Splinterlands

Splinterlands is a unique digital trading card game that allows players to truly own their cards and other in-game assets. Thanks to web 3.0 technology powered by the HIVE blockchain, each card in Splinterlands is a non-fungible token owned by a player. That means that players can do anything they want with their cards, including battling for rewards, holding as collectibles, trading on the peer-to-peer market, combining to level up, or even burning to obtain Dark Energy Crystals, the official in-game cryptocurrency of Splinterlands.

With hundreds of unique cards, Splinterlands is a brilliantly designed and fast-paced trading card game that allows its players to earn by playing. Unlike more traditional TCGs like Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon, Splinterlands battles are fast, with each match taking only 2-3 minutes. Rather than turn-based action in which every move is carefully and slowly controlled, Splinterlands' main mechanic is a drafting style. Once an opponent is found, each player assembles a team of up to 6 cards from their Splinterlands collection. Then according to a unique set of rules that make every match different, the battle is played out automatically in a quick action-packed format that allows players to learn from both victory and defeat.

New players are provided with select Common and Rare cards from the Untamed edition of the game. To ensure that you always have the means to play the game, these free Level 1 “phantom” cards are forever linked to your account. Once you’ve played a few battles, you may wish to start building your collection of “real” cards. These may be purchased via the shop or in the marketplace. Each additional card makes your collection more powerful. Duplicate cards may be combined to gain higher levels. As your cards gain levels, the stats increase and special abilities are unlocked! Cards that you purchase may be combined to gain levels, converted into Dark Energy Crystals (DEC), traded, sold, or rented to other players.

Types Of Cards

Splinterlands offers two types of cards, namely: Summoner and Monster. Each time you battle a ranked battle, you will select your cards from your deck. Your deck will consist of a summoner and up to 6 monsters. The Summoner Card has abilities that affect Monster cards.

Your Summoner Card has powers that affect the entire team of monsters. Healthy summoner cards can increase the health of monsters and fight them. Your Summoner has this effect only in-game, so you won't see it in combat. 

Card Basics

Monster and Summoner cards cost mana to use in a battle. Each battle you play in Splinterlands will have a randomized mana cost, and this will influence how you create your team. 

Card Sets / Editions

Alpha 

(The Alpha Set is what started it all in 2018)

The Alpha set was the first that was ever sold, beginning with Splinterlands' launch in May 2018. It was also the only set whose summoners and monsters were reused (in the Beta set) because of the initial low supply of the first Alpha cards. 

Today, players earn a DEC bonus of 10% for each Alpha card used in battle. Alpha Booster packs have become exceedingly rare, but they can still sometimes be found on secondary markets like HIVE-Engine or Atomic Hub. 

300,000 Alpha booster packs were created. 

Because of the limited supply, Alpha cards also have the unique ability to be converted to Beta cards. This can be done through the Collection page of any card.

Beta

Beta Booster packs were the first large sale of Splinterlands packs, with nearly 1 million total packs sold. Beta versions of all the same summoners and monsters from the Alpha set were used, plus the addition of Neutral (Splinter-less) cards, and new Epic and Legendary summoners. 

900,000 Beta booster packs were created.

Untamed

Splinterlands Untamed was a new set of 71 brand new cards (monsters and summoners) that began sales following the sellout of the Beta Set. During this set, an additional purchase reward system of airdrops was also implemented. These airdrops take place every 100,000 packs sold with the release of a brand new card, and players have greater chances of receiving the new card based on how many Untamed packs they have purchased from Splinterlands.com.

As new abilities have been added to the game, many Untamed cards came with (now crucial) abilities that could not be found in the cards of the Alpha and Beta sets.

1.5 million Untamed Booster Packs were created.

Promo

The Promo set consists of 24 cards of various origins. The entire 12-card Essence Orb set was released under the Promo category, and the other 12 cards in the set come from various promotional special releases, like the Halfling Alchemist that was created in celebration of the BTC halving of 2020 and such Mystery Potion Reward cards as Archmage Arius, Prince Julian and the Mighty Dricken.

200,000 Essence Orb booster packs were created, and other Promo cards were released in fixed and limited quantities for various reasons.

