Intro - We travel back in Time

To start of my post we will travel back in time. To refresh some memories.
Some of you might remember that time, some of you joined later.

When Chaos Legion was introduced, new reward cards were added and the starter card set was different to todays set. At that time, there was a lot of hype around cryptocurrency, everyone was ready to make "stonks" and money to retire. So some smart guys programmed a bot for splinterlands.
While the bot was not as good as the bots nowadays, it still focused on the high percentage "meta" teams.

meta - is the current most popular or effective strategy (card/deck)

But what does that mean?

With the new reward cards, there was a meta switch. Which is normal, every new card or ability can force that.

One rare card dominated the field at that time, the "Venari Wavesmith". Even on level one she starts with the ability "protect" and in lower leagues +2 Armor can make a huge difference. As starter summoner you had the option to pick "Alric Stormbringer", who gives +1 magic attack and it could get even crazier with another well known card "Djinn Oshannus".
If water was open to play, 90% of the bots would likely play a team built around those particular cards. However, even if you were aware of this, you wouldn't necessarily always be able to beat it. The extremely high win rate of that combination during that time period speaks for itself.

Cant beat them, join them

If you were playing in the lower leagues during that time, owning at least one copy of that card was crucial for success. Although the price of the card was high, it was possible to rent it and remain competitive.

A new player

The announcement of the collaboration between Wasder and Splinterlands finally gave me an opportunity to convince a friend of mine to join and give the game a try. We did sign up together, and during the process, I created a small guide to assist him. From no Account to Battle Ready
We also managed to get an amazing rental deck, thanks to the NFTy Arcade Gateway, Level 5 Summoners, Level 6 Common, Level 5 Rare, Level 1 Epic, Level 1-3 Legendary.

So on paper, this sounds pretty good.

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The Start

Starting into the game now is much better. With the new tutorial, and the requirement to win at least 10 games, before you enter the "big" arena. This already makes a significant difference in the overall experience.

The Twist

However, as soon as you enter the arena (bronze), you'll face optimized bots. But one thing that sets this release apart from the Chaos Legion reward card release, is that the cards are soulbound, meaning that money-draining or reward-card farming is somewhat stopped.
Here lies the problem, or the challenge that he, we, and every new player encountered: the bots are ahead, possessing more reward cards, some of which are as overpowered as "Venari Wavesmith" at that time. Further, the later a new player starts, the more cards the bots will have already accumulated.

Here are some stats about winrate, from @jacekw Usage and Winrate S 107

Top 10 most played new reward cards in bronze:

Current bronze-league (bot) meta seems to be the cards with the new ability "Martyr".

Martyr: When the Monster dies, adjacent Monsters will get +1 to all their stats.

Of course there are ways to get rid of that buff with "Dispel", but you can not always aim it on the right target.

Dispel: When you hit an enemy, you clear all buffs and positive status effects.

The underlying issue I am trying to show here is that the bots have the ability to use the cards they already own, giving them a significant advantage in gameplay and increasing their chances of winning. This is particularly frustrating for new players who are more likely to be matched against these "overpowered" bots and face an unfair battle to win. Now, with no chance to rent this cards, its very hard.

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The Lose

Unfortunately, this exact scenario unfolded for my friend. Despite his passion for card games, the great deck and my assistance, he lost motivation and gave up on the game after only a few days of playing.

Well, i took the account now, and will be doing a series. Seasonal/Weekly updates, renting with NFTy Arcade. But how can we make this better?

Ideas and Conclusion

Conclusion

It would be beneficial to provide new players with the option to use these powerful reward cards as well. I understand that these are meant to be earned as rewards, but abilities such as "Martyr" can be overwhelming in the bronze league. Being unable to use these cards can lead to frustration among new players. (My friend for example)
I can relate to that. I consider myself to be a half decent player, and it also took me some time to progress through the bronze league after playing on the account.

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Ideas

The system with the current Starter Cards is fine in my opinion, because you get a significant penalty when you use them. Maybe we can mix that with the idea from a splinterlands-contentcreator @aftersound.

His idea: "have the starters disappear after a set time"

My approach would be kinda similar, but do it only for the "common" and "rare" reward cards. (1BCX)

1. Make them usable for new spellbook accounts for 1-2 seasons

2. Or play "x"-amount of games, and be able to rent them for a season. (one time)

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What do you think, what are your ideas? Or is there no problem?

Give me your feedback in the comments:

Do we have other options?

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Its the first time you heard and read about Splinterlands
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Thanks for reading, see you on my next post.