As usual, here are 5 Affordable but still strong and useful cards for newcomers to acquire which will help them round out their default cards with as few cards, and as cheap as possible.
About the Fire Splinter
Fire Splinter was my favorite, starting out. It's very simple: Fast or Powerful, choose. It has lots of hard hitting monsters, AND you start with a Cerberus for use, which is very powerful 4 mana card. It and Serpentine Spy are arguably the strongest cards in the starting Fire Splinter, at least, at level 1. You can see Cerberus remains relevant all the way up the leagues as one of the most effective starting cards in Fire across every rank, and his price shows it unfortunately.
So here are my recommendations for cheap Fire cards to heavily enhance your playing style and give you more options for very little investment.
#1 Efreet Elder
A caster in my first position slot? What gives. This guy is a fast, tanky magic user (something that Fire's default splinter lacks) with a cheeky ability: Last Stand Which gives +1 Magic, 2 Speed, and +4 Health when he is the last unit on the field. This makes him GREAT in almost any situation, as long as you manage to predict your opponent's build and set it up so that Efreet is the last monster on the field. Not as straightforward as Fire's typical tactics, you will be rewarded if you're good at predicting your enemy. This offers a lot of value to even low mana battles, where you could place him protected by a single attacker or chicken and then let him decimate his enemies, ignoring armor and shrugging off attacks at lightning speed.
Costs: Normal: $0.75, Gold Foil: $16
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 4 DEC / day
#2 Fineas Rage
A personal favorite, Finneas Rage is one of the first Fire cards I got, with Reach, very high speed, and decent strength, he's a great mid-mana and high-mana secondary tank. Having this secondary tank is a huge deal, as he pairs so well with the two default summoners that he was practically made for them (Okay, he probably literally was, but that's beside the point) I use him any time, in any build I can where my total mana is above 25.
Costs: Normal: $1.29, Gold Foil: $25
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 14 DEC / day
#3 Ettin Spearman
This is going to sound weird, but I really think that, after Fineas Rage and Efreet, you have the best cheap options for cards, so this one will be different than the others. I'm going to include some slightly more expensive cards that I think are game changers. So here's Ettin Spearman, a high mana, powerful, and tanky ranged attacker. He's not a crucial card for Fire, but he does add some options for No Melee and High Mana. Bonus points for being a cheap rental for Gold Foils.
Costs: Normal:$0.43, Gold Foil: $9
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 1.42 DEC / day
#4 Beetle Queen
This is a weird pick, but it's such an odd card for Fire that it gives you more options. Fire has some powerful expensive magic cards, but there's not really any in the standard set. Here's a relatively low cost one with tanky, anti-melee/ranged stats that will let it eat through tanks and ignore the backline snipers that other Fire decks will likely use. It's definitely the more niche choice on this list, but if you like quirky plays early on in Bronze/Silver, this card will let you mess around with Fire's standard formats relatively safely. Moreover, getting one of these cards sets you up for its (eventual) heal ability, which is quite nice.
Costs: Normal: $2.50, Gold Foil: $30
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 10.5 DEC / day
#5 Naga Fire Wizard
Another strange pick for high mana formats, this card at level 1 is essentially just a more powerful Beetle Queen for high mana formats. It ability allows it to effectively tank melee and range, and it's a GREAT tank card for low to mid mana No Melee battles. Situational, I know, but I think it gives Fire more versatility and rounds out Fire's initial magic attacker weaknesses AND gives it a no-melee tank.
Costs: Normal: $3.34, Gold Foil: $30
Renting: Normal: 0.39 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 20 DEC / day
Summoners
The fire summoners, besides the starting ones and Legendaries, are particularly expensive, OR they are practically useless. Unfortunately, Qid Yuff's ability is so situational that there's currently not a huge amount of value there. Likewise, Fire's two default summoners offering +1 Melee or +1 Speed is worth the 1 extra mana cost compared to Talia. So, for Fire, I DON'T actually recommend renting any of these, unless you can get them for Level 2 or higher for very cheap. That's right, your starting summoners rain supreme for Fire's Rare summoners.
Sign Up for Splinterlands now!
Never played? Interested in getting in on the action? Want to find out what all the fuss is about for these battles, or maybe you've seen a bunch about SPS? You can play the game 100% for free initially, without earning currency. If you like it, you pay $10 to get in on the action by buying a Spellbook! You'll make that 10 dollars back in less than a month at current prices. If you sign up, feel free to message or comment and I might hook you up with some free starting cards, or delegate a card to you for a week!
Join me on Splinterlands, If you use my link, I'll send you 100 DEC when you sign up and get a spellbook, (as long as you show up as referred) which should help you get started via renting! Also, feel free to message me, I can answer any questions, give tips, etc. I might even give you a card or delegate some to you for your first season! I also will be doing a monthly giveaway for my referrals for as long as I play! Last month, I gave my first referral a 1 month delegation of 3 Legendaries and Mylor, plus some other stuff for the month! This month I think I will be delegating a gold Serpentine Spy to somebody for the month of September and who knows what else!
