Wen is a "win" more than just a win? That's kind of a weird question. What does that even mean in #Splinterlands? 🤔 Typically, you either win. You lose. Or sometimes you draw. Right? For a win, rewards go to the winner (they celebrate). For a loss, frustration rains down on the loser (they smash things). For a draw, well. Both sides are kinda... grayish-neutral, slightly low-key sad?
In Splinterlands, two teams of magical fighters square up across from each other in the arena. Then? It's time to battle! The winning team gets rewarded with crypto tokens like $SPS and in-game rewards like GLINT.
Regardless. Whatever happens---after the battle resolves, then... well... That's kind of it. If you have the energy, you go on to the next battle. If not, you wait to recharge your energy. There's not a lot more to it than that. There aren't special wins. Or... are there?
Srsly, just think about it for a second 🤔 Is there a special kind of win that you can have in Splinterlands? Or is a win just a win, and that's it? I think actually, there is a special kind a win in the game. A win that means more than just the rewards you get. And no, it's not just about beating that "one dude" you "really, really hate" on discord 🤣
You might be asking yourself right now: "What's this dude going on about? If you win, you get stuff. If you lose, you smash things. There's no special kind of win."
If you're stuck, I'll give you a hint. Don't just think about current ranked play. Don't just think about right now. Envision things in light of what's coming up. Just around the corner. Maybe via the dev team's gaming pipeline? Maybe even, coming very soon to a screen near you?
Okay fine, If you haven't guessed it yet, then I'll just tell you. At least, I'll tell what I think. Wen a win is more than just a win? Wen it's a "perfect" win in the new Splinterlands game called #Survival 💪
Utterly dominate your opponent in Survival. Protect your units and manage losses. A "perfect" win is the gold standard 🏆 On the other hand, a win where most of your teams dies in the process? Not quite as good anymore. Because most of your "winning" cards just went on death cooldown 💀 Not as good at all.
There's no doubt in my mind, Survival mode changes everything. It means the "perfect" win finally matters for something in Splinterlands. Not only that, it matters for kind of a lot actually.
It means you can literally play the same team again, right away, in the very next battle. Not that you necessarily would (play the exact same team twice in a row), but the point here is that you could. Because none of those cards went on death cooldown after the win. On the other hand, if you win---but 5 out of your 6 units are killed in the process---it's not quite as good of a win now, right? Because you just lost 5 of those "winning" cards for a while. They're on death cooldown now 💀 You can't even play that same lineup again until they come off, or unless you have replacement copies.
Winning in Splinterlands means defeating (killing) all your opponent's units. Like these two girls just did, psycho-style. Don't worry, they're just playing the game and surviving (irl they're super nice!). And also, those dudes didn't really die anyway. Come on. In Splinterlands, it's all pretend and you always come back to life after getting killed 😇 In Survival though, for sure getting killed is worse than it used to be. Unless you have an endless supply of replacement cards, managing your losses will be important.
In effect then, despite "winning" that 1 battle, you actually lost a bunch. A bunch of cards. Maybe key cards that you rely on a lot. At least for a while, they can't really be used. Not in tournaments. Not ranked play. Not brawls. They can work land, but that's about it. Until they come off death cooldown or are revived with Revival Potions.
If you think about Survival in terms of the season then---rather than just that single battle---those so-calling "winning" units aren't really winners at all, right? Because now they're on death cooldown 💀 Do you have replacements? If not, how good does that 1 single "win" feel now? Was it worth killing some of your most key cards?
In some ways, a win is a win. Even if you have only one unit left standing. Even if that unit only has 1 health left. That's enough to win! In Survival though, the calculus might be different. A "win" where all the rest of your team still dies? Not quite as much of a win unless you can easily replace them.
Look, it's hard to predict because we don't have all the details on Survival yet. My guess though? And from talking to people who actually know. All of this probably is going to matter. It might matter a lot. Managing your losses in Survival could end up being a huge part of the strategy.
