Battle Mage Secrets - I Reached Gold 2 For The First Time!!!

The theme for the current "Battle Mage Secret" challenge is Even Stevens ruleset this time! This means only units with even mana costs may 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 Death Gladius card, Kotriphus Bayne!

With Even Stevens, almost half of our card collection cannot be used and I think it's a good thing to remember that we do have Gladius cards to expand our options. One of the useful cards include Kotriphus Bayne, who packs a whooping 12 HP at just 6 mana. The Melee damage is pretty decent even at Level 1, and better at Level 2.

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

Some criminals are too dangerous for even the Gloridax to keep, so occasionally they are sold in dark deals to even darker entities. In one such transaction, control of the ruthless and scarred destroyer known as Kotriphus Bayne was transferred one night to the Lord of Darkness and the Death Splinter. Those held captive in the Draykh-Nahka prison are said to be the most dangerous criminals in the world, and Bayne was too dangerous to be held even there. It is well known that Gloridax prisoners never emerge from captivity, but in certain rare circumstances these prisoners are found useful (or profitable). Now the rumors around Mount Mox say the Dragons have built an even larger prison than Draykh-Nahka’s north of Mount Mox, not far from the great Arena in Praetoria. This new prison, which allegedly has even greater security than the Draykh-Nahka dungeons, was built to hold prisoners so deadly and powerful that their very existence must be kept secret from the Splinterlands. They say that even before the Praetorian land was unveiled, dark and terrible secrets were held in this prison. Kotriphus Bayne was one of these secrets, and he will now be unleashed as a Death Gladiator.

Kotriphus Bayne’s background is quite unique for a Gloridax criminal. He was not eggborn, nor is he scaled, but he was augmented with the fire blood through cutting edge Gloridax sciences. Many died in the development of this augmentation. In fact, Bane was one of the only people who has ever survived after having the fire blood added to their bodies, and he was the only one not driven completely mad in the process.

So now the fire blood flows through the veins of Kotriphus Bayne just like any Dragon. Still, he despises his Dragon creators and sees the Lord of Darkness as a savior for liberating him from Gloridax captivity. His red and bulging veins have been pushed to their maximum capacity , and they can be seen like red wires at the surface of his skin. His muscles have grown, as have his ambitions. The fire blood has made him stronger than any human, faster than a Serpentine and as conniving as the oldest Dragons.

The other professional Gladiators are afraid of Bayne, and the Lord of Darkness likes it that way. He will not make friends; he will bring pain. He holds no weapon nor armor, but wears a heavy Gladiators’ helmet so that he may use his head as a battering ram. Bayne was instructed by his master, the Dark Lord, to not only defeat and kill, but to humiliate.

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Battle Type & Team Lineup

Position	Card/Level	Mana
Summoner	Octavia Shadowmeld	6

This was a very restrictive ruleset, with Even Stevens and just two elements available for selection, I decided to go with Octavia Shadowmeld to provide myself more options in the Gladius cards.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
1	Harklaw	8

Harklaw is one of the stronger cards for Even Stevens as some of the powerful cards in Death are odd numbered mana. Anyway, with Back to Basics in play, Harklaw is chosen for its tanky HP.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
2	Kotriphus Bayne	6

Once again, with Back to Basics in play, Gladius cards have no Bloodlust. But Kotriphus Bayne comes in at 6 mana but packs a huge 12 HP! Definitely worth it to protect the backline!

Position	Card/Level	Mana
3	Magi Of Chaos	6

Magi Of Chaos used to be pretty useful and powerful, but have since fallen down the pecking orders with the release of many good cards in the new editions. In this case, the restrictive ruleset meant Magi Of Chaos scored a rare place in my lineup.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
4	Skok Duskblight	8

Skok Duskblight is one of the newer cards which has displaced cards like Magi Of Chaos. Weapons Training can't be used here but a 2 Magic damage is still good enough for this sort of battle.

Position	Card/Level	Mana
5	Supply Runner	6

We mix it up with a Ranged card here just in case my opponent goes for Thaddius Brood. Supply Runner gets a rare appearance here as well!

Position	Card/Level	Mana
6	Magi Necrosi	6

Joining forces with Magi Of Chaos, Magi Necrosi completes the lineup. The Snipe ability is gone to waste but once again, 2 Magic damage is probably good enough.

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• Pre Battle: I was very stunned to find such a lineup because I was fighting in Wild Gold 2 given the end of season was approaching! Should be an easy win but let's see what happens.
  

• Round 1: The good part (and also the boring part) of Back to Basics battle is that all the hits are on the tank. Lol. We took down 1 card so it's now 6 vs 5.
  

• Round 2: I was never in danger but still needed to get through the fights. It's now 5 vs 4.
  

• Round 3: Kotriphus Bayne's 12 HP was clearly very strong and it was causing a lot of problems for my opponent. Almost done!
  

• Round 4: Yay we are done!
  

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

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Post Battle

Did my strategy work? To be honest, I won because my opponent didn't have a strong lineup. But I would rate my lineup as pretty decent anyway.

What's the Battle Mage Secret? Don't forget that Gladius cards can be part of your lineup too!

With that, my season has come to an end, and...it's the first time that I made to Gold 2!!! With a win rate of 65% (79/121)!!! I must say the new format has been a BLAST for me!!!

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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