Greetings Summoners! Welcome to Battle Mage Secrets. The Battle Mage Secrets is a challenge where every week players must test their strategic skills in battle for specific rules. This week the specific rule is "Briar Patch":

• All units receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that use melee attacks receive damage back.

• Damage returned is equal to damage of the attacker divided by 2, rounded up.
  Melee attack units with the Reflection Shield ability do not take damage from thorns.

• The Amplify ability increases damage.

This battle was played in a Splinterlands tournament where only the Chaos Legion and Rebellion editions were allowed to play. It was in the "Beginners Training Tournament by @Kryprogamers". This tournament is in the novice league so only level 1 cards can be used. Let's see the rules, the team and the details of the battle.

Battle Rules

This is a 56 mana battle with 3 battle rules (Born Again, Briar Patch and Stampede). All elements except Death are allowed to play.

Icon	Name	Description
	Born Again	All units receive the Rebirth ability which allows them to self resurrect once.
	Briar Patch	All units receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that use melee attacks receive damage back.
	Stampede	Trample will retrigger infinitely as long as the trampling unit keeps killing other units.

Strategy & Tips

• Our strategy will be to use a magic damage composition. Does magic damage is very important. Monsters with magic attack may do damage from any row, since this form of attack ignores the defender’s Armor STAT (damage is applied directly to health). Unless there is a monster with Phase on the enemy's team, magic attack will always hit. There is no miss chance.

• Line up monsters in ascending order.

• Do not use melee attack monsters.

My Lineup

Obsidian grew up in the remote village of Stonebluff as the last remaining Earth mage. Each year, Earth elementalists went off to compete in the contest, leaving Obsidian to train the next generation of warriors. She wished to join the contest of champions, but the village elders advised her against it, saying she needed to stay behind and focus on training others to use Earth magic. She grew resentful of the way she was treated, knowing she was better than previous mages before her. So, she planned her revenge. In a mine near the village, she taught classes on Earth magic and gained the trust of her students. Her teachings were strenuous and those who could not follow techniques were punished, forced to magically hold obsidian above their heads until it fell on them. She eventually learned to use obsidian to enhance the powers of others. And there was one apprentice she took under her wing. Someone who carried equal anger in his heart. She amplified his abilities in combat practice against other students, making him stronger and more ferocious than his opponents.

Obsidian: I really like this Summoner as it gives +1 magic attack to all friendly magic attack monsters.

Arkemis the Bear: This card gives +2 armor to all friendly monsters. I think it s very useful since many of our monsters have no armor. Armor will allow us to resist more attacks from enemy monsters with melee and ranged attacks.

Regal Peryton: This card is incredibly fast. The high speed is very important as it allows us to attack first.

Magi of Chaos: This is an amazing magic attack that in combination with our Summoner will have +1 additional magic attack, so it does 3 damage each round. This card is Neutral, so we can use it with all elements.

Venari Spellsmith: Very useful card since it clears all positive status effects on that enemy thanks to its Dispel ability.

Goblin Psychic: This card will help us to keep our tank alive as long as possible thanks to its Tank Heal ability, which restores a portion of the monster in the first position's health each round.

Mycelic Slipspawn: All enemy monsters will target Mycelic Slipspawn thanks to its Taunt ability. It is very useful to protect the rest of the friendly monsters.

The Battle

Click here to see the full battle!

This was a great battle. I think my strategy worked quite well. We've cleverly used the mana cap of battle to make a pretty good team and win the battle. My opponent played very well and with a very similar strategy. He is a very good player! I am happy with my victory and the strategy I used. I have won 100 DEC + 100 DEC in Kryptogamers Lightning Wallet for finishing 4th in this tournament.

Personally I like the Briar Patch rule, but we must be careful not to use monsters with melee attack in order not to be at a disadvantage. If you use a monster with melee attack, make sure it has the Reflection Shield ability, as they do not take damage from Blast, Magic Reflect, Thorns, or Return Fire.

Battle results

Tournament ranking