Bye Modern Bots: Hello Better Earnings!

Throughout my time in splinterlands, I have been building my deck and looking at creative ways to improve it. Now more than ever against human players, my findings have shown that having the higher level deck generally means more wins.

Strategy Vs Depth:

Of course strategy helps but often times those head to head battles can be decided with a Poison or a Triage achieved at the next level.

You are probably thinking I am neglecting SPS but I continue investing into SPS as well. As of now I own 3,201 SPS. Regular Brawls ensure I continue to top this amount up weekly and I am beginning to rent SPS but I am going to reduce that amount each time to reap the benefits even further.

Take a Risk to Win Big?

Over the past week or so, I’ve had a bit of a reshuffle of my deck. Having owned two Quix The Devious who I rarely use and had packed rather fortunately from Chaos Legion Reward packs.

I then sold both Quix The Devious cards and I also sold another legendary summoner- Astral Entity, who to be honest has some uses but they were so rare for me it made no sense to keep it. Especially given the changes I could make going forward to my Silver account.

$30 to spend

As a result I had the best part of thirty dollars to spend to make various improvements to my deck. The first stop for me was to upgrade my summoners, taking them to Level Four.

General Sloan was already good to go and Kelya Frendul, Obsidian and Thaddeus Brood were up next.

With all of these summoners at fourth level, it was time to seek out opportunities to boost my card effectiveness at Silver level. With some extra funds secured,I took a look at Common, Rare and Epic cards and referred to their new levels available to me as I made some purchases:

The following is a list of cards whom I feel greatly benefit from the jump between max Bronze to max Silver.

Revealer:

This is another card which comes in quite cheap for the upgrade and also gains additional damage which makes this Stun monster to another level.

Riftwing:

A really awesome card and Backfire comes in handy so often especially against slower ranged battles.

Soul Strangler:

I levelled this up to third level in order to gain the additional damage taking the ranged hits to three. This will certainly help in those Little League matches I enjoy.

Venari Bonesmith:

At the fourth level this monster develops Poison which is an extremely effective ability to inflict an additional two points of damage to the opposing monster.

Time Mage:

Taking this card to fourth level, Time Mage gains an additional damage point which is always welcome.

Venari Crystalsmith

I wanted to take this card to fourth level to turn it from a utility healer to an offensive card especially in Little League. Anytime you can get damage above the Shield threshold can really become advantageous and this card is used so often in my battles. It might be worth swapping to Gold Foil later?

Angelic Mandarin

Access to an alternative Triage is the goal here. I hope to use Wave Brood as a last position Tank distraction and the Angelic Mandarin to heal it as we go. Once Kelya was at fourth level this was my very first purchase.

Tide Biter:

Reflection Shield is a critical ability in a Blast match up. The two damage with Reach is awesome as well to boot, one of the first upgrades in the shopping cart.

Venari Wavesmith:

Similar to Time Mage, additional damage takes this card from utility to offensive.

Pelacor Bandit

At the fifth level, Pelacor Bandit gains an addition point of damage which makes it a much better sneak attacking option. The former reward card is rapidly becoming an efficient killer in my lineups. A very cheap upgrade too!

Arkemis The Bear

I picked this up in Gold Foil because it was only marginally more expensive and comes with Halfing and a 10% boost to earnings due to the Good Foil.

(As things stand, it is cheaper to buy a Gold Foil Arkemis than a regular foil - I missed this opportunity and paid about $0.60 more than the current price.)

Single BCX additions

I wanted to add a little more depth to my lineups especially in the Bronze Tournaments and I felt that with my new found love for the Death deck, I would pick up a few interesting cards to utilise. :

Death Card additions:

Cabalist

For the mana this is quite expensive on its own but I would typically use it in combination with Thorns and Backfire to make good use of the Amplify ability.

Grim Reaper

Affliction is an ability I am happy to pick up and three base damage is excellent here.

Owster Rotwell

I've been looking to improve my counter strategies especially as I've begun to enter tournaments. As I've continued to play in these more competitive environments, I've come up against a wider array of cards and I think this summoner will help support the cause. Only another 24 to go to get to level four.

Darkest Mage

I've wanted this card for quite a while. Two mana for the extra magic damage is always nice. I am happy with this purchase and I am looking forward to trying this out some more.

Shadowy Presence

Very cheap mana cost for four health. I cannot complain. As a filler card, this is a good option for me.

Lira The Dark

Not sure how it took me so long to get a copy of this card. A really solid fast card which I am starting to really enjoy. Well worth the cost to purchase as Lira The Dark

Water Card Additions:

Captain’s Ghost

The Captain's Ghost is a strong card in those situations where you get locked away by the healing of a Merdaali Guardian. Affliction allows this card to stop the healing of other cards but the seven mana, seven health and two magic damage is pretty decent.

Kelp Initiate

At the third level Kelp Initiate gains Cleanse. While the purchase I made is only one BCX (another thirteen to go!), it still plays a role as a very cheap mini tank at the front. I like this card more and more as I learn to use it.

Axe Master

I cannot believe I waited so long to buy this card. This is the better and faster version of the Pelacor Arbalest. Not just worth the money, better - must buy! It wins matches on its own at times.

Earth Card Additions:

Centauri Mage

I wanted another alternative tank for my magical lineup. Return Fire is a great ability but the high health and good speed was what I really wanted here. Besides, it is a good second position card for those Snipe matches.

Fire Card Additions:

Ash Mirage

The Ash Mirage has Headwinds which is great in those really infrequent but necessary Fire ranged battles. This card sits near the back of the lineup and reduces incoming ranged missiles while also dealing some good damage of its own. Can't complain really, pretty strong card. Think I need a Jacek to develop a stronger Fire deck.

Tinderlock

Following my recent blog on Last Stand, I am convinced this card is a good buy even at one BCX. I picked one up and have used it sparingly. But there has been the occasional battle where this guy has taken the victory.

Life Card Additions:

Temple Priest

I bought this to add a bit more magical fire power to my Life deck for those magic only rulesets. While it is only a single BCX it did not break the bank so if I use it sparingly that is fine with me.

The Result of the Upgrades?

Honestly, I am very happy with the changes to my deck. With the new modern update in play, I am now earning very well compared to the previous seasons. Using the remaining DEC change of the account, I rented 8000 SPS to take me up to the 11.5k SPS mark. This has granted me the opportunity to earn around 10x rewards in battles.

With the changes to my Level Four summoners and their respective decks, I did manage to earn 1.252 SPS in a single Silver 1 battle which is the highest I've yet to manage. In addition to participating in more tournaments and playing every battle available across both accounts manually, I have done away with the bot and am earning the better for it. I am now earning noticeable amounts of SPS for an account of my size and this has got me enthused about the future of Splinterlands.

Play to Earn is back for Splinterlands?

Overall I am excited with the overall direction of Splinterlands. I'd love to hear your experiences too.

Join Splinterlands:

https://splinterlands.com?ref=holdeck

---

Join Splex

...and rent out your cards for some juicy DEC rental fees. Save yourself the hassle of listing and relisting and let the Rental Golem take over for you:
https://splex.gg/?ref=3s5haoqkjteadpf8

How to invest without FIAT in a bear market? : https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@holdeck/how-i-am-investing-for-after-the-bear-market

Setting and redefining goals in a bear market: https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@holdeck/setting-and-redefining-goals-in-a-bear-market

Splinterlands Fire divider by freeztag

All card, icons, Splinter images and stats courtesy of Splinterlands

Ability and Ruleset blurbs taken from Splintercards

Splinter Element Icons taken from Splinterlands
I have reformatted them into PNG files which you are welcome to use here