Near the eastern edge of the Rayso Range in Mortis, the creepies and crawlies grow quite massive. In this survival of the fittest giant insect situation, the scorpions have thrived, bullying every other species into submission. The Lord of Darkness believes the giant insects result from the strange purple gasses that seep through the cracks of Bren-Ha, and he has plans to throw more giant monsters into the mountain as an experiment.

Blinding Reflectors, also known as Reflects, are unique among Life magic elementalists in that they channel their Life essence into their shields. They are the first units into battle and stand at the front of the line, firing a concentrated beam of Life energy to blind their enemies and reflect any magic attacks against them. If multiple Reflects use their abilities in unison, they can create a ray of light as bright as the sun.

I got beat today in a Little League battle that only allows cards with four mana or less to be selected. The main card my enemy put out front was the Giant Scorpion. I’ve never heard of or seen this card until today so let’s check it out.

I wouldn’t have paid any attention to the Giant Scorpion because I didn’t like the Untamed edition of cards. They are now expensive and will soon be unplayable in Modern League so I don’t even look at most of them. I’ll rent a few Legendary or other OP Untamed cards toward the end of the season, but this Giant Scorpion never appeared on my screen until today.

It’s a strong card when it’s at MAX level, but I could get a few or more great Chaos Legion cards instead of this one expensive Giant Scorpion. It looks cool so I’ll at least get a level one card.

I thought I had this battle because the Giant Scorpion looked weak and all of my cards were well-placed MAX-level cards. My enemy also had mostly MAX-level cards but a better ranged and magic attack strategy. At least I killed their Giant Scorpion before seeing my team slaughtered in battle.

⚽️GLG⚽️ is now playable! I know a lot of the community feels the graphics look lame, but I’ve played the game several times even though I’ve never been a football or soccer fan and felt the gameplay was fun. I tried showing my wife and she watched me play two or three times before she told me I was dumb and to let her play so I’m glad I’ll have my wife-bot attacking this game too. I use a few bots to play the accounts of my kids who’ve lost interest in the game, but my wife is a better player than the bots by at least a factor of two. I think I’m almost as good as a bot so I don’t suck completely, but I’m OG and know some old-school Splintertricks.

What do you like to do when it’s only 4 mana or less allowed? I love going with 🐲Dragon🐲 and then 🔥Fire🔥 choosing the fastest cards first. I’ll blast them with my exploding rats and grind through them with my ants. What about you? What’s your strategy?

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_f2e3cf4e50a6bfbd1c37896dcb5dbe0c&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-august-2-2023

Check out my original artwork at NFTShowroom:
https://nftshowroom.com/jeremiahcustis/gallery

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-252by @alexa.art

Many centuries ago, the Pelacor followed the prophet, Edalus, on what has become known as the ‘Exile.’ They followed him into the Mountains of Fire surrounding Mount Praetorous. For generations, they lived alone in these mountains, hidden away. They were taught to worship the sun and moon gods, Solaki and Lunaki, deities dreamt into existence from the bones of Edalus’ dead parents and his zealous mind. The scriptures read that the two Gods were carried into the heavens upon pieces of consecrated land, torn from the World to raise them high so that their worshipers would always look up to them and forever be beneath their great heavenly power.

How are all of you fellow Splinterlanders doing today? Have you been enjoying this long dip in the bear cave? How much longer do you think it can last? I hope it continues for another year or at least long enough for me to MAX my entire deck and stock up on SPS. I’ve got three summoners, a few Legendary, and most Common cards MAXed, so if the bull sneaks up on us before the halving, at least I’ll be able to keep battling in the Gold and Diamond Leagues, but what I want is to get back into Champion. I was there in the Beta days, but things were different back then. You couldn’t lock your cards. There wasn’t the community we enjoy today and there weren’t any useful video streamers to learn from. I didn’t take Splinterlands seriously back then because I figured there would be a better blockchain-based play-to-earn game come along so I sold all of my Beta and Alpha cards. I won’t make the same mistake with my Chaos Legion cards. They may not be as valuable, but they look way better and are mostly more powerful. Do you think Rebellion will be even stronger or will it be a dud like most of Untamed? I’m guessing it will be a dud like most TV shows where you have a consequential episode followed by a filler. I’ll make sure to get one of every card, then I’ll wait a few months for prices to drop before I start MAXing anything over one cent per card.

My battle today was played by my wife. She was the Death team and her enemy was the Life team. I was about to do the same thing as the enemy out of habit because the Pelacor Conjurer is the go-to card when mana is limited or melee is not allowed, but this battle also had the rule that all cards lose their abilities so he wasn’t going to reflect magic so my wife’s choice of going with the most health possible for the minimal mana allowed as well as the Death summoner’s nerfing the enemy’s magic was the way to go.

