Beginner's Guide

We are all newbies when we start something, and most of time we make mistakes because the lack of knowledge. So, to minimize the damage, here's a beginner's guide for you newbies to Soccer Spirits! Not trying to reinvent the wheel, a reddit user TheJediJew has already posted a brief guide as below.

When are the Guerilla matches for getting penguins?

Weekdays: 3AM, 9AM, 3PM, and 9PM
Weekends: 7AM, 3PM, 11PM
The game day ends at 3PM.
All times in GMT

When do missions give double EXP and double gold?

Double gold is one hour after the 3AM and 3PM penguin matches.
Double EXP is one hour after the 9AM and 9PM penguin matches

Is it worth investing time/resources in training and evolving Noa or Sam?

No.

Can all 5 star cards evolve to 7 stars?

All players can be super trained to 6 stars, but not all can be evolved to 7 stars. Check the "drop list" on the Event tab on the drawing screen, or the character book for a list of 7 star potential cards.

What's the difference between the tabs on the Draw menu?

The "Event" tab will draw cards from across every attribute. The individual tabs will guarantee that any 4 or 5 star card you draw will be of that attribute. Note that 3 star cards will be drawn across all attributes in all tabs. The Friendship Draw tab allows you to draw absolutely any card in the game including players, managers, gatekeepers, swirlies, penguins and elementals.

Be warned that your chance of getting 5 star cards is much less in the single attribute tabs - indeed you have a 10.74% chance of drawing ten 3 star cards in a single attribute tab compared to 4.29% in the event tab.

Premium Tickets can be used in any tab except for the friendship tab. After every 40th crystal draw (ie not friendship or ticket draws) you will qualify for a Mileage ticket. This must be used in the Event tab and will guarantee a 5 star player card from a random attribute.

What do the various player stats mean?

The Winter Update has made a lot of the previously invisible stats more obvious. Not all of them are shown, but here's what those that are do:

Dribble affects your damage when you have the ball. Key stat for Strikers and Attackers.
Steal affects your damage when you do not have the ball. Key stat for Stealers and Defenders.
Pass is the bonus given by passing the ball. It is added to the receiving player's Dribble and Steal stats. Key stat for Assistors.
Action Speed determines how quickly your action bar fills up.
Critical is your chance of inflicting a critical hit.
Critical Damage is the bonus applied when performing a successfully performing a critical hit.
Defence reduces the damage inflicted on the player.
HP is the players total hit points.
Reflexes are the player's chance to take the ball off the opposition without depleting all their HP (called a "counterattack" in game).
Recovery affects the natural healing rate of the player as well as the HP they will respawn with.
Counterattack resistance is the player's resistance to counterattacks.
Critical Resistance is the players resistance to receiving critical hits. Key stat for Goalkeepers.

There are other stats not shown in game. Here are some of them:
Damage resistance reduces the damage taken from attacks and shots.
Penetration reduces the opponents resistance to damage. Leads to enormous damage boosts on strikers.

What do gatekeepers do?

Litres increase the superb level of the card they are fed to by 1. 3 star Litres can be used on 2~4 star cards while the evolved 5 star Litre can be used on 5~7 star cards. The majority of the superbs you give to your base 5 star cards will be from Litres. They are extremely valuable.

Kumas give a huge amount of experience when used as training material. the 3 star version gives 320'010 EXP while the evolved 5 star version gives 2'000'010 EXP. Very useful to have after evolving your 5 or 6 star cards.

Meras are used as material for Special Training. 3 star Meras can be used to Special train 2 and 3 star players. 5 Star Meras can be used to special train 4 star and higher players.

Neris will be covered in it's own question.

Beelzebubs grant bonuses to the stats of the card they are fed to. The 3 star version grants 5 bonus to a single random stat, while the 5 star version gives 7 bonus to all stats. This effect does stack despite what the game claims.

...ok, so WTF does Neris do?

Training a player with Neris will consume the player you feed it to and the Neris itself. In return you will get a card that is unevolved, lvl 1 and unsuperbed but of a higher star level.
Since each player can only be evolved once (except for the 7star cards), you will be getting a player with more potential strength. In other words a four star card can only evolve to five star, but once evolved and superbed you can use Neris to get a five star card (which can evolve to six stars or even seven in certain cases) in return.
3 star Neris can be used on base 2 or 3 star cards in this way to get 3 or 4 star cards respectively.
5 star Neris can be used on base 4 star cards to get 5 star cards.
6 star Neris can be used to trade 6 star cards for 5 star cards - the 6 star card must be lvl 50 as well as fully superbed.

