Is Splinterlands "Proof Of Victory" Or "Proof Of Ownership"?

Is Splinterlands "Proof Of Victory" Or "Proof Of Ownership"?

I heard the phrase "Proof Of Victory" recently in a discussion about Splinterlands and it really got me thinking about the progression we've seen in the earnings mechanics over the past few months. It's a somewhat complicated conversation, but one I think adds a lot of value and helps keep prospective on decisions the team is making. In my opinion, there's been a clear shift from prioritizing what I'll call "Proof Of Ownership" to prioritizing "Proof Of Victory".

First, let's define them.

"Proof Of Victory" = Rewarding players for winning matches, especially those players who win a higher rate of their matches.

"Proof Of Ownership" = Rewarding players for owning assets across the ecosystem.

Now surely most would agree that some mixture of both of these mechanics would make for a healthy environment right? You want to encourage asset ownership and long-term investing in the game, so it's important to make sure you reward those who contribute to that through owning said assets for long periods of time. However, this is a game remember! So, you ALSO need to make sure those who are the best at playing said game have adequate rewards available to them, or opportunities to earn based on their skill alone.

This is a challenging backdrop to navigate and it's often impossible to completely separate the two. More on this later, but first, let's look at some of the recent changes Splinterlands has made to the economy and judge for ourselves which way the game is moving.

Let's start with the change we have seen most recently, the switch from DEC to SPS for Ranked Battle and Chest rewards. For the purposes of this conversation, the currency itself players are rewarded with is less relevant than the actual amount of rewards, although the ability to earn additional income from staked SPS adds some complication to that statement.

Take a look at the table shared by the Splinterlands team outlining the SPS rewards structure. First off, you can see that the total amount being given out across the board has almost doubled from $126K per season to $262.5K per season. If you look even closer though you'll notice something more interesting. While Focus Chests and Season Chests are getting a marginal boost, the vast majority of the payout increase is coming in the form of increases to Ranked Battle rewards. Those are increasing by SEVEN TIMES (7x)!!!

It's important to note that the last two columns of the table, which are quoted in USD, will change as the value of SPS and DEC change. We've seen a massive spike in DEC and a medium-ish drop in SPS following the announcement, so those quoted values are currently somewhat closer than originally presented.

As we all know, the only way to win Ranked Battle rewards is by.... winning ranked battles! Now I'm not going to sit here and pretend like the cards you have access to don't affect your win rate, that's obviously true, but it is also true that more skilled players with less cards frequently beat less skilled players with more cards. This reward increase benefits those with high win rates and those who play a lot of matches, neither of which necessarily require massive amounts of assets being held in the game.

Winning matches is now the main way to receive SPS in the game, which is a far cry from the previous, the SPS airdrop. Let's not forget that during the SPS airdrop you were basically ONLY rewarded for holding assets in the game. You didn't have to play a single match for the entire year of the airdrop, but if you held a bunch of assets in the game that SPS would come through to your account every single day.

I won't go into as much detail on previous changes and future changes the team has made or will be making to develop a more "Proof Of Victory" game, but I do want to at least mention them.

Remember the old daily quest system where you only had to win five matches of a particular type and the number of chests you received was based on your league? Someone who won five water matches in 100 attempts got the same chest rewards as someone who won 95 water matches in 100 attempts. Outside of a little extra DEC, your win rate largely did not matter. Now in this new system the player who wins 95 matches is going to receive far more in rewards than the player who wins five. Not to mention the decrease in the Collection Power needed to play in the Modern League, which means you can earn higher level rewards with an even smaller investment into the game. Add a point to "Proof Of Victory"!

While we're on the topic of win rates, let's talk about the recent ECR changes. Sure, part (maybe most?) of the motivation for adding in the penalties for playing matches under a 50 ECR was to hinder bots playing at lower levels, but this was also a change that benefits more skilled players. When grinding toward chests, wins now mean A LOT more than they used to when you could play your ECR down much lower without experiencing massive drop offs in rewards. Another point to "Proof Of Victory"!

There's a few other examples I could discuss, but let's end the examples on a future change the team is making. Ghost card tournaments are going to be huge for a bunch of different reasons. One of which is that it will allow some of the best players in the game, who might lack the assets to play in the highest leagues profitably, to compete for high stakes on an even playing field with everyone else. We don't have a lot of details yet, so I'm not going to speculate on specifics, but a (future) point to "Proof Of Victory"!

