Hello there.

Today I'll share my battle under the Equalizer ruleset. But first, I will share some of my thoughts regarding it. With this ruleset, all monsters start the battle with the same HP, based on the highest HP on either team. Summoner and monster buffs/debuffs apply afterwards. So if the highest HP among all monsters is 10, all monsters start the battle with 10 HP. If one team uses Possibilus, then their monsters get +2 HP, for 12HP.

In this ruleset, the first thing that comes to my mind is, Healing. Heal, Tank Heal, and Triage are very powerful when there are high HP monsters used. The rest are abilities that work well with those, like Scavenger, Life Leech, and Bloodlust. When it is a low mana battle, using monsters that have low HP and high Damage can be advantageous. Monsters like Exploding Rat get so much better. Another important strategy is to focus the team's damage. Having a mix of Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity/Scattershot can be bad, since it will take a while to kill a monster if the damage is too split.

I made this meme in https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

Apart from the sustain strategy above, there are other viable teams during Equalizer. A common one is to use Blast monsters to start damaging the backline while hitting the front. Another one is to focus on damage. Using dual attack type monsters, and Double Strike abilities can be a good counter against the sustain teams.

I believe that being flexible in battle is the ideal strategy. Check the opponent's history, check what they are most likely to use, and counter it. But always pick teams that can also counter different strategies.

Without further ado, let's get into the battle.

The Ruleset

This was a tournament battle, and it was a Wild Bronze battle with What Doesn't Kill You, Aim True, and Equalizer Rulesets. A 32 mana battle is on the normal amount, and all elements are available. I can think of a lot of different strategies for each so I will try to counter as much as I can.

The ideal team for Fire is Yodin. It gives additional damage and HP, while also giving monsters Blast. All those are really good in Equalizer. It might be dangerous with Enrage, but most won't care.

For Water, Kelya is good because of Enrage, while also giving armor to the team. Lir is an option if one is trying to counter Yodin or Sloan, but it could lose to Kelya.

For Earth, Obsidian with magic monsters is an option. Madcap Magus can become unkillable with Goblin Psychic. Adding Spirit Hoarder can protect the backline. They can lack damage compared to other teams though.

For Life, Sloan is actually an option because of Pelacor Arbalest and Prismologist. Vemaro Crystalsmith can provide the sustain, and Vulguine can buy a lot of time.

For Death, Thaddius with Magic Life Leech monsters is an option. It can lack for damage, but Riftwing can survive for a good amount of turns. Crypt Beetle is a cheap tank monster, while Ever Hungry Skull get a boost because of its high armor.

For Dragon, I think a Katrelba team with Dhampir Infiltrator can take enemies by surprise. Most players will have a tanky front line with support abilities, but they don't usually expect a backline attack because it will split the damage.

The Lineup

For me, between the lineups I mentioned above, I'd rather go with the Katrelba team. Since it is Melee heavy, it can use the Enrage ability well. The two Double Strike monsters can make quick work of the Equalizer HP, and the surprise factor can be deadly. Thane's Inspire is important for my damage, while Mycelia's Protect can make Katrelba difficult to kill if it gets going. Katrelba, Dhampir, and Vruz are my damage. Lichen Beast is just the filler card to maximize the mana usage.

The Battle

Link to the Battle

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The Matchup

As expected, my opponent decided to go with a Yodin team. They have a tanky front line monster with Shield, two Scattershot monsters, one Snipe, Ooze to try and attack first, and Spark Pixies as their last line of defense. This is why I went with my team. It will take a long time to kill the Living Lava with my physical damage, but their backline is easy pickings.

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End of Round 1

This is the risk with splitting the damage in the Equalizer ruleset. A lot of my monsters are damaged, but I was able to kill one of theirs. An Enraged Gem Meteor would have been difficult to hit, if it wasn't for the Aim True Ruleset. Another risk that I mentioned above, is that Yodin's Blast has the potential of triggering the backline's Enrage. If I was also using Yodin, then it wouldn't matter much, but since I am using a Sneak team, I am getting a lot of benefit from it.

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End of Round 2

Thane and Lichen finally died, but I also killed most of their backline damage. Only Spark Pixies is left, but it shouldn't pose much of a problem because of Aim True. Since my Katrelba is now enraged it will be attacking first next round.

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End of Round 3

And then there were two. Ooze doesn't have any attacks so only the Living Lava can deal damage, but it wouldn't even have a chance to. It is nice to see that the two tank monsters of the opponent are the ones left at the end of the battle. It goes to show how effective my strategy was against them.

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End of the Battle

I will have to say that the battle went according to plan. I know it can be difficult to beat Yodin, especially in Equalizer rulesets, but the team I used is one that I frequently played to counter Yodin teams. Before the Untamed set rotated out of Modern, I had a lot of experience fighting Yodin teams, and I was able to come up with this strategy. It is also good against the Llama Kron teams back then.

The Result

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Conclusion

In tournaments where there are additional limitations on top of the Rulesets and banned elements, I try to make it a point to look at the possible teams and imagine them fighting against one another. I will then choose the team which I think is best. For this specific battle, my opponent used a team composition that I was ready for. I think they had a really strong team, maybe one of the best for the ruleset. I was just able to counter them, and I took advantage of all the rulesets which got me the win.