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Well, I didn't start in the Alpha, I did in Beta, with a promo code that used to be a physical card from one of the few cards that existed back then, and I can say it's really fun. I love games like Magic and Yugi, and I know they are far from being the same, but, I like the idea of having my cards and they worth something even if that something is burning them for decs, it means I can decide, if they work, if they battle, or even if they become crystals, and I try my best to increase the collection by any way I get ... mostly battling and using the market, but it is hard as a Venezuelan player to get to the top, I have a lot of years playing, xD and my strategies come... from market opportunities, hahahaha, I WAS on the champion league for... many seasons...

As you can see, here are my champion points... but that's old glory. Now, well, thanks to the outsider rule, it's great to be an old player with old cards, but I'm lacking power on the modern side, and I feel bad when I can't do my daily routine battling. You could say I love collecting them, :3 and trading is something I have done since I was a child :v

Very cool indeed. ill be sending cards out soon! GOOD LUCK!

How long have you been playing Splinterlands?

My journey started back in 2019 when I first created my account (powerhemp). I took a break and came back to play more actively during the 2021/2022 era, right when the Chaos Legion set was the newest release. After that, I took a longer break and forgot about the game for a while. However, in March 2026, I rediscovered it and came back. Since then, I have been completely hooked.

How has this game affected your day-to-day life or routine?

Since my return in March 2026, Splinterlands has become a fixed and exciting part of my daily routine. I spend a lot of my time actively testing strategies, especially in the Survival mode. Because Survival now features zero cooldowns on dead cards and requires no energy to play, it has completely changed my daily routine. I can play as much as I want, which allows me to constantly test different strategies and learn all the cards that aren't available in Frontier. It's the perfect daily training ground.

What's your favorite memory, milestone, or community connection you’ve made?

My favorite current milestone is navigating the new meta in my favorite game mode, Frontier. Right now, the absolute highlight for me is working with the new Arena Vanguard cards. They have made the game mode so much more fun. A huge personal milestone I am currently working on is slowly leveling them up to level 2 and beyond, making them viable and incredibly useful in high-mana battles. Seeing that progress pay off in real-time is incredibly satisfying.

What does the game or community mean to you on a personal level?

On a personal level, this game represents resilience and transparency. What truly sets Splinterlands apart for me is the development team. Unlike 99% of crypto projects or traditional gaming companies that hide from their player base, the Splinterlands team actually cares. They are visible, communicative, and face the community directly. That creates a level of trust that makes me proud to be a part of this ecosystem.

Any other stories or thoughts you want permanently documented for the public?

I want it documented that good projects survive the test of time because of dedicated builders and authentic communities. Falling out of love with a game and finding your way back years later to find it better than ever is rare in the Web3 space. The depth of the game today—where you can lose yourself in the strategic layers of Frontier or use Survival to master every single card without restrictions—proves that Splinterlands is built for the long haul. My return in 2026 is proof that once you are a part of this world, you never truly leave. And right now, I'm fully focused on my biggest goal yet: I am hunting the leaderboard and pushing to win the current Frontier season, or at least secure a spot in the top 3!

It's been almost five years since I started here. Back then, I didn't really have any experience with these kinds of games, but with the guidance of some friends, I began to get involved in a platform that's still a part of my life to this day. Splinterlands holds a special place in my life, as it helped me a lot during a time when I needed to get ahead, and it was a support that made a difference in my routines and how I navigate the internet.

Although I took a break from playing a few months ago, I decided to return to the game and catch up, discovering so many new things that I'm still hooked. I've even dedicated a lot of my posts to this game. Splinterlands is a game that gives you opportunities, and that's why I hold it in such high regard.

How long have you been playing Splinterlands?

I started playing in the summer of 2021. I admit I got into it a bit blindly, caught up in the NFT hype, to the point where I didn't even realize I was joining Hive too.

Since I had played Magic and other collectible card games before, I was already familiar with the excitement of opening packs, building decks, and discovering card synergies. Splinterlands offers all of that while maintaining its own unique playstyle, which makes it stand out and, most importantly, really fun.

How has this game affected your day-to-day life or routine?

I think it's one of those things that arrive unexpectedly and end up completely taking over your daily routine. As a guilty pleasure, I sometimes put on a podcast in the background and try to play a few matches—and by "a few," I mean 20 or more, you know, gotta make the most of that in-game energy. Finding time to jump into brawls or harvest my land plots while enjoying a cup of coffee has easily become my go-to relaxing afternoon plan.

