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(This is a HIVE cross-post)
Buying cards in splinterlands is easy, you simply click on market and buy the card you want. However, if you buy cards without thinking, there is a big chance that you will pay more DEC than needed.
In this post I will tell you all the information you need to know before you head off to the splinterlands market.
The basics
If you already know the basics you can skip to the next title, if you are completely new to the game however, this information might be very useful. It's already good to know that the market is currently not available in the mobile app.
This is how the market looks:
Upper bar:
In the upper bar you can choose between Card sales, card rentals, land sales and others. For now, only the first 2 are important.
In the second bar there are references to third party markets that you might want to check out, again, we won't focus on that for now.
Card:
Let's take a closer look at what information we get about a specific card.
For starters, we see the price in the upper left corner. This is the lowest price of a level 1 card (if a level 1 card is available). However, these prices are often a bit often, I'm not entirely sure why, I suppose it's a delay or a bug, but it there might be some explanation aswell.
Anyway, in the upper right we see the total amount of cards in circulation. Right underneath that number we see the total amount of listed cards on the market (in the red ribbon).
If we click an a card we get more information about the listed cards:
All the information that you can see here should be pretty straightforward (as long as you udnerstand that BCX = the total amount of lvl 1 cards that where combined to create this card). Also note that you can never undo the combining of cards.
Renting and selling work pretty much in the same way, the only difference being that you need to define a time period when you are renting a card. Simply select the card that you want to buy/rent and press the buy/rent button. Note that you can choose whether you make your purchase with DEC or with credits.
Putting a card on the market:
So now you know how you should rent/buy a card from the market. But how do you put a card on the market? As in for rent or for sale? It's also pretty easy, let me show you.
First click on "cards"
Second select the card you want to list.
Adn finally, click on the "market icon" to rent or sell it.
Allright now that we are done with the basics, let's take a look at some very valuable lessons and tips that might save you lots of DEC.
What cards to buy as a beginner
Alright, this is a dificult question to answer directly, however, I should be able to give you some solid information.
Let's start by some "cheap" and useful neutral recommendations. Neutral cards can be used with any splinter and are therefore a great first investment in your splinterlands carreer.
1. The sandworm
The only reason this card is still cheap is because it is still given as a reward, the card is not out of print yet. This means that the supply is still high and the price is still low.
The card is great for beginners because it is your go-to card in any high-mana battle. Simple, you should literally use this card everytime the mana limit is 99 and often when the limit is let's say above 35. The sandworm has 5 damage and can attack from any position because it has the sneak ability, what more do I need to say. It's priced at $0.80 at the time of writing and I feel strongly that the price will go up hard once this card goes out of print.
2. Creeping ooze
Okay, every time I look at the price I'm amazed by how expensive everything gets ($3.30 at the time of writing). As the ooze is not given out as a reward anymore, the supply falls and the price goes up. It's still a great card to get, but maybe you first focus should be more on non-neutral monsters. However, don't be fooled a 1 mana monster that reduces all the attack speed of all the enemies by 1 is very strong.
FYI, a couple of months ago, the furious chicken was my number 1 recommendation without a doubt, but that card is worth $16 by now... a bit too high to be valid as one of your first purchases imo.
Others
Next, you will have to decide what splinter(s) you want to focus on. For example, if you constantly play with the fire splinter, it makes sense to buy some fire monsters first. However, you might also consider buying a summoner very early on and change your "main" splinter. For example, buying mylor crowling seems like a very strong decision when you are just starting out. Sadly enough he isn't exactly a cheap summoner anymore. These are decisions that you will have to make for yourself.
Once you have purchased a couple of cards you can start thinking about leveling some cards. By this time you should have a decent amount of games under the belt and you can actually consult your own stats to help you with your decisions. This tool will help you out: SplinterStats Season Report Card. The cards that you use the most should be the first ones that you level. However, you should also consider price and the gained stats as well.
If you need more information about what cards to buy, you should follow my strategy guides, you can find these here: complete strategy guide for beginners.
Eyeball a card before buying
Especially if you are new to the game it's important to realise that the lowest price on the market isn't always a fair price. Eyeballing a card for a while before buying will give you at least an idea of how much the card goes for. That being said, prices can always go up or down pretty fast aswell, so it's always a bit of a risk. Still, if you have no idea, eyeballing is usually a good idea!
How long should you do this? Well, the longer you eyeball it, the more information you will gain. I would say at least a couple of days if you are new to the game and have the intention of staying free 2 play for now (with the exception of the spellbook ofcourse).
Buy leveled cards
Buying cards that are already leveled is cheaper than buying multiple level 1 cards and combine them yourself. This won't always be possible, sometimes there are only level 1 cards on the market. The better your deck will become, the more this little tip will save you money.
Let me give you a small example, not too long ago I wanted to buy a level 3 mylor crowling, a level 3 mylor requires 14 base cards (also known as base card experience, in short: BCX). Now, I already had a level 2 mylor crowling and 5 level 1 cards. The most natural thing to do in a situation like this is to simply buy 4 more level 1 cards, combine them all and be done with it. This would be a huge mistake!
Why?
Let me show you what I did instead:
First I sold my level 1 cards one by one for $14.96 a piece for a total of $74.8.
Then I purchased a level 2 with 6 BCX for $68.69.
Total profit: 1 BCX and $6.11.
You should also know that I did all this in one single day. Actually I think it only took an hour or so.
Flipping cards
Flipping cards is in essence browsing for good deals and selling cards higher than what you bought them for. The concept is simple and used very often, but you don't have to sell anything ofcourse, you can simply browse around for good deals and grow your collection.
In any case, constantly browsing the market for good deals can be very rewarding!
I actually wrote a post about a textbook flip a while ago, you can check it out here, but I will also summarise it right here:
As you can see, I bought a diamond dragon for $3.25 and 25 minutes later I already sold it for $3.74. I knew I made a good deal on buying a card like this for that price, but selling it only a couple minutes later was pretty cool. I was expecting that it would take a couple of days.
One thing to keep in mind, there is a 5% market fee, which means that I didn't really gain 500 DEC, but around 300, which is still really nice for a minute's work.
Now this might not seem that impressive, but remember, I was brand new to the game and 300 DEC was harder to get back then. Also, it's a technique that you can scale, so yo can apply this to more expensive cards as well. Remember that there is always a risk involved though!
I used to constantly check the market to find the cheapest gold foiled cards. Usually the lowest one was around 70 cents at that time. Whenever the lowest one dropped below 60 cents I knew it was a good purchase and I would be able to sell it for at least %15 more (keep in mind that there is a 5% market fee). Sure, I wasn't playing with any big money, but it helped a lot with the grind towards my next card.
Conclusion
Getting to know the market takes some times. Checking the prices over and over is the best way to know what the correct prices are. However, you must remember that you can never be sure that prices will go up, down or remain stable. Also, prices can be easily manipulated because in splinterlands.
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