HiveComb

Greetings, Splinterlands warriors, how's your season going? Is the RNG being friendly, or is it giving you high blood pressure lately? To be honest, these past few days I've felt like my patience was being tested in the arena more than my skills. But hey, that's part of the thrill, isn't it? And that's exactly why I'm writing this post: about a battle that, logically, should have been a win for me… but instead turned into a bitter lesson about fate and probability.

A while back, the Splinterlands team finally relaunched the weekly challenge after a hiatus that felt like waiting for a new season of your favorite anime. The theme was intriguing: share your most frustrating, worst, or most rage-inducing battle where RNG was not on your side. I immediately thought, "Oh, I have plenty of those stories."

And here's one of them.

My opponent's Summoner was Risqruel Drath. And this was no scrub team. The enemy lineup featured three legendary monsters alongside the summoner: Mahkah Hemlig and Bellowmancer. As if that wasn't enough, they were also bolstered by epic monsters like Infernal Firestorm and Sylvaran Sentinel. Basically, from the initial draft, this already looked like a team ready for the highlight reels.

Meanwhile, I was sticking with Reklah as my summoner, and my favorite formation: Ulundin Overseer up front as the tank, followed by Ujurak Brave, Dark Arborist, and Arachne Weaver. Since the Collateral Damage ruleset was active, I intentionally placed Arachne Weaver in the very back row, to keep it safe from the potential spread damage.

In theory, this composition was solid. It had damage, sustain, a thick tank. Internally, I was already thinking, "Okay, this is doable. Tough, but doable."

Round one was immediately heated. Poison had already afflicted my Silverleaf Mage, and Mahkah Hemlig with its brutal attack successfully took out my Chaos Jailer. A painful blow, but still within reason. The opponent was strong.

What started to make me optimistic, however, was the middle of the battle. One by one, the enemy monsters fell. Ulundin Overseer was still standing strong, and Ujured Brave still had fight left in it. In my mind, this was like an action movie: the protagonist was bloodied, but still on their feet.

And then we arrived at the decisive round, round 5. Only two monsters left. One-on-one.

Statistically, logically, by all gut feelings… I should have won.

And this is where the drama began.

The opponent's Summoner, Risqruel Drath, granted the Flying ability. This meant there was a chance my attacks could miss. But come on, surely not twice in a row?

Turns out, yes.

Two consecutive attacks from Ujured Brave missed. Not because of lack of damage. Not because of a wrong strategy. But because… well, RNG.

It felt like playing soccer, one-on-one with the goalkeeper, an open net, but slipping twice before taking the shot. Not losing due to technique, but losing due to fate.

In the end, my monster fell. And the victory, which had felt so close I could almost touch it, slipped away.

If you’re curious and want to watch the full battle, you can check it out here:

This is where I was reminded once again: in Splinterlands, skill is important, strategy is essential, but RNG is the little god that can be kind one moment and mischievous the next.

RNG is what gives this game life. If everything was always predictable, we might get bored. But RNG also creates moments like these that feel… well, bitter. A defeat not born from a misstep, but from numbers behind the screen.

Is it fair? By the system's logic, yes. By feeling, of course not.

And perhaps, therein lies its beauty. Because if we always won, we wouldn't have stories to tell.

Talk about Splinterlands,
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