Splinterlands - Essential Cards for Beginners

Last week, Splinterlands released the Foundation set along with the Campaign mode. This is a new game feature aimed at guiding beginners on the basics of Splinterlands battle system. The Foundation cards that were given out were fun to play with. It's a complete set with archons, tanks, mages and archers. Some cards also came with unique skills that can be used in the game. Using the Foundation set, beginners can already earn glint tokens and further add reward cards to their deck. I used the Foundation cards in my games together with Rebellion reward cards that are essential to have an advantage in fights. It's fun to play and I'm earning a small amount of SPS too which I stake to start building my SPS stack. Here are the teams I use in my games which a beginner can also use.

Water Team

The Water team's archon gives +1 magic to all units so I would use mostly magic units in this team. There should be a strong tank in front because magic units don't have much defense. After magic units, other units like melee and ranged can also be included in the team to help attack the enemy.

Tanks

Tanks are in the frontline and usually get attacked first. It's important to have a tank with high defense and health. The Foundation set has the Port Guardian as tank.

It's an adequate tank but if you want something better, buy reward chests with your glint earning and hope that you get these.

Commander Slade is a rare card so it will be harder to get him but he has better overall stats and skills. The Giant Alpine Skink is a common card and easy to get from the common reward chests. It has better stats than the Port Guardian and has a shield skill.

After you have your tanks, you can have your magic attackers behind them. One if from the Foundation set and the other two are neutral Rebellion reward cards that can be obtained from reward chests.

Fire Team

The Fire team has a good set and you can already form a fighting team on these cards alone. It has a tank and a secondary tank with Reach skill. It has a couple of strong ranged attackers and two melee cards that can hit from the rear with their sneak and opportunity skills.

To add firepower to your Fire team, buy common reward chests with glint and hope you get this card.

Chaos Evoker will add magic firepower to your team. She is fast and has a blast skill that do splash damage.

Earth Team

The Earth team is also well balanced. It has a tank that can heal and a second melee attacker with reach skill. They have a couple of strong ranged attackers and a magic attacker with cleanse skill. The cleanse skill is very useful against poison.

In addition to the above units. You can also add a couple of Rebellion reward cards to your collection.

Both these cards are common and have 2 attacks. Halaran Huntress can fly making her useful in earthquake games. She also has charge skill that enables her to attack from the rear. Blackmoor Wildelf has 2 magic attack and can hit the enemy from the rear.

Light Team

The Light team Foundation cards has a weak line up compared to others. It has three melee attackers and one ranged. The Paprikash can only attack from the tank position but has weak stats for a tank.

It's even harder to make this line up stronger since the Rebellion cards that can be added are rare cards.

The Leopard is a better tank than Twice Yester Knight and Janni Rebel has two magic attacks and gives +1 melee attack to units.

A strong attacker from the rear that can also be added is the Luceheim Demon. It has 3 ranged attack and snipe skill. It's a common card so easier to get than the other two.

Death Team

The Death team is another incomplete team and will need some cards to add to their lineup. It has a tank and a ranged attacker then two melee cards that can only attack from the first position.

To add to the Death team, these two common cards can help.

Ujurak Brave is a tank with better stats than Nim Guard Captain and Broken Earth Thug is a melee attacker that can hit from anywhere with opportunity skill. Even with the addition of these two cards, the Death team is still weaker compared to the other splinters.

Neutral Cards

The Foundation set has some useful melee neutral cards. Most useful is the Vengeful Monk who has 2 melee attack and opportunity skill.

In addition, try to get these two magic attackers from reward chests. One is a common card and the other is rare. These cards add weapons to your arsenal and useful in battles.

Dragon Cards

The Foundation set did not come with Dragon cards but you can get some from the reward chests. The easiest to get is a rare card, Dragon Egg Forager. It has 2 melee attack and opportunity skill. Like the neutral cards, it adds more weapons to your arsenal.

There you have it. In addition to Foundation cards, you can add more to your deck by buying the reward chests. I did not add the epic and legendary cards yet because these will be hard to get for beginners but they are strong cards that will level up your deck. Buy the epic and legendary reward chests if you have the glints.