Splinterlands Crash Course For Normies

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Written by

#Club1BCH

10 months ago

Topics: Splinterlands, Play2earn, Hive, Cryptocurrency, Blog, ...

I joined Splinterlands three years ago, on 26th of December 2020, and I am still considering myself as a apprentice. It was a roller-coaster of fun, as the amount of information I had to assimilate was insane!

What's Splinterlands PVM? ... asked one of my normies frens' one day! Well bro.... Splinterlands is a strategic auto-battler multiplayer digital-collectible trading card game on the Hive blockchain! He had no clue what I was talking so I told him is like Pokemon battles and he nodded as he knew all about it!

Normie frens' don't know I call them "my normie friends"! As Deckard Cain once said... Stay Awhile and Listen! The story started with an young apprentice, a seeker of knowledge, that had some big dreams and nothing to lose. I become thirsty for knowledge and improved my game with practice.

How you play it? You try to create the most optimal 7-card deck, using your available cards, and fight against opponents. More wins will bring a higher ranking and better prizes, as each won battle will count towards to end of season rewards. The players are rewarded with daily chests and season chests, with a chance for tokens, potions, cards, merits and even packs.

I am now sharing my saga to help normies become the battle mages of tomorrow! I know from my humble beginnings that the dashboard can be overwhelming to a new player, with information oozing from every corner. I want to help so I created a tl;dr for the newbies:

Cluster 1 (lime green) contains the information regarding the current season, such as when it ends, how many season chests were farmed during the season and how much SP is required to reach the next reward chest.
Cluster 2 (orange) contains the battle mage ranking details, with the place in the leaderboard, current level, next level requirements and the booster multiplier.
Cluster 3 (red and blue) are showing the Battle Tab (red) and the Daily Focus (blue) shows the remaining energy and when the next energy point will be added, while the Daily Tab (blue) will contain the details about daily points and rewards. The daily focus is listed here, details about the quest, how many chests are currently farmed and how much focus points are needed to reach the next reward.
Cluster 4 (purple) contains the recent battles, with details about the team used and player ranks. Battles can be shared and watched from this tab, making it easier to analyze the tactics.

My honest advice is to enjoy the game and build up your deck. Dream big but don't get upset if you don't win many battles. The community is the best place to learn more, with useful intel available on forums, Discord channels, and social media groups. When you win... you win! When you lose... you learn!

There is no better time to join, as the Rebellion is lowering the gap between OGs and new players. Each Rebellion pack contains five cards, with at least one guaranteed rare card. The standard price per pack was 5000 DEC, but I was able to spend VOUCHER tokens in order to receive a discount on the base price. Each VOUCHER token used reduced the price by 200 Credits / DEC and the maximum discount available using VOUCHER tokens will be 20%.

The Rebellion set added four new unit abilities: Armored Strike, Corrosive Ward, Flank, and Lookout. he new abilities will enhance certain elements, making the team's synergy more... deadly!

Armored Strike - The units with this ability will gain an ADDITIONAL Melee attack using the Armor stats
Corrosive Ward - For me this is Acid Thornes and the nemesis to Repair! You can't Repair something that's been melted into acidic goo! When the unit with this ability is hit by melee attack, will do 2 damage to the attacker's Armor AND will also reduce the max Armor of the attacker by 2.
Flank - If the unit with this ability is in the first position, then the unit in the second position gains the Reach ability. Imagine the synergy created by this new ability, making the first two units work together to bring down the enemy tank
Lookout - Say Hello! to scouts that shield your support units! The card with this ability will help adjacent allies to take one less damage from Sneak, Snipe, and Opportunity attacks.

Just to let you know... Splinterlands is currently the only play2earn game that survived the purge. I stopped playing everything else, due to various reasons. I am looking forward to "Conflicts", to stake my cards for rewards, and to raid the marketplace for some bargains.

The Riftwatchers and their rebel allies accompany them, using their power to fight against the legions of the Chaos Empire. The War Wagons will break the chains in which Praetoria was bound. Are you ready for conflicts that will echo through the ages?

You may ask what are this .... "conflicts"? The Splinterlands team revamped the old airdrop system to a new and improved mechanism where only eligible players will get airdrops. The new system was called conflicts, to vibe with the rebellion theme, and it will only count players who stake their packs. This is a new and re-vamped airdrop system, rewarding those that are loyal to the Rebellion.

In the past, players who purchased packs would simply receive airdrop cards based on the number of packs they originally purchased, regardless of whether or not they held those packs or immediately sold them all on the secondary market. But now it's different ... it doesn't matter how many Rebellion packs a o player had bought, if they are not staked. Get your packs ready for staking, and those legendary cards.

Each Conflict will be scheduled to run for approximately one month, with its associated airdrop card becoming claimable once the Conflict ends. Each Conflict will have a fixed amount of the next airdrop card that will be available for players to earn at the end of the Conflict based on their participation relative to all other participants.

To participate in a Conflict, players will need to purchase one or more "Battle Wagons" using a small amount of VOUCHER tokens in which they can stake their Rebellion cards and booster packs. Each Battle Wagon will allow 5 cards and up to 100 packs to be staked. Cards and packs can be added to a Conflict at any time and can be unstaked instantly.

As always .... there are some epic battles that deserve to be remembered! Some are so epic that the outcome went against all odds! This crazy battle is from the time that magic teams powered by Obsidian flooded the battlefields. I got prepared for a duel with a sorceress and found myself facing a mighty dragon!

