Splinterlands - New Reward Cards - First Look, Rating & Hidden Gems

Are you new to Splinterlands and searching for some advice, then you found the correct series! In this Beginner’s Guide Series, we are discussing things that new players of Splinterlands should know or try to learn. In this specific episode I want to highlight the new reward cards which are about to drop. We are going to rate these cards one by one and maybe uncover some hidden gems! If this article motivated you to start playing this amazing game, then feel free to join the fun over the following link:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=ga38jem

Blood Maker

With the Fire Splinter being relatively strong we are getting only two reward cards. What’s interesting is that both of the cards are Ranged attackers! Could this mean that the new legendary summoner for Fire will favor ranged attackers as well? Or is it just another way to make Yodin work in the current meta? I guess we will see, but let’s take a look at the common reward card “Blood Maker”.

At level one this card comes with a good two attack and three speed. What’s less nice is that he only got three health and has a cost of 5 mana. With his ability Scatter Shot he is able to target random minions which can be helpful if the opponent has a Taunted monster in his side. With higher levels this card gains first more speed and then more health. Only at level 4 the attack increases to 3. The Cripple Ability on Level 6 can help in certain use cases. For example when there is a healer that heals the back line . Other than that I don’t think that this cripple Ability is helping the utility of this card too much.

At the maximum level this card comes with a great 6 speed ad 4 attacking points. 5 health is also very good but at this level there are probably better cards out there. All in all I would give this card a 2.5/5 as this card is still usable in certain situation!

Countess Snash

The other Fire monster we are getting is a legendary one: Countess Snash is again a Ranged attacker and has the Opportunity and Life Leech Ability at the Base level. Regardless the attacking style, these two abilities make this card a very strong backline card! Not only can you increase its health but you can also target the weakest links of your opponents team. In a rule set where ranged attackers can attack from the first position or as a Sneak bumper this card is perfectly valid.

With higher levels this card even gets a sneak Protect, Affliction and increases the speed of your own monsters. This can be a very valid combination with Tenyii striker which has the Strike Back ability that allows him to attack every monster that misses him. This could be again a very valid combination with Yodin as he grants us the explosive Ability as well as the extra range attack. In my opinion this card is a solid 4/5 with the only downside that this card is “only” a Ranged Attacker.

Merdhampir

Moving on to the fan favorite Splinter: Water. In my opinion this Splinter got the worst rewards card as we are getting yet again a common Ranged attacker. Merdhampir has also the Life Leech Ability but only has one ranged attack to begin with. Furthermore, his two speed does not give him a favor. For 4 mana with 4 health this card is probably one of the worst ones to get. With higher levels this card gets the cripple ability but his attack and speed only increase until 3 and 4. At the highest level this card does not give me a very good card vibe, which is why I only would rank it with 1/5 as I do not see many use cases for this card in the current play style.

Tide Biter

Moving on to an epic reward card: Tide Biter. This one is not as disappointing as the previous one. With one attack this card is not the strongest Melee card out there but for only 3 mana, a speed of 4 as well as 4 health, this card is definitely worth a try! With its reach Ability it is usable as second position card and with higher levels it becomes obviously stronger!

With level 3 it also gets the new Ability which allows the monsters to be immune against all the Reflected damage! For this card specifically this means that it is immune against Thorns. Especially ate higher levels this card seems to get more attractive as it gets more attack and a little more health. With Tarsa as Summoner it will also get a Speed boost which will probably be not bad for this card. All in all a solid 3/5 is deserved in my opinion.

Vampire Bat

Moving on to the earth Splinter which also only got a common and a rare card. I am a bit disappointed with the reward cards for earth but I guess earth is the strongest Splinter currently with some amazing cards which is understandable why the reward cards are not the strongest ones. The first common card is the Vampire Bat. Like a real abt, this card ahs the Flying ability. From level 6 upwards this card even gets the Dodge ability which makes this card almost impossible to hit.

With a peak speed of 5 but a speed of 3 on the base level this card is especially worth playing in Earthquake rulesets. Furthermore it has some decent health points and for only 3 mana you get 1 to 3 damage with this card. Not the best but also not the worst card to play in some rulesets! A solid 2.5/5.

Vampiric Blossom

Moving on the rare reward card Vampiric Blossom. For 5 mana you can get a 2 damage Ranged attacker with 2 speed and 5 health at the basic level. It does not sound terrible but is not perfect for Earth either. It comes with an Oppress Ability which allows you to deal double damage to minion without attack. I think this is very rarely the case which is not very beneficial to this card.

With higher level this card gets up to 7 health and only 3 attack. It will deal double damage to the last monster standing and will get the Immune ability in the last stage. All in all I do not see real utility for this card in the earth Splinter which is why I would only give it a 2/5. But I would not try to judge a book by its cover and try to play this card when I will get the chance!

