Back Then
When I was a kid we used to buy these World Cup card packs. Back then we obviously ripped them right open, chewed that awful bubble gum, and traded the doubles with each other. The cards had little or no fiat value. No one would be holding packs.
So what if I would find an unopened Italia'90 pack today? Would I open it? Probably not. Today it would be much more valuable unopened even though it might hold Diego Maradona's or some other famous long-gone player's card inside.
Today
Compared to those childhood trading sessions, today's blockchain technology allows us to trade much faster and easier. There is more demand and much profit to be made. However, the decision of whether to open a pack or to hold onto it becomes harder.
I know I've lost some opportunities to make money because I have been too eager to rip those packs open the second I get my hands on them.
So what makes the pack opening so damn exciting that it's hard to resist? Is it the rush or a childhood habit? Or is it just the hope of getting the rarest of the rarest?
Holding Packs
What would be the benefits of holding packs? The first thing would be to expect a pack to gain value as time goes by. Let's take a look at Splinterlands which has released quite a few editions.
I started playing the game during the Untamed edition sale and I have sometimes wondered how much the Alpha packs cost when they were first released. Maybe a couple of dollars? Well, now they are sold at 250 HIVE on Tribaldex. That's quite a profit to be made if you are still holding those!
But when we are talking about packs, there is still that everlasting 'what if'? For example, what if there is a gold foil Screaming Banshee in one of those? I don't know about you guys but those Alpha packs would definitely be burning in my hands. Begging to be opened.
Staking Packs
Fortunately for me, in some games, there is an option to stake packs to get in-game currency or to participate in airdrops. This is of course a very appealing option and it would really motivate me not to tear the packs open immediately.
The option to stake packs has changed the way I look at them. I am trying not to think about what is hidden inside and now consider them more as NFTs or tokens. As an investment itself.
But still, what if...
Open It!
My best pack opening was with Splinterlands packs. I bought an Untamed pack and got Lir Deepswimmer, a legendary summoner worth $50 at the moment. I sold it and bought a couple of more packs, and from one of those, I got a Byzantine Kitty, also a legendary summoner but much more valuable. By the time of writing this, it's priced at $500 in the market.
At the time I didn't quite realize how lucky I had been and so I tried to repeat my success and bought more packs. Only this time I promised myself to hold onto at least half of them. It didn't go exactly the way I had planned and instead, I sunk into this pack-opening frenzy.
I guess I was partly unconsciously chasing the high of seeing the card turn golden or the feeling I get when the pack starts to shake with a promise of a legendary one. I would easily believe that some lucky ones might have fainted when both of these things happen at the same time.
Moments like these really add up to the excitement web 3.0 and I have been carried away more than once. Still, no regrets.
Even More Packs!
By the way, can there be too many packs? I guess so. At the moment there is an ongoing proposal on Splinterlands whether to burn the unsold Chaos Legion packs or not. The total supply is 15 million which is quite a lot of packs compared to the 1.5 million packs of the previous Untamed edition.
Burning packs would benefit pack openers like me because it would make the Chaos Legion cards more scarce. Of course, the same goes for those patient pack holders as the total supply will reduce. So no wonder that it seems to pass.
Conclusion
Notes to myself:
- Why is it so damn hard to resist opening those packs at once?
- Don't be jealous of those patient ones holding packs. Just hold packs.
- There should be some sort of a vault in which I could lock up packs for a couple of years...
- Keep an eye on the airdrops and presales. Some editions can be sold out extremely fast and their value can soon be much higher on a secondary market.
- Don't be too harsh to yourself, it's still fun to open packs!
All pack pictures are from Splinterlands
Thumbnail image made with Canva
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