A lot has happened recently in Splinterlands when it comes to asset price appreciation. For a player that started in 2019 I am thrilled that the time has come for Splinterlands to deserve the attention it has received in both new gamers growth and net worth growth. Despite all this great news I am also seeing a lot of new players having a little disdain and some even discouraging playing the game since prices of assets are seemly too expensive. Yet I want to look back at the time I started playing Steemmonsters and how it evolved into Splinterlands. The focal point is to illustrate although I started early I still started with very little to nothing and now have close to a 1 million DEC burn rate card collection.
My Beginnings of Steemmonsters
I went through my old blog posts and it appears I had started Steemmonsters some time in March of 2019. At the time I purchased a spell book for $5 in SBD back then with a 50% discount promotion and the spell book consisted of beta series cards. This would be my first game play ever on Steemmonsters.
To put it in perspective my post in Feb 2019 quoting myself then:
I got to spend free day playing steemmonster and must say after first day of playing the card game is fun and addictive.
My only drawback to it is how I need to spend a ton of steem or fiat money to get good cards and move up in ranking. I only have a starter deck and two boosters packs. In the end not complaining but mentioning the reality I have in ranking high to earn rewards, not likely. Still good graphics and complexity to the game. I hope to earn more boosters through finishing quests.
@mawit07/i-started-playing-steemmonster
Even back in 2019 there was a sense that cards in the game were expensive with respect to other assets. Yet here we are with new players saying the same thing. Although today indeed price of cards are much higher than 2019 the method to earning cards remains the same.
Blogging to Earn Crypto For Splinterlands Cards
From beginning of when I started playing Steemmonsters which would later be renamed Splinterlands I had been blogging almost on a daily basis. A lot of my posts were related to Splinterlands and most were earning me pennies on the dollar. However sometimes I would get lucky and earn some where closer to $5 in upvotes. Of course this was all before hive and the rewards were split in favor of giving more to the post author. With the earnings I had I slowly and methodically bought Splinterlands cards through 2019 and 2020 to build up my collection.
Progress in June 2020
Post above was me writing about my whole account as of June 2020. Back then the total net worth of my collection barely hit $600 but my DEC burn rate value had close to half a million. In the post I even stated how I had a reward gold foil legend, although since then I have sold it and traded for other cards.
At the time my core prize possession was my low level alpha summoners. At the time I knew summoners were sort after so I wanted to invest in as many summoners as I could. The cost of higher level summoners were out of my reach since it had a higher upfront cost to own. Instead I went the route of patiently waiting for other players to unload low level alpha summoners for affordable prices.
Comparing back in 2020 I had 20 alpha summoners from multiple levels ranging from level 1 through 6 to now where I have 44 total alpha summoners. Majority of them are not level 1 but level 3 and above and I have not sold any since I started saving them in June 2020. It is a total of 208 BCX of alpha summoners. I consider it an impressive achievement since i started nothing in early 2019 and now almost two and half years later in August 2021 it is 208 BCX of alpha summoners!!!!
Gold Foil Collection
Around the same time as of June 2020 I was able to save up for a base level beta gold foil rare summoners. This would become handy in tournaments but now is used as rental cards. I had a couple of occasions tried to unload the set for Hive over 2020 but glad I did not now considering how much the card prices appreciated.
Price Appreciation Took Time
The time it took for Splinterlands market cap of cards to moon was not one year, two years, but close to three years. In 2019 - early 2021 the game's market cap had a upward trajectory but only over $10 million temporary and later on steady.
To think as a new player looking at the chart above I would say I missed the boat on investing in Splinterlands. However lets look at it from a veteran player's perspective. Since 2019 up to early 2021 the game's market cap was below $10 million. At the time there were many other crypto assets the boomed in price. Yet players back then took what they have and invested in the game saw little to no return in the span of those years. Even I initially in 2019 after just a couple of months into the game wanted out and sold most of my collection.
Proof of me selling my collection in 2019:
@mawit07/i-am-saying-goodbye-too-steemmonsters
I ended up coming back and purchasing a spell book and the rest was history.
Play To Earn
This phrase "Play To Earn" although seem to only pick up in popularity recently around the game it has existed within the game for multiple years. I say this because once the game had battle matches and players were earning DEC per win and reward chests they were earning a lot of what is now today very valuable assets. Yet at the time back then it was looked at as penny to the dollar kind of rewards.
Snapshot above is one example of my daily quest rewards back in 2019. To present day readers it is clear how valuable these cards are now but back in 2019 the combine total of this collection barely exceed single digit dollars.
The game got me addicted because I was earning reward cards and other Splinterlands assets such as potions and booster packs. Back in late 2019 when Untamed packs, that is right Untamed was out for many years, and orbs were possibility in chest rewards. Now Untamed packs sell for close to $20 USD while orbs are close to $50 USD each! This is the true meaning of play to earn.
I should end the post by saying that today's new players should not feel despair due to current card prices. Instead do what you can to buy a spell book for $10 USD and build your reward cards collection. If pass is a good indicator of the future those cards you earn will likely yield significant amount of money down the road.
Sample snapshot above shows that I am saving up my rewards cards rather then selling them in expectation down the road in a few years from now those cards individually will be worth much much more.
The key to profiting in Splinterlands is playing the game and saving the rewards earned in the game. This all takes time and patient but if you truly like the game the time will fly by and next thing you know you amass a fortune. I hope to see many other players, especially new comers, succeed as this will only increase the entire market value of all cards.
As a finally topic not to brag about my slick deals in Splinterlands but the post, written in April of last year, link below talks about how a spent crypto equivalent to $10 USD to buy 5 alpha cards. It was not just basic alphas but some of the most sought out alphas such as summoner Arlic level 3, Zintar level 1, and Haunted Spirit level 3. There was even an epic in that whole purchase. See post if interested:
@mawit07/splinterlands-my-shopping-spree-for-the-month-of-april
Until next time thanks for reading!!!
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!