I had the luck to be introduced to Splinterlands way back when it was launched on Steemit. My collection is still in tact on an old account that I only use for playing the game but that is not the subject of today's discussion. What I want to address is the actual rarity of some Splinterlands cards.

Crunching The Numbers

Those that go looking for blockchain games on mainstream websites like DappRadar will find Splinterlands at the second place on the list. If they do give it a try they will find a well-thought-out game with a vibrant community around it. Something you can't say for 99% of the "games" on that list.

All of the available data indicates a clear uptrend in every aspect of the game so further growth is to be expected. If the general market holds up or even continues to climb, we may see a lot of money pouring in blockchain gaming, and Splinterlands will be waiting.

Card Market Supply Shock

I can see a scenario where LVL 1 cards become more valuable than LVL 2 cards and there are a few reasons for this.

• Those that play the game know that you need to combine two or more LVL 1 cards in order to get an LVL 2 card. Further leveling requires even more LVL 2 cards and the cycle continues until you max out your card level. This takes a lot of LVL 1 cards out of circulation and may create a supply shock in the future, favoring those that are holding low-level assets.

• There is enough incentive for regular players to chase higher ranks as well. The tournaments bring better prizes and every win generates more DEC tokens. This can not be done with low-level cards and will require some shopping on the market.
• Blockchain gaming has no limits in terms of growth and evolution. All Splinterlands cards exist as NFTs and can be moved to different chains. In the near future, we can probably expect cross-game events where two games from the same niche create an environment where their players can transfer assets from one game to another for various reasons.
• Alpha and Beta cards will not be issued at any point in the future (as far as I know) so we already have some cards that are running out of LVL 1 copies. Lord Of Darkness, for example, has a circulating supply of 1,055 cards. Even if all of them were LVL 1 you could only combine ~100 LVL 4 cards out of that supply as every one of those requires 11 level-1 cards.

In summary, if the demand keeps rising and the supply stays at the same level, we may see price increases like never before. Those that are missing only one card to complete their level 4 upgrade will probably be willing to pay a premium on your LVL 1 and the longer you hold it, the rarer it becomes.

The End Game

Talking about the metaverse and what changes it will bring once fully adopted would require a separate article so I'll skip that for now. What is important here is to look at the long-term and realize that Blockchain gaming is not the same as conventional gaming. Once all blockchains start communicating seamlessly with each other, you will be able to move your NFTs and extract value from them in any way you may think of.

The whole interface and premise of the game are changeable and adaptable so Splinterlands doesn't have to stay within the limits of a card game. Completely different genres of the same game can use the same assets but for different purposes.

Think how League Of Legends is using the lore from a MOBA game to create a card game and an upcoming turn-based RPG. Now imagine if LOL champions actually belonged to the player and they could move them from one game to another within the same universe.

The possibilities are truly endless, you just have to realize how groundbreaking they are before it is too late.

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