Battlemage secrets: Briar Path

Greetings Battlemages! This week we will have a look at the ruleset that is the bane of Melee units: Briar Patch

The ruleset: BRIAR PATCH

With the Briar Patch ruleset, every unit receive the Thorn ability. Every time they will be touched by a Melee attack, the attacker will take damages himself.

So indeed it is not good being a Melee unit under this ruleset! If Melee must be used, the Shield ability allows to mitigate the damages and to suffer only half damage. Reflection Shield is even better as it negates completely the Thorns.

As far as possible, my strategy will be to put up a team Magic monsters if allowed. Some Ranged monsters also, if needed to fill the gaps. And if so I will often let a magic attacker in last position because well... I prefer having a punching ball as a tank at the middle of the match than at the end.
Easy strategy. No Melee? Not concerned with Thorns!

The battle

https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_8035e2377f7b620f5766e4504465df48&ref=engilhramn

The battle is played in Modern Silver. It is opened to Water, Earth, Life and the mana cap is 33. The only ruleset is Briar Patch.

While Life could have been a viable alternative, I decided to play safe and went with a magic team, an infamously classical "double heal" set up. It seemed better with an average-low mana cap.
The plan is simple: by the time my Taunt gets killed and I have to fear for my fragile monsters at the front, well... by that time either I get a significant edge or I lose.

The lineups

So I chose:
Summoner: Obsidian, obvisouly, for the magic boost
Tank: Regal Peryton, not so tanky, but he's fast and will be healed anyway
Second position: Acid Shooter, just a filler, as I don't own Khmer Princess
Third Position: Spirit Hoarder, for the Taunt heal
Fourth position: Queen Mycelia, cheap magical attack, and the armor can't hurt
Fifth position: Goblin Psychic, for the Tank heal
Last position: Mycelic Slipspawn, for the taunt

My opponent went with a different strategy, focusing more on ranged attacks.
He chose a Water splinter with Kelya Frendull as summoner. The lineup was composed of Venari Marksrat, in order to boost Djinn Oshannus, then Merdaali Guardian to heal him, then the ranged units. Swamp Spitter to repair the armor, Swimhunter and Merdhampir.
I think this lineup would have done well if he found a mirror match, but it wasn't the case.

Round 1

The key of the match is who will die first: Mycelic Slispawn or Djinn Oshannus? Both get healed, but I sure don't like the Void of the Djinn. However, the advantage of the taunt is to split the attacks of my opponent, while mine will be concentrated on the front.
The only significative event during round 1 is Djinn Oshannus being boosted by the martyrdom of the Venari Marksrat. But despite this boost, he takes all the attacks.

Round 2

If we do the math, Regal Peryton takes 3 damages and is healed by 2 every turn.
Mycelic Slipspawn takes 5 damages and is healed by 3 every turn.
Despite his Void, Djinn Oshannus takes 7 damages and is healed by 3 every turn. Ouch. Even though I take more damages per turn, it is mitigated by the Taunt and double heal.

Round 3

That's it. The Djinn won't be able to take much more, and once he falls, the rest of the team falls. Merdaali Guardian and Swamp Spitter also both fell this same round.

Round 4

Well, that's the disadvantage of ranged attacks: these units are useless in first position. That's why I will tend to favor Magic, or at least place a magic monster in last position.

Round 5

For the photo finish.

Takeaway

Well it's easy to criticize when one won, but there's 2 principles I follow that weren't respected by my opponent.
First principle: no more than 1 support monster (in the meaning: monster that doesn't deal damages). The Marksrat, supporting by his death, and the Merdaali Guardian use 2 spots. It's usually too much in my opinion, the damage output matters too.
Second principle: if you want to make use of Merdhampir's Life Leech ability, don't place him in last position where he can't attack! Swimhunter is better just behind him, dealing these 2 damages every turn while the opponent loses time dealing with all the life leeched by Merdhampir. It wouldn't have changed much, but it's still an imprecision.

That being said, see you on the Battlefield!