Splinterlands Strategies: Building a Silver League Deck with the Edge!
I have that itch to play again. Listening to the likes of @tarazkp and @azircon chatting about tactics does that to me.
It’s all well and good being a lazy monster lord but you need to keep in touch with what’s used and what’s ignored if you are to know your customers.
For the second time within a month, I put together a makeshift deck bound for the Silver League (hopefully that I will retain this time).
Meandering through a stack of BOT opponents I restricted myself to just TWO splinters and used mostly Chaos League cards with a dash of the old stuff to give me the edge.
Without the big Summoners (Yodin Zaku etc...), it was a steadier ascent through the tiers of the Bronze league and I can't recall a match where my opponent was not using solely Level 1 (L1) cards throughout.
My deck contained a Tarsa and Obsidian (both L2) and the entire stack of Earth and Fire monsters at the max levels I could command.
Yet this does not guarantee victory and I spotted tactics along the way that caused my defeat on numerous occasions.
If these are all BOTS then they must be using a different BOT than I have become accustomed to. Cards were strategically placed and I had to outthink my opponents whether human or otherwise.
Entering the Silver League of course gives me non-shit rewards and a whole TWO chests per daily quest.
If you think you are going to earn DEC in Bronze I then think again. I was getting credits and the odd NFT.
Silver is where you need to be to get anything at all and that means a deck of 15,000 Collection Power.
Having made Silver III I was surprised that all my opponents were still using L1 decks, and I mean ALL.
Here I was, preparing L4 Summoners and upgraded monsters but need I bother? The Bronze deck I had put together was still cutting through my opponents as long as I took note of the ruleset.
The times I lost, I studied the matches. How could I lose if I had L3 Commons, L2 Rares, L2 Epics, and the odd Legendary thrown into the mix?
Before you ask, I checked for @thong355 which exists along with many other 'thongs'. Better than @penis355 I suppose.
It is all down to tactics and I decided to have a look at a few of the decks of my foes.
Nearly all of them were barely above the 15K requirement for the Silver League. Many of them were rental decks, some from the same renter.
More BOTS and farms, but they know how to strategically place the monsters to win.
They have a daily expenditure of around 36-50 DEC per day, so they would have to make this just to break even.
Factor in the reward cards (which have mostly little value) and you have a mild profit.
Who’s behind the players? I don’t believe there is a BOT capable of picking up the specific rule sets and strategically placing monsters in beneficial spots to win.
Which means some kind of cheap labour is going on. It reminds me of World of Warcraft during the noughties. The game was filled with Chinese farmers working for very little and using illegal BOTS.
WOW prohibited BOTS and it became a cat and mouse game with Blizzard upgrading their security system to catch and perma-ban the accounts.
On Splinterlands that will not happen, yet I am curious to find out if these are cheap-labour players or who’s behind it all.
Out of all those cards I sent to the @dismayedworld account I have been using just a handful and the odd situational card.
In the Silver League, there can be up to TWO rulesets, and ignoring them is a bad idea.
Here are some of the monsters I have been using (to great effect).
Forgotten One: I have yet to see this Fire Tank used against me at this level. I don't think it's expected at Bronze or even Silver III to see these types of monsters used.
It is a situational card best used for the poison ruleset but is a decent tank in its own right. I have just upgraded mine to L4 (as nobody seems to want to rent it at this level). I can only use him at L3 but now with 'Retaliate', he's going to be interesting.
Goblin Psychic: Used by all my opponents at L1. Mine is now L5 and what a monster combined with Obsidian. L5 benefits from 'Affliction' which will give me the edge.
Grum Flameblade: What a blast this guy is. Nobody uses Grum in Bronze, yet I did and he only works well in the reverse speed ruleset. I used him once in a regular set and lost… talk about embarrassing!
I sent my L2 over and with the extra magic defense, he's going to rock.
Grund: Double strike is always going to be popular and I can see why Grund is the most expensive Epic. I happen to have a Gold version and will stick with this for now.
He does hit harder at L3 so I might be tempted to switch him out soon. Eight damage per round is major. I only use him on high mana matches and position him just behind the tank as he is a melee monster.
Hill Giant: I have mentioned him before, he's a cheap low mana tank with big hit points. He gets in the way and that's his job. I am using an L5 now, gold version.
Lava Launcher: What a useful monster this one is. He can be used as a tank if required by rule sets, positioned as an auxiliary tank, or used as a vanilla damage dealer.
I need to upgrade mine to L3. Lava Launchers are not expensive and should not be overlooked.
Scavo Firebolt: A card I am toying with. I have sent over an L4 to replace the L2 but it's still in cooldown.
Queen Mycelia: The difference between winning and losing quite often. Not so effective against Obsidian decks but anything else suffers if I use her.
Global buffs have always been high on my list and I love 'Protect'. Combine this with the next card and it's frustrating as hell for your opponent.
Scavo Hireling: The number of times this little freaky guy has given me wins is astounding. He's a neutral Armorsmith, a card I rated highly over 2 years ago.
