Hi guys, Pdmd28 here with a new beginner/f2p article. In this article I will talk about how to start the game, what you should invest in, cards to soul trap and soul summon, arena advice, and more!

Arena

After finishing the story mode, you should start the Arena grind. I recommend hitting rank 1 in Solo arena and then change to Versus arena where the prizes are a bit better. This will help build your collection fast since the value from a good arena run (in addition to the rank up bonus which gives you 50 gold each time you gain a rank from 9-1) is very high. You can get 3-4 packs, 150g, and some soul gems for a seven wins in versus. There is a small chance of getting a Legendary instead of a pack for a good run.

I advise you to check the BTL Arena Tier List and Tenz’s Solo Arena Guide to get a little bit more information. Now, lets go to some of my tips for drafting in Versus.

I try to stick to 3 main classes; these classes shift a bit from player to player, but for me the three main classes in Versus are Warrior, Sorcerer, and Scout. These are the ones I feel the best playing and have a strong card pool to back them. Assassin and Archer are not to far behind, and the classes I avoid are Crusader and Mage, which I feel are the worst in Arena currently

Packs and Expansions

Like I said in the beginning, this article will be trying to help new players, both those who are free to play and those who are not.

If you want to stick to no money invested in the game, you can do it for sure – I only spent 5€ total on the amazing starter bundle and after 2 months I had a good collection and decks. Now, if you can or want to spend a bit of money I advise you all to buy:

• The starter bundle: Great value for cheap
• The Fall of the Dark Brotherhood Expansion: This is a great expansion that brings great cards for both high legend competitive decks and fun decks.
• The Madhouse Collection: After buying both the bundle and the expansion, you have this small 10-card expansion. If you want to play decks like Orc Warrior, Swindler’s Market Archer, or some others, you may need to get this for cards like the amazing Stoneshard Orc, Swindler’s Market, and Gardener of Swords. For those looking to play other decks not using cards out of these ten, this may not be required.

Advice on Soul Trapping

Now let’s talk about soul trapping cards, or getting rid of the copies you own in exchange for Soul Gems.

After some arenas you will have some bad cards along with your good cards from packs, and it’s important to know which is which. I’ve included the following “guide” to help with that. The cards are ranked either 1 (not playable) or 2 (only somewhat playable). Hopefully this will give you a baseline of cards that are generally pretty safe to soul trap.

Strength (Red)
1: Intimidate, Improvised Weapon, Silvenar Tracker, Bog Lurcher, Orcish Warhammer, Fireball, Trebuchet, Dread Clannfear
2: Plunder, Covenant Marauder, Alik’r Survivalist, Bone Bow

Intelligence (Blue)
1: Moment of Clarity, Wisdom of Ancients, Glenumbra Sorceress, Staff of Sparks, Ice Wraith, Studium Headmaster
2: Dres Tormentor, Baron of Tear

Agility (Green)
1: Elixir of Light Feet, Arenthia Swindler, Murkwater Savage, Hidden Trail, Elder Centaur, Spider Daedra
2: Feasting Vulture

Endurance (Purple)
1: Elixir of Vigor, Siege Catapault, Yew Shield, Blackrose Herbalist, Night Predator, Plea to Kynareth, Watch Commander
2: Wrothgar Kingpin, Gloom Wraith, Grim Champion, Archein Elite

Willpower (Yellow)
1: Blackmail, Snow Wolf, Alpha Wolf, Hive Warrior, War Cry, Hero of Anvil, Legion Shield, Elixir of the Defender, Tower Alchemist
2: Helgen Squad Leader, Spiteful Dremora, Auroran Sentry, Artaeum Savant

Hopefully this starter list will allow you to get some more soul gems out of your rewards. Premium cards are also a good way to get the soul gems you need. I know that it can be sad to lose some of those shiny premiums, but in my opinion, it’s worth it in the end as a free-to-play player. You can also acquire a lot of soul gems by farming the AI opponents but that takes much more time. You need to play the expert AI and win in over four turns to get fifteen soul gems and the soul gems you can earn cap at 300 soul gems.

Which Cards to Make:

With all that said, I have some small tips about soul summoning, or crafting, cards. This will depend on which decks you want to play, of course, as well as what style they are: Aggro, Midrange, Control, or Combo. I advise you all to start with Aggro or Midrange builds because they are cheaper then control. To get you started with a well-rounded collection, some of the best cards to craft early in the game from the common and rare card pools are as follows:

Daring Cutpurse: Good 2-drop with the prophecy mechanic that can snowball fast and or wins you the game or makes your opponent spend a lot of resources to remove

Shrieking Harpy: Amazing defensive (and sometimes offensive) tool for blue decks

Young Mammoth: The best body for the 3-drop slot in the game

Triumphant Jarl: Some of the best card draw in the game – helps aggro decks refill their hands or gives the slower midrange style decks a good way to find removal or extra damage

Cliff Racer: One of the best offensive cards, nearly a staple in aggressive green decks

Piercing Javelin: Great targeted removal

Hive Defender: one of the better cards in this game a four magicka 3/6 with guard that helps you by protecting your creatures in Aggro decks and is also used as a tool to counter Aggro by most Control decks using Willpower.

These ones are safe cards to craft now. If you want to dive into crafting epics or legendaries I have another article that explains how good some of them are. Another little tip is to craft Epic cards first then Legendaries since most most tier 1 decks play a lot of Epics.

Adventure to Ladder

At this point, your collection and knowledge of the game and its cards will be at a good point to bring you to the ladder try you decks against other players, see how they match up against them, find out what works in a deck, your favorite classes, etc.

Again, I recommend to start with Aggro or Midrange decks as they are cheaper than Control. CVH’s Youtube Budget-ify series and xGymClassHero (YouTube) both are a good way to find cheap, fun and powerful decks that are on a budget.

Watch Streamers on Twitch and YouTube Videos and Learn

If you have time to watch streamers like CVH, TurquoiseLink, Lateralus19, BradfordLee, Warriors072, MattOblivium, Snaxximan etc or YouTube (CVH, JustinLarson, xGymClassHero) I would recommend doing that. These guys helped me a lot with their knowledge about the game. By watching and listening to them share their ideas and experiences you can learn a lot.

Well, guys, these are all the tips I can give you for now. I hope you enjoyed this article and that I have helped you in some way to understand this game better and make your journey more rewarding.

My last piece of advice is that you should have fun and enjoy this amazing game and this community!