Quite often the question asked by people is "Well how do I start in this game, where do I start, what cards should I rent?" And here's the solution. Venari Wavesmith is a very good card. For only 5 mana, he gives every single one of your monsters +2 shield at the beginning of each battle! He's also a super cheap card to rent, or even buy. I currently am renting one out that I own to people for 1.4 DEC a day... that's the equivalent to a penny and a half a day! Super easy and cheap to use. He's a magic card, sometimes good with Alric (the summoner) that gives any magic character +1 magic! If you're not into renting, because you want to buy things for yourself to have, Venari Wavesmith also comes at a super cheap price of around $6-7, which most anyone can afford. For the beginning, I would definitely recommend renting a Venari Wavesmith to start off your splinterlands career.
Venari Wavesmith is especially good if you get the ruleset of "Weak Magic" (which means that magic characters hit shield before health), so that the enemy has an extra 2 shield to break before breaking into your characters health. Be sure to position him around the middle if you suspect that the enemy team is going to use sneak attacks! If the ruleset is that all sneak abilities are gone, put him at the back so that he can beef up your whole line with shield! I'm pretty new to the game, but from my experience, I've found that he's one of the best cards for playing with, as well as not having to spend loads of money!!