This is one of those game rules where I have a pre-defined strategy most of the time that works well. When no magic is allowed, you basically want to play Shield (since all damage is halved), Armor + Repair (since that can't be bypassed). Demoralize & Headwinds (To reduce Damage output enemy). This always leads me to the life splinter which gives +1 Armor putting the Shieldbearer as the main tannk as all damage gets halved, followed by the Warrior of Piece + Armorsmith to reduce in incoming damage even more while Armor gets repaired. The combination of the Lone Boatman + Silvershield Sheriff focuses their damage to the same monster while giving extra armor + repair. There is 1 spot left for a monster that potentially does some more damage.
However, given that Life was not available in my battle while all monsters also got Thorns I opted for the following card selection...
The Kelya summoner was the obvious choice given the +1 armor which is very useful in this case. I opted to go for a ranged damage line-up assuming my opponent would do the same. In first place I put the Kelp Initiate since it only costs 2 and provides quite some value for that especially given the speed. The Runi in 2nd place is protected against the torns damage and also against Blast. The Crustacean King gave everything +2 Armor and some heal but arguably the Merdaali Guardian could have been a better choice. In the back I put 3 ranged monsters with the Igo DarkSpear, the Naga Windmaster, & the Axemaster hoping that last one would do all the damage while unlikely getting hit by sneak damage given the thorns game rule.
My opponent want for a completely different and better strategy actually using 2 sneak monsters which caught me totally off guard as I did not protect my Awemaster. The Gelatinous Cube is one of those cards that I own but always overlook. Each time I get up against it, it's almost impossible to kill. I went back inside Splintertools to see if there was a strategy that I could use to beat the strategy of my opponent but there is nothing I can come up with that gets more than 55% with the cards that I have available and that is specifcially aimed toward countering the line-up.
So overall for sure an interesting match and I'm not sure if this is the result of just smart deck building or AI battle helper creating the perfect line up. If it's the last it is pretty bad for the game and it would be nice to also have human only in Wild somehow.
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