Silver on a budget – Part 2 – Summoners

Summoners are the key to maturing any deck and dictate the level of Monsters you can play For the budget player, they can also be some of the most expensive cards you will purchase, but in the long term quite worth it. If you are working with a modest budget, you need to be thoughtful about your planning to be effective in the game.

This series is geared towards someone spending around $100/month. Persona!lly, I budget about one third of my investment dedicated to summoners. While its important to have high level Summoners, I find it useful to level Monsters at the same time. The remaining 2/3 of my budget I try to evenly split on useful Monsters and increasing power. More on that in future posts!

Keep in mind that I will only be covering cards eligible for Modern format, which excludes Promo, Alpha, Beta and some Reward cards.

The level of Summoner will determine the the level of Monsters you can battle with

League	Max Common Summoner	Max Rare Summoner	Max Common Summoner	Max Common Summoner
Bronze	3	2	2	1
Silver	5	4	3	2
Gold	8	6	5	3

Common Summoners

At this point, there are no common Summoners eligible for Modern format. There was a Promo Summoner, so its possible we will see more in the future.

Rare Summoners

There are plenty of amazing Summoners in the Rare category. If you are just starting out, I’d suggest working with one Summoner per Splinter. The Splinter you choose to start powering up is up to your preference and playing style. Some Summoners are a bit cheaper as well, and you may find it easier to start leveling up the cheaper Summoners. Here is a list of available Rare Summoners for Modern format including the price to buy a single BCX when this article was written.

Splinter	Summoner	Mana	Price for 1 BCX	Starter?	Usage
Fire	Tarsa	4	$3.45	Yes	Great for Melee. Increased health helps with longer battles
Fire	Pyre	3	$5.48	Yes	Increased speed helps with order in combat, increases dodge rates 10%
Fire	Qid Yuff	3	$4.70	No	Piercing through armor. Useful for high damage Melee and Archery monster
Water	Kelya Frendful	4	$4.07	Yes	Armor and Speed helps monsters stay alive longer in fights
Water	Vera Salacia	3	$4.78	No	Snare ensures Melee and Archery hit flying monsters. Good for Earthquake
Water	Bortus	3	$11.50	Yes	Reduce Magic damage from the ever-present Magic
Earth	Obsidian	4	$3.88	Yes	Excellent Magic damage boosts
Earth	Wizard of Eastwood	3	$6.89	Yes	Removing armor helps lower monsters defenses
Earth	Mylor Crowling	3	$30.48	No	Thorns damages attacking melee monsters
Life	General Sloan	4	$2.65	Yes	Increase Archery damage
Life	Mother Khala	3	$5.60	Yes	Increased health increases durability
Life	Lorna Shine	3	$13.97	No	Ignore first damage each monsters receives
Death	Thaddius Brood	4	$3.20	Yes	Decrease enemy health and magic damage
Death	Contessa L’ament	3	$5.84	Yes	Decrease enemy archery damage
Death	Owster Rotwell	3	$5.32	No	All monsters reflect enemy magic damage
Dragon	Drake of Arnak	4	$8.10	Yes	Add 1 armor
Dragon	Brighton Bloom	4	$7.92	No	All monsters gain flight

The Summoners can summon higher level Monsters according to their level. I’ll just display up to the max for silver level.

Summoner Level	BCX	Common Monster Level	Rare Monster Level	Epic Monster Level	Legendary Monster Level
1	1	1	1	1
2	5	3	2	2	1
3	14	4	3	2	1
4	25	5	4	3	2

Epic Summoners

There is only one Modern format eligible Summoners so far.

Splinter	Summoner	Mana	Price for 1 BCX	Starter?	Usage
Dragon	Kretch Tallevor	3	$7.79	No	Cheap?

The advantage of Kretch would be the lower mana cost and the ability to have slightly higher Monsters.

Summoner Level	BCX	Common Monster Level	Rare Monster Level	Epic Monster Level	Legendary Monster Level
1	1	2	1	1	1
2	4	3	3	2	1
3	10	5	4	3	2

He is slightly better than Rare Summoners since you get access to level 2 common Monsters at Tier 1 and level 3 rare Monsters are tier 2. You can max Kretch for about $80 while Brighton Bloom, the next cheapest Rare Dragon Summoner, would cost about $200.

