Splinterlands Investment Strategy Advice Request - Getting Involved After Missing The Gold Rush

I knew of Splinterlands since the early days and decided NOT to get involved because I feared that I'd get lost in gameplay that'd pull me away from my home business. Damn.

I have roughly 10 promo cards with spell book codes on them from various conferences and shows, hoping they'd be worth something in the future, but never used any.

The only cards I had before starting to play last month were from 1 Beta pack I was given as a prize for a contest.

In that pack I got:

I think that I played a few training battles and struggled to grasp the gameplay. I closed the game and barely touched it for years.

Fast forward, in that Spongebob meme voice, "4 years laturrr"...

Ironically, the Alric Stormbringer is a relatively valuable card at today's prices at $160, but it's risen quite a bit in the last month. The same goes for Medusa at around $30. I'm pretty happy to have something from the Beta edition. At no cost, no complaints here.

After playing with the base cards I got from buying a Spell Book, I was lucky to get a boost via delegated cards from @joshman at first (who is apparently a SPL legend), @blewitt a few weeks later, and a surprise set from @ninjamike who got me over 5,000 Power. This helped me get up to 9 reward chests per season, but is presently more beneficial in that it exposed me to different cards and abilities. In turn, I was able to strategize better matchups and win at a much higher rate. Reflect via Owster Rotwell is extremely helpful with all of the water deck magic players at my level.

I also used my humble Hive payouts to buy some cards at first in the $5-$13 range, while also stacking smaller cards with DEC payouts. After giving it some thought, I finally invested an initial budget of $100 from some recent liquid staking interest I had on another chain. It was VERY annoying sending it to an exchange, swapping it into USD, buying LTC during a volatile time, and then sending the LTC to buy Credits, but I made it happen with only about $2.50 lost in the mix.

After lots of analysis, I carefully chose to buy the following cards to get my power up and also create some rental opportunities.

DJINN OSHANNUS for $50.97. This is my new sledge hammer in my water deck and has already boosted my SPS payouts a bit. The price would fall slightly below while tracking it, down to $48, but it was getting sniped by purchasing bots before I could grab it. The price has fallen to around $49.50 since, but it's all the same at this point. I just wanted to card for its in-game value, the decreased magic attack benefit, and the high speed to almost always get the first hit in.

PHANTOM SOLDIER for $29.00. I thought this was a great value for its deck power, while it also pairs well with the summoner below. The flying perk will come in handy, as well as the decent speed. I felt this would be a good card to appreciate in value over time with a circulation of only 7,750.

DELWYN DRAGONSCALE for $12.50. This card was recommended by @joshman and for good reason. While the mana cost is a little high, the perk of having a camouflaged army of magic casters is very valuable to me to trick those who aren't expecting it. I want to grab the DARKEST MAGE next for its low mana cost. It's floating around $12.50 now, so I'll probably get it in a week after my next Hive payouts come through, to add some 5,540 leftover credits.

The last card I'd like to get in the short term is the ARMORSMITH at around $14.75. I think it's a great perk and it'll also provide a DEC payout bonus because it's from the Promo Edition.

So after this introduction to my starting point, I'm battling and earning quest chests. I've gotten one gold L3 PELACOR DECEIVER as my most thrilling haul from those so far I believe.

I'll be getting more SPS airdropped now, more DEC payouts, more season chests, and rental DEC over time to wash out this last small $100 investment. Overall, I'll guess that I put in about $150 so far, which is not much at all. I just want to start small and learn the game before I start ramping up.

Your advice is cordially requested:

So at this point, I'm split on the best way to invest in this game going forward. Should I continue to buy cards that appeal to me the most? I was debating buying a $200 card, but then felt that was a bit strong of a move out of the gate. Beta and Untamed packs are super expensive, and I'm not sure if they're the wisest way to go. With the new Chaos Legion release, perhaps it'll be best to stock up on a lot of decks with a fresh start going forward. Land is appealing, but when it was $30 in the spring and $700+ now, it doesn't feel right to make a move there just yet. I understand that there's a limited supply and that the investment will likely be returned, but I just don't know if that's the best next step. It's not a question of the funds, but I just want to allocate what I spend wisely, and not be reckless to fomo in after years of lost building time.

I'll keep posting on this if you'd like to follow along. At this point, I'm simply looking for advice from the community on how to most wisely invest in the near-term as a game player for fun, with card rental and DEC earning somewhat in mind, but not as a mega-investor until I feel the prices have cooled off. While I don't know how to value individual cards, the current unopened pack and land prices make me feel that things are a bit too hot right now.

PS - should I use my physical promo cards or make a second/third account to build up with my main account via delegations? Are the cards from a few conferences and trade shows worth anything outside of their promo codes? As long as I don't feel like it's a waste of time to complete 1-2 extra quests a day for the chests and extra sets from the seasons, perhaps that's a good low-risk next step as well?

Thanks,
@steemmatt (also my SPL name)