Playing through the modern league has been really challenging for me in the past weeks. From when I started my Splinterlands accounts, I feel like my opponents were a bit stronger now and I find it harder to secure a win. I believe this is sometimes due to the limited card collection available to me. This is why trying to strategize based on the rules of match is important to me as well. And this is also the topic of this week's community engagement challenge so I'll try to share what I've learned.
Earthquake
Earthquake is one of the most disruptive rules that I regularly encounter when playing in the modern league. It basically deals 2 physical damage to all units without flying. This regular damage ensures that the battles are usually settled in a quick manner. The best way to counter this rule is have flying cards in your team. And I can't think of a better card to use than Night Reaper.
Night Reaper is one of the best cards that I own. It's so good for me that I definitely think it should be on par with legendary units. It has flying so it is immune to the earthquake damage. And what's strange about it is that it also has Wingbreak which makes it attack other flying enemies first. So oddly enough, Night Reaper is the perfect counter to the enemy's own Night Reaper. I guess it boils down to who is able to attack first.
Another good card to use during an earthquake rule game is Nimbledook Explorer. It really has no attack so it doesn't help much with dealing damage. But the protect ability which gives +2 armor to all allied units give an extra one turn of protection from earthquake. This is because earthquake deals physical damage which is absorb by armor.
Noxious Fumes
Another battle rule that is similar to Earthquake is Noxious Fumes. This rule poisons all units in the battle each turn. The difference though from earthquake is that poison damage attacks the health directly which means having high levels of armor won't protect units from the damage inflicted.
A direct way to counter Noxious Fumes is to deploy units with the Immunity ability which prevents them from being poisoned. From my collection, I have Ujurak Brave and Drybone Hobgoblin that have this ability. They're usually weaker so I tend to position them in the middle or end of my lineup. The idea is to stall time long enough for the other enemy units to die or severely weakened from the poison effect.
Back to Basics
This is probably one of my most hated rules to encounter in a match. Back to Basics removes all unit abilities which means they only rely on their basic attacks and health. This means you'd have to pick units that are cost-efficient meaning their stats are good in proportion to their mana cost.
Khazi Conjurer is the one of the best cards I have that fits this description. For just 2 mana, it has 4 range attack which is really, really good. The only detriment to its ability is the incendiary which damages other units. This is why I am hesitant to use Khazi Conjurer outside of Back to Basics rule matches.
There is another card that is really great for Back to Basics and taht is Shock Trooper. For only 4 mana, you can have a unit that deals 4 magic damage. Like Khazi Conjurer, it also has a negative ability during normal battles. The only thing is I still haven't owned this reward card and hopefully in the future I can secure some copies of it.
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