F2P guide: how to climb without spending in Plants on Fire

You can climb Ranked without paying anything. F2P cards come from Harvest Pots, Recruitment, the U-Pick Farm, the Tracks, the Club Shop and Rumble Chess. Only the paid Battle Pass has cards you can't get for free, like Chuckleberry. Violet Magus used to be a Pass card and now drops from Harvest Pots, Recruitment and the U-Pick Farm (APK 2.0.1021).

The strongest F2P deck: Headless Jack

confirmedTo me, the strongest F2P deck is Headless Jack. The idea: lose HP on purpose early (Jack-o'-Licks and Boom Shroom cost Captain HP) so Headless Jack gains ATK for every 10% HP missing. Greenkeeper holds the rest.

wikiIn the deck builder it beats 99% of random decks (score 62). Open the full deck guide

Other decks you can build for free, by deck builder score:

• Zerg Rush / Summon (Trovão) · beats 100%
• Summon deck (official guide) · beats 100%
• Chomper (NoControlTower) · beats 100%
• Depressão (NoControlTower) · beats 99%

Pop Gunner and Apple Sheriff Variants first

communityTip from an experienced player on Discord: for newcomers, what makes all the difference is Variants, especially for Pop Gunner and Apple Sheriff. He focused on Rumble Chess for 3 seasons in a row, reached 6 thousand points there, and spent some gems on the lucky clover and the Variant banner. Sometimes he swaps Berrinetta for DandeLion.

communityIn the community tier list, Apple Sheriff and Pop Gunner are S with the Variant (Apple Sheriff II attacks again on a kill; Pop Gunner I slows) and A without it. Variants and Rumble Chess unlock at 700 Trophies.

What to level (and what not to)

communityEach card's skill steps up at levels 7 and 10. Put your Gold and copies into the 9 cards of the deck you play instead of spreading them. Cards below your Trophy bracket's level are one of the 5 most cited reasons for losing in Japanese guides.

officialRare cards are the cheapest to level: 3,100 Gold in total up to level 8 and 6,700 up to 10. A legendary costs 13,000 Gold from level 7 to 10. Every level of any card also adds Power Bonus to the whole account.

wikiEvery deck guide has a "Leveling order" section: the deck builder measures how much the score rises with each card at level 10 and sorts them.

Gems, Recruitment and Club

• Recruitment: a legendary drops at 1% with Lucky Coins and 0.25% on the basic one, with a guarantee at 200 pulls (Japanese guide hiyokogame). Rerolling your account for a legendary early isn't worth it.
• If you spend gems, the Variant banner and the lucky clover are what that Discord player used.
• Join a Club (opens at 550 Trophies): it helps you get legendaries and has the Club Shop.
• Co-op opens at 300 Trophies; Variants and Rumble Chess at 700.

The 5 most common reasons for losing

1. Merging too early: more units on the board are usually worth more than an early 3★.
2. A deck with lots of attack and little defense.
3. Ignoring the opponent's deck.
4. Not adjusting positioning (Cheerbloom below the carry, Leeky Beats in the center).
5. Cards below your Trophy bracket's level.