Think of Survival strategy more like strategy for winning an entire season-long war, rather than a strategy for constantly winning single one-off battles at any cost. For example, you can win a battle that's so costly, that... well, was it really a win? Those are the kinds of questions you'll have to ask yourself in Survival. Also, that makes me kind of excited about Survival too. Because those have never been important strategic decisions in ranked play before now. It's kinda cool 👏
So anyway, if you get what I'm saying, then you get why there's no doubt that the "perfect" win is your gold standard for loss management 🏆 Like a rout on the battlefield where you take minimal losses while inflicting substantial damage. Before we go any further though, let's take a step back a talk a little more about what a "perfect" win really means.
The "perfect" win
Let's explore the concept of the "perfect" win for a bit. Sometimes simply referred to as a "perfect" in gaming. It's not just a Splinterlands thing. In fact, it kind of barely even is a Splinterlands thing. Like, at all. At least, it's not something that most people notice very much, or talk about in this game.
So actually, now that I think about it, some folks might actually not be super familiar with that term. Because, yeah, up until now... A perfect win never really mattered in Splinterlands. Except maybe for flex purposes 💪 A win was a win, was a win... was a win. Whether you had one unit left, or whether you had all of them left. But what I'm saying here is that "hey folks, that has just changed!" At least for Survival. And it's changed pretty dramatically too.
Splinterlands battles start off even, but usually some folks gonna get killed 💀 even on the winning side. Perfect wins (where no one on your team dies) are pretty hard to get. In Survival, they're going to be worth a lot more though! Unless you have an endless supply of replacements.
Okay then, taking a step back, just in case you're not familiar with the term. In gaming generally, a perfect win means you win while taking no damage. Or win without losing any lives, etc. Basically, whatever the game is, a perfect win is where you win while 100% avoiding whatever "bad stuff" is trying to derail you. Whatever your opponents are throwing at you. You conquered all challenges and defeated all foes! At the same time, you avoided any and all possible negative consequences. In other words, you completely and utterly dominated. Aka... the "perfect" win.
Where did the term come from?
The term "perfect" win is a general gaming term that goes back to... I don't even know. Maybe before video games even. Because honestly, when doing research for this, I tried to find an article (like a wikipedia article or something?) on the "perfect" win that might reference when/where the term first became popularized in gaming. Fail. Couldn't find one. Interestingly though, the only place that hole did lead was to another kind of game (sports) and to the concept of the "perfect" game in baseball.
Now let's be clear. I'm not claiming to be an expert on baseball or its history. But I do kind of like baseball and I'm generally familiar with the concept of a "perfect" game. I mean, what can I say 🤷♂ I am an American after all. I played baseball growing up and I still like go to watch a game every once in a while ⚾ And yeah, now that I think about it... It is pretty similar to the concept of the perfect win in a video game.
I'm no expert but according to wikipedia, the image on the left is the "everlasting image" of a perfect game in baseball. It shows legendary Yankees catcher Yogi Berra leaping into the arms of pitcher Don Larsen after he pitched a perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. Apparently, the most recent perfect game was also thrown by a Yankees pitcher (Domingo Germán) in 2023. If you want to learn more about a perfect game in baseball, check out the wikipedia article here.
So, did the term perfect win come from perfect game? Tbh, I have no idea. If anyone has thoughts or insights please enlighten us in the comments 🙏 But I could see it being a possibility.
In case you're not familiar, a perfect game in baseball is something pretty rare. It can only be achieved by the pitcher. That's the dude who stands in the middle and throws the ball to start every play. It's rare because the pitcher needs to do a few special things while also winning, of course.
A perfect game in baseball is always credited to the winning team's pitcher. There's even a superstition that no one on the team can mention the possibility of a perfect game to the pitcher until the is game over. If it really happens though, at the end of the game then the whole team congratulates the pitcher and generally celebrates like crazy!
For a perfect game, the pitcher needs to pitch the entire game (which is grueling), and their team has to win (which is never easy at that level), and they have to win while not allowing even one player from the other team to reach any base. Ever. The entire game. In any way, shape or form. That last part is the part that is especially damn near impossible to pull off. If you do though... that's what equals a "perfect" game in baseball.
For me growing up, it only meant one thing
For me growing up, a "perfect" had its own meaning. And it almost always meant one thing. One thing only. Beating my friends at some sort of fighting game. More often than not, street fighter II.
