I know how excited you are when you open up one of your chest rewards and find that final card that well max out the level of one of your cards.

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmZoLYuJ6TUiynBM9CCEsffUSASohYK3PJAnx3iyzyG3y4/image.png)

But is that always a good idea?

Remember once you level up that card there's no going back. 

You cannot take back the cards that you've combined. 

You might be fit into thinking, well it's the highest level card therefore it should trump a lower-level card. 

Right?

Well, let me show a situation where that's not the case...

Let's say we have a 13 mana game where Earth is one of the Splinters to choose from. 

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcD3iDGNWHLBFc2qRA5n5ZkhWGDgNs6uBoYybFTx7dQiZ/image.png)


Now, everyone who's been playing this game long enough would know that Flesh Golem w/ Scarred Llama Mage is one of the best if not unbeatable combination. 

But what if a Level 9 Golem was faced off with a Level 10 Golem in this scenario?

Who do you think would win?

Your guest would probably be Level 10 right?

Well, you would be wrong. Check it out below.

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQme3ZZyiiNATsyVsmTYKsYV83R15uo19fEFxgYxJmi56di/image.png)
<a href="https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sm_RKGVJo3AZgK2esjYKakX&ref=adonisabril">Link to Battle</a>

Above is the match-up and in this instance, my Level 9 Golem with Llama beat the Level 10 version. If you have the patience to play it all the way to match 24 you'll see that Fatigue caught on to the Level 10 version faster than the Level 9.

I haven't done my own calculations as to why that is but if you look at the same match-up at PeakMonsters.com's battle chain. Level 9 is always winning. 

This is not a fluke, in this match-up, the  Level 9 Golem ALWAYS beats Level 10 version. 

So before you combine those cards, think again check the battle chain over at Peakmonsters or hold up on Leveling it up.