When the new changes were rolled out, there were bits of concerns for people who are small players (i.e. with average depth in assets to compete), and rightly so too. These changes meant anyone could use whatever assets they had with minimal penalties, no deck limitations, or man for all. It was supposed to be David and Goliath scenes. "No holds barred!!!* and players annihilating their opponents, blood on the streets, and complete anarchy.
I was concerned too. I am an average deck owner as well, and I approached the season with some cautious skepticism. However, it was not completely as bad as I thought. I decided to play about two games in modern, but I was roasted, I had generations of cards that were barred from modern, and since I didn't have these cards to compete, I decided to go back to wild. It made no sense to me to play 8 games, lose 6, and win too in modern with that unfair ratio I was going to end up playing in the bronze league.
So, no. Playing the new system didn't make playing in modern any easier unless you have a sizeable CL deck and of course, have some good stash of Rebellion cards across all elements.
** It's expensive to play in modern,** but it's very rewarding. A big player once told me they can earn up to 20 SPS per game if they win at the peak of the season. Now imagine if they win 25 games per day. Top dollar there. However, the investment runs in thousands of dollars, and if you can put your money where your mouth is, then splinterlands modern is a format to play in.
You'll still get roasted if you decide to try the modern format, especially if you rely on generations of cards that are barred in modern. You need a top deck to compete in modern.
So, I went back to playing in Wild. The first three days weren't so bad, but I played against some top players and I could feel the dollar oozing out of their lineup. It was a stuff of champions. I played some crazy lineups and it was competitive indeed. However, I noticed something different. In the past, I earned almost the same amount of SPS playing in all the tiers of silver, but it's different now. I earn more SPS if I stuck to my daily focus. The major difference now is your pay-per-win gets higher the more you climb.
It's gotten easier, I think today is the 5th day of the new season, and I tasted Gold 3. I think I started winning well after the third day of the season, although I played against those big players once in a while, but I can categorically tell you that this change is positively impactful, even if I'm an average deck owner. I haven't gotten into Gold 3 this early into the season in a long time. In fact, most times I head into Gold 3, about three days before the season ends.
I think this is because this change has eliminated the ability for a player to choose to stay in a smaller league even when they've qualified to head into the next league, which means that playing in a particular league is not looking determined by your will, it is dependent on how well or how badly you play. So those players who choose to remain in a league and terrorize those smaller deck owners can no longer do so, if they choose to keep winning, definitely they'll be paired with players who have similar ratings as them.
It's not a completely bizarre change, infact if you have a decent deck and nothing too sophisticated, this change is more likely to give you more wins, more chests, and opportunities to do better. For two days now, I've played with people I've been evenly matched with, even if I started the first days of the season losing a lot of games and incurring a lot of losing streaks.
A Difference In Earning SPS
Today, I noticed that my SPS per win greatly increased when I got into Gold 3 and previously it wasn't like this. Although it was the win that booked my place in Gold 3, previously I hadn't earned that figure in a long while for playing ranked battles. So I got 10 daily focus and I still maintained my daily ECR requirements.
Yesterday I could only pick 8 chests for a stipulated number of ECR, today I earned 10 daily focus chests for less than the number I used to earn 8 daily focus chests. It's a big improvement and we still have 9 days to the end of the season. I currently have 17 gold chests, earned in about 4.5 days, and it hasn't happened like this in the past. The first seven days of the season are always very tough and the least productive. I think I can manage to reach 40 gold chests before the season ends. Although I'm still unsure, we'll see.
A Good Daily Focus Haul
Yesterday, I got 27.2 SPS from one of my silver chests and that was more like it. Good rewards. In a long time, I haven't seen such a haul in a daily focus. So my experience playing the new system has been good so far. I'll have to wait till the end of the season to see if this will change.
Interested in some more of my works