I jumped back into Splinterlands this month after taking a long break. I used to enjoy ranked battles the most, and that's where my focus was since I joined this community. The new rulesets, synergies, attacks and counterattacks were always my go-to things in the game, so naturally, I missed a lot of Land updates.
But the new Inaugural Land Card Edition announcement was very interesting. For the first time, it looks like a shift from just the daily battle reward metric to a long-term shift in economy, resource production and player behaviour via the land updates.
In this post, I will discuss some of the decisions that captured my attention and my thoughts on these upcoming Land cards that can't be used in normal battles. If you want to read about this week's Community Engagement Challenge, click here.
Small Set of Cards with Seemingly Big Changes
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The Inaugural Land Card Edition doesn't look that big, with just four new cards, one for each rarity only. But each represents major shift how Splinterlands does resources, production and long-term updates. These cards come with new abilities, mechanics, resources and a new system of minting that itself is a big change in the game.
| Rarity | Max Supply |
|---|---|
| Common | 100,000 |
| Rare | 18,000 |
| Epic | 6,000 |
| Legendary | 1,000 |
These cards have unique attributes:
First cards crafted just for Lands, which are made with resources produced on land.
A new resource, "Cinder", which provides a unique new burn mechanic for old cards in your account.
Unique abilities like Bountiful, Rationing, dark Discount, Labour's Luck, etc.
I love the Cinder mechanics; this can create a new sink for old cards. A new deflationary pressure on card supply is always good in my opinion. I appreciate more use cases and burn methods for cards. Long-term sinks are very healthy for the economy of the game.
The new abilities increase the production of Land owners. They now have more incentives to produce resources. I feel Land is going to be a major pillar going forward for Splinterlands, and good to see they are focusing more on this aspect. It won't have too much impact for players like me who love the game for the action, the battles, rulesets, etc. But so many people are invested in it because of only the economics and long-term gains. For them, it must be good news.
This is a proof-of-concept for now, but if things go well, which I think they are going to. The community is positive about these new changes, and these cards are going to be very popular among landowners. Then, we might expect more cards in the future, specifically for Land usage and not for battles.
To me, this feels like a big test of Demand and player interest. How much the community is willing to engage with these new systems of crafting and production. That's why I think this game is moving from just a card-battling TCG to a strategy game with an economic simulation where you have many switches and levers to perfect your own economics and maximise them.
I would be happy as long as both the expectations of the gameplay are respected and the game doesn't move only in one specific direction, rather than expanding on multiple fronts.
How can it Affect Ranked Players?
Even though these new cards are Land-only, ranked players will still feel some indirect changes mainly through:
Supply changes due to the new Cinder Burns: It will be interesting to see how the card supply changes affect the market. Will card prices increase now that we have a new way to burn them? I would be keeping an eye out on the rental market to see if I notice any significant changes.
DEC/SPS market: DEC prices should have an impact due to new sinks now. Finding good sinks is always hard, and this might turn out to be a good sink for many resources in the game. I am not willing to make any predictions right now.
Potential land resource as reward bonuses: As Land-generated resources become more significant in the game, there are chances that we may see an overlap of some of the creation of new resources which are generated with both land and battles. A blend of both battling skills and strategic resource management? A lot can happen.
Do you plan to craft these Land cards? Let me know how much Cinder you are willing to spend on these.
Thanks for reading...
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