Frontier Mode - The latest shiniest mode

What is it?

If you've missed it Frontier mode is a new mode of playing splinterlands and is entirely free to play, but also has limited rewards.

In Frontier mode the only rewards are a random foundation card every 5 wins, which caps out at 3 cards a day. No glint or sps is won, but one also does not need to invest in a spellbook or anything to have a deck - that is taken care of by the campign mode. This mode has a bit of a story to it while teaching the basics of strategy to a new player.

Why is frontier mode so good for new players?

In frontier mode the deck is limited to foundation cards. This signifgantly limits the choices a player has. There is only one summoner per splinter and a limited number of unit cards per splinter. Unike modern which has 3-4 summoners as options per splinter, including those with the new bloodline mechanic and far more units as well. It makes it easier to build stragety due to the reduced options, as well as anticipating you're opponents strategy.

This choice also means that no one whose new and trying out the game is going to end up fighting someone with tofu and caramel.

This makes it easier for a new player to step into the waters and see how great splinterlands is without requiring them to learn everything. They can also have the joy of building a deck while playing without having to invest in building a deck that can make a lot of progress in modern.

Why the rewards matter so much

Both the way the rewards are given(every five wins) and the fact the rewards are foundation cards is key to keeping foundation new player friendly. By having it limited to just foundation cards, no sps no glint, it means it'll likely be mostly new players and players having fun. This means the matches should in theory be more equal.

I also think that the every five wins is excellent becuase it keeps it means that staked sps doens't effect how quickly or not, you get rewards. As this new play is built to onboard new folks having the reward system entirely based on playing matches rather than staked sps is a very good call.

The development team has done a great job with this mode and I do hope it leads to new players joining the game.

The final thing I've noticed while playing frontier is that it is easier to see when certain tactics really work.

For exemple in this fight I favourted speed. With the red summoner making everyone a little faster, then picking units with 2-3 speed(which is the high end of foundation cards.)

Thank you for reading!

Due to my speed advantage i've taken out half my opponents units before they've have a chance to attack. This tactic is even more potent in Foundation as there is less variance in the speed of units so that +1 speed is even more potent. There is also no units with swiftness to even out the effect of the fire splinter summoner.

And with only three units left, and me with five, it wasn't much of a fight. The only unit of mine that went down was the tuanting tank. Rest in peace Beluroc Aegis. Until next time I need you to soak up damage anyway.

Watch the whole battle here -> https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_54e394e2bc2deda9cf0e66d8fe4926d1?ref=artofkylin

Some odd thing?

One odd thing is that there is at least one rule set which doens't really matter is heavy hitter. This rule set makes it so everyone does more damage to stunned units... but currently no foundation cards to stun. There is also the awkwardness of the earthquake ruleset when no one has flying. I'm sure in time units with these ablities will show up in foundation cards but right now the heavy hitter rule set doesn't effect game play at all. I'm sure we'll see some flying and stun units eventually but right now, those rule sets are kinda funny to me.

What I've learned from playing Frontier ?

While there isn't one thing i would pinpoint as "I have learned this mechanic" since I had already been playing Splinterlands for several months before graduating from the academy(aka chapter 1 of the campiagn) and entering the frontier. However, my appreciation for certain mechanics and the way they can be used has significantly increased.

The future of Frontier

from what i've seen in the discord and other announcements the plan is to release packs which will include chances for black, gold and arcana foils. I'm not sure what the price will be but I personally think they should be cheaper than the Concalve arcana packs. There is also the raffel system that was talked about in an announcemnt a while back in which playing frontier will gain you entries and each account is limited to one card per week. Which I think could be pretty great as it favours the folks playing the format the most rather than those who have the most dec/sps to spend.

I also look froward to more chapters of the campaign. I really enjoyed what we've had so far and think it'll be cool to see what neat things they come up with next.

Final thoughts

I love what frontier brings to splinterlands. A truly free to play mode, with an option to buy/sell if you've invested in a spell book.That someone can now get a very good taste of what splinterlands is like without having to invest is excellent for the future of splinterlands.