Legendary Summoners

There are some fantastic Legendary Summoners, but most can be cost prohibitive if you are working on a budget. The only two I would recommend would be Quix the Devious and Camila Sungazer. Camila is a bit pricey, but if you budget well you could still fit her in if she strikes your fancy. These are both Dragon Summoners.

Splinter	Summoner	Mana	Price for 1 BCX	Starter?	Usage
Dragon	Quix the Devious	4	$30.40	No	Reduce opponents archery damage and speed
Dragon	Camila Sungazer	3	$52.70	No	Reduce opponents Melee damage

As a legendary, it gets access to higher level Monsters fairly quickly.

Summoner Level	BCX	Common Monster Level	Rare Monster Level	Epic Monster Level	Legendary Monster Level
1	1	3	2	2	1
2	3	5	4	3	2

The obvious advantage of Quix and Camila are that you only need 3 cards to max them out for Silver. Maxing Quix would cost $90, which is less than a maxed Blighton Bloom, and just $10 more than Kretch. They do cost more than the cheapest Rare Summoners, but they get access to Dragon Monsters in additional to Neutral cards and your Splinter of choice.

So which summoners?

Each of the Summoners have their distinct advantages. However, since we are working with a budget, its wise to pick just a few for leveling. I’ve found it wise to pick 2 or 3 Splinters to focus on initially. You will wind up with 2 or 3 pretty good Splinters rather than 6 mediocre ones. Pick a priority list of your favorite Splinters and focus on the highest priorities. My suggestions for each Splinter would be:

• Fire - Tarsa
• Water – Kelya Frendul
• Earth - Obsidian
• Life – General Sloan
• Death – Thaddius Brood
• Dragon – Quix the Devious

As for my reasoning, these cards tend to be fairly cheap and have great utility. I don’t think its wise to have a card that strongly depends on what your opponent is playing. For example, Bortus is a nice card, but if your opponent is not playing much magic, it will not serve much utility, where Kelya will always benefit your Monsters no matter what your opponent plays. The exception to this rule is Thaddius. Your opponent may not play magic, but at least they will be impacted by the -1 health.

Other than Quix, these cards are all starter cards as well. It gives you an opportunity to play with them for free before investing and to get a feel of cards in each Splinter.

Some other Summoners for consideration:

• Brighton Bloom: I purchased a Brighton Bloom for Earthquake. It tends to work pretty well in Silver, but I’ll likely not level it.

• Mylor: If you are stuck in Bronze and having a hard time digging out, Mylor can be of great utility. If you find yourself not using him in Silver you can always rent him for a few DEC/day and dust him off if you fall back to Bronze. I personally own one, but will likely not tier him beyond level 2 due to price. I use him for Bronze Brawls and Events

• Lorna Shine: It’s a bit of a move expensive option for a life deck, but I’ve seen some effective decks using it. Personally I’d level up a Sloan before leveling up Lorna. By the time you have a high level Sloan you will likely have effective cards to support a team lead by Lorna. Could be a viable option if you don’t like Sloan or plan on playing in Silver for a long time.

• Vera Salacia: a cheap alternative to Brighton Bloom, but you are stuck with playing only water Monsters. Not worth leveling up too high unless you intend to stay in Silver for a long time and want some variety. It would be fun catching someone using Brighton Bloom!

Cost analysis

Depending on your budget, I’d not attempt to tier up a Summoner to max tier in one go. You need to spend some resources leveling up the corresponding Monsters. A tier 4 Tarsa is not doing you any good if you don’t have any leveled up Monsters! Don’t attempt to level up every Splinter. Focus on 2 or 3 and Dragon. Dragon is useful because it can take advantage of other Splinters leveled up monsters. Personally, I leveled up 2 Rare Summoners to level 2 then started bumping up one Rare Summoner from tier 2 to 3 per month. The 9 BCX for that transition starts to get expensive and tiering up support Monsters more costly. I might recommend a pause at tier 3 until you get your other Summoners of choice to 3.

Let’s look at what kind of expenses you can expect.

