Splinterlands Social Media Challenge!

The most entertaining thing that happened this week was, of course, yesterday's launch of the long-awaited (at least for that part of the community with a sense of humor) new promo card designed specifically for the 7th anniversary of Splinterlands - Yaba's Pickle. I'll revisit the story behind it, what the event is all about and finally, since I've already used it in battle, I have recordings of the coolest Easter egg - this is the first card in SPL's history with a VO (voice over) of its own! Adding cool sound effects to the cards has so much potential, I'm actually really excited about that. I really want to play the game with sound but I just can't stand the generic battle sounds. We definitely needed something new in that department (the music is dope though)

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 2 months 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 Water Element 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 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 was taken about ten days ago. This requirement, however, does not apply to entries in the later Raffle and Auction phases.

As you can see from the screenshot above, I was eligible to buy 284 pickles so that was exactly what I did... and here's what I got:

Woohooo! I got lucky this time and the 284 Midnight potions I spent on the draw did the trick, granting me a BF! It was actually Mint #2 of the BF, so close to #1, but regardless, I'm not really into mint numbers so #2 is fine.. :P I think that I won't sell my RFs though, and just buy another 130 from the market and get a maxed RF version of it cause.. why not. I think that's better than just dumping them on the market. I'll also keep the GFs for now, and try selling them for a bit more at a later date.

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.

Now for the Easter Egg sound bites. I've recorded a few combinations of them, however, I'm not sure I've managed to capture all of the versions. It does different sounds on a killing blow, on a successful dodge and when it dies (from what I've heard so far) So here they are: