A couple of weeks ago, the Splinterlands team introduced a new tournament option dubbed 'Anytime Tournaments'.

What is an 'Anytime' Tournament?

Unlike the standard tournament format where you need to be present when it starts and then stick around for each round until its over or you are eliminated, Anytime Tournaments let you enter your teams, well, anytime! Within the tournament limits, that is. The creator can set the time period for the tournament as low as 1 hour or as long as 72 hours (24 hours seems to be the most commonly used). You don't have to be there when the tournament starts, or when it ends. All you have to do is show up at some point during the allotted period and setup your teams for each battle.

The participants in the tournament are broken up into random groups. Again, this is set by the creator and can be from 10-30 (in multiples of 5). Everyone plays everyone else in their group, players are awarded points for wins and draws and final standings are determined by your total points at the end.

In many ways, this is awesome! Removing the requirement for players to be present at the tournament start and remain present for the entire time (which can be a couple of hours -- especially if you do well), makes it a lot easier for casual players to join in.

The downside, however, is that you have to put in all of your teams upfront, which in some tournaments can be as many as 19 battles (I have yet to enter a 30-person group tournament)! That's a lot. Especially if you don't do well at first. Once you realize that you are unlikely to rank high enough for a prize, there is little incentive to keep entering teams. And indeed, at the end of each tournament I am usually awarded several free wins for players in my group that didn't enter all of their teams. I am also guilty of abandoning tournaments, though at least I have come to a better realization of which level of competition is right for me.

Are Tournaments worth it?

That's a fine question. Is it worth my time to play in a tournament? As you might imagine, that depends on how well you do and what the prizes are. Playing 15+ rounds can be a time-consuming process. And perhaps it would be better to just play Ranked matches to accumulate Dark Energy Crystals.

So let's do a little math! Most Tournaments I have played in so far had groups of 20, which equates to 19 individual matches. How much DEC could I get for playing the same number of matches in Ranked? Let's assume I win 9 of those matches -- just over half. And let's say I average 20 DEC per win. That equals 180 DEC. So, I would need to have a good chance of finishing at a high enough spot in the tournament to get at least 180 DEC, plus whatever the entry fee cost.

Well that's interesting to note. And now I have a cutoff point to consider when entering a new tournament.

Bronze and Novice limited tournaments seem to be my best shot. Even though I can reach as high as Diamond I during the regular bi-weekly ranking system, when it comes to the tournaments, even Silver level gives me trouble. You need to have the highest ranked Summoners allowed (plus the Monsters to go with them) for the given rank, which unfortunately, is not a cheap journey.

Final Thoughts

Anytime Tournaments are a great change to Splinterlands. I have played in well over a dozen since their introduction. Prior to this, I think I had only played in 2 or 3 standard tournaments.

I do wish that there were some better notification of my standing after the tournament. If I happen to be logged in when it ends, I get a nice little pop-up message telling me my final rank and my reward, if any. But otherwise, I don't see anywhere in my profile or battle history where this is stored. Would be nice to have this information readily available or at least displayed at the top of the tournament results.

But overall, a great addition to the game and I look forward to whatever is coming next!