
This is a recent Brawl Battle of mine—one that isn't particularly extraordinary, as utilizing the Mana Cap to its fullest extent is a routine practice for me in almost every battle. However, the card selection process does not begin with the sole objective of simply maximizing Mana usage. If a battle's Mana Cap is sufficient to allow me to select all six of my preferred cards—in accordance with my strategy—I do not even give a second thought to fully utilizing the Mana; instead, I focus exclusively on selecting the absolute best cards for the situation. Conversely, if a battle features a limited Mana Cap that prevents me from including all my preferred cards, I proceed by first adding the cards that best fit my strategy; then, using the remaining Mana, I attempt to fill the vacant slots in my team by adding additional cards. Take this battle, for instance: the Mana Cap was 42—a figure that isn't typically considered low—yet it was insufficient to accommodate all the cards required for my specific strategy. Alternatively, one could say that after adding a few of my preferred cards, only a negligible amount of Mana remained—too little to include any truly pivotal cards. Consequently, I strategically placed a Halfling Refugee—which costs a mere 1 Mana—into a specific slot within the lineup, and then, by adding another 0-Mana card at the very end of the lineup, I succeeded in utilizing both the available space and the remaining Mana as efficiently as possible.

This battle might not be the perfect example to illustrate the point I wish to convey, but it should certainly give you a clear idea. Undoubtedly, I was destined to win this battle anyway, as my team was significantly stronger than my opponent's. Furthermore, thanks to my Archon, my two most lethal cards possessed the "Resurgence" ability, effectively granting each of them an extra life. However, by observing the flow of an attack phase, you can grasp a crucial concept: if you have leftover Mana, you should make it a point to utilize it somehow. As you can see in the screenshot above, one of the enemy's cards possessed the "Opportunity" ability—a power that allows it to target the opponent's weakest card. I strategically included two cards with relatively low health—aside from my primary attackers—specifically to bait and neutralize the enemy's "Opportunity" ability, all while my main attackers continued to unleash heavy assaults on the enemy team. Thus, in a sense, you could say that these "filler" cards were included in the lineup solely to absorb the enemy's attacks and effectively waste their turns.🔥

So far, we have only discussed how to protect your core cards from attacks by cards possessing the "Opportunity" ability. Furthermore, by placing these "bait" cards at the very end of your lineup, you can effectively waste the attacks of cards equipped with the "Snipe" ability. If this bait card happens to be a non-melee card, you can position it immediately after your frontline card—specifically in the slot designated for the first non-melee unit. Additionally, if your team includes a card with the "Scavenger" ability, the knockout of this bait card will grant your Scavenger unit an additional +1 Health. This constitutes a small yet crucial component of a strategy I have tested and verified dozens of times—one that proves effective almost without fail. Feel free to share your thoughts and views on this approach.

Note:
English is not my first language. So sometimes I use 'Google Translate'. Please don't think that anything I have written in this blog has been copied from somewhere or is AI-generated.
Paragraph Dividers and all the photos are from #Splinterlands.
All the other content images and words are mine unless otherwise stated.
Have a Happy and Blessed day!

Cool battle lineups
I will learn from it
Peace