If you are following closely the recent updates with Splinterlands you will be aware that the new collection called Conclave Arcana has been launched. With the introduction of this set the older Chaos collection has been pushed out from Modern to Wild format of ranked battles.
One special incentive that Splinterlands team offered to all players is that for current season they have made playing in Wild free, which used to cost a $2 entry fee.
As I am yet to build a decent portfolio with new Arcana set and my Rebellion deck was quite weak as earlier I only focussed on ramping up my Chaos cards. This puts me in a handicap for playing Modern. The free Wild entry came as a nice surprise for me, which meant I started playing Wild after 2 years. It was a great feeling to use cards which I had not used for 2 to 3 years.
Wild Seems Deserted of Actual Players!!
I always thought Wild will be very difficult for me to survive in as it will be full of old time whales with maxed out decks. I am not a newbie myself and have been playing for more than 5 years but I always have limited funds so was very cautious in building up my portfolio which I did slowly over the years. The backbone of my collection is Untamed and Chaos and I have very few cards from other collections.
I was expecting to get beaten badly in the Silver leagues of Wild but to my surprise I sailed through quite easily into Gold leagues and there were 2 clear trends I could see:
1. Very Few Accounts Playing Currently- I could see very small accounts with limited collections in Gold. This shows the big accounts which used to flood the streets of Splinterlands earlier are either dormant or are not interested in the reduced rewards in Wild compared to Modern format
2. Wild is Full of Bots- I know that this discussion is quite polarising in the Discord with many people regularly asking for banning bots and at the same time bots users saying Wild rewards are not worth playing manually
I still keep playing Wild manually as I think the thrill I get from using my old time favourite cards makes up for the reduced Glint and SPS rewards I am getting.
Hitting Diamond League on Wild!!
Initially I did struggle a bit as I had to get familiarised again with some of the strategies and abilities of my old Untamed cards which I had not used for ages. It was however like a muscle memory which soon kicked in.
I started off at Gold III league which was probably the level where I stopped playing Wild many years ago. I soon came up with fusion strategies combining my Untamed, Chaos and some of the Rebellion and Arcana collections I have.
I was soon hitting long winning streaks thanks to my Chaos deck and if you have read my previous posts you will know that Water is my favourite element and Kelya Frendul and team usually get me more than 50% of the wins.
Charged with the winning spree I soon blasted past Gold II and Gold I, now I started facing bit of a resistance from my opponents but eventually broke through into Diamond III league.
I did not get too many cards from the League clearing rewards but each Epic and Rare card being added to my collection is welcome.
I also received a good amount of Merits which I used to get an extra pack of Gladius pack.
Overall I can see the drawbacks of playing in Wild that the Glint boost you get from your staked SPS is lower compared to Modern so your overall Glint and SPS rewards are reduced. This also creates the returns sustainability question if $2 is invested for the Wild pass.
My overall verdict is I don’t mind playing Wild as long as entry is free and will stop playing once the $2 fee is introduced back.
Which means I have to slowly start building and ramping up my Rebellion and Arcana collections so I can put up a decent team in Modern format.
Cheers,
Sam