Hi! I'm Igr1s. I created my Splinterlands account about 20 days ago and I want to talk about my experience. I'm not new to TCGs but this one is different from the games I have played like Hearthstone. I don't usually write but I think it is important to document my entry into this game. I also want to start by thanking everyone who helped me in any way. From what I've seen, this game has a great community!
I didn't join 100% blind. My friend @olaf.gui talked to me about this game and asked me to join some times. I had already considered it. When he explained there was a person doing a big incentives program, making it the best time to join, I made the decision to finally try it.
That person was @bravetofu and I think the program is a great opportunity. My friend explained how it worked. After paying the $10 I would get 3000 credits to spend on cards, worth $3. It was actually 3500. And I would also get 5 booster packs for Chaos Legion. They are worth less than 50 cents each, but that's still almost $2. It already pays for half of the cost. Bravetofu's program gives another 5 booster packs of the same edition, delegation of SPS, and delegation of many cards from Chaos Legion for 2 splinters. My friend told be to choose water and earth. Without even starting to play, I have already recovered about $7. Later I even received 10 extra booster packs. Bravetofu gave them to me but they were a gift from @cryptoeater which means it has already paid for the initial purchase!
I'll talk about the gameplay experience. Bravetofu delegated all those cards and my friend complemented with a few extra. Some neutral cards that are a great help to fill gaps in teams. Some reward cards that I think belong to Chaos Legion but work different from the reward cards I get now. My favorite is Djinn Oshannus. And some cards for other splinters but not max level. I was also delegated a crazy card by @azircon called Heloise the Hollow. I saw that it is very rare and expensive and I don't think I have seen any card like it in any TCG!
I started playing games and I won almost all of them. I didn't have the cards from my friend on the first day so I would lose when water and earth were allowed, otherwise I won easy. It even felt unfair! I think I reached one of the gold levels in the first day playing with those cards. By the end of that season I was at diamond 2 or 3. I didn't even realize it was close to season end but I was at a point where I was losing almost all the games without water or earth because the other summoners were at lower level. Even the games with water and earth were not free wins, far from it.
It was when my second season started that I saw that I was stuck at this gold rating. It makes sense because if I was about 50/50 before, the people around me dropped to the same place. It felt more difficult at the start than at the end. It could be just psychological because I saw lower rating and expected equal to when I passed by gold before.
After another season has ended, I reached diamond 2 and I believe that is the peak of what these cards can do. With some better luck and more experience diamond 1 should be possible but more than that would be very difficult without more cards.
I also joined a guild called League of Champions. A big shout out to all my guild mates!
After 1 season and a half, I earned 932 SPS, currently worth over $6. When the delegation expires, I will likely have over $10 in just SPS. Just another reason this is a fantastic offer by Bravetofu.
I'll give my thoughts on the overall experience. As I said before, it felt unfair to have max cards and trample everyone on my climb. As I understand, the game used to have card level caps based on rating but it doesn't anymore. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Would I want to invest in level 4 rare summoners to be trampled by players with higher level cards often enough? Even if it happens just 1 every 5 games it feels bad to auto lose 20% of the games. Maybe it's better to go for 2 or even just 1 splinters at max level? Accept any losses that have the wrong splinters and climb higher than a mid level on everything. I have seen that Chaos Legion is much cheaper than Rebellion but just looking at Chaos Legion, I know I would be much lower with level 4 or 5 on all splinters than I am with max on just 2. Maybe it will be different without Chaos Legion as I understand it will leave Modern when the new set is released.
Another thing I notice is that players with similar decks to mine in water and earth often have the advantage of the reward cards. I can get Rebellion rewards using the shop currency and Djinn Oshannus is easy to buy. But the reward cards that cost to unlock and I don't have are what makes the other player win. I checked prices and compared with Chaos Legion. 2 cents or less for commons but over 5 cents on the rewards and probably not possible to buy max at cheapest price. The rares (without summoners) between 2 and 8 cents vs. 20 to 40 cents. Epics below 25 cents vs. above $1. Most legendaries below $1 vs. $5 to $10. I can see maybe buying a few key cards that work even at low level but if they leave Modern together with the rest of Chaos Legion (I believe they do), I don't think it's a good decision to buy them. I do lose some games to those cards. I notice the 10 mana Coastal Sentry is often used with the summoner Possibilus. Swamp Spitter is another water card that I see working very well. I'm not sure I could use them effectively with low levels. There are 2 cards that look good even at level 1 and I should just buy 1 of each: the 2 martyr dudes for 3 mana. Venari Marksrat and Fungus Flinger. I saw players using them with success with Earthquake and Poison rules.