To use him effectively, your team needs to have armour, and that’s where he pairs up well with Queen Mycelia.
Tenyii Striker: A stalwart opposition card and one I could see the potential right away. I now have an L4 Striker and with 'Dodge', he's going to be hard to kill.
Earth Tank: Flesh Golem or Unicorn Mustang?
The opposition all use L1 Mustangs, I can see why as it protects well against Magic opposition. I did have an L2 one hanging around from the Untamed days and so whisked it across.
However, you can't beat the old Flesh Golem as even at L3 (Bronze) as he has that potent self-heal.
It's little wonder I can rent out a pile of them and they get snapped up right away at great CP/DEC values.
What I will use in Silver as an Earth tank is to be determined. Probably a combination of these as so far my opponents have still been 100% L1 decks.
I have sent a few tryout monsters to the @dismayedworld account to play with. Iza the Fanged looks like fun, is quick, and needs to be with that poor health rating.
I have been using Acid Shooter as a filler card. 2 mana makes him useable though he doesn't fill very well with Obsidian.
The remaining monsters I will be trying out in various other situations.
A Silver League deck is going to cost you several hundred dollars. There is no getting out of that. Splinterlands is great fun but is an expensive game, they make no qualms about that.
If you want to succeed then you need the edge, and a brain to figure out both your's and your opponents' tactics.
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nice thoughts!
This is a great overview! I definitely want to steal that idea of making a spreadsheet, it's a great way to keep track of what cards you have and which you need.
As for the bots, let me just chime in here - there are actually crazy advanced bots that get up to the top of Silver league every season. Just think of the chess programs - it is a little similar here, except less advanced. There is even a website that picks a team for you based on rulesets and general winrates in your league + the cards you own.
!1UP
I just had several defeats though my monsters are higher level. Talk about being out-played. If there are advanced BOTS then I want to know more about them, the one I know about tends to use shadow summoners at L1 even though you have proper higher level ones, in a nutshell.. it's a bit crap.
DO you know where?
it is a paid service over at splintertools.io - I haven't ever used it myself, so I cannot speak to its accuracy or anything as such.
As for the bots, yeah it's crazy, but what can you do - they did their thing for the economy at least, as the top ones play with owned cards rather than rented!
Thanks, I was not aware of this and will have a look. If it's worthwhile to automate games, then people will do it. I rent most of my cards but the CL ones generate so little I may as well have a go at playing again.
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Splinterlands have become very competitive and it's basically down to having the right money and of course the right tactics and strategy. I started using Obsidian as a summoner when I discovered how powerful some earth monsters are. It's only rivaled by death. I am still playing in the Bronze leagues though.
Obsidian is a great summoner and finally people can afford to own them. I come across death often and it's always that Cursed Windeku upfront. You need some type of heal on your tank to combat the thorns or he will prick you to death.
Even with a healer as the Goblin Psyche, powerful attack sneak melee monsters with +3 attack can totally take out the Goblin Psyche even if it's in a backline. Strategies counters strategies, cursed windeku is my favourite when playing against death.
I use Queen Mycelia to build up the armour against sneaky monsters. They are generally melee and so need to get through that first.
I would not place Mr Goblin at the back, that's for other less important fodder or dodgers.
Thankyou for the good insight!
Well explained.... tnx for the details of the game
Let us know which cards work out!
I can't see you going far wrong with the Forgotten one and the Pig Goblin, or The armoursmith dude.
Hopefully you won't get too frustrated!
I am quite sure I am playing BOTS or decks using that simulator thing. I am going to subscribe to it for 1 month and see how it works. Curious. As for winning, still some L1 decks beat my jumbled together L4 Fire deck. That would never happen if the humans were fully in control!
Battling with BOTs.....
How much money have we invested in this game?
Panicking yet?!?
Panicking? After years of 11c.., there's some kind of barrier there.., so no panic.
You're hardcore!
Each time I read up posts like this, I go back to my drawing board or jotter to take note of these strategies and monsters.
I'm just a level 3 Broze Splinter warrior but I hope to go higher than that. I believe learning from others and learning from my own experience/mistakes will also aid me.
Thanks for this great analysis.
Most of the cards I use were given to me by default when I bought my spellbook. However, I have 3 in my possession. I got two as gifts and another one I acquired for less than $2. I still find it difficult increasing my Power. Sometimes I rent cards from the Market and it helps increase my power and other times it reduces it. I'm really confused about it also. Please if you can help out with an explanation I'll be really grateful 🙏
You need CP to get into the next ranking, for Bronze II its 1000, and you can get this by either ownership or renting.
You are not going to get far without more cards and levelled ones, esp Summoners.
That "silver deck" of yours will likely rival most in Gold III (probably even Gold II)... especially towards the end of season.
I'm playing with Lvl 2 & 3 summoners (with more than half my monsters themselves on lvl 1) and for the most part it's still a fair fight in silver, and quite often I'm the one dominating.
