Battle Mage Secrets - Axemaster Is The Master Of Range

The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Fog of War ruleset this time! This means all units lose the Sneak, Snipe and Opportunity abilities. It's not always easy to get the specific ruleset, but if you play hard enough, you definitely can find one! This time I was lucky enough to have one - woohoo!

So hers's the interesting battle that I encountered.

Anyway, I thought it would be still be interesting to introduce some useful cards and show how their strengths can be maximised especially with a particular ruleset. In this post, the featured card is a Water Epic card, Axemaster!

Axemaster even at Level 1 packs a great amount of damage. With Double Strike ability, it can potentially hit up to 4 damage per round, which is massive for a 7 mana card. With a high speed of 4, this means he is very likely to hit and also likely for opponents to miss him as well. Of course, not forgetting that he is one of the earlier cards to deal damage.

As usual, here's the lore for Axemaster for your reading interest:

The mysterious clan who call themselves Axemasters are perhaps the most peculiar group of people in the whole of ΛZMΛRÉ. They live under the moist ground in cave dwellings in the eastern thickets of the great Jungle, somewhere between the Palace of Eld and the treacherous tree known as Sligbough Oak. For many generations, they have protected the treasures of Eld from intruders, raiders, and even pirates who are unfamiliar with the legends of the curse. Some scholars claim that the Axemasters consider themselves the stewards and true owners of the treasures of Eld, but if you could get close enough to an Axemaster, they would tell you that they are merely protecting the people who would be foolish enough to touch the cursed treasure.

Genetically, Axemasters are a hybrid race called Meru that was created by merging Human and Mer (with a touch of Chaos magic) into amphibious creatures. Mer stories say that these demon offspring were ousted from Poseidar long ago, that they were not welcome anywhere under the water. As a result, they found the surface and made a home for their clan on the shores. In the years since, the clan has continued to migrate further and further from the water, where their Mer enemies are plentiful.

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Battle Type & Team Lineup

Position	Card/Level	Mana
Summoner	Kelya Frendul	4

My default summoner and lineup is always Water because of my familiarity and my collection of cards, so this time would be no different. Kelya Frendul gets the pick.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
1	Sea Monster	8

Sea Monster is almost always my default Water tank because not many cards can deal 4 damage per round and still self heal. It is a very strong card especially for low mana matches.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
2	Tide Biter	3

Tide Biter is one of the best Water Melee cards with Reach, packing 2 damage in just 3 mana at Level 2. This is very efficient for low mana matches and can assist Sea Monster to take out the opposing tank's armor first.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
3	Torrent Fiend	0

Torrent Fiend obviously is a filler card to act as a buffer between the earlier tanks and the rest of the backline, which will consist of Ranged attackers.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
4	Scavo Hireling	3

Being a Fog of War ruleset, Scavo Hireling should be quite safe to hide within the backline, providing more support to the rest of the team with Repair.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
5	Axemaster	7

Axemaster is the damage dealer for this lineup, 4 damage per turn along with the rest of the team is sure to bring down opposing cards fast.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
6	Igor Darkspear	2

Igor Darkspear is another mana efficient card for low mana battles, packing 5 HP within 2 mana. Usually he would act as a protection for Axemaster but even for a Fog of War ruleset, 1 damage from a 2 mana card is still decent.

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• Pre Battle: Am always confident of my Water lineups, especially when it's Sea Monster vs Djinn Oshannus. The former would always tend to win, though my opponent had a healer this time, so let's see how it goes.
  

• Round 1: Both sides went all out this one. The opposing Djinn Oshannus was a little tough to handle as expected due to a healer. Nonetheless, the damage output from my team should be able to see this through with time.
  

• Round 2: Scavo Hireling was posing a lot of problems for my opponent as the number of cards got lesser and lesser. Sea Monster continued to hold on without problems while my opponent was no match for me after their tank went off.
  

• Round 3: The opposing Kulu Swimhunter looked a bit tanky and managed to hold off some of my attacks but with 6 cards still on the board, it would be hard for me to lose this one.
  

• Round 4: Axemaster continued to carry the team with 4 damage per round and the finishing line was indeed in sight!
  

• Round 5: Not the most exciting battle but like most battles, it's a routine one and the best lineup wins and gets the job done!
  

If you are interested to watch the battle, you can find it here.

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Post Battle

Did my strategy work? I think my familiarity with Water lineups helped a lot. Sea Monster at Level 3 and Tide Biter at Level 2 form a very strong combination at the front, and as long as Axemaster stays safe at the backline, a win is likely.

What's the Battle Mage Secret? Axemaster is super underrated. I hardly see this card in battles these days.

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So that's all I have! What are your takeaways from this battle? Feel free to comment below, as I am always keen to learn and improve!

As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!

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