In my first Modern season here in Splinterlands, I started feeling frustrated because I couldn’t win.
Or, on the other side of the coin, I started wanting more because I was winning.
That first season taught me a lot.
I over-rented. I was completely out of budget.
I probably spent DEC on decks I shouldn’t have touched.
But the learning was real.
In my second season, I decided to change my approach.
Instead of renting so much, I focused on upgrading summoners and slowly shaping how my account would develop in the future.
That wasn’t a small decision.
I would be playing for many, many days with the cards I bought at that moment.
So I started thinking about synergy: dwarves began to fill defensive roles, neutrality became important, and then I looked at which summoners to invest in — usually the cheapest ones, because my budget is limited.
And here’s the key point.
If I don’t have a budget, the “correct” move would probably be renting: mid-level summoners (level 3–4), trying to reach Gold with solid cards and a few powerful staples that cover many situations.
But then reality hits.
Splinterlands has many leagues and many experienced players.
At matchmaking, you can face someone playing on a completely different level — an expert for whom your deck is basically paper in the wind.
I realized this would happen often.
That I’d be constantly renting, trying to reach a level that would be very hard to sustain, because veteran players already master decks, builds, and the game’s overall thinking.
Calculating a good rental ratio would be almost impossible for me.
So I changed perspective.
Behind every Splinterlands account — behind the charts, behind the new avatars, beyond the bots — there is always a human being.
And human beings are emotional.
They are also shaped by their financial situation.
Some players play just for fun. They rent freely and don’t care much about ROI. And that’s perfectly fine — Splinterlands is a very fun game.
But in my experience, with rented CP done “right,” accounts still need to be profitable.
That’s the conclusion I’m reaching with my limited experience.
So I made a decision that positioned me as a player inside the market.
Instead of renting endlessly, I chose to buy slowly and calmly, planning a feedback loop where rewards turn into deck upgrades, and decks turn into more rewards.
Since my budget is small, my main strategy is upgrading summoners whenever possible.
The jump from level 3 to level 4 is not cheap, but it matters.
Through the Glint rewards system, I aim to feed my deck with solid-level cards and benefit from the Conclave Arcana Rewards airdrop.
(If anyone knows how long this airdrop will last, please comment 👀)
Final thoughts
In Splinterlands, we often want more.
Maybe because it’s one of the first games where finance truly blends with Web3 gaming — aside from Axie Infinity, which we all know has its own story.
The human being is a reflection of ambition, desire, timing, and circumstance.
There is no “correct” way to play Splinterlands.
You can have fun.
You can lose.
You can win.
You can trade, analyze, study numbers.
If you like writing, there’s a community that reads, supports, and celebrates good posts and new insights.
I recently read a post asking: “Why not build around Splinterlands?”
And that statement felt absolutely true.
Splinterlands will go very far.
Very, very far.
As a pioneer of life gamification, the next 15 years hold an incredible place for this game.
Thank you, community.
I also announced this post on Twitter.
You can find it here: https://x.com/splinterlan/status/2015749441756471647
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