Splinterlands, An Asset Management Game
This post is not related to the upcoming game modes that will be provided by an outside studio for Splinterlands. We don’t have much information about those game modes yet as they seem to be in their infancy stage of development. Even though, they surely sound intriguing, to say the least.
Today, I would like to talk about the Game within the Game that got me hooked in this ecosystem as much as the Cards Game itself. Seeing my portfolio of Splinterlands’ assets slowly grow over the past few months was as enjoyable as strategizing around the diverse rulesets and abilities.
This is the reason why I do spend as much time, if not more, on @peakmonsters as I do on @splinterlands every single day. Without @peakmonsters, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to progress nearly as fast because we all know that the good deals aren’t found on Splinterlands’ own market.
Azmare’s Apprentice - 5
I’ve finally reached an account volume (1 year rolling) of $750+ on Peakmonsters, which made me an Azmare’s Apprentice. Personally, this was as much of an accomplishment as reaching the next league in Splinterlands, especially because only a third was outside money I actually poured in.
I was really excited to get to this new threshold as I knew it would unlock a feature called “Price Gap” that was launched by @jarvie and his team a little while back. At the time, I didn’t know how long it would take me to get from Rexxie Rancher - 4 to Azmare’s Apprentice - 5. In the end, it took me about three and a half months.
Unfortunately, though, I found out with this feature that the market has already done a great job of scooping the good deals off the market for the most part. Nonetheless, I still might try my luck with card flipping (again) after the SPS airdrop as my little bag of DEC is currently sleeping in a Liquidity Pool.
The $750+ Breakdown
> $250 - Money coming from my Pocket
The first half ($125) was spent over the course of the last six months or so. I bought a few key cards early on and then, opened a few packs I bought from the secondary market. The other half ($125) was recently spent during the last dip we’ve been experiencing the past few weeks.
The recent dip allowed me to upgrade my deck quite substantially. Before that, my highest leveled-up summoner was the Rare Summoner General Sloan at Level 3 - Common (4), Rare (3), Epic (2), and Legendary (2). Today, I can count on the Legendary Summoner Quix The Devious at Level 2 - Common (5), Rare (4), Epic (3), and Legendary (2).
I usually like to ensure having the right summoners before spending more on monsters, although it is currently more cost-effective to simply rent them. This is perhaps because I believe in card ownership but also because I don’t want to be left behind with unusable monster cards if the rental cost of the summoners suddenly goes way up.
Below is the list of monsters I acquired after securing 3 BCX of Quix The Devious:
Fire
- Grum Flameblade to Level 2 with Void
- Ifrit Rising to Level 2 with a third attack (potential synergy with Recharge)
- Djinn Inferni to Level 3 with a fourth attack (potential synergy with Giant Killer)
Water
- River Hellondale to Level 2 with Inspire
- Diemonshark to Level 4 with Enrage
- Angelic Mandarin to Level 4 with Triage
Earth
- Mycelic Slipspawn to Level 4 with Forcefield
- Goblin Psychic to Level 4 with Affliction
Life
- Adelade Brightwing to Level 2 with Resurrect
- Uriel The Purifier to Level 3 with Heal (Already owned)
- Chaos Knight to Level 5 with Giant Killer
Death
- None
Dragon
- Chaos Dragon to Level 2 with Blast
Neutral
- Venari Spellsmith to Level 4 with Amplify (Not yet reached)
> $500 - Money coming from the Ecosystem
Cards Flipping, a way to tip-toe into this entire ecosystem
I started by flipping a few cards on @peakmonsters. This was sometimes time-consuming but, it was important in the sense that I was still at a stage where I had to build enough trust in this ecosystem before spending my own money. By doing so, I noticed that the market was quite liquid, dynamic, and trustworthy. Today, there are still good deals on the market to profit from even though it feels that it became much harder as many more market bots have taken part in it since then.
Vouchers Flipping, a revealing one-shot trade
This trade occurred a few weeks back when Vouchers went from $1 to $2 in a relatively short amount of time. This lucky event allowed me to generate an equivalent amount of money to the one I’ve spent in the past few days. At the time, those $100+ helped me level up my first splinter, which was the Life Splinter led by General Sloan and Uriel The Purifier. This might not be replicable as it is but, Splinterlands is filled with assets that can potentially offer those kinds of opportunities in the future.
*NFA: Not Financial Advice
Blogging, a sure way of growing your assets
I posted on @peakd every single day during the first fourth months of the year. As a new player, this was another way to build even more confidence in this whole ecosystem. Indeed, the fact that Splinterlands rewards players with generous upvotes for simply sharing their passion for the game is tremendously helpful for building the foundation of a solid deck. I believe that every new player somewhat “serious” with this game should take advantage of this win-win situation.
Game Earnings, becoming much better than they used to
For the longest time, I was generating more with my different “side-hustles” around the game than the game itself. This can still be the case but, the Reward System Revamp made the overall experience for players much better. Before that, I was playing the game mainly because I enjoyed it and also because it provided me with content I could share on this platform. The earnings were residual, so this aspect of the game didn’t participate much to the $500 compared to the others above.
In a nutshell
To me, Splinterlands is as much an Asset Management Game as it is a Card Game. It reminds me of the times when I used to play Fifa in my teenage years: I was taking as much joy in building an Underdog Team with a limited budget as playing the matches. It was for me an entire part of the whole experience, and I believe that this is the case for Splinterlands as well.
I hope you’ve learned a little something from my journey so far.
See you all very soon!
Thomas
For new players interested in joining this amazing game, you can support me by using the following referral link (at no extra cost to you!):
https://splinterlands.com?ref=tt88
Thank you.
Thanks for sharing! - @mango-juice