Why would you use a 6 star Neris when the 5 star Neris gives the same reward for much less effort?

Excellent question.

Where can I get gatekeepers?

They are very rare and hard to find.
The only sources are achievements, in the friendship draw at a very low drop rate, scouting them for 150GP each, at a very low drop rate in the hardest elemental event, or beating the rare gatekeeper champions in the Colosseum of Despair.

What do Swirlies do?

Swirlies are a weakened form of Beelzebub - they give up to three permanent bonuses to a random stat. The chance of this bonus depends on the grade: 3 star swirlies at 10%; 4 star at 25%; and 5 star at 85%. The same attribute training multiplier applies.
A 5 star Swirly of the correct attribute is also required to evolve 6 star cards.
Black Hole Swirlies give 4 points to a random stat with 100% chance.

What do Penguins do?

Penguins are a weakened form of Kuma - they give large exp bonuses when used in training. 3 star penguins give 7'210 EXP; 4 star penguins give 12'010 EXP; 5 star penguins give 40'010 EXP; and 6 star penguins give 120'010 EXP. The same attribute training multiplier applies.

What do elementals do?

Elementals are used for evolving.
What are the requirements for evolving?
2 star cards require four matching 3 star elementals to evolve.
3 star cards require two 4 stars, and two 3 stars.
4 star cards require one 5 star, three 4 stars, and three 3 stars.
5 star cards require six 5 stars, six 4 stars and three 3 stars.
6 star cards require two Black Hole Swirlies/Rainbow Elementals, eight 5 star Elementals, and two 5 star Swirlies.
All of these should match the attribute of the card you are evolving.

What do Rainbow Elementals do?

Rainbow elementals undo superbing on your cards. You will get a copy of the card you use for every superb level that it has. You will not be refunded your litres.
This is useful for generating materials to Special train.

What is the order for the daily elemental matches?

Monday: Dark
Tuesday: Ardor
Wednesday: Ice
Thursday: Whirlwind
Friday: Light
Weekend: Swirlies

Do superb power-ups and swirly bonuses disappear when a card is evolved?

No. All the bonuses will carry over to the evolved card.

Which cards should I buy while scouting?

Please see the scouting guides for player rankings and recommendations.
You should look to scout players in this order: Striker > Goalkeeper > Assistor > Healer > Attacker > Totem/Utility.
You should also horde Beelzebubs and Litres every opportunity.
Be warned that the scout is not a place to find specific cards. It is a lottery and should be treated as such. Grab every good card you find when you get the chance.

What's the best way to get GP?

Selling three star cards will get you 12 GP each, while drawing them will get you 6. Four star cards give 20 GP if you sell them. Otherwise keep spamming the Colosseum (free resetting every day or soon as you get stuck) and galaxy league. There are also daily achievements that give 12 GP. You are doing very well if you get 100GP in a day.
Scouting gives you a choice in 5 star cards. Don't waste GP. It is the most valuable resource in the game.

Should I scout this penguin for 5GP?

No. Did you even read the last answer?

What about managers?

Gerold and Lucy are definite scouts for mid game players. Perial, Ingram and Marineco are also great.

What is the best way to get gold?

Missions and achievements.

What is the best way to get crystals?

Missions and achievements.

What is the best way to get FP?

Guess.

What is the best way to get BP?

The only way to get it is from Boss battles in the Space Time Continuum. Just keep spamming, spamming, spamming...

Should I focus on a single attribute for my team, or mix it up?

A number of cards give good Ace skills to more than one attribute. The ones that give to two (example Metatron gives HP and Attack to Light and Dark) are the current kings of the pile. If you are lucky enough to have both the Ace and the players to take advantage, then you should definitely look to use them.
Having said that, rainbow and mono-decks remain viable strategies - especially with the attribute bonus/penalty system.

Should I save up for the 10+1 draw or draw whenever I can afford it?

