Battle Mage Secrets - The Flying Scavenger

The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Keep Your Distance ruleset this time! This means units with melee attacks may not be used. Use Phase, Void, Void Armor, and Magic Reflect to counter magic attacks. Use Headwinds and Return Fire to counter ranged attacks. Units with 2 types of attack (which include melee) cannot be used.

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 here'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 Common Death card, Riftwing!

Riftwing is one of the stronger cards in the Death lineups at 4 mana and below. Its stats are very strong, high speed and high HP. With Flying, when paired Astral Entity's Dodge, it becomes extremely hard to hit. The Scavenge ability needs no introduction, it is extremely strong in battles where cards fall easily. Being a non-attack card, it can gain attacks from Weapons Training as well. All in all, it's definitely not a "Common" card.

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

Riftwings are drawn to splinters and rifts. They feed off their energy and grow larger the closer they live to a portal. The Chaos Legion uses them as a means to locate rifts. In war, they are utilized as scouts, providing valuable information and as a way to harass/distract enemy forces, thereby slowing them down.

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Battle Type & Team Lineup

Position	Card/Level	Mana
Summoner	Thaddius Brood	4

It's a Little League ruleset combined with Keep Your Distance, and I opted to use a Death lineup and Thaddius Brood is a massive summoner for Little League.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
1	Venari Marksrat	3

Venari Marksrat is positioned as the tank to get Martyr for the adjacent card, and such abilities can be important in this Little League fight.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
2	Revealer	4

Revealer is one of the strongest cards in Death for Little League fights so he is positioned in the second position to gain that Martyr boost.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
3	Riftwing	4

Riftwing is an exceptionally strong card because of its high HP and the Scavenge ability. Hopefully it would buy more time for the cards in the backline.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
4	Venari Bonesmith	4

Venari Bonesmith is one of the big cards that is strong in Little League battles because it's at 4 mana and if the frontline holds, the Life Leech can strengthen the card quickly.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
5	Life Sapper	3

Similar to Venari Bonesmith, Life Sapper sit all the way in the backline to take advantage of the Life Leech ability.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
6	Ravenhood Warden	4

Ravenhood Warden is one of my favourite cards to play for Death because it is such a team player. The Protect ability gives a huge boost to all the cards in the team, and it definitely is important for Little League battles.

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• Pre Battle: When I saw the lineups, I wasn't surprised to see that the lineups were very very similar because the rulesets made the selection very limited, especially excluding the Melee cards.
  

• Round 1: Thaddius Brood really made it extremely difficult for both sides because of the reduction in HP. Both tanks went down and triggered Martyr for both sides and it was now 5 vs 5.
  

• Round 2: Both teams were down to 4 cards. My team was at a disadvantage because my strongest card on the board, Revealer, was taken down. Now let's see how long Riftwing can hold on.
  

• Rounds 3-4: Riftwing held strong and both Venari Bonesmith and Life Sapper continued to soak up more HP and my team was in a better shape after these two rounds.
  

• Rounds 5-6: Venari Bonesmith was indeed a tough as my Riftwing finally went down, leaving both Venari Bonesmiths to fight it out. This Little League is going all the way to the wire!
  

• Rounds 7-8: Advantage to my team as both my Life Leech cards are still standing while my opponent was down to 2 Ranged cards.
  

• Round 9: And we won! Definitely closer than what it looked and it was a close battle!
  

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

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Post Battle

Did my strategy work? Both teams put in a lot of thought and came out strong lineups that fit the restrictive rulesets, but I was slightly luckier with a Level 3 Riftwing and that bought a lot more time for the cards in the backline, which helped my fights towards the end.

What's the Battle Mage Secret? Riftwing is a massive card - high speed, high HP, Flying and Scavenge ability - all in 1 card!

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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