Catotune's Top Battles Rundown: Gold league, Modern format - Jan 14, 2025

In this series, I analyze the top battles of the day to reveal which summoners and monsters are most successful for a given league and format. What better way to improve our Splinterlands skills than to study what the best players are doing?

For those of us who buy, rent, or rent out cards, I'm also hoping that this series can inform us of which cards to acquire for maximum effectivenes.

Stay tuned for a new report to be published daily, each covering the top battles for a different league and format!

For simplicity I threw out matches ending in draws and surrender - all data is compiled from wins and losses. Here are the results from 131 of the top Gold league (modern format) battles from Tuesday, January 14, 2025:

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Thanks for hearing me out, and now back to our regularly scheduled program:

Monsters with highest win rate

1. Terraceous Grunt - Earth splinter
   Win rate: 100.00% [4/4]
   

   
   
   Terraceous Grunt is a Common monster card from the Soulbound Rewards edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 9 achieved the most success, being a member of the winning team for 3 games.
   • Terraceous Grunt performed ideally when placed at the front of the team, where it saw 3 wins.
   • You could take a moment to view @ridermomo's battle to learn how they achieved victory with this card ^[1].
   • The lowest price for a Soulbound Rewards edition Terraceous Grunt card is $0.05 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

2. Runi - Neutral splinter
   Win rate: 100.00% [3/3]
   

   
   
   Runi is a Legendary monster card from the Promo edition.
   The card at level 4 was most successful in today's top Gold league (modern) battles, finding itself on the winning team for all 3 games in which Runi appeared.
   • Runi did best when placed at the rear of the team, where it saw 2 wins.
   • You may want to study @libertyguy's battles to see how they pulled off 2 victories using this card ^{[1, 2]}.
     
     

3. Hill Giant - Earth splinter
   Win rate: 100.00% [3/3]
   

   
   
   Hill Giant is a Common monster card from the Chaos Legion edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 10 achieved the most success, finding itself on the victorious team for 2 games.
   • Hill Giant performed ideally when placed at the front of the team, where it saw 2 wins.
   • If you want to learn from one of the best, study @twotaps's battle, where they defeated their opponent with this card ^[1].
   • The lowest price for a Chaos Legion edition Hill Giant card is $0.01 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

Most winning monsters with at least 10 battles

(Excluding any monsters already featured in the "highest win rate" section above)

1. Djinn Oshannus - Water splinter
   Win rate: 72.73% [16/22]
   

   
   
   Djinn Oshannus is a Legendary monster card from the Reward edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 4 achieved the most success, finding itself on the winning team for 13 games.
   • If you want to learn from one of the best, observe @valchiz's battle history, where they beat their opponent 2 times with Djinn Oshannus ^{[1, 2]}.
   • When paired with the Earthquake ruleset, Djinn Oshannus earned 2 wins.
   • The lowest price for a Reward edition Djinn Oshannus card is $0.54 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

2. Venari Spellsmith - Neutral splinter
   Win rate: 72.73% [8/11]
   

   
   
   Venari Spellsmith is a Rare monster card from the Chaos Legion edition.
   The card at level 8 achieved the most success during the top Gold league (modern) battles today, being a member of the victorious team for 4 games.
   • You may find it enlightening to take a look at @mdasein's battles, where they won 2 games with Venari Spellsmith ^{[1, 2]}.
   • When used in combination with the Shades of Gray ruleset, Venari Spellsmith won twice.
   • The lowest price for a Chaos Legion edition Venari Spellsmith card is $0.02 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

3. Angelic Mandarin - Water splinter
   Win rate: 72.73% [8/11]
   

   
   
   Angelic Mandarin is a Rare monster card from the Chaos Legion edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 8 achieved the most success, being a member of the victorious team for 6 games.
   • You could watch @yurbas2's battles to learn how they accomplished 2 victories using Angelic Mandarin ^{[1, 2]}.
   • When used in combination with the Heavy Hitters ruleset, Angelic Mandarin saw 2 wins.
   • The lowest price for a Chaos Legion edition Angelic Mandarin card is $0.04 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