Optimally: a mixture of both. You qualify for a "Mileage" ticket after every 40th crystal draw (not including friendship draws and tickets) which will give you a guaranteed 5 star card. The counter only resets when you use the ticket, so buying four 10+1 draws will mean that 4 cards will not be counted.
The best method is to buy three 10+1 draws and seven single draws. That will give you a mileage ticket every 1110 crystals as opposed to every 1200 with four 10+1 draws.

What do I do with all my unused two star cards?

There are three options:
With gold being as valuable as it is since the latest patch, you should sell them for 200 gold each and be done with them.

What do I do with all my unused three star cards?

Sell them for 12 GP a shot.

What do I do with all my unused four star cards?

Either fully superb, train and evolve them for use with Neris, or sell them for 20GP a shot.

What do I do with all my unused five star cards?

Train them to lvl 50 with Penguins and use them in Special Training.

What should I do with all my unused Spirit Stones?

Sell them. Make sure that you have spirit stones on all your players first though. They are much more powerful since the Winter Update.

How do I get Unique stones?

Spirits stones can be powered- up and evolved on the spirit stone screen. There are a maximum of 15 levels of power-up with every 3rd level giving a chance to evolve that stone to a higher star level. Unique stones are 7 star version of rare spirit stones - as such they can only be gotten by successfully evolving 6 star rare spirit stones through power-up. This process is extremely gold intensive.
You can also get a unique stone by completing the Challenge mode in Story mode and by reaching user level 100.

What Spirit Stones should I give my cards?

This is not easy to answer as it depends on the individual card and team strategy, but here are a few basic guidelines:

Goalkeepers - Reduce incoming critical rate, Reduce incoming damage, Increase defence and Increase Max HP
Defenders - Increase steal, Decrease inflicted damage, Increase reflexes and Increase Max HP
Midfielders - Increase dribble, Increase steal, Increase penetration power, Increase critical rate and Increase reflexes
Assistors - Increase pass effect, Increase steal, Increase reflexes, and Increase action speed
Strikers - Penetration, Increase dribble, Increase receiving pass effect, Increase critical rate, and Increase Critical damage.

As an example of a card specific strategy - Blade needs as much increased critical rate as possible and this should always be top priority for her.

What should I focus on doing as a beginner?

Start by progressing through the story as far as you can. This will get your level (and thus maximum cost) up really quickly.

Keep an eye out for the Penguin matches. Try to beat at least one every time they become available. Once you can win more than half the time, then start saving ST a few hours before and spam them when they become available. The EXP they give will help your young team immensely.

Once you have a decently leveled team, start hitting the optional missions for FP, gold and especially crystals. Save these up and draw as per the optimal strategy above. You should also spend some upgrading your lodgings when you run out of room for cards you want to keep and opening the two scout slots. Other than that, spend them only on drawing.

Be sure to hit the Colosseum as often as you can as well. Reset it as soon as you get stuck (you won't lose your top score and you get a free reset every day) to keep the GP flowing. The arena should be a decent source of GP too. Don't bother with the PVP League yet as there are a lot of bloody good teams in the lowest tier.

Since the new update it has become much more difficult to use and evolve 5 star cards. This together with the new Special training has made lower star cards a lot more valuable. Don't be afraid to evolve and special train your good 3 and 4 star cards while you gather materials to evolve your 5 star cards. The game is a lot longer now than it was before. Don't let that discourage you.

From there, you're on your own. Feel free to ask any questions either in here or to the community at large.

What are the common mistakes new players make that I should avoid?

Do not train, evolve or superb Noa or Sam. They are really good for 3 star cards, but cannot hold a candle to the average 5 star card, let alone the good ones. You will come to regret every card you feed to these two.

Do not use any gatekeepers until you are around lvl 40 (especially Litres, Beelzebubs and Kumas). By that stage you will have a better idea of what cards you want to keep and what gatekeepers you will need for evolving. Anything you use before that has a good chance of being wasted on a card with no long term future.

Do not fall into the scout spending trap. The scout is a lottery and should be treated as such. You will see posts on this subreddit everyday of people having found amazing cards in their scouts. This is akin to reading about some guy in Louisiana winning the $100m powerball lottery. Gold is extremely valuable since the Winter Update. Do not waste it!

Afterword

This is not my work, all credits belong to original author TheJediJew. The original post was posted at subreddit for Soccer Spirits in this link.