If you’re familiar with Hearthstone or any similar card game, then you might want to look at Splinterlands. It is a digital card game built on technology with the same concept as the aforementioned game. Cards have different effects, stats, and abilities that you can use to battle play with other players in the game.
The cards in the game are the NFTs and you can either buy, sell or trade it with other players just like the traditional trading cards that you’re accustomed to in the past. Unlike the game Hearthstone, wherein your cards are tied to your account, Splinterlands with the help of blockchain technology, allows you to sell and transfer it at your will.
The game is free-to-play, but if you want to earn real money then you need to buy the Summoner’s Spellbook which costs 10 USD which I think is a fair price considering the amount you need to invest when playing other NFT games such as Axie Infinity or Plant vs Undead.
How to Start Playing Splinterlands
To start playing Splinterlands, you just need to go to their official website, splinterlands.com, and create your account. There are also a lot of options for you to log in such as Metamask, wombat, and a lot more.
In my case, I decided to use the traditional way of registering by using an email address. It will also ask you to create a password or authorize it with other platforms.
After registering, you’ll be given your temporary name. You can change that after purchasing your Spellbook and you can also create your blockchain wallet.
You will also be asked if you want to proceed with the tutorial. I highly recommend that you go through it!
Playing Splinterlands
I already bought my Spellbook before I started playing a match because I want to earn rewards that have real value. If you want to know how then you can check out the article that I’ve made before in the link below.
There are 4 modes that you can choose in playing the game namely;
- How to Play – This is where you will learn the basics of the game such as card types, stats, abilities, and most importantly the battlefield.
- Practice – Play a match with an opponent that doesn’t affect your ranking
- Ranked – Play ranked matches to rise higher in the league
- Challenge – Custom match where you can invite a friend to fight. This doesn’t affect your rank.
Playing Ranked Matches in Splinterlands
If you want to earn higher rewards then I suggest you go play rank and climb your way up to the leaderboards. To play rank, just choose ‘RANKED’ and press BATTLE. You will be queued up with other players who has the same rank as you.
After the queue, you’ll have a preview of the opponents that you’ll battle with. The preview provides crucial details about your opponent and the upcoming battle.
Lets examine a sample preview of a match I had before.
- Combat Rules – Changes, buffs or limitations on how stats, abilities, combats, or Team creation works. This battle is
standard so there is no change to gameplay. - Mana cap – Each card that you can deploy in a battle has a mana cost. The cap represents the total combined mana you can spend for this battle.
- Elements – The type of summoning magic is allowed when selecting your team.
After seeing the preview, you can now proceed to creating your team (choosing your cards) or surrendering.
To create a team, you need first to choose a Summoner. Each of them specializes in specific elements. They also provide special stats, buffs or even group effect abilities. The summoner also determines the type of elemental magic that will be used in the game.
After choosing a summoner, you can now choose your cards in the collection that is associated with your chosen element. Take note that there is a time limit to how long you can create your team. After you’re done with assembling your cards, you can now press ‘BATTLE’ to proceed with the match. Once both you and your opponent have submitted your teams, the battle will play out automatically according to the game rules.
You’ll now then proceed in the battle and you need to click ‘RUMBLE’ to start the match. From this moment on, you can’t do anything but only watch your cards battle it out with the opponent. You can either watch the whole duration or click ‘SKIP TO RESULTS’ to see who is the winner.
After the match, you can go at the Battle Log to review the results. You can also watch a replay so you can review what happened in the game.
How to Earn Money in Splinterlands
I know most of you here came for one thing, which is the play-to-earn system. How exactly can you earn in this game?
Every time you win a match in ranked mode, you gain Dark Energy Crystals. The amount of Dark Energy Crystals that you gain every match depends on your rank. The higher your rank is, the higher the rewards. These Dark Energy Crystals can be transferred into your wallet, such as Metamask, and you can convert it to USDT.
As of writing, One Dark Energy Crystal is equivalent to $0.00573831. You can check out Coingecko to know the current exchange rate for the token.
Ranks in Splinterlands
The higher rank you have in Splinterlands, the higher rewards that you’ll get every win. The following ranks are as follows:
- Novice
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Diamond
- Champion
Tips on How to Win on Splinterlands
Creating your the best lineup for your cards is the key to winning every match. The first crucial decision that you need to do is choosing a Summoner with a specific element.
In the preview screen of any match, you’ll see the most frequent summoner that your enemy has been used in his last matches. This is the perfect opportunity for you to counter him and take the advantage.
Lets say that in the preview, the enemy frequently uses the Death Element. It is very powerful but can be countered by Fire. So logically you’ll choose Pyre as your Summoner. After that, you can now choose cards that are associated with the Fire Element.
Positioning also whenever you choose cards. The first spot on our team would be in the frontlines and we refer to it as tank. You might want to choose a Card that is very tank and has a high HP count.
Next is the cards behind you Tank. You can either choose range characters or choose a melee fighter with that have Reach Ability, where it allows melee fighters to attack from the second position.
Now that you have enough protection in front, you can now focus on cards that has high damage output. Range or Magic Attacks would be a good choice in the backlines. Range fighters require distance to attack while Magic Dealers can attack from any position, ignore armor and never misses.
It is very important to look at the mana counter at the left side as it indicates the mana you’ve already spent. Each time you add a card in your team, it raises the total mana being used.
Leveling Up Your Cards
Besides from the strategies, you can also achieve high win rate by buying cards from booster packs, purchasing from other players or leveling up your cards. You can level up your cards by combining multiple cards of the same type. Cards who have high levels will have increased stats and new abilities.
Can I play Splinterlands in Mobile?
The game can be played in a mobile browser which is currently available at https://m.splinterlands.io. It is still in alpha so expect it to have minimal issues as it is still under development.
Conclusion
Splinterlands is relatively cheaper in terms of on how much money you need to start compared to established NFT games such as Axie Infinity or Plant vs Undead. But just because it only costs 10 USD to buy a Spellbook doesn’t mean playing it is such a walk in the park.
If you want to earn high rewards then you need to climb up in the rank leaderboards or invest more so you can buy or rent cards to increase your chances of winning. And from my personal experience, it is easier said than done. The game requires broad knowledge about the cards, stats, abilities, and the battle field. You must spare extra time into mastering those to achieve dominance in the game.
Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with Splinterlands. I am an independent blogger and I’m only sharing what I know so far about the game. The list that you can find here is not final and are subject to change.
If you have you have question or clarifications about the process then you can email me directly at gamerdigiparadise(2)gmail.com.
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