Can I survive Survival?
If you're like me, you're kinda interested in the new #Splinterlands game called #Survival. I mean, who knows what will happen? This gaming ecosystem is very... fluid. Sometimes bordering on the chaotic 😅 As for Survival? It's no different. From the first moment Survival was announced---haters, fans, and uncertainty exploded. It still abounds.
Also though, maybe the $SPS will be utterly epic. #Play2Earn anyone? Especially in the first few seasons. Then again, maybe Survival won't even survive past the first few seasons. Can even Survival survive Survival? 😵 Okay, now I'm getting dizzy. These are all the chaotic risks, plus crazy potential for reward, that you need to come to grips with. Come to grips with before even considering a full season of Survival.
If you're like me though (and some others 💪) you can easily put that chaos on mute and see massive potential. If that's you, and you have a semi-decent collection already, then maybe you're willing to give Survival a try. At least give it a try before just dismissing it outright 🤷♂ If you checked all those boxes "yes, please" then welcome! This is the first article in a series of articles meant to help get you ready. Because let's be real. If you're gonna play the full Season 1 of Survival, you damn well better get ready. I imagine it's gonna get pretty rough, pretty fast 💀
If you're like me, you're willing to at least give Survival a try before dismissing it outright. What if the rewards are huge? Who knows. You've probably also asked yourself though--"can my collection can even survive Survival?" That's a very important question to ask and be realistic about.
What kind of collection do I need?
Okay then. First off. I bet you've already started to ask one question... 🤔-"Do I have best cards for Survival?" Wait though. Remember. This is Survival. Not Modern or Wild. You need to think about Survival as its own new game, because, well... it is. Also because the dynamics and strategy will be totally different. Is having the "best" cards the right question to be asking? Probably not. Maybe the better question is... 🤔-"Do I have enough cards for Survival?"
In the end, good cards are good. But they're also expensive. In fact, that's why they're expensive. Because they're sooo good! Eventually though, even those super-good cards will die, at least once in a while. If they die in Survival, they're on death cooldown 💀 Do you have multiple maxed duplicates of that super-expensive meta-defining card? Probably not. At least not too many. But you need something for the next battle, right? Some backup to take their place while they recover?
Yes, there will be Revival Potions and maybe that will change things. But also, no one knows stuff yet like: (1) how expensive they'll be, (2) what the supply will look like, or (3) how many revival potions you can purchase or use in a given time period. In my mind, the uncertainty about revival potions leaves little doubt. If you want to survive Season 1 of Survival. If you want to capture max possible $SPS rewards. Then you should probably buy some less-expensive backups for when those super-expensive meta cards go down. Multiple backups if you can! 💪
This is really where the seismic shift in collection strategy for Survival becomes apparent. We're shifting from get one max of all the best meta to get as many max duplicates of the less expensive, non-meta (but still not-horrible) B-listers, and build a mega-collection Survival army. Kind of fun if you ask me 🤩
Hmmm. Which of these two sides is more likely to survive? I'd bet on the bigger team. Similarly then, what kind of a collection is more likely to survive a full season of Survival? I'd bet on the bigger collection.
So... you're saying, play the bad cards?
So like, I am trying to tell everyone that for Survival, you should never play the best cards? Only play the weak B-listers? Hmm...🤔-"Great advice star, good luck with that!"
No 🤣
I mean look. I'm not saying DON'T put out your best team in Survival. But I mean also. If we're doing this---like really doing this---then I want everyone to be realistic. For example, how many max copies of Tofu do you have? Me. I only have one. So I can't rely super heavily on Tofu to carry me, unless I can/want to constantly be reviving him with revival potions. Who knows? Maybe that will be a viable strategy. But again, for now we need to wait and find out more about how revival potions operate, how much they'll cost, how many we can get, and ultimately, how much they'd eat into rewards.
My bet? My strategy for now? After talking to some of the smartest, biggest players in the game. I think revival potions will be critical and super important, but also, they'll never fully replace the power a Deep Bench Collection. If you want max rewards through a full season of Survival, that should be your goal.