If it seems like I'm excited about the move to "Proof Of Victory", well, that's because I am. That's not to say I think "Proof Of Ownership" is bad, but I personally believe in its current state more "Proof Of Victory" mechanics will help drive more players into the game, which is a must for us to see the next leg of movement higher.

All that said, the team should continue to pursue "Proof Of Ownership" concepts as well. And of course, they are. Things like the SPS airdrop are extremely important. As I mentioned above, incentivizing players to invest early and keep their funds within the ecosystem is mandatory for a healthy game economy. I also think we've got a glimpse into the future of what some of these arrangements might look like with the launch of the Genesis Soccer League. Again, more details are needed to dive deep, but to me it would be appropriate and advisable to reward Splinterlands players on a "Proof Of Ownership" basis for any new ventures launched (more on this in next week's newsletter!).

To end, I want to circle back to the beginning of this post when I mentioned how balancing the game between "Proof Of Ownership" and "Proof Of Victory" can be challenging. For instance, increasing the rewards for winning ranked battles in Splinterlands seems like something that would contribute more to the "Proof Of Victory" concept, and I think it does. However, this will likely increase card prices AND their rental costs, so those skillful players who rely on renting could take a hit, while those who are less talented at the game, but own more cards, end up profiting more.

"Proof Of Ownership" and "Proof Of Victory" do not have to, and often won't, be mutually exclusive. It's hard to predict exactly how a change in the game will affect both of these concepts until the change is in place. We've seen firsthand that the team is willing to make changes when one of these things is far superior to the other, and I believe they will continue to do when things inevitably shift too far in one direction at some point.

For now though, we're about to enter a new era of Splinterlands where it's NEVER been a better time to be a skilled player of the game. Take advantage of that while you can.

As Always, Push & Shove.

Chaos Pack Tracker

Since last week we've seen another pick up in Chaos Legion pack sales bringing us within 200,000 of Conquerer Jacek. We cut about three days off of the pace to unlock the new airdrop summoner, but I promise it's going to go MUCH faster than the 17 days being projected right now, as usually the last 100,000 or so packs will go within a 24 hour period as players look to sure up their airdrop points ahead of the release.

Weird Battle: Acid Shooter To The Rescue!

If you've been around long enough you've definitely heard me complain about the Cripple ability. The fact it can be cleansed away and the monster GAINS a health is probably my least favorite battle mechanic in the game. Very rarely have I seen a battle where Cripple was a significant part of my victory or my defeat, but in this one it certainly was!

Also, I don't want to spoil too much, but it's impossible not to laugh when your 1 mana throwaway card delivers the decisive blow against your opponent's carry tank. Enjoy!

Interesting Buys

Let's take a look at the market! Here are some cards that I think make interesting buys at their current price level for players at different leagues. These suggestions might not make the most sense for YOUR individual deck, so don't immediately go out and purchase any of these before thinking about how they affect your personal situation. And as always, this is not financial advice! Do your own research!

5. Evangelist

Target Levels: 1, 3, 4, 6

Do I Own: Yes

After rising significantly following the release of General Sloan, the Evangelist has fallen so much that it is now the cheapest non-Chaos epic card in the modern format.

Picking up one copy for the Bronze League is a no-brainer to me. The synergy with General Sloan is obviously strong and the card is key in Earthquake and Reverse Speed rulesets. There's really no need to go up to level 2 in my opinion. You can keep the one copy until you're ready to go up to level 3 in Silver when it picks up a fourth archery damage.

In Gold league you're going to want to get an additional 10 copies to get up to level 4. The Inspire is a really big deal! After that, you're good to sit at level 4 until you decide to make the move up into Diamond/Champion. At that point you'll DEFINITELY want to max this card out. The Rust ability is crucial in high-level matches and a must have to counteract your opponent's Life lineups.

4. Insidious Warlock

Target Levels: 4, 6

Do I Own: Yes

A recharge monster?!? Yes! A recharge monster! Besides its absurdly low price tag, part of the reason the Warlock makes the list is because I believe there is a chance one of the new abilities launched with Riftwatchers is something to buff recharge. To be clear, I'm guessing here, but the team has historically done well to improve abilities that are underutilized so I'm willing to take the risk.

Even if that prediction doesn't come to fruition, I still think this card is undervalued. That being said, I'm still not going out of my way to pick up this card until I'm playing in Gold league and can get it to level 4 to unlock the Blind ability. That's not to say it doesn't have value before that, but just not enough to make this list! I'm much more comfortable playing this card when I know even on the turns it isn't firing it's helping my team by making them more elusive. A great support card to play with the Nightmare (more on that later!).