I often joke with her that she would’ve made and maybe was a good general with her strategic mind in the past life, but the universe is punishing her now, so she must be my wife to make up for her past sins. It’s annoying that she doesn’t even know what the Hive Blockchain is and can’t remember her Facebook or Google passwords, but she’s way better at the game than I am. I’m glad she’s on my side and helping our guild win brawls.

Did you see the historic congressional briefing today? It was boring so I fell asleep a few minutes into it. I just remember something about non-human intelligence and how it’s ruining the game so they removed it from Modern ranked battles. Does it seem easier or harder now that the bots are mostly gone? I haven’t really noticed the difference, but I’m glad the bots are gone. What about you? Do you think we should vote to remove bots from Wild too?

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_9d171d3a8d535673c5e5ad9e66950cb6&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-july-26-2023

Check out my original artwork at NFTShowroom:
https://nftshowroom.com/jeremiahcustis/gallery

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-251by @catrynartby @alexa.art
by @hadley4

There is talk that since the rise of Praetoria and the formation of the chaos gate, strange demons have been sighted amongst the clouds above the new continent. Some have described them as huge bat-like creatures with incredible speed, others swear they are flying invaders from the other world, but to the scholars in Draykh-Nahka who have seen their images there is no doubt, these are new, uncatalogued sub-species of dragon.

I’m a surfer and an OG Splinterlands player. I’ve been playing Splinterlands since the beginning and I see a lot of similarities between card price volatility and the timing of the ocean’s rage. A lot of people are mad at the game, for this reason, or that reason selling all of their cards and leaving. I understand. I’ve done that three times only to come back and have started from scratch. The fact that you can pack up your digital camp, sell everything, and leave is what makes Splinterlands revolutionary. Go ahead and leave. I’ve already learned my lesson. I’ll be here to pick up the cards you sell on the way out.

I don’t really care what my cards are worth. I see them as soldiers in my army that either win or don’t win and the Void Dragon is a winner once it’s at level 3. I never really make it very far into the 💎Diamond League💎 these days, but I’ve got my eye on the 🏆Champion League🏆 in the long run so I need to cheaply MAX as many cards as quickly as I can and I’ve got my eye on the Void Dragon, but going from level 3 to level 4 only means it will increase its magic attack power by one and that can easily be nerfed by an enemy card so I’ll focus on getting my fire splinter summoner, 🔥Tarsa🔥, to MAX level first. I’ve MAXed most of the Chaos Legion common cards already and a few summoners. What about you? What cards are you focusing on?

My battle went as planned. My enemy was destroyed quickly while my Void Dragon dodged and missed most of their attacks. There were three rules to this battle, Aimless, Holy Protection, and Explosive Weaponry. You have no idea who your ranged attackers will strike nor will your enemy when it’s the Aimless so it’s better to rely on speed and choose faster attackers so you at least get in the first strike. Holy Protection is a ruleset I haven’t really figured out what to do with yet so it didn’t really have an effect on my card selection this time. Explosive Weaponry means that all attackers will have the blast ability so that’s another reason I chose fast cards as well as the Void Dragon because I knew it would dodge a few attacks and survive.

What about you? Do you have a good strategy for using Holy Protection to your advantage? Thanks for reading about my battle today.

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_58de10d5bb659830416644218532e087&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-july-19-2023

Check out my original artwork at NFTShowroom:
https://nftshowroom.com/jeremiahcustis/gallery

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-250

by @alexa.art

by @catrynart

Quix had wandered the chaos realm for so long, he’d almost forgotten where his life had begun. Most of the memories only came to him in dreams now, flashes of images that were hard to connect and make any sense of. It was only when he came upon the Ravaged Void and rested by its black well that something stirred within him. It prompted a deep hunger for mana and he became obsessed with magic. Not only that, but the images he saw in his dreams became clearer and he witnessed great dragons. Some of them were native to the realm of chaos and some looked completely alien. Their nature appealed to him and demanded his attention, and so he remained by the void where over time his power grew, the vast emptiness filling him with potent energy.

Quix the Devious is my favorite summoner because he’s a 🐉dragon🐉 which means he can summon any splinter and he also slows down the enemy and reduces their ranged attacks. I remember opening him in a pack and seeing he is a winner so I MAXed him out even though it was very expensive to do so at the time. I’ve got all of my other summoners leveled up to level 6 so they are at the top level for the Gold League where I seem to spend most of the season. When I can make it to the Diamond League, I have to rely on him a lot because it seems like most people are playing with MAX-level cards. Luckily summoners have never been cheaper than they are now so hopefully I can MAX a few more before the bull market suddenly comes along putting them out of my budget.

