Whether you are new player or a certified OG to Splinterlands, understanding the card's anatomy is one of the most important things to master the game, regardless of which game format and what level of cards you play. It also helps players to decide which cards they need to have when building their deck and to become competitive in battle.
So, for this week's Community Engagement Challenge, I want to go back and share my knowledge abut the card's card's basic anatomy.
Card Types
There are two types of cards that is essential in Splinterlands. Each card types has their own role to play and the outcome of your battle, will be decided based on how you utilize the use of this cards together.
Archons Cards
Formerly called as Summoners, are cards which represents the player, and is needed to summon unit cards, depending on their element or through their bloodlines. Aside from that, Archons may also give an increase in stat boost or reduced the stats of the opponent team as well as give them additional abilities. The levels by which a unit can be used is also determined by the level of the Archons.
 |  |  |
Unit Cards
Unit cards on the other hand are the actual fighters in the game that is summoned by the Archon. They posses different attack types and different abilities. In each battle, the maximum number of units that an Archon can summon is six.
 |  |  |
Card Anatomy
For any player that is new to the game, looking at the the information contained in a Splinterlands card can be overwhelming and may have frightened them to try the game, so I will be breaking down all the parts of a Splinterlands card.
1️⃣ Mana Cost
Each battle has different Mana Cap that tells the amount of mana that can be used in each battle, and Mana Cost is the amount of mana that is required to use both an Archon and Unit cards. When building your lineup, it is generally preferable to use units and Archons whose combined total Mana Cost falls at or near the Mana Cap, while occupying as many unit slots as possible.
2️⃣ Stats
Reflects the cards physical power, speed, toughness and health.
- Melee
May only be able to attack from the first position, unless they have Charge, Reach, Opportunity, Retaliate, and Sneak ability or when playing under Equal Opportunity, Maneuvers, Melee Mayhem, and Super Sneak ruleset.
- Range
Range units on the other hand, can attack from any position except the first position, unless they have the Close Range ability or the Close Range ruleset was at play.
- Magic
Units with magic attack can hit the target regardless of the position and magic units are the most flexible cards to use in the game.
There are also units that with no attack damage and are often used when retaliatory abilities or modifiers are at play. While they do not have damage, some cards has the ability to grant them attack, unless they have the Untrainable debilitation.
- Armor
Provides protection against melee and range attacks to prevent damaging the cards health. That said, they do not provide protection against magic attacks unless with the presence of Void Armor ability or during Weak Magic ruleset.
- Speed
Determines the order by which the units can attack, with the fastest card usually attacking first unless under Reverse Speed ruleset. The faster the card, the chance that they will dodge the attack from an opponent also increases.
- Health
Indicates the life of the card, and when it reaches 0, it means the unit is out of play.
3️⃣ Element/Rarity
Represents which element a card belongs to as well as its rarity. Some Archons and Units possess dual-element, which means you can mix and match cards lineups of different elements. On the Other hand, there is also the Dragon element, which allows you to use dragon units along with another element, while neutral cards can be used regardless of the element.
4️⃣ Card Name
Each Splinterlands card has its own name and has unique lore to give the character's backstory more depth. It also helps players to easily find the card in the market.
5️⃣ Bloodline
Indicates the card's ancestry rooted in their lore, and with Bloodline Dominion, units that share the same Bloodline as their archons can now be used regardless of their element and can also get additional abilities. Units with Bloodline Tribute can also give additional stats on units with the same bloodline.
6️⃣ Experience
Experience shows the progress of the card that can be gained by combining duplicate copies of the card in order to increase its level.
8️⃣ Level
Shows the level of the card. By reaching certain levels, Unit cards gain increased stats or learn a new ability, while Archons will be able to summon stronger units.
8️⃣ Abilities/Debilitations
These are the cards' special skills that can help to strengthen your team, weaken your opponent, make attacks more powerful, and prevent taking damage from certain rulesets, as well as retaliatory abilities. Some cards also have some debilitations, which may inflict damage or negative status effects on allied cards, but these cards usually have stronger stats for their mana cost.
Closing
Learning Splinterlands basic card anatomy is important to help players understand both the strengths and weaknesses of the card to give them an informed decision when building their deck and forming their strategy in the battle.
Thank you, and see you on the next post!
Splinterlands Free Assets
This were assets that I edited using Adobe Photoshop and more of this assets were available in this post for anyone who likes to use them.
Previous Post
 |  |  |
All the assets and images that I used here belong to Splinterlands.
If you find the game through my post and register through my Referral Link, just comment in any of my posts, and I will provide you with some cards and SPS delegations to help you get started in the game.
All the battle links provided come from my personal accounts.
Thank you for reading my post. If you're interested in playing Splinterlands, you can join by clicking the images below and follow me on Twitter and 3Speak for timely Splinterlands updates.
| Game | 3Speak | Inleo | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
