Speculating on Splinterlands - Ever Since Chaos Has Been Unleashed ...

I just could not resist! Even though I'm pretty sure that eventually unopened packs will be a lot more valuable than the sum of the cards they may potentially contain, I just had to open up a few and take a peek. Interestingly, my reaction to them was rather sobering, at least compared to how psyched I used to be when I opened the end-of-season rewards, back in Beta days. What happened? Had I been gone from playing the game for too long? Is it the utter unfamiliarity this new Chaos Legion comes with? In any case, after opening four of my 29 packs, my initial mental rush had abated, so I decided to leave the rest for later. Until then they shold be good for bringing in daily SPS. In the meantime I took notice of all the other changes in Splinterlands.

The Rental Market Has Gone Nuts!

One of the immediately apparent changes that came with (or right after) the opening day of the new Chaos Legion packs, was a sudden revolution in the rental market. Though there have been better and worse times in the last couple of months, on average you could say that I'd be getting about 1k DEC a day for renting out my mid-level Beta cards. Sure, this also means adjusting the fees (usually slightly downwards) of a handful of rentals each day, but the 1k DEC / day had been something I could count on... until recently.

Now, it seems like renting cards has never been more competitive! I can only guess what had happened: many players turned their suddenly gained riches into Beta cards, with which they flooded the rental market. I can't blame them, after all I did something similar, only that I went for a plot of land instead. So now, waiting for my DEC to recuperate, I'm realizing that it may take longer than anticipated... maybe even twice as long! But oh well. Maybe my new Chaos Legion cards will make up for the lost income.

Cards, Shiny New Cards!!!

Or maybe not! After opening four packs, I had the brief chance to bask in the pride of owning a bunch of brand new monsters and summoners. There are some really cool looking ones among them, others have seemingly impressive stats. But I really won't know for sure until I try them out in battle. Maybe that's what I should do, really, since renting them out seems rather pointless to me at the moment. Being at level 1, most of them don't even bring in any more than the 0.1 DEC a day, which is the absolute minimum point. Anything below that is not even permitted by the game, so that's where competition ends. I guess leveling them up would be a task, but I can see myself spending all my DEC, SPS, and Credits on new cards. Or maybe I should just sell some? But even there, the prices they would fetch are rather moderate, so I'll just hold on to them for a while.

New Vouchers, New Packs

Another change that surprised me pleasantly, was the continued airdrop of further vouchers, which I can use to buy still more Chaos Legion packs with. But this time the prices have also changed considerably since the last time (only a couple of weeks ago). Back then I could easily sell my half Voucher for the price of one whole Chaos Legion pack, and usually I'd have some Swap.Hive left. By now this had become impossible. Yesterday I was determined to sell my Voucher for a pack, but I couldn't without supplementing it with a bit from outside (okay, not really, as that Swap.Hive really came from selling my Vouchers last week). In fact, it was just about five dollars that I had to add, making this roundabout way of acquiring my pack less than favorable. So I converted some SPS in Credits, and opted for getting them from the game store for the regular $4. This way I may even have the chance to score a Dr. Blight. Let's hope! So far my best cards are these six:

Short Term Plans ... If Any?

So what now, I'm wondering. For the next month I am going to keep converting Vouchers into Packs, and Packs into Cards. I think I should leave about 20 to 25 packs untouched for now, but that would still mean five new cards every other day. Some of these are going to level the ones I already have... though there does seem to be a bigger diversity of cards, and since it usually takes five cards to reach second level, instead of three with the Beta deck, we're talkinga about a whole new challenge to leveling up. So who knows, maybe the best idea is to get back into playing battles again. In fact, should that be the case, I may even open up all of my Chaos Legion packs. After all, that may be the best way to get to know them, pick my favorites, and make a plan for developing them, while getting rid of the rest. We'll see...