Hello fellow NFT-gamers and people alike! This is my first post describing my 2 runs during my road to Diamond.
"grind 'till you die"
I'm currently in Diamond 2 with a 3,166 rating and hoping to get into Champion 3 by the end of this season but I'm pretty happy about reaching Diamond ain't gonna lie.
This post is mostly for fresh players, but still, some OG's could benefit from it as well. This is a story of laughter, cruelty, friendship, and damn RNG (8 misses in a row, I can forgive but I will not forget)...
I got into Splinterlands at the end of the August Season, climbing my way up from Novice to Gold with about 3,500 DEC at the time, wanting to leave some for the next season in case chest rewards fail me.
My 360 no-scope Rent-Lord friend fifi(aka komsanevolja) helped me out with rentals which cost me about 2.5k DEC + circa 800 DEC later on, and I was off to the races!
*-Shoutout to Mister-RKO and Zaza for coaching me during my runs! Much love goes to you guys*
1st run
Novice -> Gold 1
Novice to Silver is somewhat of an easy run, even though you need to watch out for Yodin's and Mylor's, thorns and blast are OP in Bronze-Silver League's, Yodin is causing troubles all the way in Diamond
The first issue that I came across is the gatekeepers, people in mid and high Gold leagues who chose to stay in Gold to climb the leaderboard for that sweet sweet DEC.
This brings us to an end to my first run, to sum it up = Got into Gold 1, I got the season rewards with some cheapo cards, returned about 1.5k DEC but nothing special (that's why I left some DEC aside).
2nd Run
Gold 1 -> Diamond 2
I started with a circa 1,800 Rating which is Silver 1, very close to Gold 3. I cashed out some CS:GO skins and added about 40$ worth of DEC to my account, dreaming about that Diamond border, and all those sweet sweet chests.
Now, this is advice for everyone going for the Diamond rank, don't cheap out on Summoners, you have to loosen up your wallet here. That's why I sold my kidney and rented out Byzantine Kitty(even though I got her cheap compared to the current market).
This was a good run, even though gatekeepers were still a problem in Gold1/Diamond 3, but
manageable.
Advice:
Now, these are some cards you probably want to rent if you want to roll with the big boiz:
*Note: some of these cards are a no-brainer to a lot of people, but still I felt the need to put them on this list, and also always check for cheaper alternatives on the market.
1st - Low-level Summoners
Depends of course what deck are you rollin' so this is your personal preference, and even though I didn't rent him, Prince Julian could have saved a couple of my games. Low-mana games are not that rare, and an extra 200-300 DEC to have these Aces up your sleeve is a small price to pay. Here are some examples:
2nd - THE Cube
Mister-RKO was coaching me during my 2nd run and he told me "You really like that Cube Japi". And I do, a Level 10 Cube is a MUST for me. Poison? Pffff, see ya later dork, my cube has 20HP and heals for 7HP each round. This is a really powerful combo with the Byzantine Kitty, you just outlive your opponent and let the fatigue set in.
3rd - Almo Cambio
Almo is a good second-liner I played against Yodin and since he has 15HP he can be used
-Slaps Almo- This bad boy can dodge so many hits. I completely forgot about his speed (combined with Byzantine Kitty) the and on more than one occasion Almo just Matrix-d the hits allowing my back-line to massacre the opponent.
4th PAY ATTENTION to the game rules
This isn't so uncommon, you make and re-make your deck in panic in a low-mana game, and you completely miss the Earthquake Game Rule... As you are bitting your wall off your opponent is laughing together with his Level 10 Dodge-God Cocatrice. An easy win is walking on a razor's edge with an easy loss. So use your eyes!
This post is long enough as it is, I just want to thank you for sitting through my post, I wish you the best of luck, may the RNG God's bless you.
And if you are new to Splinterlands, this Discord server is a must, I wouldn't have made it without the amazing people in it!
https://discord.gg/5FwqJ5v6bh