my original post is on Splintertalk

This great game is growing very fast, when you just start playing this game, you need to learn a lot and understand the importance of the different abilities and positioning of cards - and that's gonna take you a few weeks to really learn things.

To help other newbies like myself (I've started playing almost 3 months ago) here are some nice cards and tactics to work your way to own (or rent if that's what you prefer)
I'm not much of a renter myself, I'll rather put that money into owning cards, it's value will increase over time (no financial advise).

The water splinter is probably the easiest to start with, and for the same reason, you get spammed with a LOT of water fights in low rating battles.
Playing water, you really NEED the Venari Wavesmith as it's protect ability gives all your monsters 2 (extra) armor, giving your low health casters a chance to live a round or 2 extra and kill your opponent.

next, to counter any player who tries to counter your magic team with the void ability, you would want a Axe Master, with his Double Strike ability he does 4 archery damage in 1 turn, provided he lands both shots and don't miss his target.

especially in lower ranked battles, playing water against water, the player who puts the most health points in front of his magic casters wins the fight, that's where the Kelp Initiate comes into play, for only 2 mana it gives you 5 health points.

The fire splinter is also a nice splinter to get started with, and easier to learn and succeed with as other splinters for beginners, such as life and earth, of course this is what I think, maybe it's different for some of you.
A card that I don't see a lot out there, but that I really like is the Ant Miners. With it's scavenge ability can grow pretty big in health points as it takes +1 health every time a monster dies of any team. My main use for it is if I'm expecting my opponent to also play fire, I then put this card in front of my Serpentine Spy, and in case his (or her) spy gets to attack first, it hits the Ant Miners, so my Serpentine Spy can kill of the enemy Serpentine Spy :)

next is Fineas Rage, also not a frequently played card, or at least not in Bronze where I'm still fighting in.
It's reach ability makes him great to put in the second spot, right after your main tank, most of the times that's gonna be Living Lava or Cerberus. It's better to only play this is higher mana battles (say 22+) because it 7 mana cost makes it a bit expensive.

Flame monkey is only a 1 mana card, and it can really make the difference between a win or lose when you have 1 mana left to put into your team, to put this in last position to gobble up 1 or 2 hits before it dies, giving your sneakers more time to live and kill your enemy cards.

Last but surely not least for this article is the death splinter, I really like playing it, nerfing your enemy. for now, everybody is of course still playing the Haunted Spirit but since that's a Beta card, it will be no longer available to play with in the modern league where most newer players will be likely to play in, therefore it's wise to think ahead and anticipate in what will be ahead.

The new legendary tank Harklaw, while it's not cheap, will be more important in the new format. It's current price is around $26 now. It might be wise to get one now, before everyone realize it's potential and prices go to $50 like most of the legendary cards.

another 1 mana card that's great to have - you'll often find yourself with 1 mana left for your team is the Shadowy Presence. Put it into the second spot if you want to protect your archers or magic monsters with the life leech ability, as they need a turn or two to grow and damage your enemy to gain enough health points not to die quickly. And if you go all melee, just put it in last position to catch some sneakers, while your sneak monsters kill your opponent.

Thank you for reading!
if you don't have a Splinterlands account yet and use my Referral Link I'll be happy to send you the $0.5 in DEC or a card around that value to help you get started.