@Kxlm here, with the first edition of my new "@Splinterlands Memoirs" series, where I document my thoughts and experiences of the game, throughout its development.
Today, we take a look at my experience with the new "Ranked Battle Rewards System". Since this is new territory for the entire Splinterlands community, we are all in the process of finding our feet and navigating our way through the many strategies to optimize rewards.
In sharing my journey, I hope you will find parts that resonate with your own and you can identify areas where you could make improvements to your approach.
🤜Let’s get into it!🤛
Day 1 - A New Journey Begins
Beginning the day with high hopes, I was dealt the Fire Splinter as my daily focus. Unfortunately, Fire is my weakest deck by far, so I opted for a new focus and landed on Earth. My Earth deck is average at best, but I was confident that I could get it done.
After finishing the previous season in Silver 1, my reward shares would be calculated for Silver chests, while beginning my season in Bronze 1.
For the first 5 games, I spammed my focus Splinter. I lost 4 out of 5 battles and I was no closer to moving up in leagues or earning a reward chest. I had to change tack... So, instead of spamming Earth, I decided I would go for a couple of wins with my stronger decks, to get me closer to Silver 3, which would garner higher reward shares.
Of course, the greed took over and I continued to play Earth, even when it wasn't the optimal choice for the battle. I won a few and lost a handful more.
The results of my futile efforts saw me quickly burn my ECR down to 74%, with a total of 2 focus chests and 3 season chests earned - Capping off the day in Silver 3.
Chests Earned: Day 1
The Aftermath
Initially, I was rather frustrated with the small number of rewards chests I had earned. I guess the hype of earning 30 focus chests in a day had warped my expectations. In an attempt to find a silver lining, I quickly realized that if I was playing in the old ranked rewards system, and I finished my daily quest in Silver 3, I would have earned only 2 chests anyway. This softened the blow somewhat, but I was determined that I could do much better.
Day 2 - The Comeback
Dusting myself off from the disappointment of Day 1, I decided to analyze what went wrong for me and how I could adapt and overcome. I referred to the various discord channels to assess how other players found the new system and the strategies they implemented. For a large majority, they spammed their focus Splinter as well and garnered around the same amount of chests as I did (relative to their league). Those that earned more, burnt their ECR down to as low as 30%.
What occurred to me was that if everyone was spamming their focus Splinter, it should be significantly easier to play the "counter" game. So, I decided I would forgo the instant gratification of earning daily chests and instead, I would play the Splinter that would grant me the highest chance of winning, regardless of whether it was my focus.
My new daily focus was Death, which is my 3rd strongest deck, although I didn't care too much as I knew I was going to play for the win regardless of my focus.
Lo and behold, my rewards chest woes were rectified! In the first 6 battles, I went on an absolute tear, besting every single one of my opponents and moving up to Silver 2. I then landed in a "low mana" battle, where DEATH was the absolute must-play Splinter, to win. As expected, I won that battle as well, which in combination with my 30% win streak bonus and Silver 2 reward shares, netted me 2 focus chests in one battle.
Continuing with my strategy to win every battle, whilst utilizing my focus Splinter ONLY when necessary, I managed to earn a total of 8 focus chests and 14 season chests at 74% ECR - Finishing the day in SILVER 1.
Chests Earned: Day 2
DAY 3 - If It's Not Broken, Don't Fix It!
Relishing in the success of Day 2, I picked up where I left off and continued to go for the win at all costs. Suffice to say, the results speak for themselves. Below is a summary of my chest earnings from the season thus far:
Below is the season total:
Target refers to the maximum number of chests that could be earned in a season from the old ranked rewards system. (Silver 1 League)
Analyzing the data above, we can see that I have already accumulated 66% of the total chests that I would have received from a season in the old system and we still have 12 more days to go! The devs weren't kidding when they said that we would be cracking open way more chests; It just took some time to adjust and find the optimal strategy.
Considerations Going Forward
No strategy is ever perfect. There is always room to improve, but for now, I am happy with my current approach.
Renting
Fellow Splinterlander 
Reward Bonuses / Reductions
Reward bonuses and reductions are also important considerations that affect the number of rewards earned.
I found myself having to use starter cards, to field the best lineup for some battles. This hurt my earnings by a considerable amount.
🔵 Starter cards reduce rewards by the number of starter cards used, divided by the total number of cards played, multiplied by 100 (rounded down).
For example:
If you play a lineup of 7 cards (including the Summoner) and 2 of those cards are starter cards, your rewards will be reduced by 28%.
2/7*100=28.571≈28
If you play a lineup of 2 cards and both are starter cards, your rewards will be reduced by 100% i.e. You will receive zero rewards.
2/2*100=100
On days 2 and 3, I managed to go on a few win streaks which helped significantly, in my efforts to earn more rewards.
🔵 Win streaks grant a 5% reward bonus for each consecutive win, starting from your 2nd win in a row, up to a maximum of 50%.
Another way to boost your rewards is through the use of specific sets and foils.
🔵 Gold Foil, Alpha and Promo cards grant a 10% reward bonus, while Beta cards grant a 5% bonus.
You can see how quickly things add up, through the implementation of reward bonuses and avoiding starter card reward reductions.
Final Thoughts
I will admit, that the induction into the new system was pretty rough. Thankfully, I took an active approach to find a solution to my troubles and things are going great now. I look forward to the developments in earning potential as the season progresses, as I know the number of wins required to maintain the same amount of daily earnings will become significantly harder, the higher we go.
The "Daily Focus" could do with a few tweaks. Having one Splinter to focus on for an entire 24 hours is rather frustrating and at times, can be tedious. I realize that this is only the first iteration of the ranked rewards system overhaul and as I have said previously, I have great belief in the Splinterlands team, so I will remain patient and continue making the best of the current situation.
See you in the next one...
God Bless~
-Kxlm
🤜 LETS GROW TOGETHER 🤛
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