For me growing up, the "perfect" was a common term that just about any of my friends would know. To us at least, it most meant beating someone else at a fighting game, while taking no damage.
Basically a perfect means that you destroyed the other person, depleted their entire health bar and KO'd them. And that whole time, they didn't land even a single hit on you. For example, like Ken KO'ing Guile below 👇 while still having a full health bar.
Growing up, for me a perfect win usually meant beating your friend at street fighter, but where they didn't even land a single hit on you! Like Ken KO'ing Guile here with his graceful 360 jump-punch. Notice how Ken still has full health? This was what a "perfect" meant to me as a kid.
Btw, do I still play street fighter against my friends? You better damn well believe it. With quarters?! Yup. Not even kidding. My local coffee shop is so on it. They have an original arcade version that they repainted (photo below 👇).
This is the view walking in the front door of my local coffee shop. What can I say? They embrace SNES culture 😍
They repurposed this original Street Fighter II arcade game to fit the local vibe. Don't worry though, the game is exactly the same. Just gotta find some quarters to play it! Not as easy as it used to be. Srsly , where do you find quarters these days? No one uses cash anymore and it definitely does not take any other form of payment. Regardless, when we have quarters, we play 💪 Even when we don't, I still like how Ryu is offering you a coffee when you first walk in. Yes please 🙏 thank you sensei Ryu.
Btw, did I just walk in there last week and see some kids playing, while having to literally stand on a stool to reach the joystick? You better believe I did! But I didn't take pictures of that 🤣 Because they weren't my kids and that would be weird 🤣 It happened though. Irl. And it almost brought a tear to my eye 😍
This is basically what it looked like the other morning at my local coffee shop. A whole new generation discovering one of the same games I played as a kid!
To be fair, I don't know how much they really liked the game, versus were just looking for something to do while they're hipster parents drank expensive coffee. Either way, they seemed pretty excited. Definitely reminded myself of a younger me!
The "Perfect" Win in Splinterlands
So okay, what is the perfect win in Splinterlands then? Although there's a few possible ways to count it---I'll tell you what I think. Either way you count it, for sure a perfect win definitely means at least two things. First, you have to win. No surprise there. Second, none of your units can be dead at the conclusion of the battle. That's the basic, barebones definition, and no one would dispute that is at least part of what a perfect win means in Splinterlands.
No matter how you count it, a perfect win in Splinterlands means you have to win in a dominating fashion, where none of your own units die.
Alternatively though, it could also mean more than just that. It could mean all that above PLUS every single remaining unit on your team has its full initial health, full armor, etc., and has no active debilitations like poison or affliction. Maybe even a resurrection ruins a perfect win? Because even if the resurrected unit survives the battle. Even if it has all health restored. It still did die at some point, right? So... Yeah, not exactly "perfect" in my book.
Until recently, I was more in the latter camp. Seemed to me like a perfect win would require taking no damage or debilitations, or at least having completely healed, repaired and/or removed all such insults before winning. And dying at any point---even if it's fixed with a resurrect? To me, that was by definition not perfect. We've all had battles like that. Though it's rare. Just utter domination. To me, that felt more like the perfect win I was used to growing up.
Considering Survival though, I'm changing my mind. Because really, it's all just about words and definitions, and what we say they mean. Strictly thinking about Survival, and what a "perfect" win means there, it's actually the "less-strict" interpretation, not the "more-strict" one. In other words, a perfect win (at least as far as Survival goes) is a win where all your units are alive at the end 🏆 That's it. Nothing more than that.
For Survival, the perfect win is pretty simple. It means winning while everyone on your team survives. Simple to say, harder to do!
It doesn't matter if your units are at full health. It doesn't matter if one was resurrected. It doesn't matter if every single one of your units was on the verge of death, with only 1 health---all of them poisoned and just about to bite it! Doesn't matter. In Survival, surviving is enough. Because (as far as I know) if you survive in Survival, you live to fight another day. Period. That's kind of inherent I guess, in the name of the game. The point really. And if you don't survive, you're on death cooldown 💀
In other words, there's no bonus for winning while maintaining full health. Therefore, for purposes of this and future articles, that's how I'm going to refer to it. That's what I mean when I'm talking about a "perfect" win in Splinterlands. A win where all your units are alive at the end 🏆
Why the perfect win matters in Survival
Unless you've been checked out these past couple of months, you know about Survival (or whatever you want to call it... "Survival Mode"). Survival will be a new ranked play format in the Splinterlands gaming ecosystem. The concept was first unveiled to the general community towards the end of November 2024. At that point, the game devs said they hoped to launch Survival "within the next couple of months." So hopefully soon 🙏 Check out the original announcement here.
