Splinterlands switched on three new rulesets this week: Chain Reaction, Live and Let Die and Plague Rot. All three are now Talisman Rules Mods on Splinterlanes, so they can drop from any Talisman prize, show in the Gallery, and rule a Friendly Lane. The first Talismans carrying them were minted within hours. This spotlight reads two of those plates line by line, and explains the one rule nobody has minted yet.
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One thing to know first
A Talisman rules your Friendly Lane. Its Rules Mod binds both halves of that Lane, your Monsters and your opponent's alike, every round of the match. The extra mods on the plate favour only you. So a new rule on a Talisman is not a rule you can dodge: you choose it, you build for it, and your opponent has to answer it in your Lane.
Live and Let Die, Fated Mending, Iron Bulwark
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Rules Mod: Live and Let Die | Rebirth, Resurgence, Resurrect and Soul Siphon do nothing in this Lane. |
| Tier 2: Fated Mending | While your Luck is below your enemy's, the front Monster in your Friendly Lane heals 1 health at the start of each battle round. |
| Tier 3: Iron Bulwark | Monsters you place in your Friendly Lane arrive with +1 armor and +1 health. |
What the rule does in a Lane. The four abilities that bring a Monster back, or feed off one falling, are switched off for both sides in that Lane. Nothing is spent either: a Resurrect does not fire and is not used up, it simply never happens there. Second Wind is untouched, because it grants no revive. Your wiped board still pauses and rebuilds with the ladder's buffs as in every other match.
This plate heals instead of reviving. A Lane where nothing comes back rewards the Monster that never leaves. Fated Mending gives the front Monster of your Friendly Lane 1 health back at the start of each battle round while your Luck is below your enemy's. The comparison is taken at the start of every round, and a tie switches it off. Mending is a heal, not a revive, so the rule does not touch it. Iron Bulwark then makes every placement arrive with a point of armor and a point of health, so your front Monster starts further from death and Mending has more to work with.
What it asks of the Lane. Leave your Resurrect and Rebirth Monsters for your other two Lanes, and put your opponent's favourite revive target in front of this one. On your side, pick a front Monster with Heal or high health, since a tank that holds the front for five rounds under Mending is worth more here than a glass cannon. This Talisman is already Engraved, so its plate is on the Hive chain for good.
Plague Rot, Hearty Arrival, Defiant Soul
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Rules Mod: Plague Rot | Life Leech and Scavenger lower a Monster's maximum health by the amount instead of raising it, never below 1. |
| Tier 2: Hearty Arrival | Monsters you place in your Friendly Lane arrive with +1 health. |
| Tier 3: Defiant Soul | Once per match, the first Monster in your Friendly Lane that would die survives at 1 health. |
What the rule does in a Lane. Every Life Leech hit and every Scavenger trigger now costs the Monster that has the ability a point of its maximum health. The maximum never drops below 1, and current health is only clamped down to the new maximum, never set to it. The rot is Lane-bound in Splinterlanes: a Monster carries its leeched stacks with it, so in a Lane without the rule those stacks raise its maximum again, and if it fights in the Plague Rot Lane again they bite again. Venari Bonesmith, a leech that normally grows with every hit, shrinks here instead.
This plate pads the health the rule eats. Hearty Arrival gives every placement in your Friendly Lane an extra point of health, which covers the first bite of rot on your own leechers and gives everything else one more hit of life. Defiant Soul is the safety net: once in the match, the first of your Monsters to fall in that Lane during a battle round stays standing at 1 health with no armor, in its spot. Defiant Soul is a Talisman mod, not a card ability, so no Lane rule switches it off.
What it asks of the Lane. Put your opponent's Life Leech and Scavenger Monsters in front of this Lane by choosing it when their Deck leans on them, and keep yours out of it. A high-health front Monster plus Defiant Soul means your Friendly Lane loses its front twice before it loses it once. Its Luck does not matter: nothing on this plate is Fated or Fortunate.
Plague Rot, Fortunate Haste, Iron Bulwark
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Rules Mod: Plague Rot | Life Leech and Scavenger lower a Monster's maximum health by the amount instead of raising it, never below 1. |
| Tier 2: Fortunate Haste | While your Luck is above your enemy's, Monsters you place in your Friendly Lane arrive with +1 speed. |
| Tier 3: Iron Bulwark | Monsters you place in your Friendly Lane arrive with +1 armor and +1 health. |
The same rule, built the other way. Where the plate above protects, this one presses. Iron Bulwark's armor and health land on every placement, and while the dice are with you, Fortunate Haste adds a point of speed too. Speed decides who strikes first and who dodges, so a Lane where your opponent's leechers are shrinking and your Monsters move first is a Lane that ends quickly.
What it asks of the Lane. Fast Monsters with armor already, so the bonuses stack into something your opponent cannot catch. Watch your Luck score during the match: the Haste is only there while yours reads higher, and a tie gives you nothing.
Chain Reaction: the one nobody holds yet
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Rules Mod: Chain Reaction | When a Monster dies, the Monsters in front of and behind it in the line each take 2 damage, armor first. |
No Chain Reaction Talisman has been minted on Splinterlanes yet. Every ticketed win rolls for one, so the first is out there to be won.
What the rule does in a Lane. A death in a Chain Reaction Lane hits the fallen Monster's two neighbours in the Lane line for 2 each, armor first, and if one of them dies too, its neighbours take 2 in turn. A crowded Lane can lose half its line to one well-placed kill. The hit is physical: a Monster with armor loses armor before any health, and Shield halves it to 1.
How to build for it when you win one. Few Monsters, each with armor or Shield, so a death does not travel. Against it, stack cheap Monsters in that Lane and let your opponent's own chain do the work. It is the rule of the three that most changes how a Lane looks before the first blow lands.
Finding one, and getting one
None of the Talismans in this post was listed on the Talisman Market on the day this was written. All of them sit in players' collections. Every player's Gallery is public by username, so you can browse what is out there, and the Market is where any of them would show up if a holder lists one.
To get your own:
- Win it. Every ticketed win in Ranked, a stakes room or the Sealed and Draft queues rolls for a prize, and sometimes the prize is a Talisman. A foil-heavy Deck lifts the odds that it lands at Tier 2 or 3. Each Black Foil or Black Arcane card adds 2%, and each Gold Foil or Gold Arcane card adds 1%, counted over all 53 cards.
- Earn it daily. Your first ticketed win of the day pays a bonus Talisman, and meeting the Daily Challenge pays another.
- Offer for it. At the Altar, offer 3 to 5 Talismans and receive one in return.
- Buy it. Listings on the Market start at 20 DEC. A listed Talisman is out of play until it sells or its owner takes it down.
Then equip it in the Deck Builder and build the Friendly Lane its plate asks for. The Talismans guide covers how to read any plate, the first and second spotlights cover six Tier 3 mods, and the full Splinterlanes rules cover the Lanes, Luck and Second Wind in detail.
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Win the first Chain Reaction Talisman, or hold a plate you would like to see in a future spotlight? Comment below. This blog is where we answer.