Where did all this Health Come From?
Do you enjoy glass cannons? What if I told you that it was possible to play only glass cannons and be extremely successful? The Equalizer ruleset does not only allow for this, but tends to actively encourage it. This ruleset helps to level the playing field between low and high cost cards, but in doing so it makes some cards borderline busted.
Low is the Way to Go
It is no secret that low mana monsters tend to benefit the most from the Equalizer ruleset, but too frequently I still see them under utilized. When the Mana cap is on the lower end you may be faced with the choice of:
- Do I put a beefy front line unit and use half my mana?
- Do I try to evenly divide my mana and have a well rounded team?
In my opinion, it is alway best to fill every slot of the team, even if that means using less appealing cards. You may be tempted to put that Living Lava, when instead you could put a Cerberus, Ant Miner, and Flame Monkey. If an opponent plays something like a Phineas Rage or any other high health monster, you benefit much more and have an advantage. Having an open slot on your team is tantamount to wasted potential wins, Equalizer allows any card to have substantial value. Imagine the difference a Furious chicken can make in a regular match, except now it absorbs 10 damage.
Somebody has to play the highest health monster and it tends to benefit you if it is your opponent. This is because high health tends to mean high mana cost, and less for the rest of the team. I find this primarily holds true on 25 mana and below. But, it becomes less important as the mana cap increases.
Don't get me wrong Yodin was a large factor to winning the battle, but my opponent gave me the win by using the high health/ high cost Cornelius.
No Tank, No Problem
When it comes to the Equalizer ruleset, I rarely use what would be considered traditional “tank” cards. Largely in part to their high mana cost and diminishing returns, there are even times I leave unused mana in favor of purely offensive units or to avoid giving the enemy team health.
Many abilities have interesting interactions with the Equalizer ruleset that allow you to get by without a tank.
- Cards with the “Scavanger” ability tend to do well as they don’t get one hit like normal and generally have time for the ability to be effective, upto 11 additional health can be a gamechanger.
- Any form of healing scales to the new equalized amount, this means something like a Cerbeus could make an excellent front line. The normal healing of 2, may increase to 4 or more if a high enough health monster was played.
- Last stand also scales extremely well with health, although I typically try to avoid using Llama Mage on “Equaliser” because you are basically asking to have your creature dog-piled by the enemy team. Imagine giving 10 health to the entire enemy team of assassins.
Cards that start with only 1 health tend to be very strong in the other stats to make up for it, these are what you should look for. Cards such as Spark Pixies may become both tanky and hard to hit, a dangerous combo. Another example of this is Exploding Dwarf, even at max level he never gains a single health but has absurd offensive stats for his cost. It’s like the ruleset was meant for him.
Personally I avoid the “Weaken” ability when Equalizer is occurring. Don’t get me wrong every health point counts, but they count a little less when all monsters have double digit health.
What to Remember
First, always check and see what the second rule of the match is to consider how it interacts with Equalizer. Rounds that have Noxious Fumes, Spreading Fury, Explosive Weaponry, ect. can become very chaotic and will require additional planning.
If a secondary ruleset is not present, or has little impact, I try to focus on making sure every monster that has an attack can hit. So, abilities like sneak and opportunity are your friend. Coincidentally, monsters such as this tend to be low health and high speed; an ideal candidate. Any monster not attacking on a turn is wasted damage, with some exceptions like Furious Chicken and Creeping Ooze.
Don’t allow Equalizer to make you too overconfident in your normal teams though, and always be aware of mana cost. While low cards do benefit the most, if there is a large enough mana difference between teams the ruleset doesn’t really matter.
This fellow seemed to follow my first advice a little too closely. He barely used half his mana and had upto three units not attack on a turn. Don’t use cards such as Furious Chicken or Ooze if there is still mana remaining and generally don't put them in the front unless rules such as Keep Distance are active.
Daily Rewards
I would say my daily rewads were quite nice, nearly 800 DEC and an epic. Of the current epic reward cards, I would say the Lava Launcher is my favorite.
