Reduce oversupply of Splinterlands cards through a special burn event
Introduction
Splinterlands (SPL) is an established and entertaining blockchain-based TCG that many thousands of individuals from all over the world enjoy playing daily, have invested in, and have stayed loyal to, during the long and trying crypto winter of the past two and a half years. Over this period, player investment values in the game have, unfortunately, plummeted due to two primary factors i.e. a decline in the price of the game's governance token, SPS, and a steep drop in the value of cards used for gameplay.
This post is an attempt to provide a practical and relatively easy solution to reverse the devaluation of cards. SPS token pricing is not addressed here.
The Problem - The Reason Behind the Loss of Value of SPL Cards
As has been (and incessantly continues to be) discussed in various Splinterlands discord channels countless times since the crash of 2022, there are two main reasons behind the significant decline in card prices, and these are:
- A huge reduction in the player base during the crypto bear market.
- A drastic oversupply of cards during the bull run of 2021 and its aftermath, specifically of the powerful Chaos Legion (CL) core and rewards card set.
The first factor is an issue that can only be addressed by the Splinterlands team through better marketing and by implementing (long awaited) measures for improved New Player Experience (NPE) that will, hopefully, help attract and onboard a new generation of players during the next anticipated bull run.
The second cause i.e. the massive oversupply of cheap and powerful cards, is a pressing and immediate concern that the community and the DAO may be able to weigh in on, to come up with a viable solution that can be pitched to the company for approval and implementation.
The Proposed Solution
The company (and DAO) can consider announcing a burn event that will allow players to burn existing/old cards (CL or any other previous set) for cards of similar rarity from the new Rebellion CORE set at the following ratios (depending on rarities of the cards being burnt and replaced):
COMMON
Burn 5 old cards for 1 random new card; OR
Burn 10 old cards for 1 specific new card.
RARE
Burn 4 old cards for 1 random new card; OR
Burn 8 old cards for 1 specific new card.
EPIC
Burn 3 old cards for 1 random new card; OR
Burn 6 old cards for 1 specific new card.
LEGENDARY
Burn 2 old cards for 1 random new card; OR
Burn 4 old cards for 1 specific new card.
This burn mechanism will effectively and quickly lead to a significantly large burn of most oversupplied cards (CL set in particular), thereby rationalising the card supply and market as a direct consequence. The value of the remaining unburnt cards will also, subsequently, increase in inverse proportion to the reduction in supply.
The Rebellion packs set aside for the DAO from each day's burn of unsold packs (and, maybe an extra number of packs allocated by the SPL team from the company's presently unsold and unburnt stocks) can be used to cover the Rebellion cards needed for this proposed burn. The offer can be open on a first come - first served basis, till the available Rebellion cards last - to further encourage players to burn their excess cards sooner rather than later.
Simple, Neat and Impactful! This will be good for the ecosystem and players, finally getting rid of a critically troublesome and long-standing issue caused by past miscalculations and mistakes.
I am just posting this to try to get a feel for what the older and bigger stakeholders in the game think about this. If there is sufficient interest, this can be put up for a vote. If not, no worries; at worst, I just wasted some time writing and sharing my thoughts on this matter. Cheers and kind regards to all who took the time out to read this. 😊
But if I have bought all the new cards, what is my incentive?
Thank you for this valid and good question. You are one of the few players who have most (or all?) required assets in the ecosystem, so you would naturally have considerations the are different from a large majority of other players. Having said that, and while typing this, I can think of the following reasons that this may interest you as well (and I may be completely wrong, of course):
This post is primarily about reducing the massively overprinted supply of CL cards, which are driving down ALL card prices in the market, including yours. So a large burn of those excess (and un-needed) cards would help you as well, if supply reduces and market prices increase to a more rational (not excessively high) level. Powerful cards priced almost at (or below) burn value are not good for anyone IMO.
The CL set is so strong that one can get to Champ III or even Champ II in Wild with only those cards. If new players can just buy CL cards for peanuts and hand them over to a bot to play and earn for them, without having to purchase other cards, that, again, is bad for the ecosystem and it drives the value of rarer cards down. So removing the glut of CL cards to rationalise their price will, again, help everyone, including yourself.
I am sure you also have MANY more CL cards than you need in your collection. Burning those very cheap cards for the much rarer RB cards can increase your asset value, as RB will always be in short supply due to the much better sale/burn mechanics of this set.
Anyway, that's what I got from the top of my head in response to your question. Hope it made at least some sense. If not, you of course know better what your priorities and interests are.
Best.
Yes I have 4 Max CL decks plus numerous cards that work on land for high PP. Why would I remove and burn them to get RB cards which are worth less on Land. Plus I have 4 Max RB decks and then some on conflicts. So I have no net benefit.
Thanks for sharing! - @azircon
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