This was a challenging battle because it had three rules. Divine Shield just means that every card will take one hit without taking any damage. I didn’t factor that into my selection at all, but the other two rules only allowed for cards using 4 mana or less and for archers only which really limited our options. It seems like the new thing to do is to sacrifice a martyr card first so it can boost the stats of nearby cards and that’s what we both did, but my summoner reduced their archers’ attack power which helped me win. Having most of my cards at MAX level also gave me the edge. I’ve been able to MAX many of my cards from just the HBD earnings from these @Splinterlands posts because they support you with big upvotes if you participate in their weekly challenges with good content.

Kelya Frendul is my favorite non-dragon summoner. She is a great summoner that wins more than the others because she increases both shields and speed. I would love to MAX her too, but she’s expensive. I’ll MAX out the other cheaper summoners first because she’s kinda the same as Quix the Devious.

The Great Burn

Did you win any prizes burning DEC last month?

I sadly won nothing, but no hard feelings because I now have 10,000 guild points which I can contribute to guild buildings. My guild only asks for 300 DEC a season so I’ll have enough to contribute for a while.

I was also happy to help our community burn DEC which should help the economy in the long run and I got a chance to see how many people are taking this game more seriously than I am which is over a thousand. I would be concerned if I was one of the top players and discouraged if there had been a huge number of people above me. I think this burning event was a massive success because we came together as a community and burned over 500 million tokens! I doubt there are any other communities around that can work together like this in the crypto-gaming world right now.

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_2129fbb8c83fde2edb40fbb82d9931a5&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-june-28-2023

Check out my original artwork at NFTShowroom:
https://nftshowroom.com/jeremiahcustis/gallery

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-247

by @deadsparrow

Many centuries ago, the Pelacor followed the prophet, Edalus, on what has become known as the ‘Exile.’ They followed him into the Mountains of Fire surrounding Mount Praetorous. For generations, they lived alone in these mountains, hidden away. They were taught to worship the sun and moon gods, Solaki and Lunaki, deities dreamt into existence from the bones of Edalus’ dead parents and his zealous mind. The scriptures read that the two Gods were carried into the heavens upon pieces of consecrated land, torn from the World to raise them high so that their worshipers would always look up to them and forever be beneath their great heavenly power.

The Flesh Golem was my favorite card back in the day, but I stupidly sold my MAX level copy for like $50. Even now, during one of the worst and longest bear markets we’ve ever seen, he’s worth hundreds of dollars, but luckily he was cloned in a more handsome version for the Chaos Legion as the Pelacor Mercenary. With MAX level copies being sold for $5, you’d be a fool not to get one now before land 1.5 and or the bull market arrive. There are a ton of copies so maybe you can take your time, but these good times of super cheap cards won’t last forever.

Both my enemy and I put the Pelacor Mercenary out front because he can self-heal, but they also put out a new martyr card which boosts its surrounding cards’ stats when they die so they won this battle. When the ferocity rule set is up you simply avoid using taunt cards because they will take double damage and when it’s the blast rule set I always choose fast cards to get the blasts in first, but my enemy capitalized on the born again rule set which means every card gets a second chance and is resurrected once. If a martyr card dies twice do they boost their friends twice? If so that is definitely why I lost, but I will remember this battle and deploy the same tactic in the future.

I can’t believe that it’s been five years since Splinterlands has been around. In the crypto space that makes them a dinosaur, but luckily this dinosaur is constantly evolving and decentralizing so I believe they will easily be around for another five years and beyond. There is still some time to burn DEC for the chance to win some awesome prizes, but even if you win nothing, you can still use that burned DEC because it is converted into Guild Power which you can use to level up buildings in your guild. If you haven’t joined a guild yet, then I highly recommend it because guilds give this game a feeling of teamwork. You will want to do your best in Guild Brawls because you don’t want to let your fellow guild members down and you can also help each other out. Thanks to fellow guild members I’ve learned about minting NFTs on both OpenSea and NFT Showroom as well as how to use bots for both renting out cards and putting unused accounts to work. My guild is called The Mandalorians and we are all Star Wars geeks so we also have fun using the language and culture from that universe as well. If you have a strong deck of Gold Foil cards then we would love to have you because we never seem to fill those frays, but that will change as we gain more gold soul-bound cards and summoners from our rewards chests. Thanks for reading about my battle today. Now let’s burn some more DEC before the time runs out!

