Spellbook-Only Challenge: Day 67 - Report #4

As a Splinterlands player I try to use the whole HIVE ecosystem to my advantage. I can convert any tokens I gain using HIVE into DEC and thus using HIVE fits into a larger strategy for advancing in Splinterlands.

But with the change eliminating DEC rewards for Bronze III players, I became curious how difficult it would be to advance in Splinterlands using a spellbook alone. I decided to start an alt account to find out. Thus my spellbook-only challenge was born. My goal is to not bring any more funds into this account beyond the spellbook purchase. So, no tokens from blogging. No buying credits for expansion packs. The only way the account can add funds is by selling/swapping/renting out game assets that were gained by playing the game.

On day 21 of my challenge I reported that I had rented my way into the Bronze-II league. I had noted that I was getting pretty good card luck having pulled in 4 common cards over the course of that season even spending it in Bronze-II and III. On day 21 my owned card power stood at 35.

Well, it’s been a little more than two months since then. I have mostly been playing to make the daily rewards and I’m slowly figuring out the new starter cards introduced for the Chaos Legion expansion. Things were slow for me over this period because of the holidays, too. I was playing but not really devoting a ton of processing power to Splinterlands.

I have been bringing in enough DEC that I am slowly accumulating it even after paying for rentals. My DEC balance currently stands at about 180 DEC. So I am in no danger of not being able to maintain the rentals to stay in Bronze-II, and as the rental market shakes out over the flood of new expansion cards, I may even consider renting into Bronze-I soon. Further, I have also been accumulating SPS dust based on my small DEC balance and the card power of my reward cards.

And speaking of reward cards...

Through the end of the season that just ended, I was able to to add 15 more reward cards including 4 rares! I don’t think that’s bad at all for Bronze-II league.

And I thought I was doing good when this came this morning for my season's rewards...

Another rare and a GOLD FOIL common!!! My fisrt gold foil in either of my accounts!! And the Venari Crystalsmith is a great pull. If the Venari Wavesmith used to be a killer card when used with the +1 magic for Elric Stormbringer in the old starter card set, the Crystalsmith cobined with the +1 ranged damage of General Sloan in the new starter set is looking pretty sweet. That's 2 damage and tank healing for 4 mana, light might be getting a bit more play in my future. Maybe I will try to work in the gold foil, just for fun.

All totalled, I have now earned 21 reward cards with a collection power of 315. It's still a humble beginning, but it feels like I am on my way!

Now that we are clear of the holidays and almost clear of the ever fun tax filing here in the US, I hope I will be able to post a bit more regularly.

Thanks for stopping by. I will report further progress as soon as it’s appropriate. If you are interested in following my along, I will add the #tpbjustplay tag to any posts I make in regards to this challenge.