 2 was even more devastating than the first. I brought down his Agor and Furious Chicken, while receiving minimal damage in return. Unfortunately, my Grund also received an AFFLICTION debuff from his higher levelled Goblin Psychic. This meant that he would no longer be able to be healed. Would my tank be able to last through the battle?

• The double magic debuff from Immortalis and the Mushroom Seer was really starting to shine through.

• There was no way back now for the opponent as nothing was able to stop the barrage of attacks from my units now after his main tank fell.

• It was all over for the opponent now as I eventually mopped up his remaining units. 💀💀💀

• In just 3 rounds, it was all over.

Talk about doing WAY MORE than it was supposed to!!! 😱🤯🥳 All I expected was for the BROKEN ARROWS ruleset to make things even more disadvantageous for me. I had lost out horribly in terms of levels and stats. However it ended up being the entire reason for my win! The opponent was simply unable to cope with the defensive anti magic units I stacked. Ironically, had his units not been handicapped by BROKEN ARROWS limiting his choice of units, he might have won against me since he was significantly higher levelled as compared to me.

Well as you can see here in this GIF of my battle, the results were pretty good! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This was truly an eye opener! 😁🏆

Slowly, but surely, I wore down the opponent's team and the match ended up with me inflicting a crushing defeat. My team selection proved to be the edge I needed to eventually overpower my opponent. 💪🏻

🔮🔮🔮Hindsight is 20/20🔮🔮🔮

Would I have done anything differently? 🤔 This might have seemed like a disadvantage at the start but I ended up winning handily. IF I had to use the same cards again, there would be no better lineup than what I had already used for the match. Any other combination MIGHT have resulted in a loss for me. I'm really satisfied with the results against such a worthy opponent. 🏆🥇

💭🧐💭Ending Thoughts💭🧐💭

---

I definitely can appreciate the ruleset BROKEN ARROWS and how it changes the dynamics of usual gameplay. This is one of those rulesets which can be turned into a huge advantage if surrounded with the proper team. The role it brings to the battlefield will give a player the edge in squeezing out every tiny advantage to get the win. 👍🏻

I hope this article has given you some insight into its potential. 😉

---

To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK 😊.

---

I am also a member of the SPLINTERLANDS PIZZA guild and the PIZZA community.

PIZZA is an active gaming and creative arts crypto community on the HIVE blockchain. Popular games on HIVE like SPLINTERLANDS, RISING STAR, EXODE, HASHKINGS, WOO, BANG!DEFENSE have their own PIZZA communities here.

Don't miss out more events that are always being organised. Join the PIZZA DISCORD. Even if you aren't interested in the 💰🍕🎁GIVEAWAYS & AIRDROPS💰🍕🎁, there is a vibrant and friendly community there awaiting you.

CLICK THIS LINK TO JOIN PIZZA DISCORD!!!