Sometimes we look through rose-colored glasses when shopping for cards. Am I right? At least I do. For sure I do. Everything looks good! Especially those powerful meta cards 😍 But for Survival, what I'm saying is you need to take off the rose-colored glasses and look deeper. Search for those undervalued cards that still have what it takes to field a respectable team.
What's a "deep bench" collection in Splinterlands? It definitely means something more than just having the most collection power. At its most fundamental level, it means having card redundancy. Not redundancies for just any random card though. Redundancies and overlapping redundancies where card redundancies matter most. Before moving on to cards I think you should look at right now, to "deepen" your bench, let's first explore this concept a little more.
What's this "deep bench" thing?
Weirdly enough, this is my second Survival post in a row where the analogies organically led to sports. Idk. That might be a more inherent characteristic of Survival, when compared to Modern, Wild, Tournaments, etc. Because if you've read my previous posts, you'll know that I don't serve up a lot of sports analogies. Regardless of the fact that I do like sports. In addition to gaming. Anyway, what can I say. Here we are again with another sports analogy 🤷♂ it's too on point to just ignore.
According to google AI, a "deep bench" in sports means the following:
This is what google told me. I also really like the term "bench strength" and might use that term sometimes too. It basically refers to the same thing.
Sound familiar? This is exactly what you're going to need in your collection. You're going to need replacements when your best meta cards get killed, and need to recover on death cooldown 💀 Not just a million Pelacor Bandits either! 😅 For a deep bench collection you need replacement summoners, replacement tanks, replacement healers, replacement magic attackers, replacement ranged attackers, and so much more!
If you think about it, this is similar to what a "deep bench" means in sports too. For example, if a football/soccer team ⚽ or hockey team 🏒 only had a bench filled with players who play only one position, then even if you had 1,000 players on the bench, how strong is it really? How deep? For example, what if you had a bench that was only full of 1,000 goalies? You're still completely vulnerable for every other position.
Same thing here. In order to have a deep bench collection for Survival, you need to identify the types of cards where critical redundancies are needed. For example, summoners, tanks, etc. Then get multiple duplicate copies for each. That's the general strategy I'm carrying forward into Season 1 of Survival.
If you had a hockey team with 1,000 back-up goalies and no one else that played any other position (like offense of defense), then your bench would be big, but it would not be deep.
Finding the best deals for Survival
Okay. Hopefully I've convinced you by now that you want to develop a deep bench collection. At least, if you want to reap some potentially big rewards in Season 1 of Survival. And maybe keep getting big rewards in future seasons to come, if the game survives 🙏 The next thing to do then---in this article and in a series of follow-up articles---is to look at the current card market and find the best-value at each "position" like summoner, tank, etc.
Hmm 🤔--"So then, wait... You don't mean... Nooo!" Yuuup. You guessed it. We're gonna be focused solely on the B-listers here. Womp, womp. Actually though, if you've already agreed with what I've said so far, you'll understand why these B-listers are now your best friends. In almost all cases then, we're not gonna geek about maxed Tofus or Cryptics. Instead, we're gonna talk about the underappreciated value present in a legion of maxed Tarsas and maxed Obsidians (that you can get for the exact same price!) And if Survival mode survives? Well then, those legions of cheap summoners might just get you more rewards than Tofu or Cryptic ever have. Or ever could. If that makes sense to you, then you get it. Read on 👍
Right off the bat, I'll tell you one thing. I'm not buying these cards right before hitting "publish" to drive up their price and sell them back onto the market right after creating a demand. I've actually seen people do that. It's a crappy thing to do. At least, I personally feel like it's a crappy thing to do. You have my promise---I never have, and never will pull that kind of crap on my friends and readers ❤️ The blockchain is open and so you can check and make sure and see for yourself.
But! But! Once I publish this article AND it's been out for idk... a week, two weeks? How about 2 weeks. Then it's all fair game 😂 At least in mind, by then you've had your chance and if you're going to listen to me, you'd have done it by then. Lol.
Look though, also I basically already have a pretty deep bench. So I don't plan to add much before Season 1 of Survival. Unless it's cards for Land. I'm always adding workers to my collection for Land 💪 For me, this article and the following series of articles is purely for fun, for the love of the game, and also to help out others who are on the fence. Maybe you have a good collection and don't realize that competing in Season 1 of Survival is within you reach? IF you're willing to be bold. IF you're willing to deepen your collection just a bit with multiple copies of some maxed B-listers at key positions.
