Playing to Earn with Splinterlands: Combining and Leveling UP your NFT Cards

I’ve been getting a lot of cards on the market that is partially combined and being sold by other players.

It crossed my mind that the reason this cards are like this might be because of the lack of understanding in card combining.

There could be other reasons behind this. But, it’s still good to share some information for those who are new to the topic.

This inspired me to make a post about combining your NFT cards on Splinterlands.

This post is for Splinterlands beginners who are looking for a guide in combining their NFT cards.

This will also give some insights for those who are looking to enter the world of Splinterlands.

If you're already familiar with the topic, you can still read it. You may have additional information that I have missed. Feel free to add them in the comments below.

---

Why would we want to Combine our Cards?

The main reasons why we want to combine cards is to make them powerful. When we combine cards, their stats will increase and more abilities may be unlocked.

This is also called leveling up your cards.

For the sake of this topic, I've included a card the image below on the anatomy of Splinterlands card.

Let’s take a look at one of the powerful reward card under the Earth splinter – Pelacor Mercenary.

Notice that at every level up, a certain stat will increase.
An example would be its health.
From level 1 to level 2, his health will increase from 8 to 9.
Its one unit of difference but don’t underestimate it.
It could turn the tide of battle to your favor.
I’ve encountered a lot of battles where this kind of difference made me either win or lose.

Let’s take a look also at its abilities.
He already the flying ability at level 1, but when leveled up to 6 it will unlock an additional HEAL ability.
And when it reached max level of 10, RETALIATE will be unlocked.

Personally, I want my Pelacor Mercenary to be at least level 3 for an increased attack.

Check out the image below if you're not yet familiar with the different elements or factions in the game.

---

How to Combine our NFTs?

Combining cards is fairly easy. Go to your card collections and click on the card that you want to combine.
Select the number of cards and then click the combine button and then confirm.

How to Level up your NFTs?

I believe that most people combine cards for the intention of leveling them up. Simply combining a random amount of cards may not be enough to level up your card to the next level. Even worse, you might end up with a card in between two levels.

For every level there is a certain number of base cards that needed to be combined.
Let’s take a look at one of the currently popular tank under the Life Splinter – the Pelacor Conjurer.

From the stat sheet above, if you want a level 2 Pelacor Conjurer, you need to combine a total of 5 base cards.
For level 3 you need a total of 14 base cards and so on.

Combining two to 4 base cards will still end up on a level 1 Pelacor Conjurer.
This also goes for the other levels as well.

You have to be aware of the exact total amount of base cards to be combined for a specific level.

Be very careful also that you don’t combine more than the max 400 base cards. It has little to no advantage over a card with exact 400 combined base cards.

It pays to check the stat sheet when you’re not sure.

Base Card and Base Card Experience

Base Card refers to the smallest unit of a card. Base Card eXperience (BCX) refers to the number of base cards combined together into a single card.

Let’s use my collection of Pelacor Conjurer for this example.

Check out the one with a check mark, I recently bought this from the market.
It has 4 BCX, it means that 4 base cards has been combined into one. It is still level 1 since it needs more 1 base card in order to level up to 2.

Check out also the level 3 card above it. It has 15 BCX meaning 15 base cards has been combined into one.
If I am going to level this one up to level 4 then I need to combine a total of 30 base cards.
Since this one has already 15 BCX then I need an additional 15 more base cards to make a total of 30 BCX.

Warning: Combining cards is permanent and cannot be reversed. Combine only when you are sure of it.

Collection Power

Combining cards will also combine their collection power.
Let’s reuse the previous example.
Pelacor Conjurer has 5 CP per base card.
A level 3 Pelacor Conjurer with 14 BCX will have a total of 70 CP (5 CP/BCX * 14 BCX = 70 CP ).

NFT Foils: Regular Foil vs Gold Foil

What we have used so far as an examples are Regular Foil cards.
Their Gold Foil counterparts have higher level base cards.
They also require less number of BCX in order to level up and they pack more collection power.
Gold Foil cards are identifiable with their golden or yellowish colors.

Stat sheet of a Gold Foil Pelacor Conjurer

NOTE: Using Gold Foil (GF) cards in ranked battles will earn you additional DEC reward bonus if you win. The more GF cards you use, the higher your DEC reward bonus is.

NFT Rarity: Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary

Aside from their foils, cards can also be classified as either common, rare, epic or legendary.
This refers to how rare the card is.
Common cards has the most number of copies while the legendary has the least.

It is also important to note that the rarer the card is, the more powerful it is and the more collection power it has.

The number of required BCX leveling your NFT card depends on your cards rarity. Basically, the rarer your card is, the less BCX it needs to level up.

Let’s take a look at the stat sheet of one of each card of different rarity.

Rarity: Common

Rarity: Rare

Rarity: Epic

Rarity: Legendary

Don’t forget that the Gold Foil versions of this cards are rarer and requires less BCX to level up.

Summoners

If you want to utilize the level of your monsters then make sure you also have your summoners leveled up.

Summoner LEVEL and RARITY dictates the max usable level of your monsters.

Suppose I have a level 10 pelacor conjurer and I used a level 2 General Sloan to summon it into battle.

Since my General Sloan is rare and only level 2, he can only summon my Pelacor Conjurer at a max level of 3.
Remember, Pelacor Conjurer is a common card.

Make sure that your summoners level are high enough to summon your card at their full potential.

It pays to check the summoners stat sheet if you are not sure of it.

Card combining your summoners follows the same rules as for the monsters.

Rank League Tier

One of the other important things to take note is your current or target Ranked League Tier.

Each Leaguer Tier imposes a maximum level limit both for your summoners and monsters.

If you’re on a limited budget like me, then it would be better to max your cards to your target league.
I am personally maxing my cards for the Silver League.

Below is a summary of the Ranked League requirements and limits.

---

That's all for now folks.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
Hope this post helped you in one way or another.

If you have some clarifications or questions, please drop them in the comments below.

Also, if you have a topic that you want to be discussed, kindly add them as well.

Thank you and more power!

---

LIMITED OFFER

Not yet on Splinterlands?

JOIN NOW using my referral link below.

Purchase the SPELLBOOK and notify me with a comment below and I will send you one of each of the following cards***.

IMPORTANT:
*** Offer is only for those who will use my REFERRAL LINK and will purchase the SPELLBOOK within 7 days after posting.
*** Offer is only available while supply lasts.

---

Attribution:
All images used in this post, unless stated otherwise, belongs to Splinterlands.