Spellbook-Only Challenge: Day 15 - Report #2

As a Splinterlands player I try to use the whole HIVE ecosystem to my advantage. I can convert any tokens I gain using HIVE into DEC and thus using HIVE fits into a larger strategy for advancing in Splinterlands.

But with the change eliminating DEC rewards for Bronze III players, I became curious how difficult it would be to advance in Splinterlands using a spellbook alone. I decided to start an alt account to find out. Thus my spellbook-only challenge was born. My goal is to not bring any more funds into this account beyond the spellbook purchase. So, no tokens from blogging. No buying credits for expansion packs. The only way the account can add funds is by selling/swapping/renting out game assets that were gained by playing the game.

Day 15 - Report #2

I last reported on day 6 of my challenge, having just had great fortune landing a Vaneri Wavesmith in my first season’s rewards.

Since Then…

When I first started this challenge I thought I would be able to rent my way into Bronze II by catching my first reward card or two and selling them. The 15 to 30 or so DEC I’d bring in would allow me to initially rent into Bronze II, and then the DEC rewards for the matches would be enough to fund the continued rentals.

But, owning a Veneri Wavesmith suddenly changed the plan.

Bronze III League: Where Winning Isn’t Everything

An interesting side effect of eliminating the DEC reward for winning matches in Bronze III is that if the ranking points aren’t important to you (read: if you don’t have the collection power to be in Bronze II) then actually winning each individual match isn’t really very important. The only thing that will advance you in the game is completing the daily quest. So it’s actually more important to be sure your team qualifies for the daily quest, than it is for the team to actually have a chance of winning. Even if the team is a low percentage winner at a match’s mana level, you might still run into another Bronze-III player who is just chasing their quest and thus end up winning. Or you might beat an incompetent bot. Or you might catch a surrender after you submit your team. In either case you might get credit toward the quest, and in Bronze III, that’s all that matters.

Perhaps there should be some different quests at the Bronze 3 level. A quest to have a winning streak of 3 (4? 5?) matches makes more sense than running out starter-deck Death-teams in 99 mana matches and watching them get destroyed.

Time To Win ‘em All

With the help of my lone card, it’s now time for me to start to care about winning every match. And that’s a good thing.

I have been renting out my Venari Wavesmith for 1.25 DEC per day. I realize this is probably a bit under valued, but I’m not looking to get rich, just fund the first days of renting into Bronze II. So, making sure it rented out and stayed rented out seemed more important than getting maximum income. Besides, it was great fortune for me to catch this card in my first season’s rewards, so renting it out a little cheap feels like sharing my good fortune.

This rental is netting me 1.187 DEC per day, and I am on pace to be able to rent into Bronze II before the current season ends.

Now it’s time to run together wins and keep my rating points up.

Status Summary

Thanks to having a few DEC and my one reward card, I have been adding SPS dust to my daily take. But since my last report my daily rewards have all been credits and potions.

On day 15 my progress stands at...

• 11.87 DEC
• 49 Credits
• 0.027 SPS
• 5 Legendary Potions
• 5 Alchemy Potions
• Collection Power 20

More To Come

Thanks for stopping by. I will report further progress as soon as it’s appropriate. If you are interested in following my progress, I will add the #tpbjustplay tag to any posts I make in regards to this challenge.