![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVs2262wAziNh26p8oTdT388QQ8k2DaciSjJ6vMBRVUjD/splinter28012024.png)

<center>**BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge**</center>

<div class="pull-right">https://images.hive.blog/DQmdniobGhmkpmrtjexnWYAajJCcNRos1cE7b4NnWPD1asD/briarpatch.png</div>
RULESET: Briar Patch<br><br>
Description: <br>
All units receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that use melee attacks receive damage back.<br><br>
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.<br>
<a href="/@splinterlands/battle-mage-secrets-weekly-challenge-s7s5s0" target="_blank">Click for More</a><br>
<hr>

In battles with the **Briar Patch Ruleset**, all **Monsters have the Thorns Ability**. **Monsters with the Thorns Ability** deal 2 Melee damage back to the attacker when hit with a Melee attack. **Amplify Ability** increases Thorns damage to all enemy units by 1. That's why I attach great importance to using a combination of **Thorns Ability** and **Amplify Ability** against **Melee Attack Monsters**. Meanwhile, **Monsters with the Reflection Shield Ability** do not take damage from Thorns.

Frankly, I attach great importance to not using Melee Attack Monsters in battles with the Briar Patch Ruleset, but if my strategy requires me not to use Melee Attack Monsters, I do not hesitate to add them to the team.However, if I have the opportunity, I attach great importance to adding those with the Reflection Shield Ability to my team. First of all, I can say that I attach great importance to using the Amplify Ability in battles with the Briar Patch Ruleset. The ones I mentioned above are my most preferred strategies in this type of battles and I will talk about some of them in my battle below.

<center>**BATTLE**</center>

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVAQscMcgtZNBDu3o6sytF2dJ3mJD5E2pBqRnzYC1vzrm/battle28012024.png)
[Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_465a918c46014b2ba2227b8ef1760223&ref=rtonline)

<center>**Battle Ruleset**</center>

<center>![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmeJtwF9Jys32UbXJoReom7jLMNiikv5zG47qwpsKHfgdb/ruleset.png)</center>

- **Briar Patch**: All Monsters have the Thorns ability.
- **Heavy Hitters**: All Monsters have the Knock Out ability.
- **Broken Arrows**: Ranged attack Monsters may not be used in battles.

**Thorns Ability** : When hit with a Melee attack, does 2 Melee damage back to the attacker.
**Knock Out Ability** : Does double damage when attacking an enemy that is stunned.

<center>**MY STRATEGY**</center>

Since the battle has the **Briar Patch ruleset**, All Monsters will have the **Thorns Ability**, and since it has the **Heavy Hitters ruleset**, all Monsters will have the **Knock Out Ability** in this battle.

Before starting the battle, when I reviewed the recent 5 battles of the opposing player, it was very difficult for me to predict what kind of strategy the opposing player would form a team with, but I knew that I would be fighting against a Level 6 Summoner. The opposing player's deck was more powerful than my deck, so I knew this battle would be harder for my team and I needed a better strategy to win the battle.

The opposing player could choose either Magic Attack Monsters and Melee Attack Monsters in this battle, so in this battle I would utilize the power of the combination of Thorns Ability and Amplify Ability against Melee Attack Monsters, and Magic Reflect Ability and Amplify Ability against Magic Attack Monsters. I believe this strategy will help me win this battle and my team's lineup is as follows.

<center>**LINE UP**</center>

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/chaos/Grandmaster%20Rathe_lv2.png</center>

First of all, I chose **Grandmaster Rathe** as the **Summoner** so that all monsters in my team have **+1 Armor**, **Void Armor Ability**, and **Amplify Ability**. This meant that all enemy Melee Attack Monsters would take back damage from Thorns increased by +1. I will also add 2 monsters with the **Magic Reflect Ability** to my team.

- **Void Armor Ability** : Magic attacks hit this Unit's armor before its Health.
- **Amplify Ability** : Increases Magic Reflect, Return Fire, and Thorns damage to all enemy units by 1.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/chaos/Blinding%20Reflector_lv5.png</center>
<center>**Position 1: BLINDING REFLECTOR**</center>

I only have 2 cards with the Magic Reflect Ability in the Life Unit, and one of them is **Blinding Reflector**. Since **Blinding Reflector** attacks with a Melee Attack, it will take back damage from Thorns when it hits its target, which is a disadvantage, but I needed to add it to my team in this battle for my strategy to work well. I will also add **2 Monsters with Repair Ability** to my team and will not let **Blinding Reflector** be destroyed easily.

- **Magic Reflect Ability** : When hit with Magic damage, does half the Magic damage (rounded up) back to the attacker.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/reward/Pelacor%20Conjurer_lv5_gold.png</center>
<center>**Position 2: PELACOR CONJURER**</center>

Although **Pelacor Conjurer** does not have any attack power, I added it to my team because it has the Magic Reflect Ability. Since I took into account that the opposing team might have Magic Attack Monsters with the **Snipe Ability**, I put it in the second position.

- **Flying Ability** : Has a 25% bonus chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks from Units who do not have the Flying ability.
- **Magic Reflect Ability** : When hit with Magic damage, does half the Magic damage (rounded up) back to the attacker.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/chaos/Adelade%20Brightwing_lv2.png</center>
<center>**Position 3: ADELADE BRIGHTWING**</center>

I added **Adelade Brightwing** to my team because I believed that she would be very useful to my strategy and the team in this battle with her abilities, especially her **Repair Ability** and **Resurrect Ability**. Additionally, **Adelade Brightwing** being able to attack the target with Magic Attacks was a significant advantage for this battle. I put Adelaide Brightwing in the third position to keep her away from the enemies' first attacks.

