Winning the Counterspell Ruleset with Deflect and Patience

Greetings, fellow Splinterlands warriors. May the cards you draw today be kinder than the crypto market, which keeps dipping like the mood of a player who just lost in the final round. This time, I want to share a small story from the arena—a battle I found quite interesting because it brought together two rulesets that can really make players think twice before attacking.

The rulesets that appeared were Counterspell and Unprotected.
If I had to compare it, Counterspell is like instant karma. Magic monsters that attack will immediately receive reflected damage.

Meanwhile, Unprotected sends all monsters into the arena without armor. That means once they get hit, the damage goes straight to the core.

For players like me who enjoy using magic attacks, this ruleset usually creates a bit of anxiety. Magic is powerful, but when every attack bounces back at you, it feels like punching a wall with bare hands.

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Building a Slightly Reckless Formation

Even so, I still chose to play a composition that I’m quite familiar with. My team consisted of:

• Ulundin Overseer
• Ujurak Brave
• Dark Arborist
• Chaos Jailer
• Arachne Weaver
• Oshannus Unmade

The key was one small trick: giving the Deflect ability to my two magic monsters.

That way, even though they still received the Counterspell effect, the impact wasn’t too lethal. They could still stand firm like soldiers who understand that every wound is part of the job.

In my opinion, this formation fit the ruleset for two reasons. First, Unprotected makes magic attacks remain effective since there’s no armor to break through. Second, Deflect provides a bit of protection against Counterspell’s reflection.

My opponent also seemed confident in using magic attacks. They deployed Fenmoor Gorgon and Dark Arborist in their lineup.

That’s when the small drama began to unfold.

Every time the opponent’s magic monster attacked, Counterspell activated immediately. Their attacks felt like boomerangs returning to their own hands. And because they didn’t have Deflect protection like my team, the reflected damage hurt much more.

Sometimes I found myself smiling slightly while watching the damage animation appear. Not because I enjoyed seeing my opponent suffer, but because the small strategy I prepared was actually working.

Round after round went by quite tensely. Even though my team could withstand the Counterspell effect, it didn’t mean everything went smoothly. Every magic attack still carried risk.

But slowly, the situation started to favor me.

The opponent’s magic monsters began to fall one by one due to the reflected damage they created themselves, while my team remained standing and continued attacking.

At that moment, I realized one thing: in a ruleset like this, it’s not the one who attacks the hardest who wins, but the one who is most prepared to face the consequences of their own attacks.

If you want to see how this Counterspell drama unfolded in the arena, you can watch it here:

👉 LINK BATTLE 👈

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Lessons from the Arena

Counterspell may look terrifying for magic players, but it doesn’t mean magic has to be completely abandoned. Sometimes, with small adjustments—like using Deflect or strengthening durability—old strategies can still be effective.

In the end, I managed to win the battle. Not because my team was the strongest, but because my opponent was slightly more harmed by the reflected damage they generated themselves.

A small tip from me:
when you encounter the Counterspell ruleset, don’t panic and abandon magic right away. Sometimes the right move isn’t to avoid it, but to prepare a way so the reflection doesn’t hurt as much.

Because in the Splinterlands arena, the best strategy is often not about avoiding danger—but learning to stand calmly in the middle of it.

Talk about Splinterlands,
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It's free, but you'll need to invest in a beginning deck or buy gaming cards to gain real assets like cards and tokens.

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