A Game of Magic Boomerang

• Lately I've been using an anti-magic Water Splinter team to counter magic, thanks to Bortus and my newest purchase Torhilo the Frozen but now and again I have to return to using my favorite Splinter -- Death. Sometimes I lose only one monster because of the perfect combination of rule sets, mana cap, and my opponent's monsters while other times I lose half my team or come away with victory just barely. As I've mentioned in previous posts, my strategies change on whether or not Water Splinter is available. While the Dragon Splinter also has a magic-buff summoner, Delwyn Dragonscale, which can be deadly if combined with Gloridax Magus and other Splinters, there really is no Splinter with as many starting magic monsters as Water. So if Water is available I go with a magic-reflect Death Splinter team or an anti-magic Water Splinter team because decent teams can be made with less mana. Now if the mana cap allows it, I may try lead with Unicorn Mustang and Mushroom Seer and Sporcerer from Earth Splinter, or Clay Golem and Crystal Werewolf from Life Splinter, or Naga Fire Wizard and Goblin Mage and Zalran Efreet and Efreet Elder if I also have the Blast ability battle condition. But ideally I go with Water or Death when Water is available and the mana cap is not exactly plenty. Since Magic cannot be dodged until higher levels when the Phase ability is available, every enemy magic attack comes back to hurt them when I have a magic-reflect team.

• Below are me and my opponent's line ups, the battle conditions/rule set, the summoner and monsters I chose, start/end of the battle, and the replays.
  
  
  
  Summoner - Owster Rotwell - Magic Reflect ability - All ally monsters return reduced magic damage back after enemy magic attacks.
  
  1st Position - Bone Golem - Void ability - Reduced incoming enemy magic damage to this monster.
  
  2nd Position - The Gorlodon - Reach ability - This melee monster can attack from 2nd Position.
  
  3rd Position - Cthulhu - Cripple & Flying abilities - Increased chance to decrease enemy max Health after attacking & Increased chance to evade enemy melee and range attacks.
  
  4th/Last Position - Undead Priest - Weaken - Lowers all enemy Health.

• Start of battle
  

• End of battle
  

• Desktop Replay and Mobile Replay

• In the end, despite my opponent's heavy magic line up, I was able to be victorious. While it was great to watch Rotwell's magic-reflect ability decimate their team, I lost two of my front line monsters and was again left wondering if the battle would've turned out differently if they had not put their Oshannus on the front line and moved him further toward the back. This magic-reflect Death Splinter strategy isn't as clean as the anti-magic water team headed by Bortus, Torhilo, and Oshannus, it's still a lot of fun to see enemy monsters defeated by their own magic attacks along with the most important part of all ...

Image Sources: Splinterlands website, GIPHY website, image sources, and thanks to @saviib for the cool @shortshots sign-off logo below.

(@shortsegments, @saviib, and myself started a guild--The Black Bulls! Check us out!)