What's your favorite memory, milestone, or community connection you’ve made?

It's hard to pick just one moment from these past five years, especially since most of them are really personal and almost silly milestones. I guess the first one that comes to mind was finally beating Mylor, the old Archon of Thorns; he was like an invisible wall keeping me from climbing the ranks. Little did I know that Eternal Tofu was waiting for me down the road... but that's another story.

I also won't forget the day I joined a guild. I'm not exactly the most outgoing person, but the social side brings any game to life, and Splinterlands is no exception. Sure, you can't just head down to your local game store to bend the shopkeeper's ear, but with a bit of luck, you can do pretty much the same thing on Discord—as long as you find someone patient and passionate enough.

What does the game or community mean to you on a personal level?

Splinterlands opened the doors to Hive for me and helped grow my account. At first, I was inspired to start writing thanks to their weekly challenges, which reminded me that the rewards go far beyond just earning cards or tokens. As ironic as it might seem in such a competitive environment, the best part has been meeting truly incredible and generous people.

Any other stories or thoughts you want permanently documented for the public?

A project that reaches eight years speaks for itself. You don't have to dig too deep to discover the countless inspiring stories behind it: dedicated people who set goals and achieve them. And, what the hell, let's not forget that it's fun. One of my personal mantras on Hive, which I often repeat, is that you come for the games, but you stay for the people.

Haha, very cool. Thank you for taking the time out to put this creative material together. We really appreciate everything this community does for each other! great work ill send the card out now.

Very cool story. I'm glad you're part of this community and hope to battle you one day! Thank you for participating.

Thanks!


It all started for me in September 2021, and fittingly enough, my Splinterlands story begins with another member of this community.

I discovered Splinterlands through the YouTube videos of Dwayne Cunningham, aka @infidel1258. Dwayne is an absolute legend in my book, and while personal circumstances have unfortunately kept him from uploading videos for quite some time now, I genuinely don't know whether I would ever have discovered Splinterlands without him.

So before anything else: Thank you, Dwayne. ❤️

I don't think either of us could have known back then just how important clicking on one of your videos would eventually become for me.

What started as discovering a blockchain card game very quickly became something much bigger.

By November 2021, only a few months after discovering the game, I had already developed what was probably my biggest Splinterlands dream: I wanted to work for the team as a graphic designer.

I spent around three months putting together an entire Splinterlands-focused design portfolio for my application. I wasn't casually throwing my hat into the ring — I wanted this badly. I wanted to use what I could do creatively to actually contribute something to this world I had fallen in love with.

And once again, Dwayne somehow became part of the story.

He gave me the opportunity to present my portfolio on his YouTube channel, and he, @aftersound and @stever82 went through and reviewed the work I had created. You can check out that YouTube video and the whole portfolio presentation in the following link:

https://peakd.com/spt/@king-arminius/splinterlands-design-portfolio

I didn't ultimately become a Splinterlands graphic designer in 2022.

But looking back now, that chapter means something very different to me.

Because apparently the dream wasn't dead.

It just took a very different road to get there.

Over the following years, Splinterlands became part of my everyday life. The battles, collecting, deck building, tournaments, brawls, ranked grinds and that never-ending internal debate about which card I definitely absolutely need to buy next. 😂

I've reached Champion in Modern, had tournament finishes I'm proud of, fought countless guild battles and experienced those incredible matches where some completely ridiculous strategy somehow works exactly as planned.

But somewhere along the way, the cards stopped being the most important part.

The people became the most important part.

I've met people through Splinterlands from all over the world whom I never would have crossed paths with otherwise. Guildmates, streamers, content creators, opponents, collaborators and people I now genuinely consider friends.

We're all sitting in completely different corners of the world, living completely different lives, yet somehow this strange little blockchain game brought all of us into the same tavern. 😎🍻

And then came 2026.

Through our community-created Arena Vanguard project, brought to life by our very own @iblast, I suddenly found myself doing something remarkably close to that dream I'd chased back in 2022:

Creating artwork that would actually become part of Splinterlands.

I became the lead creative for the artwork of our eight-card Arena Vanguard set, working alongside friends from this community to turn our ideas and characters into something that could actually live inside the game.

And somehow, amongst those eight cards, something even more surreal happened.

A character of my own became one of them.

King Erminaz Twincleaver. 👑⚔️

That's something I'm honestly still processing.

I went from discovering Splinterlands through somebody else's YouTube videos...

...to spending three months applying for the chance to create for Splinterlands...