Okay then, where's the best place to start? What's the most important "position" you need to fill with multiple duplicate cheap max copy cards? My bet? Probably the best place to start for you is where it's always the place best to start, in every Splinterlands card battling game... start with summoners! 🧙
Starting with summoners 🧙
For the rest of this first article, we'll discuss the best deals on summoners. Remember, this is if you're considering ways to deepen your bench right now for Season 1 of Survival. This is not advice for Modern, Wild, Tournaments, etc. Also, even though gold foil (GF) summoners are the best, because they recover the fastest, I'm going to assume for our purposes we're on a budget. So regular foil (RF) is what's on the menu. Even so, I would ALWAYS encourage you to look at the GFs too though, just real quick. You never know when you might find a crazy bargain!
So like... 🤔--"Is the whole rest of this article going to be about buying multiple copies of the cheapest maxed Chaos Legion summoners on the market?" Ummm... Yes. Yes, that is exactly correct. That is literally almost exactly what it will be. For some of the other positions like tanks, for example, we might end up straying outside the Chaos Legion set. But for summoners, you simply cannot get a better deal anywhere else.
First, get you some Obsidian
This might sound weird at first, but here's a real question for you: "Would you rather have a max Tofu or a max Obsidian as your summoner for a Survival battle?" Now I know. It will depend on the rulesets and the mana cost and all that. But... come on. Usually it's going to be Tofu, right? Okay now, what if instead I asked: "Would you rather have 1 max Tofu for an entire season of Survival or 52 max copies of Obsidian?" Maybe changes your calculations a bit?
In my opinion, the best summoner deal you can find right now---the best value for your money---is the rare Chaos legion earth summoner that gives every unit on your team a +1 magic attack AND that only costs 4 mana. You all know her. You all play her. You might underestimate how versatile she can be. The one and only, the beautiful but deadly... Obsidian!
Despite her bargain basement price, Obsidian is still a solid option for many battle rulesets and situations. Just the fact that she summons the earth splinter is a check in her "pro" box, because the earth splinter is always one of the most powerful.
Surprisingly right now, maxed copies of Obsidian are still at basement bargain prices! I just checked and there were three max copies available for $12.50, and a bunch more for well-below $20. These are the kind of best-value deals that will quickly deepen your summoner bench, while not completely breaking the bank.
For example, right now there are three max copies for only $12.50. If you want to deepen your bench, look for this kind of value.
Imagine if you spent the same on a max Tofu? For those 3 max copies of Obsidian you could buy... zero Tofus 🤣 Looking at it from the other direction. For the price of 1 maxed Tofu you could buy more than 52 max copies of Obsidian. So you gotta ask yourself: "Which of those two options is going to better help me survive an entire season of Survival?" Until we know more about revival potions, it's probably gonna be the 52 max Obsidians.
Tofu prices continue to rise. Meteorically in fact. Some people will always complain about cards being too expensive, but those who know, know. The fact that people are paying these prices means our game is finally getting itself back on its feet. Despite Tofu being awesome and amazing 😍 if Survival is your goal, your funds will absolutely be better spent on less expensive "B-list" summoners.
Second, grab up those Thaddies
The next best summoner deal after Obsidian is debatable, but if I had to choose, I would go with the rare death splinter summoner Thaddius Brood. He's kind of the anti-Obsidian with his -1 magic debuff. Plus he has the extra -1 health debuff too. He's not as beautiful to look at as Obsidian, but he pops up on top champ battles just about as often, so... Even now, he's a solid option to summon up those death splinter units. Especially with the lower 4 mana cost. You can always use that extra mana for better units 💪
Despite his 2nd best-value price, Thaddius is still solid for many battles. Don't pass him up just because he's not as powerful as Cryptic for example. When it comes to best-value for a Survival summoner, 30 max Thaddies beat 1 max Cryptic, hands-down.
