The team at @splinterlands have relesed the dertails of the Land Pre-sale - probably the biggest and most ambitious expansion the game has seen. You can find all the details here with more details about the land cards themselves here. For players and investors in the game, it is a lot to take in.

My First thoughts:

• FOMO - I think lot's of @splinterlands players, especially the bigger accounts have been saving up for a while for this, and the rush to get in at the bigger discount levels early in the pre-sale will be big.

• I've got my sights set on a tract in the first sale period. $850 is about what I have currently in the DEC/ETH liquidity pool, and while I'd love to aim for a region, 7.5 million DEC is beyond my reach.

• The ability to craft different items in the game, and supply the market with certain cards that can't be made by Splinterland's themselves is going to be a fascinating eco-system to play in.

• If that turns out to be too time consuming, the ability to rent out the land plots is also nice. I could see a time when a tract of land could rent for a nice little amount, and become a solid passive income stream.

• Splinterland's needs this - I don't know about anyone else, but after playing the game, grinding daily rewards and season end payouts, the basic game-play is becoming tedious. As an investment, playing daily to grind out rewards is becoming less fun, for me personally. Being pay-walled out of Champion league has dented my enthusiasm a bit as well.

My plan

• Hold my DEC and ETH in the pool till a couple days prior to the pre-sale opening. Withdraw, and swap as much ETH as I need to make up the 850,000 DEC I need.

• Buy the Tract.

• Pick up any extra plots I can from the pool rewards, and other bits and pieces I can accumulate over the pre-sale period.

• Sell off the random plots over time, to recoup some funds and take some profits.

• Keep the tract of land intact, and re-asses my plans for it once the full land expansion goes from the undoubtedly lengthy pre-sale period. Whether I end up using the land, or renting it out will remain to be seen.

• The other option I'll keep open is splitting up my tract, and selling off enough to cover the initial cost, and then keeping whatever is left as a "free-role" type holding. If land tokens actually end up trading around the full retail value, this could be a really nice play, recovering the cost of investment and then holding the profits (remaining plots) as a "free" investment.

Conclusion.

I like the idea behind the land expansion to Splinterland's. The pre-sale structure will encourage bigger investors and people to pool together to get more land. I can see different communities building pools and working together to maximize the land acquired.

The eco-system that ultimately develops around land - with crafting items, land rental system and so on will add a needed layer to the game, and offer different experiences to people. Opportunities will be there for smart or nimble investors to build income and profits into their "game" investments, and further set's Splinterlands apart from many mainstreem games.

Congratulations to the team, and best of luck to everyone trying to claim their land when the land rush opens up on 7 November.

Thanks for reading, I'd love to here what everyone else is planning to do in this upcoming sale. Let me know in the comments,

Cheers,

JK.