My last two posts on the Steem Monsters game were more focused on the aspect of the game play, so let me now look into the trading aspect of this highly addictive card game.
One of the major selling points of Steem Monsters is the fact that each card is unique, actually owned by their owner, and that there are only a certain number of cards in existence for each monster, clearly indicated on the card. What the owner does with the card is up to them: they can use them for playing battles, they can sell them for STEEM, they can swap them for other cards (though I haven’t figured out how to do this yet), or they can hang on to them, hoping their value increases as a collectible item.
Frustratingly Cheap Reward Cards
Starting out, my primary objective was playing the game, not really worrying about the long-term aspects of increasing value. As such, I was highly annoyed when I discovered that the reward cards I’d get after completing my daily quests, but even at the end of the season, were not the same beta cards I needed to assemble teams for battles. Those I would have to buy at the market (or in form of booster packs), so ultimately I needed to invest outside money into the game. This was especially true since the cards I got were so common that they flooded the market, driving the price down to pennies (literally).
How many Vampires would I have to sell if I wanted to buy just one Flesh Golem? The answer is five to six, given the fact that a Vampires sells for 2-3 cents, while the cost of a Flesh Golem is around 12. Clearly not worth it, right? That’s what I thought too, until a few days later I had so many Vampires I didn’t know what to do with them. In the end I admitted that selling them was the best option.
Which Level Sells Best?
Some of my Vampires I’d leveled up to 2 or 3, others remained at level one. The same was true for Sea Genies, Rusty Androids, and Highland Archers, the most common among the reward cards. So I started experimenting. Selling under the lowest bid made sure they were bought up fast, but I discovered that sometimes they may even fetch a higher price, if you’re willing to wait till the lowest ones were gone. What struck me as a nice surprise, however, was people’s willingness to pay a few extra cents (sometimes substantially so) for higher level cards.
To stay with the Vampire as an example, while at level one the card sells for 3 cents, at level 2 (three cards) the lowest bid may be 13 cents, and at level 3 (five cards) you may even sell it for over 20. This is great news, because honestly, it takes a good number of steps to put up each card for sale (unless you use peakmonsters of course).
Estimating Price Fluctuations
Then there are various factors that can make the price go up or down. Take the Hobgoblin, for example. When I first got that card, I could have sold it for two dollars!!! I was so excited about its double-strike ability, though, that I never did. A couple of days later, it’s price was down under a buck, and currently it’s at four cents. What happened? I assume, when I first got it, there were so few of them that even for a rare card it was sort of a rarity.
By now there are enough Hobgoblins running around (and I’m sure the double-strike has lost its novelty with other players as much as with me), so the high supply drove the price down. The lesson I took away from this is: It’s best to sell a new card soon, before others make it to the market. Usually in a few days the price will come down into reasonable levels, and you can buy it back for a fraction of what you sold it for. Eventually, once they stop minting new ones, and players keep combining them into higher level cards, the value may increase again. So no worries if you missed out on the initial bonanza.
When Fortune Smiles on You
Talking about bonanzas, I can’t get around telling my story of how a few days ago the Holy Grail just plopped into my lap. I was still in the Silver League, and having completed a daily quest, one of my five reward cards happened to be… the legendary! the sacred!! the golden!!! the card that had just come out a couple of days before, and according to chats on Discord it seemed to be everyone’s new favorite: the Gold Foil Sacred Unicorn. Hallelujah!
Big Bucks from a Silly Game
What can I do with such a card? Taking my own advice I had just explained, I put it up for sale. Comparing it with other legendary gold foil cards, and seeing another one of those Unicorns already for sale, I decided that $250 was a good price for it. It went faster than I thought. At first I was a bit concerned, after all I probably could have gotten twice that much for it. Then I realized that it was not all that bad. The current price of the same card is only a hundred dollars, and I’m sure it’ll keep going further down. By the way, the regular Sacred Unicorn costs only $4 by now, but I want to wait for it to reach $2.50, so I could buy it for a hundredth of what I sold it for!
So all in all, I feel pretty good about it, and what’s more, it awakened my joy of trading. Now that I’m in the Gold League, getting ten reward cards each day, it’s become more fun as well. Some of the cards are great to play with, others I sell instantly, or after combining them into higher levels. Since the game has payed me about ten times the amount I invested in it in total, I’m not worried about spending (for now). Though to satisfy my stinginess, I think I’m going to keep a log of my sales and purchases, just to make sure.
There is one more day left of the season, after which I’ll get 40 (maybe 45) cards, and be set back to Silver. But one thing is sure: with the trading aspect I feel I have gotten even more addicted to Steem Monsters than I’d first assumed.
Please check out these great communities I'm contributing to:
#ecotrain | What is EcoTrain | Discord Community
#cyclefeed | Introducing CycleFeed | Discord Community
Introducing SteemitDreamit | Discord Community