...to eventually helping create an entire set of cards for Splinterlands...

...and finally seeing my own character become a playable card inside the game.

Maybe I never got that graphic-design job I dreamed about in 2022.

But in a strange way, I still got to live a piece of that dream.

And perhaps that makes it even more meaningful.

King Erminaz isn't simply another card in my collection. He's something I helped bring into existence. And now other people own him.

They battle with him.

They max him.

They win with him.

I've watched people post their victories using Erminaz, seen them welcome him into their collections, given copies of him away to members of this community, and had the completely surreal experience of taking my own Black Foil Mint #50/50 King Erminaz into ranked battles.

That's fucking cool. 😂

And the craziest part is knowing that he's now permanently part of Splinterlands history.

Years from now, regardless of where life takes any of us, somebody can open Splinterlands, scroll through the cards and find King Erminaz Twincleaver sitting there.

For somebody who originally arrived here because Dwayne uploaded some videos that caught my attention, that's one hell of a journey.

And I think that's ultimately what Splinterlands means to me.

Yes, it's a game. It's competition. Collecting. Strategy. Blockchain. Digital ownership. Markets. And approximately 7,492 DAO proposals we've all argued about along the way. 😂

But Splinterlands has also given me friendships, creativity, memories and opportunities.

It gave me people I wouldn't otherwise know.

It gave me creative projects I never expected to work on.

It gave me competitive moments I'll never forget.

And eventually, in its own unexpected way, it allowed that guy who spent three months building a design portfolio in 2022 because he desperately wanted to create something for Splinterlands...

to actually create something for Splinterlands.

There have been plenty of highs and lows along the way. We've watched markets explode and collapse, metas change, formats evolve, people leave and new people arrive.

But I'm still here.

And more importantly:

We're still here.

So to Dwayne, who unknowingly started this whole journey for me...

To all my current and former guildmates and friends...

To the Arena Vanguard crew...

To everyone I've battled, collaborated with, laughed with, argued about cards with, watched on stream or shared this ridiculous adventure with...

And to the Splinterlands team for ultimately allowing something I helped create to become part of this world...

Thank you.

I came here in September 2021 looking for a game.

I found a community. Hell, somewhere along the way, I found a family.

I dreamed about becoming one of its creators.

And somehow, almost five years later, I got to leave my own little mark on the game that started it all.

FOR THE HORDE! 👑⚔️🔥


Just discovered this post, hope I am not too late to participate.

I've been playing since 2022. crypto gaming was a hype then and I started this game to understand what it's about. I've been playing spl daily ever since. I guess what gravitated me is the opportunity to strategize and battle against others and have game result revealed instantly; the immediate feedback helps you learn and pick up necessary skills towards the next win. Every battle lost is an opportunity for me to learn, like paying tuition to learn and do better; so I appreciate those who won over me and taught me ways to earn future wins.

I played my myself for years, not knowing how to utilise guild and social media to get connected with spl community. couple years ago bigbarger sent me invite to join guild I start to participate in brawls. However it's a very quite guild until early this year powerhemp joined our guild and he is a chatty guy and started interactions within our guild. He introduced me to twitch, survival, and your peadD posts and I start to be stream and earn cards! This definitely is a new milestone for me to finally grasp ways to gain key cards besides relying on card market. Powerhemp is extremely involved and dedicated and determined to do well in spl and I learnt so much from him. Now I am following his footsteps of topping frontier leaderboard... crossing my fingers should get #3 this season. I've made leaderboard several times but now learned how to perform more stably.

I love spl and plays daily, though it can be highly frustrating when u get lose streak days, cards don't work days but the times when you develop your own unconventional strategies to gain a win feels very satisfying and draws you to continue playing.

The new vangard cards in frontier spices up the mode but I would really prefer not so many cards introduced at once. Prior vanguard cards, few cards introduced slowly like aimmee whisper allows players adequate time to digest and absorb new playing strategies. Now suddenly we chase after many key cards all at once, namely jolius, buns, khan, king, which really puts a strain on game resources to get them, and brain power to decipher how these new cards should be used. I am on a diff. time zone than most people and usual streaming times very bad for me so difficult to access card giveaways and any streaming perks.

I hope my story helpful to this post and hope it's not too late to participate. I think it's great to earn VA cards from peakD, which I can participate anytime. Just wish I can gain access to buns, khan, and king card the same ways. Any other ways to get these cards besides challenges (happens only in stream), streaming, or card market would be very helpful to me. Please let me know if there are other ways.