Summoners with highest win rate

1. Sthispa - Dragon splinter
   Win rate: 100.00% [2/2]
   

   
   
   Sthispa is an Epic summoner card from the Riftwatchers edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 6 was most successful, winning all 2 games in which Sthispa appeared.
   • You may want to view @mrmouh's previous battle to see how they accomplished a win with this card ^[1].
   • The lowest price for a Riftwatchers edition Sthispa card is $0.41 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

2. Lorkus - Death splinter
   Win rate: 100.00% [1/1]
   

   
   
   
   Note that while this card has a 100% win rate, it is based on only 1 match.

   Lorkus is a Legendary summoner card from the Rebellion edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 4 was used in one battle by @coyotelation, which it won.

   • The lowest price for a Rebellion edition Lorkus card is $29.53 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

3. Eternal Tofu - Earth splinter
   Win rate: 75.00% [3/4]
   

   
   
   Eternal Tofu is a Legendary summoner card from the Rebellion edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 4 had the most success, winning all 3 games where Eternal Tofu won.
   • You may find it enlightening to see @libertyguy's previous battles, where they won 2 games with this card ^{[1, 2]}.
   • The lowest price for a Rebellion edition Eternal Tofu card is $63.00 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

Most winning summoners with at least 10 battles

(Excluding any summoners already featured in the "highest win rate" section above)

1. Kelya Frendul - Water splinter
   Win rate: 64.29% [36/56]
   

   
   
   Kelya Frendul is a Rare summoner card from the Chaos Legion edition.
   The card at level 8 achieved the most success during the top Gold league (modern) battles today, winning 28 games.
   • When used in combination with the Super Sneak ruleset, Kelya Frendul earned 5 wins.
   • The lowest price for a Chaos Legion edition Kelya Frendul card is $0.26 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

2. Conqueror Jacek - Fire splinter
   Win rate: 53.85% [7/13]
   

   
   
   Conqueror Jacek is a Legendary summoner card from the Chaos Legion edition.
   In today's top Gold league (modern) battles, the card at level 4 achieved the most success, winning 6 games.
   • It could be educational to take a look at @khoy's battle history, where they won 2 games with Conqueror Jacek ^{[1, 2]}.
   • The lowest price for a Chaos Legion edition Conqueror Jacek card is $1.97 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

3. Obsidian - Earth splinter
   Win rate: 50.00% [16/32]
   

   
   
   Obsidian is a Rare summoner card from the Chaos Legion edition.
   The card at level 8 achieved the most success during the top Gold league (modern) battles today, winning 10 games.
   • When used in combination with the Earthquake ruleset, Obsidian won twice.
   • The lowest price for a Chaos Legion edition Obsidian card is $0.14 USD (Level 1) at the time of writing.
     
     

Splinters with highest win rate

1. Neutral
   Win rate: 66.67% [4/6]
   

   
   
   Neutral splinter had the most success against Fire, beating that element 2 times in today's top Gold league (modern) battles.
   
   

2. Water
   Win rate: 56.94% [41/72]
   

   
   
   Water splinter had the most success against Water, defeating its identical element 20 times in today's top Gold league (modern) battles.
   • This splinter matched well with the Super Sneak ruleset, where Water prevailed 5 times.
     
     

3. Earth
   Win rate: 51.92% [27/52]
   

   
   
   Earth splinter had the most success against Earth, beating its own element 10 times in today's top Gold league (modern) battles.

   • This splinter performed well with the Earthquake ruleset, where Earth won 2 times.

   • Earth splinter was useful in low mana cap battles (16 mana or lower), prevailing in 6 of those matchups.
     
     

Final thoughts

Please feel free to leave me feedback in the comments. If you are new to Splinterlands, then please consider using my referral link to get started! It is a ton of fun to play, and you can earn SPS and win NFT cards every day!

If you want to know where to buy or rent any of the cards listed in this report, I personally like Monster Market (not a referral link), a 3rd party marketplace that has a great user interface and pays you DEC back on purchases.

- Catotune