Battle Ruleset Updates

The Splinterlands team is planning to roll out some significant changes to the rulesets in battles in the upcoming release this Tuesday, January 24th, 2023.

The primary change is that up to three rulesets may be active at the same time in Gold league and higher ranked battles, as well as all Tournament and Guild Brawl battles. Previously, only two rulesets could be active for a battle. By increasing that to three it opens up exponentially more new and interesting combinations that players will need to navigate in order to crush their opponent.

The chances of getting 1, 2, or 3 rulesets, as well as chances of getting the "Standard" ruleset in each league is shown below:

• Bronze - 75% chance of 1 ruleset / 25% chance of “Standard” ruleset
• Silver - 75% chance of 2 rulesets / 20% chance of 1 ruleset / 5% chance of “Standard” ruleset
• Gold+ / Tournament / Brawl - 75% chance of 3 rulesets / 15% chance of 2 rulesets / 8% chance of 1 ruleset / 2% chance of “Standard” ruleset

Additionally, we have reworked the methodology by which the rulesets can be chosen. In the past, the rulesets were grouped into one of two categories - primary or secondary - as well as an "any" category. A maximum of one primary ruleset and one secondary ruleset could be chosen for any battle which significantly limited the possible ruleset combinations.

With the change to 3 rulesets we have completely removed the categories and now any rulesets can be combined with any other rulesets except for specific exclusions to prevent certain incompatible combinations.

This will open up a whole bunch of really interesting new ruleset combinations that were not possible before. For example you could have a Back to Basics, Equal Opportunity, Unprotected battle where all monsters lose their base abilities, gain the Opportunity ability, and don't have any armor. Or you could have a Broken Arrows, Even Stevens, Taking Sides battle where you can only choose monsters that do not have a Ranged attack, have even Mana cost, and are not Neutral.

The full list of all of the current rulesets in the game are shown in the table at the bottom of this post including what "type" of ruleset it is and the list of incompatible rulesets and ruleset types for each.

Two New Rulesets

With this change we will also be releasing the following two new rulesets:

• Going the Distance - Only Monsters with Ranged attack may be used.
• Wands Out - Only Monsters with Magic attack may be used.

These will round out the attack type rulesets so that now there will be rulesets which don't allow each type of attack as well as rulesets which only allow each type of attack.

Please note that we will also be disabling these six "attack type" limiting rulesets in Alpha edition only tournaments since there are already so few cards to choose from in the Alpha edition that it doesn't make sense to limit it further.

Show Us Your Battles!

Having to adapt to constantly changing rules and knowing which cards are better or worse in different situations is the core component of the skill and fun of the Splinterlands game, and we look forward to this update taking that mechanic to an entirely new level.

The mechanic also allows nearly every card in the game to have utility and value in certain situations, which requires players to have a very diverse selection of cards available in order to be competitive. We see this as another important feature of the game, as well as being a nice change from the typical collectible card game where many cards are worthless and hardly ever used in competitive play.

We can't wait to see players posting some of the crazy new ruleset combinations they encounter in battles and seeing certain previously underutilized cards shine when that specific situation arises that calls for them!

Updated Ruleset & Incompatibility List

Name	Type	Incompatible Types	Incompatible Rulesets
Aim True	Ability
Aimless	Ability
Briar Patch	Ability
Close Range	Ability
Counterspell	Ability
Equal Opportunity	Ability		Aimless, Melee Mayhem, Super Sneak, Target Practice
Explosive Weaponry	Ability
Ferocity	Ability
Fire & Regret	Ability
Heavy Hitters	Ability
Holy Protection	Ability
Melee Mayhem	Ability
Stampede	Ability
Super Sneak	Ability		Melee Mayhem
Target Practice	Ability		Aimless
Tis but Scratches	Ability
Up to Eleven	Ability
Weak Magic	Ability
What Doesn't Kill You	Ability
Broken Arrows	Attack Type	Attack Type	Close Range, Fire & Regret
Keep Your Distance	Attack Type	Attack Type	Briar Patch, Melee Mayhem, Stampede, Super Sneak
Going the Distance	Attack Type	Attack Type	Briar Patch, Counterspell, Melee Mayhem, Stampede, Super Sneak, Weak Magic
Lost Magic	Attack Type	Attack Type	Counterspell, Weak Magic
Up Close & Personal	Attack Type	Attack Type	Aimless, Close Range, Counterspell, Fire & Regret, Target Practice, Weak Magic
Wands Out	Attack Type	Attack Type	Briar Patch, Close Range, Fire & Regret, Melee Mayhem, Stampede, Super Sneak
Even Stevens	Card Mana	Card Mana
Little League	Card Mana	Card Mana	Ferocity, Stampede
Odd Ones Out	Card Mana	Card Mana
Lost Legendaries	Card Rarity	Card Rarity
Rise of the Commons	Card Rarity	Card Rarity
Taking Sides	Card Type
Back to Basics	Ability Removal	Ability Removal	Ferocity, Heavy Hitters, Stampede
Fog of War	Ability Removal
Healed Out	Ability Removal
Armored Up	Other
Earthquake	Other
Equalizer	Other
Noxious Fumes	Other
Reverse Speed	Other
Silenced Summoners	Other
Unprotected	Other		Armored Up, Weak Magic

Stay tuned for more updates from the Splinterlands!

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