Returning to Splinterlands: My Experience with WILD League After the Changes

Hello Splinterlands players 👋

After 10 months away from the game, I decided to return and found many changes. Some of them I had already seen before, and honestly, adapting again hasn’t been easy. This is not the first time this has happened to me. I’ve been playing Splinterlands since 2021, and two or three times I’ve stepped away due to major changes that didn’t fully convince me. Still, I never sell my cards. After some time, the desire to play always comes back, and here I am again, trying to adapt and continue.

My Background and How I Built My Collection

I want to clarify something important: the only real money I ever invested in Splinterlands was back in 2021, when I bought the Spellbook. Every card I own today has been earned by playing.

At first, I did some trading. I looked for legendary cards priced below their usual market value, bought them, waited, and resold them later. Over time, trading became more difficult: fewer buyers, cards getting stuck in my inventory, or prices dropping further than expected. Because of that, I decided to focus on playing and becoming competitive by slowly buying and leveling up my own cards whenever I could.

Climbing the Leagues the Hard Way

Once my decks were properly leveled, I was able to play comfortably in Gold League without renting cards. Many times, I even reached Diamond I, renting only one or two cards just to get the required power. That was when I truly enjoyed Splinterlands.

This wasn’t easy. It meant hours and hours sitting in front of a PC, sometimes even playing on two accounts. After a while, I reduced it to just one account because spending that many hours daily felt like a punishment. I’m not a rich player who can instantly buy max-level cards and compete at the top — everything I achieved came step by step, and that made every win feel meaningful.

WILD League and the 2000 DEC Entry Fee

This is my first time playing in WILD League after the changes, and my first time paying the 2000 DEC entry fee. Ironically, this very change was the reason I stopped playing before.

When the WILD format introduced the 2000 DEC requirement, I decided to step away. At that time, I didn’t have enough cards to compete in Modern, and paying that fee felt overwhelming. What started as a break ended up being a 10-month absence.

Now that I’ve returned, I decided to try WILD again and see how it goes. However, being away for so long has left me a bit rusty, and adapting to the current meta has been challenging.

Feeling Rusty and Overwhelmed

At first, I lost many battles due to the huge variety of cards from different decks, and the time limits made mistakes easy. After months away, the amount of new cards and abilities felt overwhelming. Choosing the right lineup became confusing.

Before entering WILD, I spent a few days playing Frontier. There, I sold some older edition cards and bought newer ones that looked strong and affordable, thinking mainly about Modern. But Modern is tough — even in Bronze III, many players already have well-leveled and very strong cards, and I often get beaten easily.

I know my old cards perfectly, but these newer cards, with so many abilities, create a lot of clutter and make decision-making harder. I hope that in the coming days or months, I’ll adapt again and reach the level I once had.

Final Thoughts

For now, I’m giving WILD League a fair try. That said, if the 2000 DEC entry fee does not return by the end of the season, I don’t see myself continuing in this mode. I have no way to buy DEC, and I don’t want to sell cards every season just to compete if the investment doesn’t come back with some profit.

If that happens, I’ll likely sell my older cards and focus fully on Modern or Frontier instead.

Despite everything, Splinterlands still has something that pulls me back. Adapting isn’t easy, but the passion for the game remains.

I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this.
Have you gone through something similar?
Any advice or perspective is welcome — thank you for reading 🙌