Upgraded my deck to improve performace, level 4 summoners and the cards I upgraded to match

Today I bit the bullet so to speak and decided to purchase and upgrade a bunch of my beta cards to make them more competitive in tournaments. I bought a bunch of cards from 2 friends who are downsizing their Gold Foil collection to increase their normal card levels. Below I will highlight which cards I upgraded and why.

I decided to start with summoners. I bought 1 of each of the Beta Rare summoners.

Now I have 4 level 4 summoners. I am waiting on Tyrus until the lower serial card comes out of cooldown before I combine him. :)
This will enable me to utilize all of my epic monsters at level 3 instead of level 2, which opens up a lot of new abilities for me.

I will be focusing on the Untamed summoners over the next few months as the price decreases and I gain more rewards through tournaments, posts, daily battles, and reward card sales.

---

Now onto monsters

I had to pick and choose which monsters to upgrade because it was cost prohibitive to just go willy nilly and upgrade each one.

Some cards I bought already at the level for my new summoners and some I will be combining as I write this post.

Fire Splinter

I bought an upgraded Shaman because of the slow ability.

I bought an upgraded Serpentine Soldier because it gains Dodge at level 4 which is very useful.

I upgraded my pit ogre to level 4 because it gets enrage at level 4.

I upgraded my Molten Ogre to level 5 because it gained 1 melee.

I upgraded my Flame Imp to level 5 because I wanted the extra magic attack for the no melee rules.

I passed on upgrading the other cards in Fire splinter because I didn't think they would give me that much more of an advantage for the amount of $ to be spent.

---

Water Splinter

I bought a 2nd turtle and will be upgrading when it comes out of cooldown. I choose to upgrade this card because it will now have 2 melee instead of 1 which is important against shielded monsters.

I bought a 2nd shark and upgraded mine because he gains another melee attack at level 5.

I passed on upgrading the other cards in Water splinter because I didn't think they would give me that much more of an advantage for the amount of $ to be spent. I couldn't justify spending a few $$ on only increasing a health point, armor or speed, maybe in the future when I have some more funds.

---

Water Splinter

I bought an already upgraded level 4 earth elemental. This is a pivital card in the Earth splinter as it has self heal which is really important. I can't wait for it to come out of cool-down.

I bought an already upgraded Khmer Princess so that I can have double tank heal in my Earth Splinter.

I passed on upgrading the other cards in Earth splinter because I didn't think they would give me that much more of an advantage at this moment. I do have a few extras on loan to someone I will probably combine next year when they are done using the cards, or maybe even buy copies because the GF Earth are pretty cheap.

---

Life Splinter

I bought a 2nd knight to upgrade mine to level 5, It only increases the armor by 1 but got the card as part of a package deal and I think the extra armor will help keep him alive a little longer when I utilize him.

I bought a 2nd paladin to upgrade mine to level 5, This was a must have card for me, one of the greatest weaknesses of the Paladin as a tank is his 1 melee. By combining him to level 4 he gets a 2nd melee so he actually damages my opponents when I attack someone that has a shield ability.

I passed on upgrading the other cards in Life splinter because I didn't think they would give me that much more of an advantage at this moment. In the future I may upgrade the silvershield warrior and clay golem for more health.

---

Death Splinter

I bought a 2nd spider to upgrade mine to level 5, The Haunted Spider is really good right out of the box, but I felt that the addition of 1 more health will help keep it alive long enough to poison my opponents tank.

I bought a level 6 spineback as part of a package from a friend. I really only needed a level 5 but they didn't have one and gave me a deal on the level 6. I wanted a level 5 spineback for the thorns ability, it makes the spineback a great backup tank. I will be using my spineback at a handicapped level 5.

I bought a 2nd spirit to upgrade mine to level 5, I am very excited to have the reflect ability, it will make my haunted spirit a better tank.

I bought a 2nd archer to upgrade mine to level 5.He gains another ranged at level 4 which makes him more reliable against shielded enemies.

I passed on upgrading the other cards in Death splinter because I didn't think they would give me that much more of an advantage at this moment.

---

Neutral Splinter

I bought a second Enchanted Defender and upgraded mine to level 5 so I could unlock the thorns ability. That makes this card a great opportunity stopper.

I had a second Goblin Mech lying around so I put it to good use and upgraded mine to level 5 which unlocked the 5 melee damage.

---

Pretty Good Day, 20 cards at new levels for me.

Next I will focus on some untamed to compliment my collection, lone boatman is at the top of my list, once it is level 5 I get armor repair!

Do you have any goals to upgrade any cards soon?