My wife has homeschooled our children for many years, long before the covid virus. Since I have been working from home I have the opportunity to insert some 'dad influence' into my kiddos' studies. Just this very morning, I was working with my five-year-old as she was learning more about numbers.

Can you imagine what she would have thought if I told her that 5 equal to 6? Preposterous!

A Splinterlands Exception to Real-World Math

In normal, everyday life, 5 is never the same as 6, but in Splinterlands, there is a monster ability that bends the rules of math.

Let me introduce to you shield. According to Splinerlands, shield causes ...

reduced damage from melee and ranged attacks.

Shield is a defensive ability that is great for first position tanks that will take a lot of hits from an opponent's melee and/or ranged attacks.

The Shield Calculation

The following information is based on my personal observations when using a monster that has shield or battling against a monster with shield. Let me know in the comments if you have observed the same!

new attack value = Round up (original melee and/or range attack value / 2 )

For example, my Rexxie has a melee attack value of 5. If Rexxie were attacking a monster with the shield ability, I would take 5 divided by 2 which equals 2.5 When I round up 2.5, my new attack value equals 3.

If my Rexxie had an attack value of 6, then I would divide 6 by 2 which equals 3. There is no need to round up.

Even though 5 does not equal 6, 3 does equal 3.

The Key Battle

	VS.

How The Rules Impacted the Battle

• Unprotected had a greater impact on my opponent. My opponents's Stone Golem did not receive the benefit of his shield.

• Healed Out impacted my monster selection. Typically, I would have chosen Flesh Golem for my first tank, but I choose not to as I would not have received the healing ability based on the ruleset.

Important Factors

• My opponent's Swamp Thing (Weaken Ability) negated the plus one health of my Lyanna Natura (Earth Summoner).
• My Furious chicken (health 1) took the first hit from my opponent's Screeching Vulture. I use Furious Chicken to force my opponent to attack a lesser card in order to protect a more valuable card.
• My opponents's Stone Golem missed on his first attack on my Rexxie.
• Rexxie's trample ability allowed me to defeat two monsters in one round.
• MOST IMPORTANT: If my opponent's Stone Golem had his shield, I do not believe I would have won the battle.

Final Thoughts

I don't think I have ever won a battle when I lost the first two monsters of the battle.
Click here to view the battle!

This battle reminds me that the rulesets and the intricacies of each players' choices greatly impact the results of a battle. Just one small change on either side could have swayed the results. It was that close, in my opinion!

And although 5 does not equal 6, it does not mean that 5 and 6 (as input to an equation) cannot lead to the same output (3).

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know if you have had any close battles recently.

@SumatraNate

_{Disclaimer: I will be posting this content to both Steem and Hive.}