Who keeps the arena honest?
Even a magical river needs a referee.
From your click to a creature’s fist
You send an intention
Deploy this hand slot at this point. Move the captain here. Aim this skill there. A client does not get to announce how much damage it dealt.
The simulation checks the rules
The engine validates the hand slot, elixir, legal territory, targets, cooldowns, and status. Classic uses 0.1-second simulation steps; Skirmish uses 0.05-second steps.
Combat advances
Units acquire targets, move, attack, heal, and apply statuses. Matching market modifiers are applied to fighter damage at the ruleset’s pulse.
The server publishes the state
Online simulation is authoritative on the realtime service. The browser renders and can predict movement for responsiveness, then reconciles with server state.
A result becomes a payout
For a funded token battle, the backend records the result and the authorized adapter submits settlement to the arena contract.
What the blockchain does (and does not do)
| On BNB Smart Chain | Off-chain game services |
|---|---|
| WICKB balances and allowances | Matchmaking, player sessions, and deck configuration |
| Staking positions and unlock times | Movement, targeting, damage, and match simulation |
| Equal entry deposits and payout transfers | Stock quotes and price validation |
| Intent replay protection and recovery rules | The authoritative match result and its authorization |
The contract does not replay every battle on-chain or independently judge the winner. It trusts the configured authority’s result. That authority is a real trust dependency, not a decentralized stock or game oracle.
Signed actions bind the wallet, chain, arena, operation, amount, and intent. Used intents cannot execute twice. Receipt checks verify the sender, destination, event, canonical block, and finality policy before the backend credits an action.
Permissions worth understanding
The owner can pause new deposits and rotate the authorized signer. Ownership transfer requires two steps. The authority can authorize game actions, attest match outcomes, and cancel matches. The arena has no general admin function that withdraws players’ staking balances.
Match deposits, stakes, and settlement retries are recorded to prevent double credit or a repeated payout. These checks reduce specific failure modes; they do not remove the trust in server operation and the signer.