Due to a busy schedule, I haven't been able to dedicate much time to the game Splinterlands over the past few days. Between the demands of daily life and work pressure, it simply wasn't possible to log in regularly or participate in battles. However, finding a bit of free time today, I decided to drop back into the game. It felt great to return after such a long break. Checking in on my guild, I realized that I had accumulated a significant number of Merit points from participating in brawls. Rather than letting them sit idle, I decided to put these Merits to use—purchasing and opening some Gladius packs from the guild store to expand my card collection.
Upon logging in, I headed straight to the guild section and opened the guild store. I discovered that I had 25,269 Merit points, earned primarily as rewards from regular participation in guild brawls. While the guild store offers various items, my main objective was to open Gladius packs. Each Gladius pack costs 2,000 Merits; I decided to purchase five at once, which cost me a total of 10,000 Merits. After this purchase, I was left with a balance of 15,269 Merits.
Those of us who play this game regularly know that using boosters or stones when opening packs significantly increases the chances of pulling better cards—so opening them without any such aids wouldn't be ideal. The guild store offers two types of special stones: Blood Stones and Power Stones. Using a Blood Stone doubles the chance of pulling a Legendary card, while a Power Stone doubles the probability of obtaining a Gold Foil card. Each pack contains five cards, meaning a total of 25 cards would be revealed across the five packs. So, I needed 25 Blood Stones and 25 Power Stones.
I started with the Blood Stone section. Thanks to an 8% discount from the Guild Lodge, each charge cost 55 Merits. I purchased 25 Blood Stones, which cost me 1,375 Merits, bringing my Merit balance down to 13,894. Next, I moved on to the Power Stones. They were also discounted, costing 74 Merits per charge. The total cost for 25 Power Stones came to 1,850 Merits. With all the necessary stones acquired, I headed over to the pack-opening section.
Upon reaching the opening page, I saw that the 5 Gladius Cases I had purchased were ready. Checking the top of the screen, I confirmed that the 25 Blood Stones and 25 Power Stones were successfully active. Everything looked correct, so I clicked the 'Open' button. Instantly, 25 cards appeared on the screen, arranged in a 5x5 grid, all face down. The sight of these cards—featuring golden frames and red seals—is always incredibly exciting, as you never know what lies hidden behind them until you flip them over.
I pressed the 'Flip All' button to reveal every card at once. In the blink of an eye, the faces of all the cards were unveiled. I then examined the results to see what I had pulled. Among these 25 cards, I managed to get several useful and powerful ones, including Witchling Damon, Helmet Khadapaks, Katelba Gordon, Bartrol Gobson, Coffred Bann, Quat Hevingstop, Blang Chestba, Orella Abaddon, Isgald Vorst, Alva the Great, and Ugo Strongsword. Additionally, I pulled the Pallidon Wreck and Rileador Cleaver as rare cards.
Although this opening didn't yield any gold foil or highly anticipated legendary cards, the ones I did get are extremely useful for Guild Brawls. Cards with the 'Bloodlust' ability—such as Bartrol Gobson or Katelba Gordon—are particularly effective in securing victories in Brawl battles. Acquiring these cards will also make it easier to level up the cards already in my collection. It was a fantastic experience to jump back into the game after a long break, put my accumulated Merits to use, and unlock 25 cards all at once.