Splinterlands | Buying guide | Best cards to buy as a beginner
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In this post I'm going to talk about your first potential purchases and explain why these are great options. I try to care about value for money because I know new players need to grind a while before they make a decent amount of DEC.
That said, because these cards are so useful they will not be extremely cheap either, but I believe it's better to get a very useful $2 card than getting 10 less useful cards for $0.2.
Note that you can also rent these cards first and buy them once you have earned enough DEC.
I'm going to cover neutral, fire and water cards. I do this because I recommend new players to stick with 2 splinters, personally I would say fire and water are great options as your first 2 splinters.
The mentioned prices are a copy from the time of writing and may not be exact when you are reading this. Especially with the chaos legion expansion, prices may be influenced fast.
Neutral
Neutral cards can be used with any splinter/summoner, this is why they are so interesting for new players.
1. Sand worm - $1.28
The sand worm is my number one recommendation for brand new players.
Why?
It's useful in almost every high mana battle for beginners. Even later on, in silver, gold and even higher leagues sand worm sees a decent amount of play time.
A 5 damage melee monster that can attack from any position is simply beast. Especially since you will struggle to complete high mana lineups because you simply have a limited range of cards as a beginner.
It's a high impact card that you can use in many games. On top of all that, it's one of the cheaper cards on this list.
2. Creeping ooze - $2.50
The creeping ooze is a 1 mana card with the slow ability. This ability does -1 to all enemies attack speed. In my experience this makes creeping ooze usually the best option when you have 1 leftover mana.
As a result, this card is very useful in a lot of games. Where you will almost always use sand worm in high mana battles, creeping ooze is mainly useful in low to mid mana battles.
3. Goblin Mech - $1.49
The goblin mech gets outclassed by most splinter-specific tanks, but is still a pretty strong card and absolutely great in certain situations.
It's weak against magic and it's strong against armor and it's usually a good card to use in high mana battles.
Also, it's great in games with the opportunity or the sneak ability. This way you don't have to put him at the front of the battlefield and he gets more hits with his 4 damage (+ piercing ability) which is really strong.
4. Battering ram - $1.06
The battering ram is especially good in combination with Tarsa. In combination with the summoner buff, this card will become a 2 mana, 2 damage, 2 health with the opportunity ability. That's a very strong card right there.
In other situations, this card is still decent, but not extremely good. A card that you should in certain situations and only in low to mid mana battles.
5. Magi of chaos - $2.30
Magi of chaos is a great all round magic card. It gets outclassed by cards like sporcerer and a level 2 tortisian chief, but this card is a lot cheaper and still pretty strong.
I feel like this card should often be a nice addition to a beginner's lineup.
6. Furious chicken - $30
The furious chicken is expensive, this is why he is so low on the list.
That said, it's a card that you can use so many times because it's a neutral and a 0 mana card. It's main purpose is to absorb an attack, this might not seem to be such a big deal but there are many battles where the furious chicken is the difference between a win and a loss.
Because of the price I would recommend to consider the other options on this list first.
Fire
1. Scorch Fiend - $8.50
The scorch fiend is similar to the chicken but it's stronger and cheaper. The tradeoff is ofcourse that the scorch fiend is not a neutral card and can only be used with a fire summoner.
Once again, it might seem like this card wouldn't have a huge impact, but because you can use him so often his overall impact is actually pretty huge.
One of my top recommendations for any player to get.
2. Tusk the wide - $2.38
Tusk the wide is a really strong anti-magic tank. The reason is simple, you get 12 health with reduced magic damage taken for only 6 mana, that's pretty solid.
Even if your enemy ends up not using magic, it's still a decent frontline tank because he has 12 health.
3. The Forgotten one - $3.05
The forgotten one is a simple card, using him in noxious fumes battles is really good.
It's also a good inclusion in high mana opportunity and/or sneak battles because of his strong base stats.
4. Molten Ogre - $2.56
The molten ogre is an older card and often feels like a forgotten card.
I'm here to tell you that this guy is also very strong, maybe a bit situational, but strong.
You mainly want to use him in high mana opportunity/sneak battles. He reduces the enemy melee damage (which they will often use in these types of battles) and has solid base stats.
Also, it's not a very expensive card.
Water
1. Torrent Fiend - $9
This card has the exact same explanation as the scorch fiend.
2. Djinn oshanus - $7.89
Djinn oshannus is a very strong card and you are going to want to include him in most mid to high mana lineups.
2 magic damage, 5 attack speed, 10 health and the void ability is absolutely beast, especially if you expect the enemy to include some magic damage in their lineup.
3. Sea monster - $5.50
Sea monster is an older card and considered one of the main water tanks, especially strong in beginners lineups.
The main strength is the heal ability in combination with the high damage output.
One thing to watch out for is that if you put him at the front of a high mana battle he might die before he actually had the chance to heal, so make sure to use him wisely.
4. Nerissa tridawn - $1.69
Nerisssa tridawn is another chaos legion card and is mainly useful in high mana battles. 3 magic damage and 9 health makes this a nice combination of damage and tankiness.
If you would ever be able to get a summoner that gives a magic damage buff, this card becomes even stronger.
5. Spineback turtle - $3.49
The spineback turtle is one of the most tanky 4 mana cards. Great for low mana battles and little league games.
2 armor and 6 health for 4 mana at level 1 is pretty impressive.
However, the card is pretty expensive because he gets even stronger at higher levels (thorns ability), so there is a high demand.
Still a great addition to your collection.
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