The Splinterlands-"Scarcity Squared" Proposal for Retired Cards Out of Print

Recently we in The Splinterlands community have had a departure of reward cards we have grown accustomed to seeing available in quests and season rewards. But now a few more of them are no more, at least in new production so you must go to the markets to obtain whatever additional quantities you are seeking. This is the central genius and engine that will make this a continual "ball of fire" that gain momentum in the future. Forget that the game is fun, addictive, and growing by the day with additional cards and abilities in strategy. Plus don't forget (to forget) there will be some fun with NFT assets that will be introduced to the game making it even more strategic and dynamic. Forget that the cards are also backed by an ingenious sub-currency within the game of DEC. Forget the player base is growing slowly but surely. Forget the game has virtually taken over arguably the largest social network based on crypto in the world being Steemit. Forget all of that, members of the jury, that evidence is not central to the point of what I am getting at.

The true genius and mastery of the game theory within the game is and will be the rarity and value created in scarcity and earning rewards with these game pieces that will give you competitive advantages and bonuses moving forward. I have peddled a concept a few times now of "double stacking" regular and gold cards to build enhanced equity within the game. Here is a shameless plug and link to that post... https://www.upfund.me/ufm/@cryptkeeper17/yet-another-crazy-concept-that-will-never-happen-on-the-splinterlands-but-would-be-awe-inspiring

Now, that concept will almost without question only be able to implemented within a new set cards to be released at a later date within a different series and after some kind of serious editing of the current card structure. True, or will it be required?

Here is the proposal to use this system with all cards created to date. First, you will need a card in the currently printed series, which for this example I will use the Untamed series for illustrative purposes. In these packs, there will be a random, make that a very scarce random version of a card that allows you to combine a card that is retired at the time of printing of the next series. These base and gold cards will need to be extremely scarce of course, maybe done through a part of the daily mystery potion, or something like that, within the scheduled 100k pack airdrops, or within a kickstarter campaign. Some, all of these options, or a mix of course could be used.

To use as an example, the Alpha Goblin Shaman. Players could receive this card in a regular and gold foil version. Of course the gold foil version would be a heightened version of the regular. But the thing is these cards would not be playable.

When receiving one of these cards, this essentially a card that can import older retired versions of cards out of production to be double stacked as regular or gold foil cards, depending on the card that is held. You own a regular version (what I will call) "Mythical" level cards, you can combine existing Alpha versions of these cards within this card by importing the card into this new series. The old alpha card will be burned, but would carry the new title that would give the card additional perks and the buff discussed in the earlier post linked above and be considered a new series card, but again would have substantial rewards attached in its holding. The only way to do this would be to acquire one of these cards, the option would not be available without them, so the initial card would be like an added ability to "unlock the full potential" of the masses of cards combined-- or so it says in the lore.

The tables would have to be worked out of course, but the regular and gold cards could be adjusted over time, giving the holders of the cards to make them either double maxed regular or double maxed gold. Double maxing the regulars would be at a bonus level for the alpha golds above all others due to there never being a potion to acquire additional gold cards. Meaning, there would be a "baked in potion value" for combining them. Meaning, you would only need 150% of alpha cards rather than 200% of a single max to create a double stacked max card. For the common purposes in the example, 62 gold commons would be required to create a 2x alpha max gold. In this case it would only take 46.5 alpha gold cards to create a double max gold retired card, versus a full 76 in beta and untamed, in this case for a common.

The gold foil redemption card would count toward 1/2 an alpha gold (if these were the cards used to combine), and 1 bcx gold foil beta, reward double stacked gold foil card. But again the only way these retired cards that were not enabled would have to be done this way, and no other way. The process would be similar to when alphas were made convertible to betas, once they are converted they are of course forever altered that way.

The perks to doing this will be substantial, and if programmable there could even be a way for converted Alpha double stacked cards to retain their "Alpha status" so that they would not miss out on future tournaments and promotions down the road.

Again this would bring, literally into play the chance of an additional max level on top of the current card with some serious scaling in scarcity in the meantime, which is great for everyone involved. There can always be more printed if there need be, but the initial adopters of the game will always hold some level of advantage (or purchasing of initial or retired cards) down the road as you go back in time for each print version, which is what I have seen be the full intention of the founders of the game.

This is a bit of an abstract concept and if there any additional explanations needed to further understanding leave a comment and I would be more than happy to address it the best I can. Thanks again for the read and best of luck in all things on the Steem Based Economy.