I feel like a broken record here already, but maxed copies of Thaddius are just at ridiculously discounted prices. I just checked and the least expensive max copy Thaddius is $11.89. A bunch more below $20. I'll try my best not to keep repeating myself, but THIS is what we're looking for when we say best-value for deepening your bench 👇
That max copy of Thaddius so tempting, it's hard for me to even hold off. But no, I promised. I won't. But wow. For sure this deal is just setup for you to steal!
Next, Kelya to killya enemies
This next one was kind of a toss-up with Thaddius as the next best summoner value deal after Obsidian. It's only because Thaddius is so cheap right now that he took 2nd place. After Obsidian and Thaddius, there's zero doubt that the next summoner to go deep on is Kelya Frendul. Again, even now, you will often see her played in top champ battles because yeah, she's still a solid option. Especially for only 4 mana. Especially to summon up some of the most powerful units in the game (which come from the water splinter). Especially not to even mention that +1 speed and +1 armor boost! No doubt. Kelya is a super solid option when building out your Survival army.
Many folks who are new to the game still mistake Kelya for a man. Despite being powerful af, she's a beautiful woman---inside and out!
Looking at the best priced max copies, I mean we're still talking sub-$20, prices which is kind of insane. Kelya's price is slightly higher because she is legit slightly better than her peers. Still, at $18.00 for the cheapest max copy, that is something I would absolutely pounce on if I was looking to really deepen my summoner bench.
Kelya is the most expensive of the rare Chaos Legion summoners. However, at $18 for a max copy, you're still talking best-value. As far as I'm concerned, anything below $20 for max Kelya is a going to look like a steal if Survival takes off.
After that, heat it up with Tarsa
So like... 🤔--"Yeah... are we just going through the prices of all the rare Chaos Legion summoners?" Ummm... yes. I think I even said that already. Lol. Because without a doubt, the cheapest, best, most-effective way to deepen your summoner bench right now is with these cards. Remember, they're your new best friends. Maybe some of the older cards would be cheaper if wasn't for those greedy land buyers, but hey---we want a booming economy right?! Anyway, get over it. You're next summoner to go all-in on is the rare fire splinter summoner Tarsa!
With her +1 melee and +1 health boost, Tarsa is often a solid option to summon the fire splinter. Plus her price is the epitome of best-value.
And okay, if we check best price... Damn. Now I'm wishing I HAD bought these beforehand 🤣 Four max copies under $12?! Someone please 👇 Steal that right now and get deep for Survival.
Tarsa is strong and versatile and hot! Fire hot! And crazy cheap too. Look at those prices. If I didn't have so many already, I would be dying to just grab them all 😍
Oh yeah, remember when I said to always check out the GFs too. Well check this out... Max GF Tarsa for $25 🙏 yes please. As discussed before, GFs recover more quickly from death cooldown, on top of giving other bonuses.
Max GF Tarsa for $25. If you're looking to deepen your summoner bench for Survival, that looks like a pretty solid deal to me.
Then get devious with Quix
Okay fine, I'll give you a break from the rares but not from Chaos Legion. I mean, where do you think you are? If you made it this far, you're basically in Survival boot camp bro. This not band camp, and sorry but diversity is not a top priority here. Building critical card redundancies for the best value is all that matters!
So far, you noticed that we haven't mentioned a dragon summoner. Thats because I think there's one, and only one, clear winner here. So clear of a winner that, I'm going to be so bold as to say---if you are deepening your summoner bench for Survival---I think Quix the Devious is literally the only dragon summoner you should be buying right now.
Quix has always been a solid option, and that has not changed. Despite that, you can get him at prices near those of the maxed rare summoners we just discussed. Plus he's legendary! Which means he'll recover faster from death cooldown. If you want my opinion, Quix is your dragon summoner for Survival.
I mean this must be the shocking price of them all---$18.20 for a max Quix?! Probably this actually is your best value. Especially considering that Quix is legendary so he recovers from death cooldown faster.
You can get a max copy Quix for around the same price as a max copy Kelya. I say get both! Get lots of both! If you want to survive Season 1 of Survival and reap max possible rewards, that's what you'll probably need to do.
Finally, life splinter... Rathe or the Hippo?
