Cool banner and Maya looks awesome rockin a Splinterlands cap.

Getting started actually playing is the biggest hurdle. Back in the Steem days, I won a free spellbook in a contest. Several months later I had not played a single battle and sorta got called out by the guy running the contest.

The biggest issue was that in my mind the game was a card betting game and I was afraid of losing cards if I lost. So definitely let people know they have nothing to lose and can only gain by battling. Maybe offer them an incentive like 500 DEC after completing their first battle. I can imagine that there would be other technical issues for people starting out who are new to blockchain like having enough RC on Hive, etc.