Greetings Praetorians!
In todays article I'll be talking a little bit about SURVIVAL MODE and some of the things I'm considering when I prepare for the newest format in Splinterlands!
What is Survival Mode, and why will it be important for Splinterlands? It's a way to use all those cards that otherwise would not be played, would be sold to the marketplace, or just hoarded forever growing dusty within your collection.
There is NO ENERGY, and cards that die go on a "cooldown" so can't be used for a period of time based on it's level and rarity. I've included the graph below so that you can reference it to help your decision on the risk vs reward of using lower level cards or if you'd rather go for the gold and play with maxed cards:
So what are some of the most important considerations I feel you should bear in mind when considering SURVIVAL Mode?
- Card Cost
- Card Impact
- Card Survivability
- Card Playability
I go into more detail about each of these considerations below, and I have included a link to a YouTube VIDEO I have created that further explains my ideas!
CARD COST:
You will need to weigh your ability to compete using lower cost cards vs your ability to win with them. While it may seem that the best way to proceed would be to have an army of the cheapest cards available, if those cards don't help you WIN, why would you buy them, even if they are "cheaper"? So just because a card is "cheap", that does not equate to a card being "good".
As an example, you need to consider if it will be more worthwhile to invest in 1x 4* Rare Summoner, or 25 BCX of 1* Rare Summoners. In the case of using higher level cards, a higher number of cards will be required, which represents a higher cost per card. Is that extra expenditure warranted or is going the cheaper option and having multiple copies of lesser cards the right play? I feel we'll get that answer after the first few seasons of Survival Mode are completed.
An example of this consideration would be to spend $40 on a 1* Yodin vs instead buying 160x 1* Kelya. Indeed, the Yodin would be MUCH more powerful, but if it was able to win only 5 matches before it went on cooldown, but you were able to win 40x matches with the 160 Kelya, then on a cost basis, the Kelya may have been the better option! (Note that in this example you also need to factor in the cards that also died along with the other 120 Kelya, but it's a generalized example).
CARD IMPACT
Since you will likely be playing with a larger number of weaker, less expensive cards, you'll want to make sure the cards that you're using are also IMPACTFUL.
It's fine to have 1 million copies of Venari Heatsmith, but if you are not actively WINNING with them, then are not having an impact on your games, they are just taking up space in your deck and collection, and possibly contributing to losses you wouldn't otherwise take if you'd used a more impactful card.
You also need to bear in mind that cards have different impacts at different levels, so a 1* Time Mage that only has Slow will be far less impactful of a 5* that also gains rust. You'll need to consider the impact of these cards when compared to the level of summoner you'll have access to, so while it's fine to buy a 5* Time Mage, if you're only going to be using a 1* General Sloan as the summoner, it will not have the IMPACT that you're expecting, AND will be a higher cost than you need to pay!
Therefore I look for cards that are highly impactful, even at lower levels. Some example include cards like Disentigrator (Demoralize at 1 BCX) and Mushroom Seer (Silence at 1 BCX).
CARD SURVIVABILITY
The namesake of this entire mode... SURVIVAL! The more times you can play a card without it dying, the better that card value becomes! Since a card will go on cooldown when it dies, that means that keeping it alive as long as possible is a HUGE benefit not just to prevent cooldown, but also to win games!
The most important cards in this category are your TANKS. They will be taking the most damage, so presumably dying the fastest and most frequently. Having good tanks with hard bodies will help you win and preserve the cost / battle ratio by virtue of you not having to replace them with another duplicate in the next battle.
Cheap cards that die often but will win you games like Furious Chicken, the Fiends, and 1 mana cards will also help keep your more valuable cards alive, even though they themselves are weak and will sacrifice themselves to do so.
Some examples include: Sea Monster (Heals itself, fat body, good damage) and Mycelic Infantry (Shield, nice armor / body)
CARD PLAYABLITY
You'll also want to make sure the cards that you buy are PLAYABLE and FLAXIBLE.
Neutral cards can be used with any summoner, so if you're all out of Kelya's and reduced to playing with your stockpile of General Sloans, you'll still have a strong playable tank.
You'll also want to consider which are the strongest splinters, and which splinters you have the most summoners for. If you've got 100x copies of Obsidian and only 10x copies of Thaddius Brood, you'll want to own more Pelacor Bandits than Pelacor Deceivers, since the bandits will be played more.
This also applies to how GOOD the splinters are! The bot will want to play Kelya more often since it is the best of the rare Chaos Legion summoners, so you'll want to have more copies of the cards that will win more with that Splinter available. (Which means you'll need to be ready to LOSE more copies of that card when it eventually dies).
In this regard I look at Dragon cards as perhaps the weakest of the splinters for Survival. This is solely because you will likely have LESS dragon summoners available to you because of their monetary cost, which will reduce their playability.
Some examples of cards with excellent playability therefore include: Arkemis the Bear (Neutral, Great tank, high Survivability, Good ability in Protect) and Uraeus (Neutral card that can attack from any position so great versatility).
If you would like to hear me drone on and on in a video format, please feel free to watch my YouTube video here:
So to summarize in a single phrase, I believe the cards that will see the most play and be the most impactful in Survival mode will be:
"Cheap cards that have a high impact even at lower levels while offering survivability and the flexibility to be played in multiple rulesets."
If you can identify these cards and stock up on them, you will be well on your way to being successful in the Survival Format!
Thank you for reading, and I'll see you around Praetoria!
The Psilence