Life splinter, being such a powerful splinter, you're lucky to have two solid options here. Grandmaster Rathe is more expensive but probably the better deal in this case. Mostly because he's legendary and will recover more quickly from death cooldown 💀 plus everyone knows that General Sloan (aka "the Hippo") is well... generally considered to be a very weak summoner.
Regardless, I don't care what you've heard or what you think you know. When you can get a max copy life splinter summoner for sub-$9, you don't necessarily pass just because it only gives a +1 ranged buff. Not if you're a value-seeking player looking to substantially deepen your summoner bench for the best possible price. In the end, I think you should take a good hard look at both these summoners.
Rathe is probably better because he's legendary and also, okay, the Hippo is not exactly great 😅 So for life splinter, look to Rathe first. Keep in mind though, Rathe is twice the price of the Hippo while not being usable in the little league ruleset.
The other very attractive part of Rathe is the price. For a legendary life summoner to be priced around $16? Again, I'm skipping like a broken record but THIS is the kind of deal to pounce on. Get every one of those copies if you can.
There are multiple copies of Rathe for around $16 right now. My guess is that after Season 1 of Survival, those deals won't be around anymore.
Okay... 🤔--"So what about the Hippo?" Yeah bro, what about her? She might not be super powerful. But the life splinter is. And a +1 ranged buff isn't exactly nothing. Regardless of your opinion, you cannot deny the value. A maxed life splinter summoner for sub-$9 is the bargain basement price for all summoners in the game right now.
You might think recommending the Hippo is insane, but when you can get a max copy life summoner for less than $9? Slightly less crazy. Especially if your goal is to deepen your summoner bench for Survival mode on a budget!
Right now, there is zero doubt. The cheapest possible max summoner you can get is the Hippo. Don't sleep on her. When you're out of other life summoners. When you're out of revival potions. Who you gonna call to summon the life splinter? How about a giant purple hippo for $8.85. If you're looking for value, your answer should be "absolutely, yes please!"
You can go buy multiple copies of General Sloan for less than $9 right now! Regardless of what you might think of her, you can't deny that value. For a maxed life summoner? If I didn't already have so many copies? I'd be wanting to grab all of them under $10. Sweep them up, right into a mega-Survival army 😍
Conclusion
Surviving Season 1 of Survival is gonna get rough 💀 at least... if you want to go for those top-tier rewards. Until we get more information, especially about revival potions and their price/supply, etc., then the best way to get ready is to build a deep bench collection full of redundancies at critical card positions. Like we discussed here for summoners.
Okay. Now go out and scoop up those ridiculously good deals 😭 before I do! You have my promise, two weeks! I won't buy them for at least two weeks ⏰ after that though... all bets are off 😂 If you happen to steal any of these deals, post about it in the comments! Good luck out there as you prepare for Season 1 of Survival and, as always, survive and stay alive friends! 💪
Great post as always buddy!
These are so well written :)
I am very interested to see how Survival Mode affects things :)
Thanks man! Me and you have kind of similar style of writing. I really like the way your posts arw written too 😍
Wow tips and tricks before Survival is coming out!
We must prepare! It will get real, really fast 💀😂
Great post! Upvoted by Splinterlands!
Awesome! Thanks clove! I've never got this cool exploding dwarf gif before, i love it 😍
Clove is the best! That dwarf is awesome!
I actually love that card so much. Obviously it's best in equalizer ruleset but still, it just screams fire splinter to me ️🔥
Thanks for sharing! - @clove71
Excellent article as usual!!!
Thanks! Are you thinking you'll play Survival?
Interesting post. It looks like I'm very unprepared for survival mode and my cards on land or my rentals won't help me much. I might be better off just skipping this mode and focus on saving up for CA.
Yeah it's a tough decision. Some big whales are probably going to be able to do both at the same time. That's not me and sounds like not you either 🤛 I'll try Survival at least at first season though. Go all-in and just see what happens. Hopefully if it takes off. If it does, it might provide another reason why people will buy up cards, especially all those Chaos Legion cards at super low prices.
Actually, I'm not going to skip survival entirely. Between Untamed, CL, and RB I already own about a dozen summoners that rarely get used and I should see how far that gets me.
Oh I see! Nice, let's do it! 💪 Who knows what will happen but it will at least be interesting 😅
!PIZZA
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