On February 29th, one of the oldest blockchain TCGs around, Splinterlands, received an update at the end of its ranked play season that marked the introduction of a revamped ranked battle system.

What’s Changed?

The system has been overhauled in such a way so as to make it simpler to understand for players of all levels, forming a “proper rating system” that is said to “accurately [reflect] a player's likelihood of winning a match,” thus making matchmaking fairer than before, according to the announcement.

No More League Limits

One of the most significant changes brought about by this new update is the removal of league limits, meaning that from now on, all leagues, except the Novice league, will serve as a visual indication of the rating range they currently reside in. As such, leaderboards are now completely gone, with only the Champion one remaining. There are also no maximum level limits for cards and no penalties for low level cards anymore. Since leagues now represent a rating range, players can no longer pick whether they want to move to the next league or not, which also means that matchmaking is now designed to match you with players of similar rating instead of limiting you to opponents in the same league.

As for the SPS reward pool, it is now no longer split into leagues, but is instead now one pool for the Modern format, and another separate pool for the Wild format.

All of the above changes are said to only affect ranked battles, not guild brawls or tournaments – those will remain the same as before.

Flat Rating System

The ELO system has been replaced with a flat rating system in which players win or lose 20 rating points, regardless of the opponent’s rating. Win streak rating bonuses however will continue to work in every league except Champion, meaning you could get 40 rating points when winning while on a streak.

With this change, ratings are now capped at 5000 “for the purposes of calculating reward shares for loot chests and SPS winnings.” While you can go above 5000 in rating, the game will use the 5000 rating to calculate reward shares, making it possible for players to “compete for high ratings while preventing them from taking an inordinate share of the rewards.” Ratings will continue to be reset at the end of each season as usual.

Next to these adjustments, the developers have also updated Energy costs, rating ranges, and end of season resets, for which detailed info is available in the official announcement, where future changes are also teased, including an overhauled reward system.

Last month, Splinterlands announced the sale of tower defense game Soulkeep over to Double Coconut.