A few weeks ago when the land paper was released, I wrote an article about speculating on underpriced cards that would provide the best return to be used on land. In the weeks that followed, the card market saw tremendous buying activity as eager landowners added to their collection to make sure they have enough extra monsters to work their plots. Available cards on the open market dwindled and prices rose as demand outpaced supply.
At the same time, the difference in SPS battle rewards between Wild and Modern formats continued to widen as fewer battles in Wild's higher leagues meant larger earnings per win than Modern. With this in mind, I decided my next reinvestment into my Splinterlands account would be focused on buying the most important wild staple cards as I transition my account from Modern to Wild. So today, let's take a look at some of the Wild format all-stars that I recently added to fill out my collection.
Arguably the fire element's most dangerous magic monster and one of the alpha set's strongest attackers, this card has a ton of utility in a tidy 7-mana package. High speed and blast mean its potent magic attack will strike early in the round and it will blast for extra damage to adjacent monsters. The flying and dodge ability make it a great fit as a rear tank because it is hard to hit, and the magic reflect ability is quite useful in those new magic-only rulesets.
While the blast ability is a little redundant with fire's best summoner Yodin Zaku, the phoenix has a ton of synergy with Conqueror Jacek due to the scattershot ability providing more opportunities to deal blast damage. In fact, due to 
Sticking with magic monsters for now, the next Wild staple I had to have is this powerful merfolk from Beta rewards, Ruler of the Seas. With silence and swiftness, this legendary monster quite literally breaks the Alric and Valnamor mirror matches, so it is a must-have to be competitive in Wild.
One thing to be wary of with Ruler is its vulnerability to magic reflect damage, but due to its raw power, blast damage, and strong support abilities, I was glad to finally get this guy to battle with me.
This next monster, Corrupted Pegasus from Beta promo, is another card I've been itching to add to my collection. While I wasn't able to secure a maxed-out Level 4 legendary with the added attack and health, the Level 3 version is almost as good since it has all of the same key support abilities. Of note, Corrupted Pegasus is STILL the only Death monster with tank heal, which is something I am excited to take advantage of.
Reach allows for Pegasus to be a great second tank, the flying helps for evasiveness and in earthquake rulesets, and the strengthen is a benefit to the entire team. This card did lose a bit of its luster with the new reflection shield ability making it less than ideal to use in blast rulesets as a second tank, but there are still many situations where this card will be very useful.
The final monster I'm going to touch on here is the only rare to make the cut, Prismatic Energy from Beta promo. Firstly, this is a neutral monster, so it offers utility and flexibility for any element which is already a huge advantage. What I love about this card is its complementary abilities of void and magic reflect, in addition to its high speed and health.
In no melee rulesets, it makes for an excellent tank, and in snipe rulesets, it makes for a great second tank. Now with the addition of all-magic battles, this card seems like it's a no-brainer inclusion no matter which element is selected for battle.
A few more cards I picked up that won't get a focused paragraph of their own but are also really strong meta cards in Wild:
Cerberus
Creeping Ooze
Crustacean King (Lvl 6 for protect)
Enchanted Pixie
Exploding Drawrf (Lvl 9 for trample)
Fiendish Harpy
Flame Imp
Mushroom Seer
Silvershield Assassin
The Kraken
Water Elemental
For all the OG Wild players out there, what meta cards from Alpha/Beta sets am I missing from this list? What cards do you use that you can't battle without? I would love to hear more in the comments, so give me a shout and let me know what you think of these acquisitions.
As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you all in the Splinterlands.
Proud member of the original KoG alliance guild 
Proud member of the YGG Brawlers alliance within 
Proud member of my original guild, the always affable 
