Hello People,

This is my first post after we ditched Steem and moved to Hive. I had centered all my focus on Splinterlands as it was giving me great return of investment of my time. But since the collection power update has been rolled out this has changed. I don't want to comment if it was a good or a bad move. Anyways if the debate is not going to change things I would rather try to adapt to the new situation.

The new situation has made it tougher for sure. No more champions league with 150 season end reward chests or nice daily quest rewards. Limited reward chests obviously bring limited good rewards. So here I am spending some time in writing a quality post with the hope of increasing my earnings. Earnings from this post would be spent in upgrading my deck. I have a list of beta cards to be levelled up for better game play.

Here is some personal(not financial) advice to beginners in the game who might have just got the Summoner's spell book. Listed some must have cards and their appropriate use. Just including promo and untamed cards because they are often needed to be bought from the market.

Top 3 must have untamed/promo cards for beginners

Fire Splinter

1. Molten Ogre

A very good card to play as a tank in the reverse speed ruleset. Comes in handy in the super sneak, melee mayhem and up close and personal rulesets too. With 1 speed, demoralize ability, 10 health and (3+1) damage at level 1. I would say it is a must have card.

2. Serpentine Spy

A 3 mana monster with (2+1) damage, 3 speed and opportunity ability. I always play him in the Little league ruleset where we use monsters lower than 4 mana. Comes in handy in the Fog of war too. Due to low health it has to be protected from snipers and sneakers and thus often played at 3rd or 4th position.

3. Living Lava

This is also a nice tank in the reverse speed. The shield ability makes it tiring for the melee and ranged attackers to kill. It is susceptible to magic attacks due to limited health.

Water Splinter

1. Albatross

I often use it as a scapegoat along with furious chicken to protect my ruler of seas, ice pixie and enchanted pixie. Comes in handy in equalizer and earthquake ruleset too.

2. Ice Pixie

2 mana, (1+1) magic damage and flying ability. Goes pretty well in many rulesets like earthquake, equalizer, back to basics, even stevens, little league and more as you like.

3. Coral Wraith

Very similar to ice pixie. Used along with ice pixie in rulesets like equalizer, back to basics, even stevens, little league and more as you like. Both are low health and susceptible to magic reflect though.

Earth Splinter

1. Unicorn Mustang

Good tank at low level when opponent is high on magic. Should be clubbed with Mushroom Seer at position 3 and wood nymph if possible. Can almost be immortal with that combination. Does not favor any specific ruleset but the above combination goes very well with fog of war or broken arrows.

2. Failed Summoner

Don't go by the name. It will not fail you if used wisely. I love this one. So helpful in Keep your distance, equalizer and little league rulesets. Club it with prismatic energy in second position for double reflect, mushroom seer and wood nymph if equalizer.

3. Sporcerer

Had a tough fight with Mytica Headhunter. But I find him more useful. First because it is magic, then its lower mana compared to mytica. It also takes away the shield for all monsters to make it easier for friendly melee and ranged monsters. Highly recommended in armored up and reverse speed.

Life Splinter

1. Armorsmith

Just 2 mana and repairs the armor. Imagine him repairing the armor for Sacred Unicorn along with its self heal ability. Awesome in low mana battles. On numerous occasions I have blundered by using it in unprotected ruleset.

2. Truth Speaker

This card just adds more power to the Silvershield paladin. +2 armor for a monster with shield. Adds more value in lost magic or upclose and personal rulesets. Combined with Armorsmith it works wonders.

3. Shieldbearer

You may play him as a tank at lower levels, I prefer him in second position at higher levels. Helps save my Sacred Unicorn and allows it to trample atleast once before dying. The highlight obviously is his taunt ability.

Death Splinter

1. Bone Golem

Play him as a tank in reverse speed ruleset. The void ability is cherry on top.

2. Undead Archer

Off lately I have developed great love for the affliction ability. A 2 mana monster can win you battles against self healing tanks like Flesh golem, Sea monster, Sacred unicorn, Haunted spirit, Cerberus. So pretty much works against all splinters. Avoid him in the healed out ruleset.

3. Soulstorm

Great speed, ample damage and flying ability. To avoid it from being overpowered it has low health. Equalizer ruleset does the trick for him. Even useful in earthquake ruleset if protected well from snipers and sneakers.

Neutral

1. Enchanted Defender

Helps defend from sneakers or in the super sneak ruleset. Can play as a tank in equalizer as well. Provided you have enough fire power in the back.

2. War Chaang

A fancy card for lower level players. Double type attack + retaliate. Useful in many rulesets at various positions. Should be used skillfully.

3. Nothing really

Happy to fill this blank with a good worthy card. Any suggestions ?

I have spent enough time in drafting this long and hopefully informative post. Based on the response on this post I will create another post which will explain most useful must have upgrades of you monsters.
I highly recommend peakmonsters.com for trading cards in Splinterlands.
Thanks to @flauwy for amazing images made freely available for content creation. https://esteem.app/spt/@flauwy/free-splinterlands-graphics-i-will-design-for-you