Once you move up to Diamond/Champion league I would quickly max this card out to get that 3rd magic damage, which takes the recharge damage all the way up to 9. Not bad for a five mana card!

3. Djinn Inferni

Target Levels: 1, 3, 5, 6

Do I Own: Yes

Most of ranged and magic monsters for the Fire splinter received a boost after Conqueror Jacek's reveal, but not the Djinn Inferni. I believe the reason for this was the low health total, which makes it a liability when going against Jacek. A lot of times when a new summoner is released we tend to imagine both using that summoner while simultaneously going against that same summoner. While that does frequently occur when new summoners are released, we also have to remember we'll be using Jacek against other summoners as well.

The biggest risk with this card currently is running up against tanks with Magic Reflect given the aforementioned low health. Jacek will actually solve for this weakness, as there are FAR fewer back line monsters with Magic Reflect!

Again, grabbing a level 1 is a no-brainer for $0.89. This card is great to go up against giant tanks as is, but now add in the scattershot and you now have the potential to take down some backline giants like the Chaos Dragon and Carnage Titan. The level 2 isn't mandatory in my opinion. Sure the extra speed is nice, but we're already counting on +2 speed from Jacek. If you have it in the budget great, but the next key level is level 3 when he picks up the fourth magic damage.

Once you move up to Gold league you're going to immediately want to take this card from level 3 up to level 5 in order to unlock the Stun ability. Finally, that fifth magic attack awaits you in Diamond/Champion league, so break open that piggy bank to max it out. Also, don't forget that the team has mentioned previously that Riftwatchers is going to be filled with giants, so having monsters with the Giant Killer ability is going to be beneficial.

2. Nightmare

Target Levels: 3, 5, 6, 8, 9

Do I Own: Yes

I will never understand how this card stays so cheap. We saw it spike in price about a week or two ago, but ever since then it has fallen back down to where it started from. I've been bullish on this card for so long that I must be missing something, so maybe take this particular entry with a gain of salt. This card synergizes well with some of the newer cards in Death like the Blind from the Insidious Warlock and the Swiftness from Lira the Dark.

In bronze league you'll want to quickly get this card up to level 3. Normally we would be fine at level 2 picking up the additional melee damage, but this card is all about speed so we'll want to grab those along the way as well. Speaking of which, once in Silver you'll want to get this card to level 5 and grab that sixth speed.

There are two stops to make in Gold league. Ideally you'll skip immediately to level 8 to grab the third melee, which will make the blast damage from this card hit for two, but if that's not in the cards you'll definitely want to at least move up to level 6 in order to pick up the Phase ability. This is when this card starts getting REALLY good.

Finally, I personally don't believe it's necessary to max this card out for Diamond/Champion league. I got mine to level 9 in order to pick up the seventh(!) speed, but feel like the ~$28 to get the 13th health can be better spent elsewhere.

1. Robo-Dragon Knight

Target Levels: 1, 2, 3, 4

Do I Own: Yes

I have a particular fondness for the Robo-Dragon Knight, as it was the first card I ever purchased in Splinterlands. This was back before I knew anything about the game. I just saw that his stats were high, so I assumed he was good. Sometimes it really is just that simple! I believe the price I paid was somewhere between $8-$10 per BCX and I sold it somewhere on its journey up to around $50 per BCX. I was sad to see it go, but was ecstatic when I had the opportunity to buy back in at around $25 per BCX. It's obviously continued to fall since then, which I believe presents a fantastic opportunity to pick up one of the best tanks in the entire game.

This card absolutely CARRIED me through Bronze and Silver league. Right off the bat the combination of 17 armor plus health and Void makes this card a menace in lower leagues, where magic spam runs rampant. Don't forget the Divine Shield either, allowing it to take the first hit without experiencing any damage. While it is mostly a defensive tank at level 1, with the introduction of Piercing and a fourth melee damage at level 2 the Robo-Dragon starts to hold its own in terms of attacking.

In the higher leagues the defense ramps up to an even higher level, as the card picks up Return Fire at level 3 in Gold league (Yodin defense anyone?) and Magic Reflect at level 4 in Diamond/Champion league on top of a fifth melee damage. I was playing with this card before the Amplify ability was even in the game and this card has only gotten better since it's been added.

I know this card is relatively expensive compared to the others on this list, but if you have some dry powder and don't know what to do with it I would highly suggest giving this card a shot. Rent it first to see how you like it!

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