Vuguine

Movin on to the Life Splinter I think that this Splinter got some pretty cool cards! The first one being a rare Melee Attacker: Vulguine. Admittedly, the life Splinter does not shine with Melee Attackers in the current Meta, but for two mana getting a card that increases its health with each monster that died is pretty cool! Furthermore it comes with 3 speed at the base level and can increase it to 4. At level 5 it even gets the Dodge ability which can decide battles if you would ask me.

I think this card really starts to shine once it gets to one of its final stages. With 3 attack, four speed and additional Dodge ability this card can be a pain to paly against. I would give it a good 3.5/5 just because it is so cheap to play and could be fitted into every Life line up.

Jared Scar

Moving on to the second legendary of the new reward set. The Melee attacking Jared Scar looks like the brother of General Sloan. (Yes just because he is a hippo). I am very looking forward to play thi card with general Sloan so that I can share my battle with a hippo Thumbnail :D. Anyways, This card comes with a great 5 melee damage, 2 armor and 4 health combined with only 2 speed. Pretty mediocre stats for a legendary card. What is the key part of this card is its Bloodlust ability. Everytiem it defeats an opponents monster it will increase its stats by one!

This is very powerful but this card gets more powerful in the next levels. It will get additionally the True Strike ability which makes him never miss and the Pearce ability which allows him to break trough every armor! With 7 attack in his final stage, this increases certainly a deathblow. I even do not think that his low speed is a disadvantage as he can then hit the opponents tank that already been attacked by your backline! All in all I would say that this card is one of the best, maybe even the best reward card in this set: 5/5.

Ever-Hungry Skull

Let’s move on to the only Splinter that got three reward cards in this patch: Death. In my opinion one of the weaker elements which is why its reward cards a very interesting! The first reward card is actually a common one. (The screenshot is faulty here). The Ever-Hungry-Skull looks like a very nice card to have in the first position. With 2 Melee attack 7 armor and 2 speed it makes a nice tank. The only problem with that is its one health which makes it very vulnerable against magic attacks. Other than that this card is absolutely great.

Wit higher levels its armor getting higher and with the increased speed and the flying ability this card is actually hard to hit. Not only that but the Thorns Ability certainly helps to increase the dealt damage overall for this card. In my opinion this card is especially very powerful when Magic attackers are banned and with his thorns Ability this card is certainly one of the better ones: Overall I would give it a good 3.5/5 because it seems like a very strong card in specific rulesets.

Revealer

Next up we have an Epic card which looks very interesting. It is the only magic attacker within this reward set which automatically makes him one of the stronger cards in this set. With a cost of only 4 mana, 4 health and two speed this card adds another magic attacker to the Death Splinter. With higher levels this card can get up to 2 magic attack and 5 health which are not the best of stats but it also could be a lot worse.

This card also comes with the Stun ability which is very powerful for this card in my opinion. As it can attack from any position you are always getting a 50% chance to stun your opponents tank and make him skip the next turn! With higher levels this card gets the immunity Ability as well as the new ability which allows the monster to be immune against reflected damage! In its final form this card is certainly one of the best ones in this set which is why it also gets a 5/5.

Dhampir Infiltrator

Continuing with the last Death Reward Card which is also a very good one! The rare Dhampir Infiltrator is a melee attacking card with the Sneak and Double strike Ability. In my opinion the Double strike Ability is one of the most powerful Abilities in the game, combined with the sneak ability it allows you to erase your opponents back line in no time. In order to make this card not as powerful it only comes with one attack and can get up to only two attacking points. With higher levels it also increases in speed and health, starting with 2 and finishing with 4.

Along the way it also gets the cripple Ability as well as the affliction Ability which basically destroys every chance of supporting the last monster in the opponent’s back line. When the Death Splinter gets a Summoner that can increase the Melee Attack of its own monster this card would be very strong. Without this summoner I would only give it a very good 4/5.

Venator Kinjo

Last but not least we have the only neutral reward card which is at the same time the last legendary card! Venator Kinjo is a Melee attacker for two mana with only one health. Furthermore it comes with the new Reflect Shield Ability as well as the camouflage ability. The problem with these Abilities is that they seem not to match. While the first one can only be used while this card is in the first position the other Ability can only protect him against Sneak attacker which would put him in the last position.

The abilities that he gains along the way are somewhat useful but not amazing either. Immunity will grant him a longer live span while Slow will allow him to reduce the speed of the opponent’s monsters. The last ability is Amplify which would allow him to increase the own Reflect Damages. I think this card is very useful in a specific use case with specific cards, but I have yet to find this specific use case. All in all I would give this card a 2/5 as I am not very amazed by its base card.

Conclusion

I am very excited to see these new reward cards being implemented. I can also not wait to try out new strategies with these cards and post about these new strategies on Hive! Furthermore, I am always happy about feedback: What do you think are these cards an improvement and what card are you excited to use? If you missed some of my previous Guides, feel free to check them out down below! 😊

Previous Beginner’s Guides:

Guide & Tips
Battle Strategies
Things I Wish I Knew Before
Why You Need To Start Playing!
Splinter Overview & Rating
My Splinterlands Story

Published by ga38jem on
LeoFinance
On 24th May 2022