Introduction

Hey everyone, this week I’m sharing a quick post on how to gear up for the upcoming Survival Mode. If you’re as excited as I am about this new gameplay format, here are some handy tips on how to prepare—starting with one key piece of advice: don’t use your default playing deck! Make sure you lock those out for Survival Mode.

For this post some of the images are taken from mavs-sl, where the survival mode is released for testing.

Custom Sets

Last week, I dove into the world of Custom set rentals in splinterlands. These sets aren’t just for creating listings; they’re also fantastic for filtering your cards. During our weekly Discord voice chat with Team Possible, I learned some cool tricks about using custom sets to streamline deck management, and I couldn’t keep that info to myself. Sharing is caring, so here’s how you can use this feature to get ahead in Survival Mode.

What is Survival Mode?

The Splinterlands team is excited to announce an upcoming new gameplay format called “Survival Mode,” which will be a ranked play format alongside the current Modern and Wild formats. Here’s what makes it special:

• No Energy Requirement: In Survival Mode, players can battle as much as they want—no energy limits!
• Card Cooldown: When a card dies in a Survival Mode battle, it won’t be eligible for further battles for a certain period. Essentially, your cards become the "energy" that determines how many battles you can play.

In this format, it’s not just about having one high-level copy of each card. Instead, it’s about managing your entire collection and strategizing how many copies of each card you need and at what levels. Nearly all other aspects of ranked battles—like seasons, end-of-season resets, rating systems (minus win streak bonuses), and matchmaking—will remain the same.

How Custom Sets Can Help You Prepare for Survival Mode

For Survival Mode, you need to lock the cards that you do not want to use. By default, all cards are enabled for Survival Mode, so on day one, you must disable the cards you use for playing Modern/Ranked.

I'll walk you through the process I took:

Step 1: Create a New Custom Set

Start by creating a new custom set. I used the autofill settings, all set to max settings:

Step 2: Deselect Cards Not Used in Ranked Play

For my setup, it’s easier to deselect the cards that I don't use in Ranked play. I know that my Chaos is maxed, and I want to keep some Rebellion cards and one Untamed card active. I began by filtering for Alpha/Beta editions, then checked which cards were selected that I didn’t want and deselected them:

I repeated this process for every edition:

Step 3: Name and Create Your Set

Once you’re happy with your selections, create your set. I named mine "Playing Set":

Step 4: Disable the Set for Survival Mode

Next, go to your cards, filter by your new custom set, and set them to "disable for survival." (Note: Images on the Mavs server might look a bit different when the real release comes out.)

Step 5: Verify Your Setup

Finally, double-check your settings to make sure everything is in order:

Closing Note

And there you have it—a quick guide on how I’m getting prepped for Survival Mode this week. Curious about the new mode, I even moved all my cards from my alt accounts into my main account to align with my 2025 goals. Things are looking great so far! I really hope that this new mode turns out to be a blast not only for players but also shakes things up beyond just battling bots.

See you on the battlefield!

This feature hasn't been released yet. If you notice any mistakes or discrepancies, please let us know in the comments.

During testing, I noticed that once a card is placed in a set, it can no longer be combined. Be sure to double-check before combining your cards.

Example combine all, this should have made it to max and not over combine.

Combine specific selected cards:

I mentioned it to the team... hope the have this fixed some day to prevent accidents :)

When you have created a custom set these cards a not visible in land