Hello, Splinterlands Friends and Family! 👋✨

For this week's Splinterlands Community Engagement Challenge, we’re diving into the world of Custom Challenges! 🎮💥

Custom Challenges add a fun, creative, and competitive twist to Splinterlands, letting players send and receive challenges tailored to their preferences. Whether you're experimenting with new strategies, honing your skills in specific situations, connecting with fellow players, or just adding excitement to your gameplay, Custom Challenges open up endless possibilities! ✨

What’s in this post? 📝

1️⃣ What are Custom Challenges?
2️⃣ How to create and send a challenge
3️⃣ The benefits of Custom Challenges for the community

Stay tuned as we explore all these points and more! 🚀

🌟 Introduction: What Are Custom Challenges? 🎮

A week ago, the Splinterlands team introduced an exciting new feature: Custom Challenges! 🎉
This long-awaited addition allows players to fully customize practice matches against other opponents. These challenges are a fantastic way to experiment with specific strategies, test unique setups, or simply have fun without worrying about rewards. 🧪✨

Important Note: These matches are purely for practice and do not provide any rewards.

🔧 What Can You Customize?

The new feature gives you the ability to:

• Set the mana cap.
• Choose the rulesets.
• Select the available splinters.
• Define the format and summoner level caps.

This expands on the Ghost Card Challenges introduced not long ago, which let players use any card in the game. Remember that you can experiment with any card or strategy, even if you don’t own the cards! 💡

Custom Challenges bring endless opportunities to refine your tactics, explore new strategies, and enhance your Splinterlands experience. 🌟

How to Create and Send a Challenge 🎮💡

To create your first challenge, head to the landing page and click on the Challenge button in the top left corner:

🔑 Key Requirements

When setting up a challenge, you’ll notice that customizing a challenge fully requires one of the following:

• 50,000 Staked SPS
• Owning a Runi
• Paying a fee of 10 DEC or credits

Step 1: Choose Your Opponent 🎯

Enter your opponent's name. For this example, I’ll challenge my alt account Javiss01. Since I own a Runi, I don’t need to pay the fee.

Step 2: Customize the Challenge 🛠️

Use the dropdown menu to select:
1️⃣ Allowed card sets
2️⃣ Summoner level caps

In this case, I’ve chosen Ghost Modern Cards and Max Level Cards for the match.

Step 3: Select Mana Cap and Rulesets 🎲

For this match, I’ve chosen:

• Mana Cap: 67
• Rulesets:
  • Born Again: All units have Rebirth, allowing them to resurrect once.
  • Equal Opportunity: All Monsters have the Opportunity ability.
  • Weak Magic: Magic attacks hit Armor before Health.

Step 4: Select Elements 🌟

Click the Select Elements checkbox and choose the elements you want to include in the match. By default, all elements are included. To exclude elements, simply deselect them.

Finalizing the Challenge 🚀

Here’s how my challenge screen looks before sending the invitation:

When the challenge is sent, the opponent will receive this message to either accept or decline:

Match Settings Overview 🎥

Once the match begins, all the options selected during setup will be active:

• Mana Cap: 67
• Allowed Elements: Water, Life, Death, Dragon
• Rulesets: Born Again, Equal Opportunity, Weak Magic

Playing and Analyzing the Match 🎮

After choosing tactics, the battle plays out. The Battle End Screen confirms no rewards are earned (since it’s a practice match).

This screen also features the "Repeat Challenge" button, which lets you:

• Quickly resend the same challenge to test new strategies.
• Adjust match conditions and send a modified challenge.

This feature is perfect for refining strategies or testing tactics under specific conditions! 🌟
If you are interested you can View the match replay here

Conclusion: The Benefits of Custom Challenges for the Community 🌟

The addition of Custom Challenges is undoubtedly a significant improvement to the Splinterlands ecosystem. While it may not have been a top priority, it was definitely a much-needed feature to further establish this game as a true gaming powerhouse.

This tool offers incredible versatility, allowing players to experiment with strategies, test out specific monsters, or refine tactics under controlled conditions. It’s also a fantastic resource for streamers and content creators who want to engage their audiences by battling viewers under unique and exciting parameters.

For instance, someone could organize a "NOXIOUS FUMES TOURNAMENT", featuring battles exclusively under the Noxious Fumes ruleset, or create other creative and thematic challenges. This opens the door to a world of fun, innovative, and engaging opportunities for the community.

Additionally, the integration of Ghost Card Challenges, where players can use any card regardless of ownership, combined with fully customizable settings such as mana caps, rulesets, and allowed elements, makes this feature invaluable. Players can now focus entirely on strategy and creativity without being limited by their card collection.

In conclusion, Custom Challenges not only enhance gameplay but also strengthen the Splinterlands community by fostering interaction, creativity, and competition. Whether you're a casual player, a streamer, or an event organizer, this tool empowers everyone to craft memorable experiences in the game. The future looks bright for Splinterlands as it continues to evolve and engage its dedicated fanbase. 🌟🎮✨