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Hello Splinterlands Summoners and welcome to another edition of Community Engagement Challenge! Last week, we discussed about Survival Mode. This time, let's look into strategies on how to play it.

Survival Mode: Unlimited Play with a Twist

Survival Mode is a newly introduced gameplay format in Splinterlands that provides a distinct and strategic experience separate from the existing Modern and Wild formats. In this mode, players can freely use any card in their collection without energy limitations, enabling unlimited battles. However, there is a severe punishment: when a card is defeated in a Survival Mode match, it enters a cooldown period. A card in cooldown will be temporarily be useless in any game mode like Modern, Wild, Tournaments, and Guild Brawls until it is revived. With this rule, those with a lot of cards will have a definite advantage. Players must now consider owning a lot of cards since defeated cards become temporarily unusable. Having multiple copies of key cards becomes essential for maintaining competitiveness in Survival Mode. Now it makes sense for players who bought multiple copies of Heloise the Hollow.

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Tips and Tricks for Survival Mode

Survival Mode is very rewarding gameplay but because of the heavy penalty for defeated cards, players should devise strategies and prepare for Survival Mode. Here are some things to consider:

Card Collection

Having a lot of cards and copies of the same card will be a huge advantage. You can play all you want in Survival Mode provided you still have cards. You can either rent or buy cards to boost your collection. Remember that only cards rented for a season can be used in Survival Mode while daily rentals cannot. Check out the card market for good deal. I recently bought some maxed out cards for near their DEC burn value.

Consider Defensive Strategies

Having cards with abilities like Heal, Repair and Resurrect will sustain your team and avoid cards from being defeated. I use this strategy myself in regular battles and has served me well so far. There are a lot cards that are great for this strategy.

Know the Meta and Adjust Your Strategy

Watch which cards top players frequently use on particular rulesets. Replay their battles and copy their strategies. Rent or buy the cards they use and acquire multiple copies of those cards if possible.

Key Cards to Consider in Survival Mode

Here are some cards that I recommend to use in Survival Mode. Consider having multiple copies of them.

Summoners

Obviously you will need a lot of summoners to keep playing. In case you lose a battle then your whole team including the summoner will be on cooldown. Having multiple copies of your favorite summoners will keep you in battle for long.

Uriel the Purifier

Uriel is one of my favorite tanks because of his longevity and damage potential. He has defensive stats and can also deal a lot of damage to the enemy tank. This card is a must-have in my opinion.

Adelaide Brightwing

Adelaide has a lot of support abilites that can sustain your team. She has the Repair and Resurrect abilities which are great at keeping your team in battle. For herself, she has Flying and Immunity abilities making her an ideal unit for Earthquake and Noxious Fumes rulesets which are sure to decimate any team without those abilities.

Merdaali Guardian

The Merdaali Guardian is one of the best support units in the game having both Heal, Repair and Strengthen abilities. She only requires three mana to use in battle making her easy to find a slot in the team. Units with Weapons Training ability will be great to use with her to give a damage stat.

Baakjira

The Baakjira is another great support unit with no attack. It's a great tank having high defensive and sustainability stats and Heal ability. It also slows the enemy team down with its Slow ability while providing an additional health to the whole team with its Strengthen ability. Similar to Merdaali Guardian, use it with a unit with Weapons Training ability.

Forgotten One

Forgotten One is a strong tank especially if used with Tarsa. It deals a lot of damage and has the Counterattack ability. It's very useful in Noxious Fumes ruleset because of its Immunity ability.

Tenyii Striker

The Tenyii Striker is a must have if you are using Tarsa. It's a great sneak attacker that can deal a lot of damage. It has defensive abilities with Dodge that can sustain it in battle. This card is also cheap to rent so you can have multiple copies in a season.

Pelacor Mercenary

Pelacor Mercenary is a card with great sustainability. It has Healing and Flying abilities that can make it last in battle. It also deals decent damage having three melee damage and has the Counterattack ability. This card is also cheap to rent so consider having this in your lineup.

Queen Mycelia

Queen Mycelia is one of the key cards in the Earth Splinter. It's a great support unit that has Protect and Triage abilities to keep your team in battle longer. The only drawback is that this card is rather expensive so those with tight budgets may look for other options.

Cursed Windeku

Cursed Windeku is my favorite tank in the Death Splinter. It has Thorns and can Heal itself. It also has a high health which is great to sustain it in battle. Also, it only needs six mana so it's easy to find a slot for this card.

Arkemis the Bear

Arkemis the Bear is probably the best common tank in the game. For a common card, it has a lot of abilities that can help in battle. It's notable abilities are Protect that gives armor to the whole team adding a layer of defense. It also halves the damage of the opponent it hits because of its Halving ability. The drawback though is this card needs a hefty twelve mana to field in battle so it can only be used in high mana battles to be effective.

These are the cards I have in mind that are important in the line-up. Of course, these are only limited to Chaos Legion cards that I play so there may be better cards that I missed. Chaos Legion cards are the cheapest though and you can rent multiple copies of each card. Remember that Survival Mode is a battle of attrition. Those who has the most cards will stay in battle longer and collect more rewards.

Conclusion

Survival Mode offers players with new opportunities to gain rewards while having fun. However, players will need to devise strategies particularly in managing their collection. Consider having a lot of copies of the key cards and cards you often use so that you can keep playing even if they get defeated. Of course, you have to crunch the numbers if the earnings cover the rental or purchase costs of the cards.

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