Probably Too Little for Too Much
Last night, I FOMO'd and bought what is likely a pretty useless card for the very high price it was released at, Zyriel. And the price so far has been reflected in the sales, with only 3500/1500 sold so far, out of the 30 day sale. I expect more will go, but I don't think it is going to sell out and the remainder will be burned.
The price per card was 80,000 DEC, or with vouchers, there was up to a 50% "discount" on it. As a legendary, it requires 11 cards for a MAX-level version, so with maximum discount (1760 VOUCHERS in total), it would be 40,000 DEC each, or 440,000 in total. I had enough vouchers for maximum discount, so it was the DEC that was the direct cost, with vouchers bein an opportunity cost to sell.
Even though I used all 1760 vouchers, I paid 502,000 DEC for my MAX.
Before I get to that, what makes Zyriel hot, is the nice pair she has.
Hey...
Eyes down here.
↓
She is the first card to be sitting on a pair of Splinters, which sounds painful, but makes her a little more versatile than a single splinter card, less so than a neutral. But at max, she does have a decent rack on her.
- Weapons Training - which will give monsters without an attack +3 Range
- Life Leach - which will steal some of the life she takes from monsters she damages
- Divine Shield - For a thin layer of protection - stay safe
- Rust - Which melts a little of the opponents defenses
Definitely one of the better looking cards.
Sitting eternally on the precipice between Life and Death, Zyriel might be a bit of fun at times to play with and see what kind of damage she can get up to. It is an interesting set of attributes and I think it is going to be a pretty decent bit player, once I work out how to use it. I haven't played it at all yet.
So why did I pay 62,000 more DEC for it?
*Because I bought it on the third-party markets.
That is 45,600 per BCX - 13% over priced from buying in-game.
But that doesn't tell the whole story.
Because I sold the 1760 vouchers on Hive Engine for 230,000 DEC first, so rather than 440,000 + vouchers, I paid 272,000 + vouchers. I believe that is still overpriced for what it is, however depending on how the sale progresses, it could be that it ends up going up a bit more in price. Currently it is sitting at around the same value as Dr Blight, but it is definitely not as strong or useful as that card. However, there were over 21,000 of those printed, this has a max of 15,000 and it will unlikely sell through.
For me though who likely would have got the card anyway, instead of the 40,000 BCX price, I paid 24,700 on average, which is about a 40% discount on it. So, the "break even" on what I would have paid, means it can drop down to about 27 dollars and it will still be in the black - like Zyriel's raven hair. This is probably likely give the card, but I am not too concerned about that today.
I am yet to get a decent ruleset to give her a roll in the hay, but with weapons training and on Life, I could see a decent snipe ruleset with Almo in the second position, with Chanseus and an additional backline healer like Renova. With Kitty it would be good too, as that would make Almo fast so it would likely take some misses. It does need some protection from opportunity though, because it is slow as hell, so having Shieldbearer in first position to attract and return fire and Chanseus to resurrect it, gives a chance for it to build up a bit of a buffer, before Almo takes Tank position. No idea about for Death lineups yet.
Have to experiment a bit to see.
So, while the card was discounted on the discount, it is still an expensive card for what it is and is pretty much useless to put on Land, so hopefully I can work out a way to get some wins with it and make it worth the buy. Because even discounted, if it isn't used, it is still a waste of money.
It isn't saving 40 percent - it is spending 60.
Anyone got any battles with her to share?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I think it was Hawk's video that put me off - weapons training is not so good because non-attack cards get part of their strength precisely because they don't suffer from return fire etc. You want those cards ALIVE for as long as possible!
I doubt I'd buy this from a play perspective, I still don't have any maxed Rift legendaries, the better ones of those would come first!
Also, will you even be able to use it in Modern this time next year?
This is the case with it all, right? At some point they will need a "Neo" league! :D
As I understand it.... Although possibly they may extend Modern to include maybe 3 latest sets, not two..?
No idea, but at some point, unless the user base grows significantly, it is going to be very hard to sell new sets.
Touche!
I rented a Level 2 Zyriel to experiment with it. Based on my so far small data set of play, she can be a decent addition to a line up if she survives the first few rounds and Life Leech starts adding up.
I just played the first round with her and it was going well, but Almo got "inexplicably" hit multiple times in a row from 1 speed monsters, when I played Kitty. I hate that. Never happens for me.
I couldn't justify the cost. It was just too much and even a couple would have bankrupted me, so I had to skip it.
It seems to me that the organizers live in a separate world from the players - they set inadequate prices in a bear market!
Bullmarket prices in the bear! :D
Absolutely! Gotta keep up their lifestyle though!
It is very expensive.
