With all the new players joining Splinterlands it has put a lot of upward pressure on card prices as of late. As an gamer that has watch card prices for over two years I think I have some decent perspectives for the new comers on what to do in today's Splinterlands markets. I think I would make a conslidated list of things I learned playing the game for more than a couple of years that no one really explain to me that will maximum my gains and fulfillment in the game. It is not all encompassing tips nor what everyone else believes are the best but my own so take it with a grain of salt.
Rent or Buy
One of the first ever questions I often hear from new players is what cards to purchase? Since card market prices have boomed the rate of return on them are much lower than three to six months ago. Here lies something that is often overlooked. It is the Splinterland's rental market.
The rental market have existed for years on Peakmonster.com however as of this past July the game was upgraded with a dedicated rental market. It basically gives card owners the option to either delegate a card or lend a card out. |On top introduced a 24 hour cool down for rental cards. This streamline the rental process and incentivize owners more to be more willing to rent out cards. With the better rental system in place and multiple card owners willing to lend out their cards it makes for a recipe that benefits new players and/or players playing within a budget.
The rental market is currently fertile with deals as currently there is slightly over 300k cards rented out while the entire cards in circulation is slightly over 7 million. Less than 5% of cards are rentals. This does not mean a boom in rental market to come but it appears there is a lot of room to grow. With over 200k Spell book purchases right there is how many players vested in the game that will need cards to play and earn.
The benefits of buying cards rather than renting is the ability to earn passive income on them by renting them out. Or to simply use them in my own game play with a piece of mind I won't ever lose the card if a rental contract is broken.
In addition card price appreciation will be capture only through owning the card. So although I recommend new players to rent cards first the goal is to earn enough to stop renting and end up owning. Through my years of playing the game I have used what I earned in the game and reinvested it towards purchases of cards I wanted. I have continued this process to this day and it has brought me great success in accumulating the cards I want to have.
Buy Packs or Buy Individual Cards?
New comers currently do not have a choice in whether to buy packs or cards in game. There are only cards available as all packs are sold out. Players can purchase packs in third party markets but prices have risen a lot from its standard in game price. However the more important question here is do you want to buy packs or individual cards if you wish to do well in Splinterlands?
The simple answer from my experience is the direct purchase of cards is better than purchase of packs. Two reasons for this.
Specific cards you wish to stack can be easier obtain through purchasing cards individually.
Pack openings are random so you may not get the card that you are seeking.
The bottom line is price of obtaining the cards. As of current market one factor for why card prices have soared is because there are no packs to purchase. The packs were selling at a fixed rate in game market but because they are all sold out the supply of existing individual cards are what is left for buyers and this has resulted in higher card prices. Hence at this moment we can not compare buy packs or buy cards as players are only able to do the latter.
Conclusions
There are many ways to look at playing Splinterland's card market, but the end of the day is to try to accumulate as many cards as possible and cards that make you better as a player. All the while be spending within your budget. There should not be the expectation that card prices can only continue to climb from here.
For instance out of nowhere in 2020 there were a few months were market cap of all cards in Splinterlands fell even before it hit the $10 million mark. Relatively speaking it dropped twice from ~5 mil to ~4 mil making it a 20% drop. There is no reason to not expect another retracement in prices because not all things go up in a straight line.
To end this on a positive note market cap is currently over $120 million. There is also no saying that it can not go higher from here and be limited in the upside. Instead we should be playing this not as much to anticipate on card prices but focus on earning the most and buying the cards we like. Everything else will fall into place.
Until next time thanks for reading!!!
If you are interested to learn more about Splinterlands please go through some of my other posts. Order is from newest to oldest posts:
All You Want To Know About Reward Chests
Helpful Links for New and Veteran Players
Splinterlands Good Cards To Own
Splinterlands Rentals from a Lender Perspective
I have plenty of other cards for rent! Just go on peakmonsters and check out the market place and if you are curious what I offer here is a link:
If You have yet to take part in playing this great game called Splinterlands please click on my referral link. It is free but in order to earn real assets such as cards and token you would have to invest in a starter deck or purchase game cards. Join the discord to learn more. Good luck!