Druid’s Golem headlines Splinterlands’ fifth Escalation Conflict on Sept. 29

In Brief:

• Splinterlands (official site) releases Druid’s Golem on Sept. 29 after maintenance, the fifth airdrop card in the Escalation Conflict cycle.
• The card goes to players who stake Escalation packs and cards in Mage Wagons and clear the contribution thresholds during the roughly 30-day conflict.
• It follows Meredrool, Ghezira and Grimdave The Unbent, and lands after the Escalation pack sale has already closed, which caps the pool of eligible staking material.

Splinterlands releases Druid’s Golem on Sept. 29 following scheduled maintenance, the game said. It’s the fifth card in the Escalation Conflict run.

The announcement did not carry the card’s stats. Splinterlands pointed players to a post on its Hive blog for the abilities, the lore and the conflict’s reward table.

What the teaser does establish is scale and target. The golem stands 60 feet, and the kingdom of Thanaloria sits in its path.

How players earn it

Conflicts run on Mage Wagons. Players stake Escalation packs and cards inside them to accumulate Contribution, and every 100,000 Contribution converts to one Conflict Chance at the airdrop. Partial chances don’t count.

Each wagon holds up to five cards and 100 packs. Claiming one copy of the airdrop card requires one wagon, so the ceiling on copies is a function of how many wagons a player has built and kept in repair.

Wagon kits cost 17,500 wood, 7,000 stone, 1,750 iron and 1,250 aura. Building a new wagon takes two kits. Repairing one damaged during the Escalation conflicts takes one. Splinterlands also added Lustrous potions for Arcane draws on Escalation conflict cards, craftable at 100 aura each.

One rule from the Escalation reset still bites. Cards from earlier sets, including Conclave Arcana, can’t be staked toward these conflicts. Only Escalation material and Escalation promo cards count, and every pack and card left on a wagon from the Conclave Arcana conflicts was cleared out before the cycle began. Damaged wagons from that era were removed outright.

Conflicts last about 30 days. When one closes, rewards unlock after a 15-minute processing window, Contribution resets to zero and any wagon still holding cards or packs starts contributing to the next conflict without further input.

What came before

The first Escalation Conflict, “A Call to Arms: Snot on My Watch,” pitted players against Meredrool, a green sludge creature threatening the Shimmering Coasts.

The second opened June 22 at 12 p.m. EST, or 4 p.m. UTC, with Ghezira, a Feliform raider out of the Drybone Badlands, as the exclusive Archon.

The third delivered Grimdave The Unbent, a Water legendary summoner.

A smaller set, a tighter supply

Escalation is a mini set, and the conflict cycle reflects that. It shipped with 43 cards: 12 common, 12 rare, eight epic and 11 legendary. Pull rates run 75.2% common, 20% rare, 4% epic and 0.8% legendary, with a 2% chance of a gold foil.

The pack sale has ended. In its closing stretch, buying 20 packs earned a free Mage Wagon, capped at 20, and sale revenue routed to the SPS DAO. With no new packs entering circulation, players chasing Druid’s Golem are working from inventory that already exists.

The forest kingdom in its path

Thanaloria occupies the western expanse of the Blackmoor Basin in the Broken Lands. It’s a constitutional monarchy under the dual rule of the lord and lady of Thanalor, and its ancient forests are the foundation of the kingdom’s economy.

Its noble houses split along familiar lines. House Morth’lana produces sorcerers. House Erulen supplies priests and priestesses of Serathara, Goddess of the Wilderness. House Arven’gileon fields the warriors and rangers who make up the bulk of the elven guard, and House Le’vanthil’s nobles tend to be beastmasters bonded to woodland creatures.

Thanaloria has been a battleground before. A Rebellion-era conflict had players defending the kingdom after they aided the Gobson Family and rallied the fey.

“Sixty feet of timber and magic. Thanaloria in its path,” Splinterlands said.