Splinterlanes update — the ? Tutorial, foil cards shine (and muster first), and a faster ranked queue

Two days since launch, and the first batch of updates is live at splinterlanes.com — several of them straight from player reports. Keep them coming: a comment on any post here gets looked at quickly.

A proper Tutorial, one click away

There's now a ? Help menu in the top bar — unmissable, and open to everyone, signed in or not. Inside: a full Tutorial covering everything from Lanes and Decks to Talismans, Second Wind, the Luck score and prizes, with "New to Splinterlanes" badges so Splinterlands veterans can skim straight to what's different. The menu also links to this blog — our news and support hub.

Two follow-ups landed the same day:

• The Tutorial now spells out the collection floor: a Deck needs 3 Summoners you own plus 50 distinct Monsters legal under them. If your collection can't cover that yet, the Deck Builder shows exactly what you're missing and links the card market — rentals count, so renting is the quickest fix.
• The pre-battle countdown teaches while you wait: each pause shows a quick hint from the Tutorial — how cross-Lane attacks work, why the Command Lane can act twice. A different tip every match.

Foil cards shine — and muster first

A player report showed us black foils weren't visible in the Deck Builder. Fixed properly: your Gold Foil, Black Foil and Arcane cards now show their foil art with a badge, in the Deck Builder and in battle.

And they gained a perk you won't find in Splinterlands: Foils muster first. The shinier the foil, the earlier it tends to arrive in your draw — and a Black Arcane card always answers the opening call, guaranteed in your starting Hand. Combat stats and prizes are completely untouched; your foils just show up when it matters.

Ranked always has an opponent

Find Match got faster: a house opponent is now always waiting in the ranked queue, at any hour. House accounts play a sturdier line than the practice AI — and every prize they win goes straight back into the prize pool.

Quality of life

• The decision clock could sit below the screen edge on scaled or short browser windows. It now stays pinned to the bottom of the window whenever the battle doesn't fully fit — you'll never lose sight of your 5 seconds again.
• Top-menu labels no longer wrap mid-word on mid-size screens, and buttons everywhere keep readable text.

⚔️ Play at splinterlanes.com — practice vs the AI is free, ranked runs on $0.01 tickets, and the winner's prize is a real card delivered on-chain. Found a bug or have a question? Comment below.