Splinterlands Leagues Split into Wild and Modern

After months of talking about splitting their game into two leagues, Splinterlands finally pulls the trigger, releasing this latest update to their players earlier today. This update brings Wild and Modern formats to the battle ranks. Players can choose the league that best fits their collection, or even play in both if they want!

Splinterlands has never been one to sit around and wait for their players to get bored. They have released several expansions, implemented a governance token, and now, bring us two options for competing in ranked battles!

And with another small expansion in the works (Riftwatchers), new daily focuses coming soon, and the long awaited land gameplay still on the horizon, Splinterlands still has many more exciting changes to offer their players in the future!

Modern and Wild Formats

Nothing about the Splinterlands game itself has really changed with this update. It’s simply that there are now two separate leagues, Modern and Wild. Wild is what everyone has been playing since Splinterlands was first launched back in 2018. In Wild mode, all cards are available for use. You still have to own or rent the cards. But otherwise, players have access to the complete Splinterlands card set during battles.

However, in Modern format, only the most recent expansions are allowed. Currently, that includes Chaos Legion, which still has many packs for sale, and Azmare Dice, a smaller expansion released back in 2020.

Players may compete in either or both leagues, though their quest reward chests and season reward chests are based on the highest rank across both leagues. Each league has its own pool of DEC rewards and its own leaderboards. Tournaments will have to choose between the two formats when they are created.

It will be very interesting to see how this affects player activity and the leaderboards. Modern format should provide an easier avenue of access for new players, as they can pick up Chaos Legion packs and cheap cards from the market to build their collection, without having to worry about competing with older, expensive cards.

Dark Energy Crystal Production

In other Splinterlands news, the team provided updates on their future plans for Dark Energy Crystals (DEC). DEC are the primary in-game currency, used for buying packs, potions, as well as purchasing or renting cards from the market.

Currently, players receive DEC for every battle they win and in reward chests. Unfortunately, this has led to severe inflation and devaluation of Dark Energy Crystals. Since DEC is supposed to be a semi-stable token (where 1000 DEC = about $1), continuing in this manner is untenable. And so, Splinterlands announced that they plan to replace DEC rewards with SPS tokens instead. We don’t have a specific timeline for this change. But I would expect to see it in the next month or two.

To compensate for this major decrease in DEC production, Splinterlands plans to allow players to burn SPS tokens and receive DEC in exchange. In this proposal, burning 1 SPS would bring in 1000 DEC. This is an interesting idea, as it provides additional value for SPS tokens, and also creates a steady stream of deflation as SPS tokens are burned and removed from the ecosystem.

And speaking of SPS, the original, 1 year airdrop of SPS tokens ends soon. After that, SPS will only be available from playing ranked battles, as tournament prizes, leaderboard rewards, staking and Brawls (!). DEC will only be acquired by burning SPS tokens, or by burning cards.