Splinter	Summoner	Price for 1 BCX	1 to 2	2 to 3	3 to 4	Total Cost
Fire	Tarsa	$3.45	$13.80	$31.05	$37.95	$86.25
Water	Kelya Frendful	$4.07	$16.28	$36.63	$44.77	$101.75
Earth	Obsidian	$3.88	$15.52	$34.92	$42.68	$97.00
Life	General Sloan	$2.65	$10.60	$23.85	$29.15	$66.25
Death	Thaddius Brood	$3.20	$12.80	$28.80	$35.20	$80.00
Dragon	Quix the Devious	$30.40	$60.80			$91.20
Dragon	Brighton Bloom	$7.92	$31.68	$71.28	$87.12	$198.00
Earth	Mylor Crowling	$30.48	$121.92	$274.32	$335.28	$762.00
Life	Lorna Shine	$13.97	$55.88	$125.73	$153.67	$349.25
Water	Vera Salacia	$4.78	$19.12	$43.02	$52.58	$119.50

Except fot Mylor and Lorna, each transition could fit into a modest budget of between $50 - $150/month. For Mylor or Lorna, you would need to save for a little while. I’ve been purchasing Mylor’s and renting them until I can get him to level 2. I don’t think I could justify a tier 4 Mylor. The transition from 2 to 3 for Mylor would cost more than fully leveling up Obsidian!

So what about Gold summoners or the other Legendaries???

If you are willing to spend a few more dollars, the Gold summoners may be worth the investment.

Splinter	Summoner	Regular 1 BCX	Regular Max	Gold 1 BCX	Gold Max	Difference
Fire	Tarsa	$3.45	$86.25	$31.5	$126	$39.75
Water	Kelya Frendful	$4.07	$101.75	$32.67	$130.68	$28.93
Earth	Obsidian	$3.88	$97.00	$33	$132	$35.00
Life	General Sloan	$2.65	$66.25	$27.96	$111.84	$45.59
Death	Thaddius Brood	$3.20	$80.00	$28	$112	$32.00
Dragon	Quix the Devious	$30.40	$91.20	$221	$221	$129.80
Dragon	Brighton Bloom	$7.92	$198.00	$90.32	$361.28	$163.28
Earth	Mylor Crowling	$30.48	$762.00	$250	$1000	$238.00
Life	Lorna Shine	$13.97	$349.25	$115	$460	$110.75
Water	Vera Salacia	$4.78	$119.50	$35	$140	$20.50

$30 extra for a Gold Summoner is not too horrible. If you are using that specific Splinter as often as possible your ROI will happen sooner. See my previous post for a deeper discussion about the value proposition for buying Gold.

https://www.splintertalk.io/@tardigrade123/silver-on-a-budget-part-1-getting-started

The other Legendary summoners are from Untamed, and no longer in print. It’s unlikely their prices will fall enough for a budget player in the near future. The cheapest Legendary is Chanseus the Great, which comes in around $114. As a budget player, I’d have a hard time justifying a full month investment for a single summoner. However, it should be noted that maxing Chanseus for Silver is approximately the same cost as maxing Lorna Shine (Lorna $350 vs Chanseus $342). If you are planning on heading to Gold and beyond, you can start saving for the more powerful Summoners.

Renting?

Summoners are cards you will ALWAYS need. Do your best to buy Summoners rather than rent. If you are playing with a budget, the Summoners you choose will be with you a while. Except for possibly neutral cards, active reward cards or cards bought exclusively for power, your Monsters should not be ahead of your Summoners. You could of course rent, but it will be an ongoing expense. That being said, some of the legendary Summoners rent for reasonable prices, so if you want to change things up, give it a shot! But don’t rent your primary Summoners.

Conclusion

In summary:

• Pick a few Splinters, 2 or 3 plus dragon
• Level them to tier 2 fairly soon and start acquire supporting Monsters, but don’t max them beyond Summoner level. Tier 3 is a nice pausing point.
• Transition a tier at a time monthly, budgeting in money for tiering up support Monsters at the same time.
• Consider Gold if you think its worth the investment and can afford.
• Buy, don’t rent!

More details on budgeting and which monsters to start with in the next post! Follow me if you want to follow the series. I’ll be posting every few days when I get time.

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

Thanks! Have a great day!

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pictures sourced from Splinterlands.com unless otherwise noted
Tardigrade source: https://alien-ufo-sightings.com
Silver source: https://www.goodfreephotos.com/
Not financial advise