Hello there Stingy Summoners!

It is the start of the Splinterland Season again and we go back to square one of renting-to-win strategy. Seeing that rentals have skyrocketed due to an increase in the demand and many players wanting to make their game time worthwhile and at the same time play on a shoe-string budget, I decided to write and share my personal strategy which I use to reach Bronze 1 Level.

Why not a guide for renting at Silver 3? Definitely, Silver 3 is the most cost-effective level in terms of maximizing your time and profit because at Silver 3 you get 2 loot chests per daily quest and 12 loot chests for the end-of-season reward, not to mention the higher chance of getting cards and higher DEC battle rewards. However, the game is so competitive now that if you go at that level with limited cards, it is difficult to complete the daily quest. I know this for a fact because I have my first account at Silver 3 level and sometimes I spend 2 hours playing just to complete the daily quest. For me, 2 hours of playing is too much as I have other responsibilities in life as well.

Before I share my tips, let me just discuss my assumptions for this strategy. My objective at this level is only to complete the daily quest. To accomplish that, it usually takes me 10-15 fights and I try not to make my Dark Energy Crystals capture rate below 75%.

Based on my past performance, I can win 10 battles from the 15 matches that I play. In the Bronze 3 level, the DEC rewards are around 4-6 DECs. That puts my daily DEC rewards at 40-60 DEC per day or 600-900 DEC per season. I decided that I am willing to spend only half of the 900 DEC or 450 for rentals so that I can still save DEC for my future card purchases. Daily, my rentals only cost me around 30 DEC.

So without further delay, I will share my budget-conscious strategy on how to reach that 5,000 Battle Power at Bronze 1.

Tip 1: Rent at the start of the Season

The best time to rent is immediately at the start of the season. During this time, there are a lot of very cheap and affordable cards to rent.

In my experience, renting an hour just after the season is not advisable because some cards have not yet expired and the renting website is overwhelmed with lots of people who want to rent cheap cards. This makes renting difficult so I let several hours pass before renting.

Tip 2: Rent gold foil neutral cards

You must already know that a gold foil card gives a lot of power but with so many gold foil cards out there which one to rent? I say, rent the neutral ones! Why the neutral? Neutrals are cards that you can use in any type of Splinter Summoner.

Here are some of the cheap gold neutral foils that I usually rent:

Battering Ram

This gold foil gives me 500 collection power for only 3.9 DEC per day. Aside from the power, this card is so underrated. There are many uses of this card, especially at low mana battles. Besides, there are always cases when there extra mana that cannot be used, so this 2 mana card is a great filler for that extra mana. In equalizer games, this low mana card can get huge HP for a very low mana cost. Oh did I mention the 10% DEC bonus if this card is used?

Rusty Android

This gold foil Rusty Android is a good alternative to Torhilo Frozen. The Torhilo Frozen is the best counter to Magic users at the Bronze level. However, it is difficult to find a Torhilo under 5 DEC per day. If there is one, it is always gone in a few seconds. The Rusty Android doesn't get much respect but if what you are looking for is a good counter to Magic Units. The Rusty Android is the best bang for the buck. Aside from the cheap cost of the rental, (I got this card for 1.8 DEC), this card is very versatile. You can use this for the Earth Summoner and Death Summoner line-ups which have also good anti-magic units. This card gives me 750 collection power.

Mantoid

Another Neutral that I like to rent is the Mantoid. I got this card for 3.75 DEC per day and it is giving me 500 collection power. You can use this monster in the majority of the ruleset at Bronze Level. It is particularly useful when no magic monsters are allowed. I find this card very valuable for the Death line-up because you can deploy 4 monsters with Snipe abilities and that can crush even the magic line-up.

Tip 3: Rent cheap Alpha cards

Renting Alpha cards can also boost your collection power and can increase the DEC reward you can get at a very low price. There are still a lot of cheap Alpha cards out there for renting. It is just a matter of being patient in finding them.

Here are some Alpha cards that have proven to be very essential in my matches. Take note that I selected at least one Alpha card for each type of Splinter Summoner. There are other Alpha cards out there that are useful but I only picked the most used ones.

Water Elemental

The Water Elemental is a great unit for the water deck. If you do not want to go full magic or magic is not allowed, the Water Elemental is a versatile card for the water deck. With this card, you can have the option of using Bortus to transform your water deck into an anti-magic line-up. Aside from this, with a Water Elemental, you can position it at the end of your line-up to defend against a sneak attack. It is sometimes useful to have this unit at the end, especially when the ruleset involves poison. I have won several times when the match involving poison ruleset because of this Water Elemental. I was able to rent this card at .7 DEC per day.

These remaining cards are all monsters with sneak abilities. I find these types of cards with a sneak to be very useful in any scenario at the Bronze level.

Kobold Miner

This card is another cheap Alpha card from the Fire deck. The cost of renting Kobold Miner is just .7 DEC per day which is very affordable. The collection power is low, it only gives 60 collection power. However, the extra percentage of DEC rewards from winning matches compensates for the low collection power.

Undead Assassin

Another favorite of mine, just like the Kobold Miner, the Undead Assassin is one of my staple cards for the Undead Deck.

Feral Spirit

Just like the other monsters earlier, the Feral Spirt has a sneak ability. For the Light lineup, it is sometimes crucial to rent also the Alpha card of the Silvershield Knight because of the +1 damage it gives to the melee units.

Goblin Sorcerer

Lastly, the sneak attacker for the Earth lineup. This monster is unique because it is a sneak attacker but it deals magic damage. This goblin sorcerer is also a good anti-magic lineup if you pair it with a Summoner with -2 Armor, Unicorn Mustang, and Child of the Forest.

Bonus!!!

Before I end my article, let me share with you the list of cards that I have rented for this season. I am paying 33 DEC per day for this rentals which I think is a good deal for me.

Want to try this game? Here is the link.