Splintertands Battle Mage Secrets - Drybone Raider Goes Up To Eleven

Greetings ++Splinterlands++ Summoners! The classic weekly battle challenge retired to make way for the Battle Mage Secrets series, making it more entertaining. This new set-up adds a focus on dynamic strategies, as players will be able to choose from a greater selection of more diverse units to bring into battle.

Let's enjoy the Up To Eleven battle-rule, which grants the Amplify ability to all monsters. This is insane... with Thorns, Return Fire and Magic Reflect doing extra damage! How can you counter such a mix of deadly traits? The only way.... is to do more damage than your opponent!

This battle rule will increase the damage dealt by Thorns, Return Fire and Magic Reflect to all enemies by 1! The perfect opportunity to use those heavy tanks with Thorns, or any other strange combo!

It's certain that the "Up to Eleven" battles will be random, as there's no guarantee that the opponent will use more melee beasts, or focus on casters and ranged units! The same level of random is reflected when opening reward chests, with rewards as strange as the box with spare screws and bolts I keep in the shed!

Sometimes the gods of random are smiling, dropping one of the sweet Legendary cards in one of the boxes. Like that time when I discovered the crazy Drybone Raider! This card is raw over-powered, with Double-Strike and dual attack! Power-overwhelming!

According to the lore, the Raiders are part of a tribalistic and fractious collective of anarchists! The Drybone are led by the llamataur warlord, Eternan Brune, the fire dude that destroys your armor even before the battle starts.

They are savage, conducting predatory incursions into neighboring lands, attacking settlements for loot, plunder, and fun. The Drybone Raiders are war machines, armoring themselves in primitive furs and leathers, wield all manner of swords and spears! The savagery is reflected in the cost, with 12 mana needed to add this wild-card on the battlefield.

The Raiders are undisciplined and disorderly, but feared for their ferociousness and tenacity. They start with seven health, one ranged damage and two melee damage points, upgrading the stats only a bit. The deadliness is given by the abilities, gaining Shatter and Cripple with leveling. Just imagine how this monster can hit four times while shattering armor and crippling an opponent with four health points in one go! Deadly!

**Today's Strategy: Sneak and Destroy! **There's no wrong or right way to approach with battle-rule, with a wide range of selection before combat. The only way it can go wrong is if you focus only on one type of attack and your opponent has a team built to perfectly counter. Imagine if you go all-in on melee and all enemies have Thorns! Let's guess.... who will win the battle if you go full magic and you'll have to face the summoner that gives Magic Reflect to all his units?

Thaddius Brood was my choice of summoner, to make sure I will reduce the magical damage, and a mix of monsters and abilities. The Super Sneak rule gave me some extra thoughts, and went into the battle with a tank with Thorns as the last unit. Are you ready to rumble?

Thaddius Brood: -1 Health & -1 Spell Power to all enemies

Bone Golem: Tank with Void

Undead Rexx: OP Melee

Revealer: Caster with Stun

Possessed Puppet: Melee with Double-Strike

Drybone Raider: Melee/Ranged with Double-Strike

Cursed Windeku: Melee with Thorns

Here's the tl;dr of the fight... thorns and stuns... missed attacks and drama! I had to face a team with two casters under Obsidian's magic boost, but this was nullified by Thaddius ability. I was happy to see that his team wasn't fully embracing the Up to Eleven battle-rule, and I identified the Pelacor Mercenary as the primary target

Super Sneak Possessed Puppet is a thing that landed straight from the Nightmare Realm! Double striked into the Mycelic Slipspawn and then let the Undead Rexx have the last bite!

The Drybone Raider came into the spotlights, with not one... not two... but four attacks ready to be unleashed! The arrow hit the Gargoya, then a sword swipe shattered the stony creature. His focus shifted to the Regal Peryton and .... shot missed... then sword attack missed! The Mycelic Infantry didn't miss the Cursed Windeku, and took only two Thorns damage thanks to it's Shield ability.

One miss on the Pelacor Mercenary, then the Possessed Puppet landed only one knife on the Regal Peryton. Missing already so many attacks made me worry about the outcome of the battle! It gone even worst, with the Windeku and Undead Rexx missing as well!

The Drybone Raider managed to hit the elusive unicorn with both ranged attacks, but missed the two melee strikes. The Regal Peryton was still alive, flying around with one health, after dodging seven attacks!

The Pelacor Mercenary didn't miss, sending the Bone Golem back to his grave. The Mycelic Infantry had another strike upon the Cursed Windeku, getting back two Thorns damage. This battle turned more intense than expected!

No worries... the Possessed Puppet will sort out the things! Time for Chucky to deliver that killing blow! (but he didn't!). The Cursed Windeku tried as well, and failed. Maybe that Peryton is not even there... maybe it's a hologram!

There's no foreplay with the Undead Rexx, as the zombie dinosaur destroyed the Mercenary's armor. The Revealer casted a spell, and stunned a still dizzy wing-man! Rexx done some damage, and the Revealer took advantage of the situation.

Drybone to the rescue...or not! All four attacks were missed... all four! What are the odds for this? What are the odds for a unit to avoid 14 attacks in a single battle? That's insane!!

The Mycelic Infantry continued his 1v1 against the Cursed Windeku, willingly taking two more Thorns damage. Same story with Rexx, willingly ripping apart the Pelacor Mercenary. However, more failed attacks on the Peryton... this goes against all odds! The Puppet's Double-Strike missed, then another one, another one ... and four more attacks from the Drybone Raider. I missed 22 attacks on the same monster... in only four rounds!

Never been so happy to see a monster delivering a killing blow! The Possessed Puppet managed to slice and dice to glorified unicorn, stopping the tally of missed hits at (only) 22 attempts! The Undead Rex was still hungry, as his prehistoric appetite couldn't be satisfied. A mouthfull of fungi and a battle that lasted more than expected! See the full battle here!

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