Modern Ranked Battles In Bronze Are Tough Going After the Bot Removal Change. Are Soulbound Summoners Better or Worse For Newcomers?

Up to the change in policy regarding bots I have played in the Wild League for the simple fact that I could use all my cards rather than just some of them in modern. I was playing at a gold level with a solid if not strong collection worth about $1500 at current market prices which is probably the bottom at the moment. I play ranked battles for an hour or two a couple of times a week and I would always achieve around 5 / 6 daily chests each time I went on. Whether these accounts I was coming up against were bots or real players is anyones guess but now in hindsight I reckon I was mostly playing bots. I switched to modern after the change as I do not like the fact that I am playing against the computer mostly. In modern I play against real people which is nice to know. But I started out in bronze III and boy is it difficult to cut through the levels.

Bronze is a total different animal to the rest of the leagues. They say Playstation is "For the Players". It looks like Bronze League is Splinterlands version of this. You really have to be clever to win in bronze or as I find have a couple of cards that the other guy doesn't. Not only this but even of you can't afford a decent deck , it doesn't really matter in bronze. All you have to do is join a guild. Get a couple of soulbound and gladius cards particularly Lobb Lowland and Quora Towershead and all of a sudden you have pretty much an unbeatable combination in most cases. These cards especially Quora is mostly still at level one so it is the perfect league to wheel her out. Now I have her myself and I am guilty of throwing her in with a martyr monster in front of her but she is not unbeatable. There are ways such as stun that can bring her down. The thought never crossed my mind back in the day to have to think about a level one card with stun in bronze but nowadays bringing Quora down is a fundamental practice that you must learn to go ahead in Splinterlands.

Now I am a seasonal campaigner and I am quite enjoying using the soulbound cards with the a gladiator card earned in guilds. I am not moaning about how tough bronze is either. Once I get to safe ground in silver I will easily make my way back to gold. But chaos legion cards are much cheaper these days and this is another reason for the stiff competition in bronze. Maybe they are so cheap that I will face similar hard battles in silver but I have always said bronze is the hardest league to get out of. Now these changes with soulbound cards and gladius in ranked battles were welcomed by the community and they do offer so chance against the meta cards such as Yodin and Llama but for the newcomer I think it is a problem.

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So I am a shiny new crypto enthusiast and someone introduces me to Splinterlands. Once I navigate joining and making sense of all the mechanisms, the first thing I want to do is try the battle out. I buy a few Chaos Legion Packs and a couple of summoners for say $20. I am weary initially investing in this "Crypto " game because lets face it , it's crypto. I watch a couple of Youtube videos or Twitch to pick a couple of decent starter combinations. I head into battle looking forward to kick some ass. Games such as Player Manager , Civilistation VI, Sonic the Hedgehog , Mario are all designed to give you a chance. You enter the novice league and press battle. Fingers crossed. Then Quora and Lobb appear and kick the shit out of you. Maybe you get lucky and play someone is not into brawls and has no gladius cards. What is this funny cute pussycat against me? Bangggggg! You lose. Maybe this game isn't for me and I give up and sell my cards.

But wait, I can rent out cards for peanuts to compete against these accounts so there is a glimmer of hope for the newcomer. Another couple of hours of Youtube finding out what are the best cards. You rent them and win a few more battles. You get one chest as earning. It's a potion. What the hell do they do. Day two you win another chest. It's 10 merits. Day 3 you win 2 chests. It's a potion and a guy called Lobb. Hooray!!! The first step on the ladder. You find out how to join a guild. Try not to be too bad in your first guild battles. You lose 5 out of 6 and you are kicked out. You finally join a nice guild who gives you tips and after 6 weeks you score a Quora Towershed. You have finally arrived on Splinterlands and you battle your way through bronze into silver.

I remember back in the day for me as a newcomer my problem was beating Haunted Spirit or Flesh Golem. It was easier for me to break through back then but there are many more barriers to entry at the moment. Guilds is a great idea and I reckon Guilds will become the new way to onboard players as you can chat in your guild and learn about new tips and cards and discuss strategy and pretty much learn the robes. A lone wolf will find it difficult to navigate through the Splinterlands landscape and we haven't even touched on the card mechanics yet.

But once you get the hang of it as a newbie is it such a back thing to have the newbie Lobb Lowland and Quora Towershed in your deck. You could say it levels the playing field for the users who cannot afford a Yodin or a Llama. For the first time in ages I came up again the almighty Kron and Llama combination and I torn them to shreds with this fella who is amaazingly powerful once the wheels start turning.

It was an epic victory and this never would have happened before. So if you are a newcomer then maybe if you do get into it you can actually end up going further without spending hundreds on legendary summoners(SPS staking aside).

So for now I will battle my way through bronze and enjoy coming up against real players who have their own little sneaky strategies than I am learning from every battle. This improves me as a player at the base level in bronze. Because I am playing in Bronze modern at the moment I joined my guild battles at that level and got my first clean sheet last week of 6 wins 0 draws and 0 losses. This is no accident. The bronze ranked battles have me battle hardened now but I can't stay down forever. Silver approaches and then back home to gold. Wish me luck.