Silver on a budget – Part 1: Getting Started!

Like a lot of players, I consider Splinterlands not only a fun game, but also an investment. That being said, most casual players aren’t willing to drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on a single card or deck. You want to be competitive and have fun, but not spend a ton of money! With Chaos Legion being released, some very useful cards are likely to be depressed in price for a while, so it is an excellent time to level up your decks! This series of posts will discuss strategy to be competitive in Silver on a budget!

So why play in Silver?

The potential rewards for playing in bronze are really not all that rewarding! In Bronze, the likelihood of getting a reward card is minimal and you can only earn credits, not DEC. You can also only get a one daily reward chest. In Silver, the chance of getting a reward card reaches its maximum at 50% and you have the opportunity to get more daily quest chests.

League	Credit Reward %	DEC Reward %	Potion Reward %	Reward Card %	Daily Quest Rewards
Bronze 3	45%	0%	45%	10%	1
Bronze 2	45%	0%	40%	10%	1
Bronze 1	45%	0%	35%	20%	1
Silver 3	0%	25%	25%	30%	2
Silver 2	0%	25%	25%	50%	3
Silver 1	0%	25%	25%	50%	4
Gold 3	0%	25%	25%	50%	6
Gold 2	0%	25%	25%	50%	7
Gold 1	0%	25%	25%	50%	8

You are not forced to join a higher league. It may be useful to increase your rating while staying at Silver 1 or 2 and rent extra power to reach Gold 2 or 3 at the end of the season. This way you can maximize your End of Season rewards and reset back into Silver for the next season, avoiding time in Bronze.

League	Rating Range	Minimum Power	End of Season Chests	Rating Reset at End of Season
Bronze 3	100-399	0	5	0
Bronze 2	400-699	1000	7	100
Bronze 1	700-999	5000	9	300
Silver 3	1000-1299	15000	12	500
Silver 2	1300-1599	40000	15	700
Silver 1	1600-1899	70000	18	900
Gold 3	1900-2199	100000	22	1200
Gold 2	2200-2499	150000	26	1400
Gold 1	2500-2799	200000	30	1600

So why not just play in Gold?

Technically, you can compete in gold at any deck level, but your odds of winning are reduced. You may be able to win a decent amount of rewards, but it will likely take you longer and be quite frustrating! The longer it takes to finish your daily quest, the lower your ECR will gI’ll take o, reducing your DEC earned through battles. It’s also frustrating going up against that leveled up Yodin deck using tier 1 or 2 summoners cards!

You can rent enough power and competitive cards to reach the Gold ranks, but it can be rather costly. You don’t need maximized decks for higher tiers, but it sure gives you an advantage. If you want to try Gold, give it a shot and see how it goes, but this series will focus on Silver. The strategy is general enough to be used in Gold, but the higher you go the higher the prices will go. If you want to be competitive in Gold and keep with a low budget, you will need to spend some time saving for bigger cards. The ultimate goal will be to play in Gold and beyond, but on a budget that takes time. A good strategy will help you get there with minimal pain :)

Renting vs. Buying and Gold vs Normal cards

To reach Silver you need some significant power in your decks. Initially, depending on how much you are willing to invest, you will likely need to rent power to reach silver. Over time, you can start accumulating power through purchasing cards and getting cards through Daily Quest and season rewards. Over this series I’ll present both rental and buy costs. You can, of course, just rent your decks, but you will not realize the potential card appreciation. Rental prices are not always going to be stable, but if you own your deck you won’t be subject to rental costs fluctuations. Also, by purchasing cards you can maximize your Airpdrops rewards and start earning some SPS, which you can stake or reinvest in your decks.

Personally, I’m rent just enough power to stay in silver. I would suggest renting just enough power to stay in silver or to test out specific cards to see if they have value with your playing style. I’ve used it as an opportunity to explore cards I’m interested in buying or renting on a regular basis. Gold cards are fantastic for adding power to your collection, but can be quite a bit more costly. Occasionally you can find great deals on cards that you can frequently use, giving you a 10% boost in DEC earned through battles. If you plan on playing the game for the long term, and see a positive future for the game, purchasing a few gold cards can really pay for themselves! Due to their inherent scarcity, they could hold the most potential for appreciation. See my last post!

https://www.splintertalk.io/@tardigrade123/gold-vs-regular-cards-is-gold-worth-it

General Strategy

For me, I’ve found a financial sweet spot between $50 to $150/month investment. This series will be geared towards that price range, but the strategy can be applied for larger spenders as well. I’ll be ignoring most Legendary Summoners and Monsters unless they are very reasonably priced. I’ll also normally avoid Alpha, Beta and Promo cards due to their high price and absence in the Modern format. Keep in mind that Modern eligible cards are Untamed and Chaos Legion cards. Some rewards cards will also be eligible. You can tell which by looking at the border of the card. Untamed cards will have teeth on the bottom corners and Chaos Legion will have a green dot in the middle of the top of card.

If you can afford to drop $900 on that Yodin or Kitty, go for it! For the rest of us, I hope this series will be useful. Once you’ve established a solid tier 2 or 3 deck you can start saving up for higher tiers and pricier cards.

See you in the next post, where we will discuss summoners! Follow me if you want to follow the series. I’ll post every few days.

Thanks! Have a great day!

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If you are thinking of playing, use my link!
https://splinterlands.com?ref=tardigrade123

pictures sourced from splinterlands unless otherwise noted
Tardigrade source: alien-ufo-sightings.com