I Just Started Splinterlands... And I Like This Way More Than Expected!!!!

I had been researching NFT play to earn games on Youtube and I kept seeing a game over and over in so many videos. Splinterlands. I went over to the website and poked around a little bit and didn't think it really seemed that interesting. After that day I kind of started watching the card market. I started to see wild swings in card values along side many cards going up in price. I was now intrigued.

I decided to start with a 100$ investment. I had 100$ sitting on BSC so I decided I would bridge it and use it for my initial investment. My plan was to just buy some cards that I thought seemed good right now and just hold them forever or until they increase in value by a significant amount. I didn't plan to play the game much, just expected to basically invest in the cards. Boy was I wrong about that. After a few games with some of the cards I invested in I started to actually enjoy the game. I really like the aspect of the game where you get to see your opponents previous teams and you get to kind of counter pick based on that information. It is a great skill to be able to predict what someone will do and move accordingly.

Right off the bat I invested in all 4 Djinn, they seemed like cards that could increase in value while still offering fun gameplay. Man was I happy with this investment and I wish I bought more of them. I started stomping kids and quickly rose up to the level of silver rating, only to be stopped from competing because of collection power. So I have a few questions.... What is the easiest way to increase collection power without spending a ton of money? If I bought enough cards to actually have 40,000 CP I would have spent a ton, I can't do that. I do plan investing another 100$ roughly when I get my paycheck next week but that will only get me a small amount of CP. I want to keep playing the game now but I wasn't expecting to hit this roadblock and not be able to compete at higher levels. What do people do to get higher CP in a reasonable time? Any input is appreciated!