I’m right into the Splinterlands battle space at the moment and while I’m not quite at the half-way point of my [New Modern Experiment](https://hive.blog/hive-13323/@buggedout/splinterlands-experiment--renting-for-new-modern) I’m close enough to have drawn a few conclusions and do an update on my strategy. So far I’ve managed to get up to **Gold III Tier** and wins are yielding around 3 SPS each, so while my progress has slowed a little and I’m into the grind now I am making reasonable headway. I am comfortable that my experiment is on track. The most recent **Guild Brawl** has just concluded and my rental account went 7 Wins and 2 Losses in Fray 10 (Gold Modern) as our guild went on to win so that’s all positive. ![Experiment.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/buggedout/23x14ijMYrrTPoNJMWZH8QikCtUQ4kyw2gTJ9cZpdZWsDiJL5cUX3SQPf8iG9qjhQKaXw.png) [*Image Generated by AI*](https://arty.ausbit.dev/) I’ve had a few issues with my rented deck however and there are some obvious improvements that I can make if I decide to go for a 2nd season. The most obvious one is that the **Fire Archon Nomos** is just trash. I wondered why renting him was so cheap but now after being unable to win with him I understand why. So I am only playing Fire splinter very rarely and that means I’m under-utilising some of the other decent Fire Monsters that I rented – which is not good. ![NomosDud.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/buggedout/23zbMahtCPBxxJ96QbD4tUJJPjMuKqzoR5D9XJyrHGkqiwQfDrswSv1WqpVSM7cDNiGhE.png) The second big issue I’ve had is with the **Little League** battle ruleset. I haven’t rented any Modern Archon that costs 4 mana or less so I literally can not field a team for that ruleset. I’ve had to forfeit several games and that has interrupted some of my winning streaks because of this oversight. I won’t make that mistake again and it’s pretty obvious I should dump Nomos (see above) so by picking up a low mana Fire Archon I can solve 2 issues at once. I’ve also struggled a little bit with my Life Archon **Avina of the Wolf**. I think she is probably a decent choice for battles and I do like the idea of being able to stick Healing on a Frontline Tank, however I did not manage to rent a good Frontline Tank for that role. If I go with her again I need to pair her up with someone like **Bera Dallin** so that’s another oversight that I can rectify if I can rent her on the cheap. It may even be worth picking her up for the rest of this season as she’d unlock Life Splinter for me. ![LifeSynergy.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/buggedout/242NhKXgB1ZWNY8r4vyXahGT5BPVfDFb27vQTStdJWczzRPY9tRUvkAWgseDprVjsRkec.png) The other 4 Splinters I’ve been doing well with. My favorite is **Akane** of Dragon with Earth Splinter and using **Ambush** with **Mahkah Hemlig** and **Night Reaper**. This combination is often able to cripple an opponent before Round 1 has made it past the Speed 4 Initiative. ![AmbushCombo.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/buggedout/23ynNRuXpdHyfHfjvqfqs1HF6s2UYuyuCDBJyL4maDE6KiB3cgGxDoRNjaMjT6F9muqN4.png) I’ve also had a lot of success with **Cryptic** who is a dual splinter Archon across Death and Water. Giving a late position Missle or Magic attack Poison and Expose abilities is very handy, especially if they have an Opportunity or Sneak attack. I also like giving the **Warwall Juggernaut** Poison too because he has the 2 attacks and being in position 2 has good survive-ability. The **Thanalorian Scion** is also becoming a favorite in position 3 because they are great for drawing Snipe and Opportunity attacks plus with a slow speed and Magic attack that always hits its a good option for dropping Poison late in an attack round also. ![CrypticCombo.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/buggedout/241tLTQ1qgjstHw5SyEBJbFUSMUeCKnBGdDrvJU5edhin7ucj17UFkp8qrzbo7ARe8h1T.png) Finally I’ve also enjoyed using **Underboss Fabino** when I want to go Melee heavy and check out the opposition lineup before deciding who to give that +2 Melee bonus to. Whenever there is Gladius ruleset I love to get **Katrelba Gobson** into the fight because she is absolutely devastating with the +2 Melee bonus tearing through opposition backlines like a hot knife through butter. ![KatrelbaBoost.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/buggedout/23vhoD5eWaeNRtuPhrUaXM8PijHZ5AFrUg3C8hEeNi4RaYpfU1Hhm3YDFdrfuAJ5Ppkwe.png) Overall I am having some fun with my rented cards and in many ways it feels like a completely new Splinterlands game than I am used to because the Meta is so different. There is a lot of new Abilities to get familiar with and being unable to rely on those trusted old Beta Edition cards that I have used as a crutch for years is kind of refreshing. If anyone has any tips or tweaks for these lineups then I'd love to hear them. I've still got 8 days (about 200 battles to fight this season) and I need all the help I can get.