Getting into Gold Foils in 2025

This week's blog is based around Splinterland's Community Challenge

I'll be sharing some tips for @Splinterlands on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

There are many ways to play this game, and the min/max strategies can vary greatly depending on your focus. When I first started, I spent a long time in the Bronze League because I didn't invest a lot of capital.

Here's what's happened over the years of playing:

• Gladius cards are still low-level, but they're starting to make an impact.
• I've collected more Gold Foil cards, adding value in different ways (more Glint, more SPS per battle).
• I participate in GF Guild Brawl, mostly using CL Summoners.
• I'm pursuing Gold Foil cards with Soul Bound rewards.
• I have no land, no RW packs, no wagons, and no airdrops.
• I primarily use the cards I have for battling.

Why should you consider adding/collecting Gold FOIL cards?

Splinterlands offers a wide variety of card editions for collectors. Each card is available in regular foil ("RF") and gold foil ("GF"). As we know, Gold Foil cards are rarer and consequently more expensive.

Typically, players collect only one type of foil, believing it doesn't make sense to have both. However, in this post, I want to show you that in certain situations, it might be worthwhile to pursue the Gold Foil version of the card.

While other cards will still be Regular Foil, the line is based on rarity.

Regular foil vs Gold foil cost

Using Splintercard's Website is the most common way someone can see the set value:

Here is an example using Chaos Legion (CL) Edition with Max Gold FOIL deck at the Gold League level cards. You will need to spend $921 to have all the cards to make this deck of cards:

If you collected all the data across different editions and levels of cards, here is what you will see:

Gold Foil (GF) cards are pricey, ranging from at least 3 times to as much as 18 times more expensive than regular foil (RF) cards. If a card is 3 to 7 times more costly, are you truly getting 3 times more value?

An interesting aspect of the data is that the cost multiplier ratio between RF and GF cards remains relatively consistent. It's essential to consider this when aiming for a complete deck at a certain level, as relying on GF cards can become quite costly.

The Downsides of Gold Foil: Overpriced and Not Worth It

After analyzing the data, it's clear why many people prefer Regular Foil (RF) cards. Most players sell their Gold Foil (GF) cards and use the proceeds (DEC) to acquire more RF cards that they need.

However, I don't believe this should always be the case. There are numerous ways to structure a deck, and I'd like to share some ideas that you might want to consider.

Let me change the data and bring in the RARITY:

Now, let's examine the cost difference between Regular Foil (RF) and Gold Foil (GF) based on rarity for the sets we've previously analyzed (CL and RW).

For common cards, the cost can be nearly the same, even at the silver level for RW. At the Gold League level for RW cards, the difference is about $15 more.

As you can see, it makes sense to buy common cards because the GF cost multiplier ranges between 1 to 2 (2x more expensive for GF CL Gold League). This is quite different from the 3X to 6X multiplier when looking across the entire set.

Gold Foil Rewards Cards

How should we evaluate reward cards?

I'm not referring to the cost of unbinding them, but rather whether the shine of Gold Foils is worth it. The answer hinges on which cards you're aiming to play with.

One of the recent changes I love is the ability to spend GLINT on Gold Foil (GF) rarity draws! I've been collecting GF cards for over 2 years, and this feature allows me to target the specific cards I want. My strategy has always been to start with common cards and move up in rarity, so this fits perfectly with my approach.

Each season, I focus on two types of purchases:

• I get Gold Foil common cards first at the beginning of the season.
  My goal is to repeat this each season until they reach the level of most of my summoners before moving up to the next rarity.
• At the end of the season, I get a Major/Ult draw chest.

Toward the end of the season, I like to invest in either the Major Chest or Ultimate Chest. This helps me obtain potions and energy, which are essential for more battles as the season progresses and my rating is higher than at the beginning of the season (after the reset).

This will get you a bit more GLINT/SPS using this method than randomly opening these chests during the season.

Regular Foil Rewards Cards Burning

I only burn the cards where I have a higher-level GF card. Because I used my GLINT on COMMON rarity first, I will always have commons to burn (that I get from the Major and Ultimate chest once a season).

I don't need to collect RF common reward monster cards. Instead, I use the GLINT to get more GOLD FOIL rarity draws at the beginning of the next season. This requires some planning, especially if you're aiming for GF Epic or Legendary cards, which cost 125K for one Epic draw and 600K for one Legendary draw.

Sample of a Battle using GF cards

Here is a battle where you can see my GOLD cards were 60% bonus (on the Glint and SPS details)
Battle:

Glint:

SPS:

I recently upgraded my GF Tarsa from Level 3 to Level 4.
In the battle, I ended up using two GF EPIC reward cards (Halfing and Khazi)

Now let's compare that with a WIN without all the GF bonus. I tried to pick something as close as the same RATING so the SPS boost was similar. You can see the 474 Glint and 1.381 Sps are much lower than the other battles. I believe over time using GF cards will add up nicely.

Get some GF in your RF deck in 2025!

1. If you are only an RF deck, consider only getting GF Common Rewards with your GLINT.
2. You don't need GF Summoner, you can use it with your RF summoners.
3. You don't have to focus on ALL GF cards, start with the COMMONS FIRST. Who said you need a full GF Deck at any LEAGUE level? Mixing RF with GF is fine!
4. If you want to play GF Bronze Guild Brawls, then you might need to get a few CL summoners. I only focus on those that are under $3 a bcx.
5. Start with GLINT assets only.
6. For other cards, if the price is similar or close, it might make sense to switch from RF to GF cards. This might not work for a Max Deck as the cost would be too high.
7. Build your collection slowly. No matter how you play @Splintlands, the longer you play, the more cards you will have. The soul-bound reward is not an issue because I use the CARDS to battle. The results come back in the form of GLINT and SPS.
8. The #play2earn and owning your #NFT is just one piece of the game. If you like TCG or collecting, then as a hobby it can be done without being overly expensive. This is the same as when I was playing Paintball. Each time you go and shoot paintball at other folks that is $50 for a case of bullets, plus the cost of air, fees, etc. Golf, driving on a Track (car), most hobbies can be more expensive than #NFT gaming.

Let me know what are you doing with your Gold Foil Cards.
Are you selling?
Are you holding?
Are you buying/getting more?