Enemies are panicking when Possibilus the Wise rise from his lair. This mighty dragon is infusing friendly monsters with not one but two extra health, and gives them two more boosts. His presence gives Trample and Reach to his allies, helping all melee brawlers to hit from the second position.

The Trample ability makes it even worst, with all melee units receiving the gift of another attack when they deliver a killing blow. My opponent created a team that was ready to deliver a flurry of strikes, and I was ready to play against a magician!

The odds were against me and boosting the Coastal Sentry with Martyr was another tactical move. I boosted my army with an useless Magic Reflect, and all hopes were in vain. Can it be worst? What doesn't kill you... make it stronger... and all monsters will gain Enrage in this battle. At least I played right the Equalizer battle-rule and set the Ever-Hungry Skull in the first position

Owster Rotwell: : Magic Reflect to all friendly units

Ever-Hungry Skull: Melee with Flying

Arachne Thug: Melee with Reach

Revealer: Caster with Stun

Creeping Ooze: Support with Slow

Magi Necorsi: Caster with Snipe and Camouflage

This battle was lost even before it started... but hope is what change the tide of the war. In fact... it's random that builds all the underdog stories, not hope! This mix of hope and random amplified early, after the Coastal Sentry missed one of the double strikes. Then again another one in the second round! I started to believe in miracles!

The Revealer took care of the Venari Marksrat and the Costal Sentry got Martyr-boosted her stats. Another glimmer of hope as she missed another attack, but landed the second. The Hardy Stonefish missed as well, but the happiness was shadowed by the enraged sentry.

The beautiful aquatic creature had now six melee attack for that double-strike, enough to take down my Ever-Hungry Skull after only one hit! But the gods of random smiled again, as the Revealer stunned the Coastal Sentry!

The highlights of the fourth round? I took down that pesky albatross, and the Revealer failed to stun again! I was facing total annihilations. The folklore says that what happiness twice, will probably happen the third time.

The Ever-Hungry Skull already avoided four attacks, and I was hoping to defy the odds again... and again. Will this battle become a song of hope for the Rebellion? Will the bards sung the story of the elusive flying skull?

Unbelievable.... Unbelievable! The Coastal Sentry missed both attack and my skull was still flying! Not only he survived to tell the story, but this vampiric head has able to defeat his aggressor. The Hardy Stonefish missed as well, while the Water Fiend landed a puny attack.

The Ever-Hungry Skull already avoided seven attacks in five rounds, and the odds where higher now. Sushi for dinner, as the Stonefish was filleted by my undead army. Let's sing for the elusive skull, as he avoided two more attacks by the Water Fiend.

Magi Necorsi delivered the final blow, but the Ever-Hungry Skull was the MVP of the battle. The reanimated skull avoided nine attacks during the fight, and turned the tides of the battle in my favor. See the full battle here!

I started to give more credit to the Ever-Hungry Skull after the last battle! The skulls of slain vampires sometimes become re-animated with necromancy, allowing the spirit of the former vampire to possess it once again. According to the lore, the bounded souls are not happy with their situation, but often seek to turn the tide in their favor. They will go along with what their captor asks in hopes of returning to a full body.

This 5-mana card starts with 7 armor but can go as high as 11 armor points, with melee damage raising to 3 points once it reaches level 4. This was my goal, as I swiped the floor and upgraded my main Ever-Hungry Skull to level four. Why? Because this monster is ruthless and foul-tempered, having no empathy but very cunning in their strategies and words.

The Ever-Hungry Skull is made for Equalizer battles! This time the Heavy Hitters battle-rule was added in the mix so my goal was to create a sneaky team that will hit those fragile back-row units! Let's haunt and hunt!

Thaddius Brood: -1 Magic Damage & -1 Health to all enemies

Ever-Hungry Skull: Melee with Flying

Arachne Thug: Melee with Reach

Silent Sha-vi: Melee with Sneak

Weirding Warrior: Ranged with Shatter

Uraeus: Melee with Sneak

Magi Necrosi: Caster with Camouflage and Snipe

It looked like a top battle after the opponent army was revealed. I had to fight a superior team, with most cards upgraded more than my ones. Kelya Frendul was giving them armor and extra speed, while Djinn Oshannus even had Phase! The Venari Wavesmith added two armor points on top of Kelya Frendul summoner boost, but my hope was that the Weirding Warrior will take care of this issue.

I soon realized that the armor will be a bigger issue than expected.... as the Scavo Hireling kept repairing! I was hoping to scatter the damage across the opponents and make the armor repair pointless, while Magi Necrosi will slowly taking down the pesky Venari.

As expected, the fall of the Venari Wavesmith was a turning point of the fight! The Scavo repair was suddenly less efficient, having less armor to regenerate. However, Djinn Oshannus was still getting healed and repaired! Was all hope and random!

No more repairs for my opponents... as the Scavo Hireling joined the fallen ones! The collateral damage was claimed after two rounds of dampened attacks, when the Weirding Warrior run out of health. He has done his shattering job, but fully deserves his demise for missing all those attacks on Djinn Oshannus.

No more heals either, as Magi Necrosi took care of annoying healer! However, no Ever-Hungry Skull either. The bloodthirsty monster had all that armor intact, but couldn't handle the constant magical flow.

It felt like an eternity, but midway through round nine I managed to get rid of the die hard djinn. Both snakes flexed their fangs and muscles, but one was stronger than the other. It took 12 rounds to settle the battle, and more grey hair after all those missed attacks. See the full battle here!