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_5da9102a43b823f493a49cb75b9259b8&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-6-21-2023

Check out my original artwork at NFTShowroom:
https://nftshowroom.com/jeremiahcustis/gallery

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-246

by @kojart

The vampire now simply known as the Tide Biter was once a human. He was a sailor who loved the seas, and all of his adventures were successful due to his powerful water mana spells. As a mage and captain of his ship, he commanded great respect and admiration. When a vampire attack caught his ship on the open ocean, however, he was nearly killed. Bitten and thrown to his death in the water, the sailor thought his time had come.

The Tide Biter is one of those cards that snuck up on me. I don’t remember when it came out, but luckily I MAXed him out, and then some just from opening my daily and season chest rewards. It’s one of the must-have low-level mana cards because it seems to win quite often. With only 3 mana used he works well in Little League battles and especially against blast attacks because he has a blast shield at level 3. The blast shield also keeps cards safe from return fire, magic reflection, and thorns.

I like to share my battles as animated GIFs, but I tried mixing the first, third, and final rounds all in one picture this time. What do you think? Does it work as one picture or is it confusing? Instead of sharing just a link to our battles, I think it would be cool if the game would automatically generate an animated GIF for us to share. It could be in both portrait and landscape making it easier to share to the different types of social media formats.

I have a lot of difficulties any time I come up against Grand Master Rathe because he’s such a powerful summoner. He gives everybody magic shields and if there are armor-repair and resurrect monsters, his team can be almost unstoppable.

My enemy may have had the better summoner today, but speed matters, especially during blast battles. I like to arrange my monsters by the fastest first whenever I’m choosing my team. This and the Tide Biter are why I won today because he survived all the blast attacks and my faster cards were able to wear away their shields. Having two sneak attack cards also helped me defeat my enemy bit by bit from the rear.

The Great Burn

Have you burned enough DEC to be eligible for some of the great prizes? I burned 10,000 DEC-B on the first day so I’ll be eligible for 3 chances. I hope I get a land plot, but I’ll also be happy with an old pack. Even if I win nothing, I’ll still have plenty of guild points to use on leveling up some buildings for a while because my guild, The Mandalorians, only asks for 300 DEC a season. I’m proud to see that the Splinterlands community has burned so much DEC so far. There are tons of crypto games and defi to choose from these days, but a good community is hard to find and I’m glad to be part of this one. Thanks for reading about my battle today. Now let’s burn some more DEC!

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_34163d4729318067bd29062ce943bd8d&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-june-8-2023

Check out my original artwork at NFTShowroom:
https://nftshowroom.com/jeremiahcustis/gallery

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-244by @kojart

Grum is known throughout his tribe as the strongest warrior. Born in the Sands of Draykh-Nahka, his hard upbringing made him a survivor. No weather was too extreme, no drought too long, and no enemy too cunning for Grum. He became well-respected within the region for his battle prowess and defended his tribe countless times against the creatures of the wastes. Tales were sung around the fires of Grum’s battle with the Great Wyrm of the Sands, the Earth-Shaking Titan, and Velissa the Sorceress. Grum’s tribe, known as the Desert Blood, honored tradition, strength, and courage. He grew to become a legend amongst his people.

Grum Flameblade is a badass you don’t want to see on the battlefield. Once he gets a taste for blood, he keeps getting more robust with each kill. I’ve only managed to level him up to level two, but with these super low prices these days, I’ll have to level him up to at least a level 3 card where he gets the giant killer ability. I’ve been able to use him effectively at levels one and two in the Silver and Gold Leagues, but now that I’m getting into Diamond and hopefully Champion, I’ll need him at MAX level where he’ll have an attack of 5 points and 15 life hearts. He will have even more attack power if used with Tarsa. I honestly haven’t put much thought into which cards I’ve been MAXing out other than going to the market and seeing who is the cheapest, but after looking at these stats, I’ve got my eye on him.

My battle against Grum today was very exciting because it was also an opportunity battle with plenty of mana. Once he got going I didn’t think I would make it, but he fell in the end. It was because my secondary tank has a blast shield and the new reward card, War Pegasus can shatter shields. I also chose a healer while my enemy went for a pure melee attack.

Thanks for reading about my blast battle against the mighty Grum Flameblade today. I think I have fallen in love with him. Just the artwork alone makes him a must-have card, not to mention his ability to smash the enemy. Speaking of art, make sure to appreciate some of the great art the Splinterlands community has created this week below. Have a good one fellow Splinterheads!

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_33f8c16606663cfcba6d3935de2fc5da&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-june-1-2023

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-243by @yanes94