Okay - I know you might not care and you are saying, "Really Taraz, two damn Splinterlands posts in the one day??" - But I think this was a bit of an achievement tonight. well, as far as playing games goes for me I guess.

In my last post, I was talking about getting through a Death Quest amongst other things (as I tend to do) and how prior, I had made it into Diamond League III, but got driven back very close to being relegated to Gold II as I tried to complete it. I did manage with a bit of luck and then, I was hoping for a better Quest for tonight, something easier.

Life.

A Life quest, not an easier life. I seem shit out of luck in regards to getting an easier life.

I am pretty "down to Earth", but have been "enjoying Life" a lot lately, partly due to a couple recent purchases.

• Level 5 Silvershield Assassin (Sneak, Double-Strike, Poison)
• Level 10 Pelacor Conjurer [Gold] (Flying, Reflect, Divine Shield, Phase)
• Level 7 Silvershield Bard (Cleanse, Swiftness)
• Level 10 Sand Worm [Gold] (Sneak, Snare, Piercing)
• Level 6 Uraeus (Sneak, Poison)

I have to rent an Enchanted Pixie for some Inspiration though. I hope the Chaos Legion set has something that will suffice, as 1500 more dollars for that card alone seems crazy! However, as you can see from that selection, the tactics are pretty clear, Sneak it in from behind and be fast about it!

I made it through Life.

Not only that, I was having a pretty good run so I kept going and I was able to tip myself back into Diamond III, which means I will get more Loot boxes. But, I made it through with a bit to spare, so I decided to give it a go and see if I could get my first Diamond III win.

Score!

Well now that I have a little under my belt, what if I play a couple more rounds?

My first Diamond III win streak.

I did tell you that you probably aren't interested in any of this....

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However, the post I was going to write after finishing the quest would have been far more depressing, so perhaps it isn't too bad to have some fun with this one.

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I was having a pretty good run of things at this point and since I am a pretty crappy player with relatively crappy cards for the league, I was scoring some decent rating points for my wins and I was winning far more than I expected. So, even though I was annoying @abh12345 by dumping some of my rounds into discord and having a chat about random crypto stuff...

42 minutes later....

Hell yeah!

This is my first "taste" of Diamond II and I am hoping that once I get some of these Chaos Legion packs open, I (and hopefully others) will perhaps be able to spend a bit more time knocking around in the bigger-boy leagues. I think it would be good for the game if more players qualified up in the higher leagues.

Full of confidence but only just over the fence, I risked one round to see if I could get my first Diamond II win on the same day as my first Diamond III.

No cigar. However, I held just enough points and wasn't punished much for the loss, so I am hanging onto the League position by a whisker. I decided to retire here for the season, end the cards I rented and move my playing cards into the rental market.

And then I noticed this.

Mylor is a beast as a summoner and as my only maxed Earth, it is pretty much the only one I play. It is fantastic with thorns and is a decent card for the mid-level at least. My earth setup is probably the strongest I have. However as said, I have been getting more into the life Splinter and that means I have to use my only other maxed Summoner, Lorna Shine. This card has Divine Shield and I used to think it was pretty crappy and I only played it becaise it is my "best" Life Summoner, but @azircon got me to look again at it and over the last month or so I have realized I have been severely underrating the card - now it seems that the market has been too, as it has never been rented for more than Mylor before and is usually well down.

The reason (for me at least) as to why it is such a good card can be gleaned from my Life setup mentioned above. Sneak and Speed and especially for low-Mana rounds. The Pelacor Conjurer is already fast and has flight and is only 2 Mana. The Silvershield Bard speeds it up more, as well as speeds up all the sneak cards (and gives a cleanse on the tank position). This means that the faster cards have a chance of striking first and doing some damage. However, the Lorna Shine- provided Divine Shield, means that it is likely several of the enemy strikes are going to do no damage. This means that round 2 is again aided by the speed, effectively giving this Life setup 2 rounds of attacks before real damage comes in. With the sneak stacked and poison on the Assassin and Uraeus, it is possible (especially if the Sand Worm is in there too) to take out several of the backline, while the enemy tank keeps missing the Conjurer.

Of course there are setups to counteract this quite easily, but this game is about playing the odds, especially in these leagues where people don't have full decks available, like me. I think that this is why other people are also looking at Lorna with new eyes and are willing to pay for the benefits. Half of my Diamond III games were played and won with Lorna. However, while I got mine maxed through Dice pack purchases, the value on the market might mean it is undervalued still.

Lorna Shine Max

Mylor Crowling Max

Of course, it isn't quite as versatile as Mylor, but I am glad that I chose to move with Life and some Neutrals for the first cards to buy. I am really looking forward to slotting the Good Evil Doctor Blight into the mix in a couple seasons too, as that will complement any Splinter well.

Well, I am pretty happy with my gaming tonight and now I have a week off to spend my time managing rentals instead. The other game of Splinterlands. The economic ecosystem of it is actually where I like spending most of my time, but I believe that part of that is aided by playing a little too, especially for the more inexperienced. The reason is that playing helps me discover what cards people are using effectively and which might be undervalued. Also, it gives insight into the changing gameplay also, which I think is useful to stay connected.

So, you thought this was going to be another Splinterlands shitpost?

Well, maybe it is if you aren't into Splinterlands at all, but I think that if you are going to write about what you enjoy, put a little effort in :)

I promise, my next post won't be about Splinterlands (probably).

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]