It all started for me in September 2021, and fittingly enough, my Splinterlands story begins with another member of this community.
I discovered Splinterlands through the YouTube videos of Dwayne Cunningham, aka 
So before anything else: Thank you, Dwayne. ❤️
I don't think either of us could have known back then just how important clicking on one of your videos would eventually become for me.
What started as discovering a blockchain card game very quickly became something much bigger.
By November 2021, only a few months after discovering the game, I had already developed what was probably my biggest Splinterlands dream: I wanted to work for the team as a graphic designer.
I spent around three months putting together an entire Splinterlands-focused design portfolio for my application. I wasn't casually throwing my hat into the ring — I wanted this badly. I wanted to use what I could do creatively to actually contribute something to this world I had fallen in love with.
And once again, Dwayne somehow became part of the story.
He gave me the opportunity to present my portfolio on his YouTube channel, and he, 
@king-arminius/splinterlands-design-portfolio
I didn't ultimately become a Splinterlands graphic designer in 2022.
But looking back now, that chapter means something very different to me.
Because apparently the dream wasn't dead.
It just took a very different road to get there.
Over the following years, Splinterlands became part of my everyday life. The battles, collecting, deck building, tournaments, brawls, ranked grinds and that never-ending internal debate about which card I definitely absolutely need to buy next. 😂
I've reached Champion in Modern, had tournament finishes I'm proud of, fought countless guild battles and experienced those incredible matches where some completely ridiculous strategy somehow works exactly as planned.
But somewhere along the way, the cards stopped being the most important part.
The people became the most important part.
I've met people through Splinterlands from all over the world whom I never would have crossed paths with otherwise. Guildmates, streamers, content creators, opponents, collaborators and people I now genuinely consider friends.
We're all sitting in completely different corners of the world, living completely different lives, yet somehow this strange little blockchain game brought all of us into the same tavern. 😎🍻
And then came 2026.
Through our community-created Arena Vanguard project, brought to life by our very own 
Creating artwork that would actually become part of Splinterlands.
I became the lead creative for the artwork of our eight-card Arena Vanguard set, working alongside friends from this community to turn our ideas and characters into something that could actually live inside the game.
And somehow, amongst those eight cards, something even more surreal happened.
A character of my own became one of them.
King Erminaz Twincleaver. 👑⚔️
That's something I'm honestly still processing.
I went from discovering Splinterlands through somebody else's YouTube videos...
...to spending three months applying for the chance to create for Splinterlands...
...to eventually helping create an entire set of cards for Splinterlands...
...and finally seeing my own character become a playable card inside the game.
Maybe I never got that graphic-design job I dreamed about in 2022.
But in a strange way, I still got to live a piece of that dream.
And perhaps that makes it even more meaningful.
King Erminaz isn't simply another card in my collection. He's something I helped bring into existence. And now other people own him.
They battle with him.
They max him.
They win with him.
I've watched people post their victories using Erminaz, seen them welcome him into their collections, given copies of him away to members of this community, and had the completely surreal experience of taking my own Black Foil Mint #50/50 King Erminaz into ranked battles.
That's fucking cool. 😂
And the craziest part is knowing that he's now permanently part of Splinterlands history.
Years from now, regardless of where life takes any of us, somebody can open Splinterlands, scroll through the cards and find King Erminaz Twincleaver sitting there.
For somebody who originally arrived here because Dwayne uploaded some videos that caught my attention, that's one hell of a journey.
And I think that's ultimately what Splinterlands means to me.
Yes, it's a game. It's competition. Collecting. Strategy. Blockchain. Digital ownership. Markets. And approximately 7,492 DAO proposals we've all argued about along the way. 😂
But Splinterlands has also given me friendships, creativity, memories and opportunities.
It gave me people I wouldn't otherwise know.
It gave me creative projects I never expected to work on.
It gave me competitive moments I'll never forget.
And eventually, in its own unexpected way, it allowed that guy who spent three months building a design portfolio in 2022 because he desperately wanted to create something for Splinterlands...
to actually create something for Splinterlands.
There have been plenty of highs and lows along the way. We've watched markets explode and collapse, metas change, formats evolve, people leave and new people arrive.
But I'm still here.
And more importantly:
We're still here.
So to Dwayne, who unknowingly started this whole journey for me...
To all my current and former guildmates and friends...
To the Arena Vanguard crew...
To everyone I've battled, collaborated with, laughed with, argued about cards with, watched on stream or shared this ridiculous adventure with...
And to the Splinterlands team for ultimately allowing something I helped create to become part of this world...
Thank you.
I came here in September 2021 looking for a game.
I found a community. Hell, somewhere along the way, I found a family.
I dreamed about becoming one of its creators.
And somehow, almost five years later, I got to leave my own little mark on the game that started it all.
FOR THE HORDE! 👑⚔️🔥
RE: What Does Splinterlands Mean to You?