I'm fairly sure it will sell out but for me right now building up land the land build up wins out over trying to get this card. Nearly a $600+ investments for a single card which is about right for a legendary card on the market now a days.
Yep. I don't have much Land and what I have is shite - so it isn't an issue for me to build there. At the moment, I am seeing my late investment into Land as a write-off.
The card itself is pretty expensive, even for a legendary. Though, dual usecase might balance it a bit.
I shelled out 140k DEC or what ever it was and got a lucky roll, got my a gold foil plus 2 regulars! I was fucking pumped about that one. I’ve only used her once or twice but didn’t notice a huge difference. Like any card, I need to find the flow to use her properly and I’m sure it’ll be pretty nice! I want a level 3 but I can’t justify that cost lol so level 2 it is!
That is nice!!
I have such shit luck at getting golds and stuff that I have stopped bothering to try.
Sell the gold? ;D
The 50% discount is like the greatest opportunity people have so that they can buy the card before it gets back to the normal price.
This is probably a skip for me. I may consider if I can get a maxed at $250 or less.
Weapon training gives “ranged” attack right? I also don’t have a lot of attackless cards for back lane.
I suspect you will be able.
Yep, gives what the card has. It is a bit player because of this.
Heh. That was a good one. I bet almost everyone was trying to look at her "amazing pair" she was endowed with. And it's most certainly not the one down there. 🤣
I think the way you did buy the card was probably the most optimal method of gaining value. I do feel that most people who bought from Splinterlands itself were probably going for the "gamble for gold foil" option. With some luck, it could have become really "profitable". But once again, that's just a roll of the die.
Yes. My gambles have not paid off in the past in this regard - so i skipped the gamble and went for a discount instead.
The most crucial problem with Zyriel is its speed. I don't like slow cards. Rust and weapons training are attractive features; hence I could not figure out how to use Zyriel within a team strategy. Life element has many powerful cards that suit a team strategy. Maybe it can be useful as a death card.
Life and death both have decent slow cards, so it might be that for "slow" rounds with either available, it is worth it.
I will keep an eye on the marketplace; let's see what happens. The scarcity may keep it up in value, but I would only buy it to rent anyway. Not worth it.
Might not rent so well. Hard to use.
Too pricey for me. For some reason I thought that it had resurrection. Divine shield is also nice I suppose but resurrection would probably be better. I am not the biggest fan of ranged monsters and Weapons Training that gives ranged attack doesn't seem too appealing for me. At least Life Leech is a good ability.
It would be okay with a ruleset that allows for range up front with Almo at the front, this behind and some healers.
Hmm Ranged cards are always tricky to use.. Probably a strong card in battles where Ranged cards can attack from first position.
Ranged is hard for me at least. But, with a lot of "ranged only" rulesets - i better learn
I’m most likely going to get it, but probably going to wait a bit. My spare funds to chuck in are limited these days, and with land being my priority…tough choices. If life & death weren’t my 2 weakest Splinters I would have grabbed immediately.
But I’ll probably buy in the next couple weeks. Great post homie. Hope all is well.
If not aiming for a gold, it is likely cheaper to buy off the market.
All good here. You well?
There are already a lot of options for 7 mana. Ranged Weapon Training is not easy to use.
Life leech is nice though.
I will get it to work for me one day! :D
Post the battle please when you finally get to use it 😄
It's a deadly looking card .nice addition.
Yeah, it is. The art is getting better.
Is she angry and crying? 😿😹
This game looks like a huge cash sink! 🙀
My best bet would be to put Zyriel in 5th with Riftwing in 6th. I also stayed away from buying directly thru Splinterlands, but I caved and bought two GF copies from secondary when the price "dipped" down to $222 - which I think will ultimately be underpriced for the available supply.
I haven't combined them yet either since I can use the 1 BCX GFL for my silver league GF brawls and delegate the other to another account that plays in a similar brawl fray. Maybe I'll even go for a maxed RF copy if the price dips a bit more, who knows? I've decided to get my vouchers back into the hive:voucher LP since they are just sitting around accumulating again and I'm not in the mood to try and actively trade them against future price action. It will also give me some use for the extra Hive I've been stacking up since I have become more active writing.
Moreover, it was very interesting to read about your investing strategy in the card as well and I like the idea of how you went about your purchase. I do think the higher price point means less are sold, which will help.with reduced supply over time. Interestingly, one of the GF copies I bought was from our guildmate @anasazi, but because the lower price cards in 220 range weren't lasting long I didn't feel like I had time to message him privately about saving the 5% fee. I wish our guildamtes would post about selling GF in our discord before posting it for sale on 3rd party marketplaces, especially when they drop price from $265 to $220 very quickly =)