How I Started Winning in Splinterlands

Splinterlands. I stumbled onto it during my crypto gaming search a while ago. I did some research and I really liked the look of it. It seemed fun and straight forward with a strong fanbase. I decided to try it out. Playing at the beginning, I was very confused. I didn’t understand the purpose of the types of cards, and I couldn’t win a game. I ended up trolling YouTube and Hive for a bit and began to understand the basics. I started trying out some new decks and got hooked. I began to play for a few hours a day and it has become my favorite game.

In this blog post, I wanted to put together a few decks that I think are invaluable for new players. They are adaptable and are made entirely of starter cards. Though it’s impossible for players to move up without power, I still think these decks are a good base to have.

Earth Magic

The first deck I wanted to highlight is the Earth magic deck. This deck was the first one to carry me up a good amount. The goal of it is to utilize the Obsidian summoner with magic +1, Mycelic Slipspawn for its taunt, and Goblin Psychic for its heal. Because Mycelic has taunt, all monsters that can will target it. Goblin Psychic’s main weakness is its health, which is solved because it cannot be targeted as long as Mycelic is alive. As Mycelic is harmed, the Goblin Psychic heals it. This matched with the +1 magic—3 magic attack each—is very hard to beat. I steamrolled many heavy shield users, usually people using starter Water and starter Fire. One of its main weaknesses is its heavy mana cost (just these three are a combined 19). When given more mana, I usually filled the spots in with other magic cards. Another problem with this deck is it can be easily countered by Death because of the summoner Thadius Brood’s -1 magic.

Poison Melee

The second deck I wanted to speak about was a Poison starter deck. It’s fairly standard, but I was amazed at how mana efficient it could be. I could scale the deck from 12 mana up to 99. The basics of the deck is this: use Cursed Windeku as a tank for his thorn, backed up with Life Sapper and a combination of Maggots, Undead Badger, Shadow Snitch, Riftwing, and Death Elemental. Life Sapper is a disgusting starter card, especially with the Drake of Arnak giving him an extra bit of shield. Also, it’s insane how many poison starters have sneak, opportunity, or reach. The Maggots and Undead Badger for a combined 5 mana is ridiculous. As a sidenote, even though I said this was supposed to be for decks without renting or buying cards, this deck got even filthier when I rented Owster Rotwell, with his universal Reflect.

Water Deeplurker Clog

The final deck I wanted to show was a Water starter deck. This was I used mainly for low mana battles, but I fell in love with it. It utilizes the summoner Kelya Frendul’s +1 shield and speed, with Deeplurker laid at the back, and some 1-2 mana cards clogging up the rest. One of the things I love about the water starter deck is how much more powerful crappy cards get when layered with +1 shield. For example, I would line up Hardy Stonefish, Albatross, and Chaos Agent, and while my opponent was targeting them, Deeplurker would pick off all of his monsters. Because they had the extra shield, even if they only have one life, none of his melee or range cards could take them out immediately. This strategy can be adapted to larger mana battles too, with places a big tank in the first position.

I plan on keeping going with Splinterlands and I hope this article enhances your experience.