From my play experience, Water is amazing and very versatile. My struggles with it come from water mirrors maybe because of those reward cards or Rebellion cards but usually in higher mana games. I also always use Kelya and not Possibilus. That's because the 2 highest mana cards with melee attacks that I have access are Diemonshark and Flying Squid. Flying Squid already attacks from the second position. I have Commander Slade and Giant Alpine Skink from Rebellion rewards but they are low level making the other 2 options better. In Earth, Obsidian can go for a lot of damage and Immortalis is super strong. Those 2 I use more evenly. A suggestion to @bravetofu Possibilus is not needed. You could maybe, for future new players either save it and delegate something else, maybe some neutral cards. It's just a thought, I'm very thankful for your cards but it might make sense maybe even just dropping Possibilus from 10 players to give you room to help 1 or 2 more.
A thought that just occurred me as I was thinking about the most difficult matches I played. I was beaten by a summoner with a lot of abilities. It is called Eternal Tofu. Is that card based on @bravetofu or is it just a coincidence? It's a card from Rebellion so I'm pretty sure the card came after the player. I'm curious now.
Out of the Rebellion reward cards, the one I use the most, by far, is Halfling Refugee. It's just 1 mana and neutral. Very easy to put on the team.
My plans for the future are still not set in stone. I am enjoying the game and I'd love to make use of the extra SPS and extra time of delegation. Do I want to spend $100? Will I be able to keep up with the game when the delegations expire? Or when Chaos Legion leaves Modern and it becomes more expensive? I didn't open any of the booster packs. I think I will sell them to buy something I might need more. I don't think there's anything I can open that would improve my options while I have the cards delegated.
I also question what is the experience of a player who finds out about Splinterlands but doesn't know about any of these programs and also doesn't join discord and just goes to play. Are they gonna have fun? Will they know what to do? Is there room for a casual player? It would also be nice to have an app. Keychain and browser work fine but people want apps.
That's it for my experience. I want to thank again everyone who helped me. It's been fun playing this game. Bravetofu also helped me with something I was doing wrong getting the keychain app to work. I only requested my keys about a week ago and I'm only going to start exploring buying cards and even other things now. There's still a lot to learn and do!
So glad to have you with us @igr1s! It's really been a pleasure helping you onboard into this game. And you're right, we have an absolutely fantastic community :)
Hope to see you continue growing and gaming with us for a very long time!
And of course if you have any other friends who may be interested, be sure to bring them along and feel free to recommend my onboarding program ;)
Nice to have you with us, I hope you enjoy it!
By the way, I also think you write good blogs like this one. Keep it up, Hive and Splinterlands simply belong together.
If you need any help or have any questions you can always contact our community, they will always help you. :)
Thank you! Bravetofu and my Olaf have given me some tips already.
You are a great writer! Good luck on the journey ahead and excited to see new players coming over to the best game in web 3.0!
Thank you!
Welcome to the game and thanks for sharing your experience!
Thank you!
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Have fun! I met you a couple of times and you even kicked my ass last week, good job!
An app is being worked on by the team!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and view from a new player 🙂
The tofu summoner is indeed made together with the tofu player, oh and by the way if you have any questions I'm sure he will help you
Thank you! Yeah Bravetofu confirmed that to me!
Having new players into the game is a great thing. May your tribe increase in SPL land :)
Welcome to splinterlands... hope you keep enjoying the game for long time.
Nice of you to share your experience.
Good and valid point, where does a new player get als this information when they did not join the discord or hive blogs.
The team is busy with a new onboarding tutorial hope that helps.
Thank you!
Welcome to splinters
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! - @clove71
Welcome to Splinterlands and HIVE!
Thanks
Welcome to the world of Splinterlands
Thanks!