TLDR: Buy cheap shadow and gold neutral cards
At some point in the near future (likely soon after the Blessing of the Gods event is over), we will start grinding for daily $GODS tokens in addition to flux. The devs have made it clear that their goal is to reward players with additional $GODS if they are using cards with higher quality (meteorite, shadow, gold, diamond). The relevant post and excerpt:
At a high level we鈥檙e looking at rewarding all players with $GODS daily, with additional points earned based on the cards you're playing with. Decks with complete Meteorite cards will earn more points, and higher shine cards even more. This system intends to keep both Core trading and fusing relevant. By collecting multiples of Core cards, you can fuse them together to receive higher Play to Earn rewards. Everyone should have a clear path to a complete deck through the Forge, but more on that later in.
There is some ambiguity here that has yet to be resolved. Do you require a full deck of meteorites to start earning additional rewards? That's not how I read it, and I don't think that makes sense. Requiring a full set of Diamond cards before getting a bonus is obviously ridiculous. Do you need a full set of meteorites to start getting a bonus? Maybe, but unlikely. We'll have to wait for clarification.
In any event, this doesn't affect the core strategy. Most people aren't thinking ahead to these earning bonuses, which means there are a lot of really cheap gold/shadow cards on the market.
"But Kstreet, these cards are terrible. How am I going to win with these?"
The current Gauntlet of the Gods only rewards flux for 3 wins per day per god. Assuming a similar setup, a deck with a lower win rate but with higher quality will give more rewards. If you have limited time to play, you could focus on blinging out one or two gods in gold and just grind them each day for 3-6 wins.
So how can we stretch our gold-buying funds further? Neutral cards. These can be used in every deck.
I see a future where everyone has a deck for each god focused on farming daily GODS. Each of mine will have 2x Amazon Spellcatchers and 2x Planetar Acolytes in gold. Using these cards isn't going to cause your win % to plummet, but it could noticeably improve your reward from winning.
Other cards are so hilariously bad that they are likely to receive buffs before the balancing phase is over for Divine Order. Skeletal Hoplite and Phalanx Lieutenant have armor and will almost certainly get another look as part of any change to the armor mechanic. I picked up 2x of each. Even if they don't get a buff, I'll at least try them in my deck to see if I can still win at a reasonable rate. Maybe 1x skeletal hoplite and hope I don't draw it!
Anyway, speculation on balance aside, there are some solid deals here. We know the utility of these cards is going up under the new rewards system. Some of that is already priced into the cards by savvy players, but not everyone has figured it out.
