Splinterlands Community Engagement Challenge: Yaba’s Pickle and the Arcane Event Series

The Community Engagement Challenge this week is about a really fun upcoming event to celebrate the 7th anniversary of Splinterlands. As you probably already know, we just recently got a card dedicated to Matt added to the Conclave Arcana packs - Archmage Yabanius. Well once you've added the great Archmage of Splinterlands to the game it is only natural for you to also add to the game... his favorite pickle... So, let's have a look at Yaba's Pickle, not his literal pickle but his magical pickle, though both could be magical, we have no way of knowing that...

First, let's revisit the story of how Yaba's Pickle came to be. If you have been around Splinterlands for any period of time longer than 5 minutes, then you definitely know about the Runi collection which the company launched about 2? years ago. Well, even if you've missed the whole thing, here's the deal. 3000 Runi were available to be minted on Opensea and each of these Runi got different attributes - armor, weapons, headgear, backgrounds, etc. One of the weapons which a Runi could randomly get (with a very low probability) was... yeah, a pickle (among a fish, a balloon, etc). So, Matt said he just had to have this Runi wielding a pickle and he bought it from his initial owner without hesitations (he probably bought 20 (or more) other Runi at that time as well). Here's what Matt's favorite Runi looks like:

Behold the originator of the Pickle madness. It's a very cool Runi, I won't lie, but I there are at least a dozen others I like a lot more in terms of their badass looks, of course, this one is all about being goofy trying to free Praetoria from the yoke of the Chaos Legion using a small pickle as a weapon. Btw, I was the first one to set Yaba's Pickle on fire before it was cool. Check out the AI video I posted on X a month ago below:

There are 3 different foil options for this promo card as is now the norm with the release of the Conclave Arcana set. We will have a look at how each foil is obtained in the next section. Let's analyze its stats:

Yaba's Picke is 4-mana Neutral Common card from the Golem bloodline. It has no attack, so it's a prime target for Weapon's Training. It starts off with 2 Speed, 1 Armor and 5 Health and no abilities neither at level 1 nor at level 2. At level 3 it gains its first ability - Dodge. At level 5 it gains its second ability - Shield. Then at level 8 it gains Slow, and finally at level 10 it gains Heal. The final stats it has at level 10 are 2 Speed, 4 Armor and 7 Health. I don't think there's any need for me to state the obvious but here we go... The Pickle is a huge addition to the Weapon's Training card pool in the current Modern format (as a lot of no-attack card got cycled out). Not only because it's neutral and costs just 4 mana but because it's kit is great. It has everything it would need to do a very decent job Main-tanking or off-tanking in the cases where it makes sense. Of course, it's susceptible to Magic Damage but you can't have everything in a single card, that's only natural. If you suspect Magic spam from the opposing team, definitely pick another option. For Melee and Non-Magic Ranged attacks though, though, the card is great, especially if it gets some support from its allies in terms of total health powered by Strengthen or a bit more Armor powered by Protect.

Now for the promo event itself. This event offers players the chance to acquire the card in three distinct foil editions — Regular, Gold, and the ultra-rare Black Foil — each with unique drop rates and requirements.

The card is priced at 150 DEC or 150 Credits and will only be available for 30 days through the Exclusive Shop. Players seeking higher rarity versions can boost their chances using potions: Alchemy Potions increase the chance of receiving a Gold Foil (from 2% to 4%), while Midnight Potions improve the odds of pulling a Black Foil (from 1 in 4,000 to 1 in 2,000).

A snapshot of staked SPS holdings will determine player eligibility for purchasing — with one Yaba’s Pickle card allowed per 1,000 SPS staked. This requirement, however, does not apply to entries in the later Raffle and Auction phases.

After the sales window closes, a Gold Foil Arcane Raffle begins. Each crafted Raffle Ticket (costing 200 Aura, 10 Vouchers, and 200 DEC) guarantees a Regular Foil Yaba’s Pickle and a shot at one of 50 Gold Foil Arcane cards, drawn daily over 50 days.

Following the raffle, the event culminates with the Black Foil Arcane Auction. Over 20 days, players can bid using specially crafted Auction Points (costing 1000 Aura, 50 Vouchers, and 500 DEC each). One Black Foil Arcane card will be auctioned per day, with higher mint numbers going out first.

Revenue from both DEC-based purchases and crafting costs is split 50/50 between Splinterlands and the DAO, making Yaba’s Pickle not just a collectible opportunity, but also a community-supported event within the ecosystem.

My plan for this even is to participate in it by buying 260-270 cards during the first phase of the event in the hopes of being extremely lucky and getting a BF! :D I know I probably won't get one but hey, there's always hope. This even, of course, comes in the worst time for me after having to part with 450,000 SPS in order to participate in the CA presale and now only having 265,000 staked left. Maybe I would have better chances of getting a BF if I were eligible to buy 700+ cards. Well on the bright side, I will need to buy a lot less Midnight potions now... :D

https://x.com/GhostlyBG/status/1923732461625733346

Well, this is it for now.

Over and Out,

Referral