Cherry-popped at Max

This is not much of a memorable milestone for many people in Splinterlands, however, after almost two years of spending many tens of thousands of dollars on cards and although I have been very close a couple times before, I managed for the first time ever, to make it into the top Champion 1 league.

This is a milestone, though it is kind of a hollow victory, because I only made it because there has finally been a change in the game where instead of needing 400 points through each Champion Tier, it is now 300. This means that instead of there only being a handful of accounts (I no longer call them players as many seem to use bots) in C1, there are well over 100 there at the moment, with over 4 days left to play.

I think that the changing of the points system is a good shift, as it incentivizes more people to play for the top, especially since there are benefits through the soulbound reward cards. This means that for some time at least, the only way to get the cards is to play (or let your bot play) for the rewards.

On this note, once in Champion, it doesn't matter which tier of Champion you win, the chest rewards are the same. However, the incentive comes through another change in the gameplay, with the reset position changing.

Previously, getting to C3 would drop back 3 tiers to the start of D3. This was risky, because a loss in the first round of the season from there would result in dropping into the Gold League, which enforces lower level card play. So, the goal for me was to get into C2, so then I would drop to D2, giving me a buffer so I didn't drop into Gold from there.

But now, the bump down is Two tiers, which means that getting into Champion 1, means to start from Champion 3. This has incentives beyond the chest rewards too, because especially at the start of the season, with far fewer players in the Champion League, the SPS battle rewards are higher for wins. Previously, the few players that made it into Champion 1 and started from D1, would rush as fast as they could into Champions to plunder the SPS early in the season, but now this will be a little more evenly distributed, as more people will start from the Champion League, spreading the battle rewards out a bit wider.

And, with the new battle Energy system, there might be few games played by some of the bots, meaning that there will still be some SPS available for others. It is going to be interesting to see in the coming season, as it will be the first full season with Energy in place. And on this note, while I said I wouldn't, I actually bought a fair amount of energy this season, mostly because I was home alone and wanted to play, but didn't have any credits. So while my wife was out partying with friends, I played and - wasted far too much DEC - because I lost a lot.

I need to get far better at choosing when I play, as while I know what works for me, I tend not to follow what I know and instead just play when I have some time, burning credits when I know I am unlikely to get many wins.

! [Terrible stats]

Shameful.

But with four days left, I have some decisions to make.

! [EOS Chests coming]

This is the most EOS chests I have ever got to open in a season, and since the release of the Soulbound cards, I have been enjoying the chests more. On top of that, I also like getting merits, because I like brawling with the [KOG] Shield of Glory guild, even though I am a lower-mid-range player on the cusp of getting clipped from the guild unless I step up my game.

! [Personal Brawl Results]
I have never got a clean sweep of wins - or losses.

! [Team Brawl Results]

Some room to move against the top Guilds.

Getting merits in chests means I have a chance to powerup my Gladiator cards a bit and compete with the big boys and their bots. The new Reward Summoners are able to bring a secondary gladiator card into the lineup, which is going to be a gamechanger, but I normally play in Gold League and I haven't Gold Summoners yet.

However, those summoners will also be able to bring Gladiators into regular gameplay also, so it is going to be very interesting to see what happens in the future, as they are soulbound, which means that in order for those Summoners to be useful, they have to be earned from gameplay, and this is the same for Gladiator cards. So, the only way is for an account to both play the game to earn the summoner to an appropriate level, and brawl for long enough to earn the Gladiator cards that can pair with them. I am not sure what is happening in lower leagues in regard to this, but I suspect that there is a marked difference between the accounts that only play, and those that Brawl also. I am yet to see a gladiator in the top leagues, but I suspect they aren't too far away, as some accounts are likely earning a lot of reward cards and they tend to be the ones that are also brawling, earning a lot of Glads.

Land is starting to open up in about a week from now and that is going to change the dynamics again, as cards are shuffled around the place. However, I am yet to dive very far into this, because it is all too confusing for me. I have never been a good maximizer of my activity and resources, which is likely why my posts are far too long :) Overall though, in terms of gameplay, I think that the game has become more interesting again of late, with various new dynamics in play and coming that shake up the future.

A lot of people look at the immediate conditions only, but for example, the true value of the soulbound cards is down the track, but what people do now is going to dictate that. In most things, maximizing the moment is what a lot of people will do, however they might just be selling themselves short in the moments to come.

Which brings me back to my contemplation: Keep playing for the rewards and risk losing C1, or Retire for the season and rent my cards out for a few days? There is a Brawl starting in a few hours though, so it is going to cause an issue for the rental approach...

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]