Hi to everyone in the Splinterlands community. After playing for a month I decided to share my earliest steps in this amazing #play2earn game. This article should help beginners the most. It explains how I climbed from novice to Bronze 1 without buying any cards. Also, I will point to some early mistakes that cost me a lot of DEC(I made them so you don't have to).

How I started to climb the ladder

When I first started playing Splinterlands I did not know what Splinter to choose. I went through the game introduction but it didn't tell me much except Fire is fast and Death is slow...

So I tried to play Fire and I was losing...a lot. It was due to not knowing where to position my cards and due to a lack of strategy.

Then I discovered magic and a Water splinter. Oh, yea I was amazed by fast winning with Alric Stormbringer and other magic cards from Water and Neutral Splinters. My starting lineup usually looked something like this.

The perfect mana cap is around 24-28-ish. At first, as a tank, I was playing Spineback Turtle because of its high health and armor. My magic cards were safe for at least one round behind this tank and there was a lot of time for them to do the damage. When mana cap was a bit higher I switched Spineback Turtle with Serpent of Eld. High speed and doge showed very usefully against Fire matchups. Three damage is also quite useful. So in melee matchups, Serpent of Eld is even better than Spineback Turtle, though you are relying on hit/miss.

With this team, I earned the first 20-30 DEC and got out of the Novice league to around Bronze 2/Bronze 1 tier.

Water Splinter beyond "phantom" (starting/free) cards

Around 800 - 900 rating (which is Bronze 1) I ran into some problems. Opponents were tougher and it was not easy to win even with magic which is not frequently used in lower tiers. It was time to upgrade my deck. Buying cards was not an option as cards that would make a difference are expensive. Renting was a solution. After some experiments, I found out that Water magic still works but with a better lineup. So my frequent lineup started to look something like this.

Furious Chicken was always in the first spot to tank one attack. You would not believe how many times I won the game because Chichen tanked the first attack. Lobstradamus is an amazing tank with 9 health and shield. As there is not a lot of magic matchups in Bronze Lobstradamus will come in handy. Buffed Sphinx and Mermaid have 3 magic attack which will remove most of the tanks in Bronze league, for example, Living Lava. One more honorable mention is Creeping Ooze which I use to reduce opponent speed(we want that Mermaid and Sphinx hit first).

So there it is. It is not elegant but it will get you some easy wins, at least in Bronze. I had a win rate with magic in Bronze between 58% and 65% which is not bad considering you don't own a single card. This will get you some DEC which will allow you to rent better cards and finally to buy some good cards. More on that in another post.

Magic cards are expensive these days and I think that is the main reason why they are not used in the Bronze league. In the Bronze league, there is also no real defense against magic though you should be careful around Sneak and Opportunity abilities as they can go around your tank and wipe out your backline.

How to get more DEC as a beginner

With every win, Dark Energy Crystals(DEC) are awarded. Some factors of earning DEC are but some factors are not in your control. These are the ones that you can control to maximize your rewards.

Dark Energy Capture Rate

Dark Energy Capture Rate can be found in the top right corner of the game. When you play a game your capture rate percentage goes down slightly, earning you less DEC with the next battle. To earn the most DEC, it is recommended to stay above 80% Capture Rate but everything depends on how often can you play a game. The best option should be playing 1 game every hour. That way your Capture Rate would always be on 100%.

Use of Alpha and Gold Foil Cards

For every Alpha or Gold Foil card that you use on your team, a +10% Dark Energy Crystal bonus is awarded on a win. This bonus stacks for multiple Alpha/Gold cards.

Win Streak

You get a 5% DEC bonus per win until you break the winning streak, after the first win. I must mention that the bonus is capped at 50%.

Number of players battling

There is a finite number of Dark Energy Crystals in the game per season. DEC is distributed based on the number of players playing the game. In theory, the best DEC rewards should be at the start of the new season as the players are trying to catch higher league so their Capture Rate is going down on the last few days of the season. After the season ends they need to wait until their Capture Rate recharges which is happening at the rate of 25% per 24 hours.

My biggest mistake in Splinterlands

In the first season in which I joined Splinterlands, there were 5 days left. I started playing and managed to get up to Bronze 1 with Water splinter Magic cards. With earned DEC I rented even more cards and I was ready for next season. In the next season, I managed to finish in Gold 3...I was thrilled. Oh boy...that was a huge mistake made because of few loot boxes. Next season I started in Silver and boy oh boy those guys have amazing and leveled cards. I was often matched with level one summoner against level three or four summoner, and of course, leveled up cards. For the first three days, I barely had few wins...it was a nightmare...

So my advice...go beyond silver only when you are ready. Those few extra boxes won't make you rich..trust me.

Splinterlands Affiliate Link

If you are planning to play Splinterlands consider using my referral LINK.

These are benefits for both of us

When a referral purchases the Summoner Spellbook, both you and the referral will receive a random card from the Untamed set (including a chance at Gold Foil Legendaries worth up to $100)!

I hope you are enjoying #splinterlands same as me. For me, Splinterlands is an amazing #play2earn game with great potential to be the best card game ever. It is a fusion of online and offline, everything we were waiting for many years. See you on the battlefield. Have fun!

Cheers!