- **Flying Ability** : Has a 25% bonus chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks from Units who do not have the Flying ability.
- **Repair Ability** : Restores a third of max armor to the friendly Unit whose armor has taken the most damage.
- **Resurrect Ability** : When a friendly Unit dies it is brought back to life with 1 Health. This ability can only trigger once per battle.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/chaos/Scavo%20Hireling_lv4_gold.png</center>
<center>**Position 4: SCAVO HIRELING**</center>

**Scavo Hireling** doesn't have any attack power, but since it has the **Repair Ability**, I added it to my team and put it in the last position.  I believed that the **Repair Ability** would be of great benefit to my team in this battle, so I added 2 Monsters with the Repair Ability to my team.

<center>**BATTLE COMMENTS**</center>

<center>https://youtu.be/OPerRm_rRdw</center>

You can watch the entire battle from the video or from the [Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_465a918c46014b2ba2227b8ef1760223&ref=rtonline)

To be honest, the opposing player's strategy was very good and the opposing team was quite powerful, and at the beginning of the battle, I was very curious about the outcome of the battle.

**Round 1**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmXrBQc3eSLQSVHAb2n2E7bjKjwBDJtp3AHuJ7uUaCCHaw/round1.png)

Even though the opposing team was strong, the enemy monsters were helpless against the back damage they received in the first round, so I like to use these combinations in such battles.

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmRC6ZJPcWYVetGv2D8LtF7YzTgyyLJa81GiqdjDTnD6Ut/gif1.gif)

Chaos Agent was destroyed by the back damage it took after hitting the target.

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmScGSuoHLHuTTsp4pcs5QvZk2wLxHqc74eLxftEpynoDR/gif2.gif)

Fungus Fiend is also destroyed by the back damage it took.

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmafUkzqJbkq4ogvRLewNmBq611ZqTzGAooz2qmuSUjP2d/gif3.gif)

Moxian Rebel was also destroyed with back damage. In the first round, 3 monsters from the opposing team were destroyed with only back damage. Additionally, Blinding Reflector destroyed Furious Chicken, and at the end of the first round, only 2 monsters on the opposing team were left alive.

**Round 2**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmNqykuxaRAWc3BQVgccKyVupZo8YsyeNAMep8fi4Nd6ta/round2.png)

It was not difficult for my team to destroy Croire in the second round, and only Gelatinous Cube remained on the opposing team. However, it would not be easy to destroy Gelatinous Cube because it had the Heal Ability and could restore 5 of its health in each round.

**Round 3**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmaEPsuherRwCDc5DnXAEsWYhrtP58p528wgSGVPLfUE2R/round3.png)

Frankly, if Gelatinous Cube did not have attack power, I could never win this battle, but Gelatinous Cube having both Melee Attack and Magic Attack would allow me to win the battle. Since Gelatinous Cube has the Heal Ability, the battle would last a long time, but eventually it would also be destroyed and my team would win this battle.

**Round 4**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmbwv62GX9oxH4qNWc9triUd5PN6ThpHoi7QES5NBtuWHA/round4.png)

**Round 5**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmQ199MU6V4qrCa4V6Au1TGtr5u12Af11hH6jpKWHn8C9c/round5.png)

**Round 6**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmQ5na1gZRT7LYeLjc6JtvW2yvHeekpppgpjGipkXvfifc/round6.png)

**Round 7**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmSzaEAMU2SrAYQh1bmBp54rKBXbUnmfMri4FVwU16JS2K/round7.png)

Some players call Gelatinous Cube an immortal monster, and they are not wrong about it, because it is really difficult to destroy it, but even though it struggled to survive in this battle for a long time, it could not escape being destroyed.

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmZpoLDsPGMxFwviPygdLYtqgSTuDjimov8s2JVfvi15nF/round72.png)

<center>**BATTLE RESULTS**</center>

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmQSP9JVNZpPad1Y4iCaX3m53PpMWMRbosEFVL7jaHkjJA/battleresults.png)

The battle lasted 7 rounds. Although the opposing team was more powerful, at the end of the battle, all monsters in the opposing team were destroyed, while no monsters in my team could be destroyed. My team managed to win this very difficult battle easily, which shows that my strategy worked very well in this battle. As I mentioned above, the combination of Thorns Ability and Amplify Ability against Melee Attack Monsters, and Magic Reflect Ability and Amplify Ability against Magic Attack Monsters work very well, and this battle was one of the best examples of this. I recommend you to watch this interesting and challenging battle from the [Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_465a918c46014b2ba2227b8ef1760223&ref=rtonline). I hope you will like it.

<center>https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/carrieallen/b2DaEIe4-Text20divider20-20red20black.gif</center>

What are your thoughts on the battle and my strategy? I would be glad if you write your thoughts in the comments.

[Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_465a918c46014b2ba2227b8ef1760223&ref=rtonline)

**Would you like to join Splinterlands? [Here is my reference link](https://splinterlands.com/?ref=rtonline)**

<center>https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/carrieallen/b2DaEIe4-Text20divider20-20red20black.gif</center>

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