Hello everyone! Pozdrav svima!

I wanted to share with you one interesting battle I had this week. It will show you how to win battles with less fire power but with more bodies in the line-up. We know them as cannon fodder, because we put them in the line-up just to be the targets for your enemy's attacks, giving your damage dealers enough time to place their killing blows.

BATTLE

Lets take a look at this weeks battle ruleset. Mana cap 19, Equalizer, all splinters available except Dragon.

Ruleset:
Equalizer - The initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health

• When playing this ruleset don't use high HP monsters and focus on high damage. Try to use a lot of monsters as well. Having a Tank Heal, Thorns, Triage for defense helps a lot.

Line-up

When I looked at my opponent's previous matches I noticed he likes to use Water splinter with Kelya Frendul who gives 1 armor to whole team, in addition he prioritizes Venari Wavesmith who also gives (2) armor to whole team. That would mean if I use melee or ranged attackers it would be quite inefficient.
That is why I went with magic damage. Since I acquired Djinn Oshannus few weeks ago, I use every opportunity to use him. I paired him with Venari Wavesmith to give him some shield protection (if my opponent can use it, why not give him a taste of his own medicine). To give them extra magic damage I chose Alric Stormbringer as summoner. That left me with 3 mana for the rest of the team and 4 spots left open, so I put all the cheapest cards I could dig up in front of those 2.
Their only mission is to take damage from enemy while Oshannus and Wavesmith pick them off one by one - thus the phrase "cannon fodder".

Round 1

My prediction was wrong - my opponent didn't go with Keyla summoner. He went with Alric instead, just like I did. And what do you notice at the first glance of his line-up is that he has more damage dealers then me. He has more damage overall - 4 magic, 4 ranged (because Axemaster has Double Strike ability) and 1 melee, while I have (only) 5 magic and 1 melee.
I'm done, game over, you would think. But what I have is one more monster acting as cannon fodder, and that will turn out to be crucial.
Because my Djinn Oshannus has the most health (10) in the match all monsters get 10 health from Equalizer ruleset.

Round 2

Right from the start my opponent gets two misses on Kelp Initiate. I'm off to a great start.

Round 3

Again one more miss from Axemaster on Kelp Initiate. Who would've guessed that 1 speed makes such a big difference. Other attacks didn't miss but he fulfilled his mission as my damage dealers take out his tank.

Round 4 & 5

Cannon fodder doing its part, soaking up damage while my damage dealers do their thing.

Round 6 & 7

My opponent is out of his protectors, while I still have my furious chicken in front. So far my strategy is paying off and I'm on my way to victory.

Round 8 & 9 & 10

My Furious Chicked laid its life protecting Oshannus and Wavesmith and all they have to do now is finish off remaining two monsters.
Game over in round 10.

Result

Nice rating gain, DEC not so much.

CONCLUSION

Never underestimate the power of cannon fodder. It can make a difference between a win and defeat. Especially in a match like this, when Equalizer rule makes them so annoying to opponents having to waste so many hits before getting to real targets.

Link to the battle itself can be found HERE

If you still haven't tried Splinterlands try it out HERE.

Thank you for your time, and please vote if you like this post.