What a change! I know if you are reading this that you are probably a newbie and may not be aware of the recent change to the reward structure in Splinterlands. In this post, I won't go into the changes that took effect, but I think is is important to get a few things straight to maximize your rewards going forward (because we all want to progress in the game and earn better rewards).
If you went straight from the tutorial to playing Ranked Matches (to start earning), you may have noticed the results of a couple of these new changes. If you're really new and you haven't taken a deeper dive into the rules and FAQ, you may not have discovered the answer to a few blaring questions like:
Why Aren't I Getting Any Rewards?
There are three main reasons why you are not earning any rewards in your battles. The first of which is not owning a Spellbook. If you have read any of my previous posts (see the list at the bottom of this post), you probably already own one, so that shouldn't be the issue. That leaves one of two potential causes. Either you have not reached Bronze league yet or you are using all Starter (or ghost) cards (we touched on these types of cards briefly in my last post) or you can check out this post for more information specifically on Starter cards.
You Mean Starter Cards Effect My Rewards?
This is at the heart of this post. As a new player, this could seriously impact your progress in Splinterlands if you don't understand this concept. The developers had to find a way to help make the game economy sustainable and determined that the main area if concern was earning rewards with starter cards. I'm sure a good bit of that was due to the fact that is was easy to create bot accounts that used all Starter cards and perpetually harvest rewards without having to invest in any cards. If they had completely done away with Starter cards so that everyone had to purchase cards, it would have made it very cost prohibitive for you, the new player, to be able to acquire enough cards to play all the different rulesets with all of the different splinters. By removing the rewards for Starter cards, you can still earn partial rewards for the cards you control (own or rent) and fill in with the Starter cards if you don't have what you need. For more information on how Starter cards effect your rewards, check out this post.
What Do I Need To Do To Earn Rewards, Then?
Now we are getting to the nitty-gritty. If you are brand new (meaning you bought your Spellbook AFTER the new rewards were put in place), you did not get a chance to accumulate any rewards under the old system. That means you have no cards, no DEC, and no way to earn any without spending some crypto that you have acquired by some other means...or so it would seem. Hidden in the benefits of purchasing your new Spellbook, there is a single line of text that is your saving grace. it says, "Bonus Reward: +3000 Credits"
So there is some small glimmer of hope that we can get started earning something. The key is to put those credits to good use and earn enough to cover your spend each day. If you can do that, all of your chests will be gravy that will help you start to build to a competitive collection of cards.
Step 1: Get to Bronze level
As we stated earlier, there are three things you must do in order to earn from your battles:
- Own a Spellbook. (check)
- Get to Bronze level (next)
- Use non-Starter cards (coming)
If you were lucky enough to find Moonthumb's Fantastical Splinterlands Primer (for complete newbies) before playing many Splinterlands battles (and more importantly before spending your 3000 credits), I would suggest you stay in practice mode until you can fight ten times and win at least half of your battles. This is the type of consistency you will want to have before spending your precious few credits. You want to be familiar enough with the cards, the splinters, and how they play so that you have a fighting chance (pun intended) when the money is on the line. If you spend your credits and don't earn anything back from it, you will have to dig into your pockets and invest some of your own hard earned crypto to kick start your growth. If you can't win five out of ten games, you may be able to make it to Bronze III, but you will not be able to make it past that and will have a hard time earning enough to cover your expenses each day.
To get into practice mode, click the arrows on either side of the mode selection area to scroll through the options until you get to Practice. You may see How To Play come up, but that just takes you back to the tutorial (that hopefully you completed when you got your Spellbook. If not, go through that now to help you get a feel for the game). NOTE: Just because you are in Practice mode DOES NOT mean everyone you play will be a newbie. I know as you cotinue to play in practice mode that this may get boring and frustrating, but I'm just looking out for you. You have to get good enough to make your credits count when you put them to use. Just like you don't grow six-pack abs from working out one day, it will probably take you a while to consistently win half of your battles. While you are practicing, develop some strategies and card combinations that work better than others. You want to have some ammunition when you get ready to move into Ranked battles. My suggestion is when you see a particularly strong combination of cards, write it down and use it yourself to see if it works for you more times than not. You may have to tweak a few cards to fit within the Mana cost for each battle or your collection of cards. You want to write down not only the cards used, but also the ruleset and restrictions for the battle (some combinations only work is specific rulesets). Also write down the cards you were playing with at the time (certain combinations are stronger against some cards, but not others).
Once you have learned a few different combinations FOR EACH SPLINTER, switch to Ranked mode and begin your journey to Bronze III. I have done it with an account that did not have a Spellbook, so I know it can be done with only Starter cards. Hopefully, by the time you get to the point where you have attained Bronze III level, I will have completed the next volume of Moonthumb's Fantastical Splinterlands Primer with instructions on how to start earning from your battles.
I know that's a lot of info to process at one time, so I'll stop here. Stay tuned for more Moonthumb's Fantastical Splinterlands Primer coming soon. In the next volume, I'll discuss how you can use your credits to start earning rewards, how to determine which cards to use, and maybe even some suggestions on a few cards that might help you better than others. I look forward to greeting you on the Splinterlands battlefield in the coming days.
To learn more, you can read the next post in this series.
If you missed any of the previous volumes of this series, you can find a link here:
- Moonthumb's Fantastical Splinterlands Primer (for complete newbies) [vol. 1] - Setting up an account and getting a Spellbook
- Moonthumb's Fantastical Splinterlands Primer (for complete newbies) [vol. 2] - Basic information about cards
- Moonthumb's Fantastical Splinterlands Primer (for complete newbies) [vol. 2.1] - More Card Basics