ΛZMΛRÉ Dice

The ΛZMΛRÉ Dice set can only be purchased with Dark Energy Crystals, and all DEC used to purchase them are burned from the total DEC supply. This set consisted originally of 20 unique cards + 5 airdrops using the same airdrop method (per 50,000 packs sold) as Untamed. The more ΛZMΛRÉ Dice packs a player has purchased, the greater their chance of receiving each airdrop card.

300,000 ΛZMΛRÉ Dice booster packs were created.

Reward Edition Cards

Cards from the Reward Edition can only be earned from playing or purchased from the secondary market, which makes them especially unique.

Reward cards can only be found in Loot Chests, but in the player's collection, they behave the same as all other Splinterlands cards. They can be combined, burned, transferred, or bought and sold on the secondary market.

Reward Card Supply

There are always somewhere between 30 and 40 different Reward cards currently being released in Loot Chests. This period of finding the cards in Loot Chests is known as the print run or the supply run. When several Reward cards' supply runs have ended, brand new Reward cards are released.

Reward cards are released until a specific number of cards has been printed, so they can be tracked on a percentage printed basis. 

Reward Cards are printed in the following numbers:

• Legendary - 10,000 printed
• Epic - 40,000 printed
• Rare - 100,000 printed

Once the print runs have ended for each Reward card, that card can only be found (when available) on the secondary card markets, and the circulation of that card can only decrease.

Card Market

To trade individual cards, players and collectors must understand the Splinterlands card market.

The Card Market can be accessed anytime by clicking the MARKET tab on Splinterlands. At the top of the page, use the filters to narrow down your search.

Buying Cards

First, use the filters on the market page to locate the cards you wish to purchase. When your filtered selection of cards appears below, you will be able to see several things at a glance before clicking an individual card's page.

Click on the card you wish to shop and you'll be taken to that specific card FOR SALE tab from the Collection Page. This can also be accessed through the CARDS page by selecting a card, then choosing the FOR SALE tab.

Cards on the market are always listed with the cheapest per BCX at the top. You can select up to 45 lines to be purchased in a single transaction. If buying multiple cards, you can hold SHIFT to check multiple boxes at once.

If there is a clock icon on the line (as pictured below), it means that the card has been recently played and is still subject to a cooldown. Hover over the icon and it will tell you exactly how much time remains in the card's cooldown.

Once you have selected the cards you wish to purchase, choose from the dropdown to select a payment option (either Credits or DEC), then complete the transaction. Once the page refreshes automatically, you will be able to see those cards in your collection and the market page will be updated to reflect the purchase.

Selling Cards

Please note that listing cards are not the same as selling cards instantly. While you can list a card for cheaper than the currently listed cheapest price, there is no guarantee that it will sell and there is no way to determine how long the listing will take to be purchased.

While cards are listed on the market, you will not be able to battle with them, but they still count toward your Collection Power.

Cards are listed through the Collection Page found by clicking the CARDS tab on Splinterlands.

1 - Select the card you wish to list for sale and click it to go to its page in your collection.

2 - Choose the specific card using the checkboxes on the left. Only 1 card may be listed at a time.

3 - Click the market icon to list the card.

4 - In the new window, enter the price for your new listing.

5 - Click Sell to finalize the listing.

Ranked Battles

For each ranked battle won, players earn both ranking points and Dark Energy Crystals.

For each ranked battle won, players earn various amounts of Dark Energy Crystals based on several variables.

• League - The higher the League of play, the more DEC are earned per win.
• DEC Capture Rate - With every battle won, a player's DEC capture rate diminishes slightly, reducing the amount of DEC they are able to earn. This rate is recharging at a rate that is similar to HIVE voting power.
• Win Streak - Players earn more DEC per win when that win is part of a winning streak (3 or more in a row).
• Set and Foil Bonuses - Players earn 10% more DEC for every Alpha card played in each battle, and 10% more for every Gold Foil card played.
• Guild Bonuses

Ranking Points

Ranking points determine the maximum League in which a player can compete at any time. They are gained when ranked battles are won, and lost when ranked battles are lost. They also determine the leaderboards for each League.

The number of ranking points gained for each victory depends on:

- Whether your opponent is higher or lower than you in rank. 

- Your win streak.