You're right though on spending some $$$$ to "stack the odds": A legendary or two (even at lvl 1) makes a big difference in silver.
Great post... a lot of food for thought in my own strats... and some FOMO on some singles I now need to go grab from the market ;-)
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Yeah, I'm heading up Silver II now and need to add some CP to get into Silver I. Waiting for a few more cards to come through, and winning most matches although I get stung every now and again.
I'm totally hooked again. But yeah, they're so many bots now and I suspect they can see somehow what cards you submit. I'm telling you, getting out of Bronze for me was the hardest part but with these extra rule sets I think the bots can't compete with the human brain! Just slipped into Silver I which is super exciting for me!
The rulesets really make you think and with all these new cards, the time can get short when making up your deck. I did try https://splintertools.io/ but am not sure whether it's helping or not.
The interface is confusing and I have almost ran out of time on several occasions.
I'm playing Silver too and almost all opponents have all L1 cards. Do they just sell any they win? That Mustang gets used a lot as it is pretty tough to kill. I only have the L1 from the starter pack and can't be arsed to buy any as they are not that cheap. I've got loads of Chaos cards anyway. I can get through the challenges, but I will lose a few bouts.
You're renting out your good summoners, it's little wonder you are stuck in Silver! Almost all I have encountered so far have been L1 decks but are very adept in their card placement. You should at least get your new summoners up to L3, they are not so expensive now.
I have most of the new summoners up to L2, so that gives me some advantage. I'm not winning much, so I'm happy to just play with what I have. I would have to un-rent some cards to get into Silver I. My rental income has dropped a bit lately, but no big deal.
Excellent post and excellent advice. I purchased two cards off the back of this post. Been wondering should I go for a Queen Marcella or the genie and will try Queenie. Thanks
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Oh jeez!!!
I keep wondering about starting, 50 years late to the party as ever!
It sounds so damn complicated though, when ya read posts detailing battles and such with the shards, orbs and donkey danglers... OK maybe not exactly the last one, but ya know what I mean. Although if I'm gonna be absolutely honest, I felt that way about rising star until the UK meetup when you ran me through it and now I'm lvl 108, play daily and have never looked back.
Something tells me that the meetup would need to take place over a long weekend for me to leave understanding Splinterlands though lol.
I hope 2022 has started in the very best way possible for you and yours, very best wishes and thoughts for the year for me and mine 🙂
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It's not that confusing and is a 'real game' unlike the button clicking of RS. There are plenty of tutorials out there.
Nice post, thanks for sharing. I'm at Bronze 1 and I play up to Gold 3. At Silver 3, you rightly state that we get 2 quest chests; at Silver 2 you get 3, and 4 at Silver 1. I tried Gold 3 once, and got 4 although I suspect that's 'cos I completed the quest at Silver 1 before advancing to the Gold league.
Tip1: build up your Rating to say, 1700 then you can rent some gold foil legendaries or epics at level 2 to get you up to Silver 2, and 1900+ rating when you get to Silver 1. Sooo much easier building up your rating when you are 2-3 levels below your target level. As for Gold 3, well, good luck at that level! When you get there, be prep'd for at least...nah, wait 'till you get there to find out!!
Tip2: I use mainly Water Splinter with level 3-4 Alric gold foil, and level 2 mages to get up to and occasionally over Silver 1.
Tip3: save your DEC for renting if your strategy is to get 4+ quest chests per account (I have 2 accounts, both on Bronze 1 and closing in on Silver 3). Any DEC left over after your assault, consider spending a little on getting more common-level cards to combine.
So, is Silver 1 worth the effort? Yesterday, on one account, I got 1 common, 1 common gold foil, and 1 epic from my 4 cards; the other card was just a few DEC. OK, my other account gave me all DEC for a total of just 30-odd DEC so expect inconsistencies at this level too.
Ian Ballantine
Wellington, New Zealand
@ianballantine
@champian
Enlisted: July 24th, 2021
The deck is in Gold III now, I am in a position to beef it up at will as I have the cards to play in the Diamond League if I wanted. Renting is still more profitable so I'm toying with this.
Once I entered Gold III, I came across real players, it was quite refreshing.
Yes I found my brief hour or so at Gold 3 quite refreshing too. If I had more DEC to get some better cards, I'd still be there!
Awesome read. Sharing this in my daily Splinterlands Digest and on Twitter.
Good to see you writing some Splinterlands strategies again, always looking forward to these @slobberchops 😍
As an alternative for the Flesh Gollum I do like the Pelacor Mercenary. But the tank Josediccus mentioned in the comments by @josediccus I've never looked closely at it but I do need to from now on I think.😅
Yes I have also seen Thong# non stop in mid silver, also a new one is Azir#. Ive noticed higher silver you will get people doing lvl 2 decks but rarely one above it. Great post.
Today I also invested in some cards! I will probably continue to build some Silver deck. Great post!
Have a great day!
Cheers,
@andy-plays
!gif great post
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