A Splinterlands season lasts a little over 2 weeks, and depending on the point in the season there are dramatically different market and gameplay conditions to deal with. In this article, I will be going over what to expect and the best things to do during each part of the season. I'm relatively new and these tips are just my advice, but hopefully it'll help some of you out.
Early Season
I would consider the first 2-3 days to be the early season. This part of the season is fairly tricky, but can be rewarding once you're out of the low leagues. The way in which the game engine calculates DEC gains means that the second day of the season can be extremely lucrative, IF you are able to stay in a league that gives you rewards. This is easier said than done, since everyone's ratings just got reset and there are plenty of tough players are the lower rating levels.
My advice for the early season is to play your matches without depleting ECR (stay in the 75-100% range if possible) and see how you do on rating. If you are able to make decent DEC gains then maybe consider playing a lot on day 2, otherwise just wait until your rating starts to increase before doing anything drastic. If you know that you will not be contending for the higher leagues early on then you could also avoid renting as much CP for a few days to save yourself some of the fees.
Mid-Season
The midseason is your bread and butter. As the season progresses, better players will move up the leaderboard and everyone will spread out a bit in the ratings. Expect better/closer battles with your opponents and for most of us this is the prime time for DEC gains, though do expect them to slowly decrease as the season moves on.
You definitely want to move as high up the ranks as your collection power and skills will allow in order to maximize your battle rewards and daily rewards chests. Keep an eye on your DEC gains and rental costs, and move up in leagues if it makes sense to do so (curious about how exactly to do that? I have an article on some specifics for this planned soon - if that is something you would be interested in then be sure to follow me!).
End of Season
The end of the season, specifically the last day, is a scramble. Don't be surprised to get at least some of your rentals cancelled on you as everyone tries to move up in leagues for end of season chests and/or to maximize their rental income.
Don't chase collection power and overpay for rentals here - you don't want to lose any value that could help you out in future seasons! For a more in-depth look at handling the late season, see my recent post on end of season renting. If you know that you won't be competitive right at the start of next season, you may also want to play a lot in order to use up some of your ECR and to make sure that you aren't renting your cards for too long into the new season.
Thinking about giving Splinterlands a try but haven't signed up yet? Feel free to use my referral link, and be sure to reach out to me if you have any questions!