The rules will be similar to Wild ranked play. Any card in the game can be used subject to the normal battle rulesets. The big change though? No energy required to battle! As per the announcement: "Players can battle as much as they are able!" So like, whoa. Back to how it used to be? I can battle as much as I want until I feel satisfied and want to stop. Well... kind of. Yes, but with a special catch. One that makes the perfect win so much more valuable now.
The official announcement further told us:
"When a card dies in a Survival mode battle, it will not be able to be used again in ANY battles for a period of time... meaning that it cannot be used in ANY other battles (including Survival, Modern, Wild, Tournaments, and Guild Brawls) until the cooldown period is over. The cooldown time for a specific card will be based on the card's rarity, level, and foil, and will be calculated based on the following formula..."
If you're interested in cooldown calculations, check out the official post I linked above. My point here is simply that a perfect win means so much more than it used to. It means you don't have to replace anyone. Or revive anyone with "Revival potions" 😍 (even though you should, because landowners get to mint and sell them and that will be amazing!). Instead, you just keep playing.
Unless you have an endless army of replacement cards, you're going to be extra happy when you get one of those dominating, perfect wins!
For some folks, who have basically an army of cards, well then the perfect win might not matter as much. But for other folks, who don't have a deep bench of replacement cards, but who still want to dip their toes in the piranha-infested waters of Survival? A perfect win is something to work for, look for, and definitely celebrate!
What's the best strategy for Survival mode?
I'm going to save that topic for another article. For two reasons. First, the game hasn't even come out yet so it's all going to be somewhat speculative at this point. I'd love to get just a bit more detail first. Second, it's a big enough topic that I think it deserves it's own article devoted entirely to that.
Regardless though, I want to address one strategy issue right now. That's because I've seen a lot of chatter about it on discord. From what I see, we've got some future-telling prophets that are probably leading their "flocks" astray. I'm talking specifically about the "buy as many 1 bcx cards as possible" strategy 🤔
For a whole variety of pretty solid reasons, I think that's just the absolutely wrong strategy for Survival, and it's probably not going to pay off in the end. Obviously everyone has to do their own thing, and make up their own minds. But as far as I understand---that is not going to work just fyi. Nor would the dev team even allow that to be a viable strategy, and rightfully so.
One of the main points of Survival is to get people to buy more cards and max them, not buy a bunch of singles and keep them uncombined. That would keep the card's outstanding float locked, and artificially inflated for an even longer period of time. In other words, the exact opposite of what they're trying to do with Survival. So... one way or another, I'm pretty sure the dev team will make sure that the 1bcx strat does not become a viable, rewarding strategy.
The 1 bcx strat might sound appealing now, but wait until they don't match based on rank. Or something similar. 1 bcx teams are going to be the feeder fish for perfect wins. Stomp on as many of them as possible and watch them disappear pretty fast.
My advice? Do NOT listen to people like this. I could be wrong, but I bet these folks end up being nothing but fish food for your perfect wins. The "perfect" feeder to keep players with maxed cards in the game, always getting perfect wins over their 1 bcx opponents. I mean really, who knows? Whatever you do, be careful of false prophets though. That's great advice for Splinterlands and for life!
Conclusion
A win is not just a win anymore, at least if you plan to play Survival. Or unless you have a never-ending supply of replacement cards. Otherwise, the perfect win is the win to chase when it comes to dominating Survival mode!
What do you think? Do you think perfect wins will have much of an effect, or are they too rare to have any effect. Also, have you ever had one of those dominating wins in a battle? Like, one of those wins where you just destroy the other person, and none of your units are killed? Maybe even at the end of the battle, all of your units are at full health? It's a pretty good feeling. Tell us about your win like that in the comments 🙏
Good luck out there and, as always, survive and stay alive my friends! 💪