The Archmage greets you all.
A hidden league exists in Splinterlands. Its exact location is somewhere around Bronze-and-a-Half. The name of the league is 'Bot Hell'.
In all seriousness, we have observed a rating zone with a high concentration of bots employing the same strategies. In fact, once you get above 'Bot Hell', Archmage seems to find the opposition more manageable, probably due to a greater variety of enemy hands. Part of the problem, of course, is that at low Bronze, often all cards are Level 1, and this greatly increases the chance of a draw.
As a consequence, we have produced the following brief guide on 'how to escape bot hell'.
IProto rented the following cards for his own bot and observed an increased win rate. He also noted that the majority of the cards below were regularly selected as part of common winning hands.
IProto's Picks
Fire:
Tarsa (L2)
Tenyii Striker (L2)
Radiated Brute (L3)
Antoid Platoon (L3)
Lava Spider (L3)
Water:
Kelya Frendul (L2)
Merdaali Guardian (L2)
Diemonshark (L2)
Kulu Swimhunter (L3)
Deeplurker (L3)
Cruel Sethropod (L3)
Flying Squid (L3)
Earth:
Obsidian (L2)
Regal Perryton (L2)
Mycelic Slipspawn (L2)
Venari Scout (L3)
Venari Knifer (L3)
Hill Giant (L3)
Goblin Psychic (L3)
Life:
General Sloan (L2)
Pelacor Arbalest (L2)
Celestial Harpy (L2)
Chaos Knight (L3)
Stitch Leech (L3)
Sunkai Harvester (L3)
Blinding Reflector (L3)
Death:
Thaddius Brood (L2)
Cursed Windeku (L2)
Life Sapper (L2)
Dhampir Stalker (L2)
Soul Strangler (L2)
Riftwing (L3)
Silent Sha-vi (L3)
Neutral:
Xenith Monk (L2)
AlmightyMelon's bot accounts don't fall victim to 'Bot Hell' as often. In part, this is because at season end, many of them receive delegations which increase their starting rating at the beginning of the next season. Any increase in initial season rating is useful for getting a head start on other bots.
In addition, though, AlmightyMelon recommends any Level 1 Reward cards that you don't own. These cards are not Starter (do not come with the Spellbook). Giving the bot options in terms of available cards can be crucial, even if they are only minimum level.
AlmightyMelon's Picks
Fire:
Ant Miners
Fineas Rage
Efreet Elder
Water:
Captain's Ghost
Demented Shark
Kelp Initiate
Earth:
Barking Spider
Centauri Mage
Nectar Queen
Life:
Warrior of Peace
Silvershield Sheriff
Temple Priest
Death:
Ancient Lich
Grim Reaper
Dark Ferryman
Dragon:
Djinn Chwala
Neutral:
Sand Worm
Uraeus
Another strategy sometimes employed by AlmightyMelon and others is simply to note any cards that seem to be directly responsible for beating you. Buy or rent them.
When asked for advice on how to escape 'Bot Hell', imp0stor was brief:
imp0stor's Picks
"Just buy Grund and Grum."
Further guides on this topic will follow, in particular some more detailed statistical analysis from IProto on the list he provided above.