Hello there axie pips!
One of the barriers to push Axie Infinity to greater mass adoption is the significant amount of money needed to purchase a team. This is true, especially to those who are just making an entry to the game. In developing countries for example, the cost of owning a team of floor axies might be equivalent to 2-3 months salary of a minimum wage worker. The crypto market is very volatile, so there will be always certain risks in losing investment. Scholarships are there but not all people are open to share their private information which is often one of the requirements in applying for a scholarship. Anyways, we know that the devs are working on the free-to-play version to solve this problem. Although f2p players would not earn tokens they would become more familiar with the game and it can give them a boost in confidence if they ever decided to purchase their own team; switching to the play-to-earn model.
If you are new and interested to invest one of the most common question you'd ask would be, 'How much does a team a cost?'. Well, this is not very hard to answer but it still depends on your goal as a player and an investor. You could go and snipe for floor axies which are more on the budget side. One advantage of going for cheaper ones like these is that you are reducing your initial risk. Like we stated earlier, Axie Infinity is still as risky as it could be. So if you are planning to enter the game it's better to be prepared. I know that the DYOR thing has become a redundant saying. For some, it's just an excuse to wash their hands off if something goes wrong to some NFT's they are promoting. I mean, there's nothing wrong telling people to 'Do Your Own Research'. I think the problem with some influencers is that they tend to overhyped their content for commissions or promotions with a game company and just add the 'DYOR' thing at the end of their content just to play it safe. What I really meant is that DYOR is more on a hands on work. We need enough knowledge to set up realistic expectations. It might take time before we can grasp the gist of how things work but with enough knowledge we are adding another layer of protection to our investments.
Anyway, that rambling came out too long. People have varied financial capabilities and expectations. For today, we'll try to look at the market prices for different teams, particular the standard ones particularly the AAP biuld. This might not be accurate as a guide but this would give someone who is planning to enter the game a general idea of what to expect about these teams if ever they make a choice of buying one. Take note that we are not looking at these axies with the intention to breed as this guide is mainly for PVP/PVE, so things like breed count and purity of genes are not concern for now.
The Aqua-Aqua-Plant (AAP)
The AAP or the Double Aqua team is a common team compostion you will see from bottom to top tier of the arena. But what's the difference between these AAP teams? What made other teams more expensive than the others?
The standard AAP you would usually see consists of a 31 to 32 speed Plant with 2 Aquas with 57 speed. Like we always say, this team is very straightforward as they focus on high speed - high damage backline damage to win a game. For the back, mouth and tail parts the mid and backline aquas usually have the same components. Oranda/Shoal Star for the head to prevent or end last stands, Gold Fish for the back to gain speed when attacked by the enemy and Risky Fish/Lam/Piranha for the mouth as another significant damage source. Backline aquas usually have Koi to outspeed other aquas and birds, while the midline have Nimo for energy gain. So where does the difference lies between these standard AAP's? The answer, SPEED. Pure aquas have 57 speed which is preferred by most people who have low to mid range budget.
We know that each axie has 6 parts contributing to their overall stats. It's another story if the part can alter the skill like back, tail, horn and mouth. But for eyes and ears you either go for an aqua part or a bird if there is no other option. Because speed is the center of this build aquas having ear and eyes parts that diminishes speed is valued less. Against other aquas, those who have ear and eyes that diminishes speed are in a disadvantageous position because they would attack just after their a counterparts. Although they have considerable health most of the time it's not enough to sustain a four card aqua combo given they have the same standard skill set above.
We searched the marketplace earlier and look at the results. The cheaper pure Nimo and Pure Koi aquas are priced at $250 each. But when we bring down the purity by one, notice that drop in value. 54-55 speed aquas prices start at around $220 each, which is more than 10% cheaper than their pure counter parts. Standard pure plant tanks are priced around $250 and up. So, for a pure AAP build you'd need around $750 excluding fees. If you decided to downgrade a bit further and go for the 5/6 pureness you'd need around $630-670.
Of course, there are some premium variations available. Ironically, some of them have lesser speeds than the pure ones we just talked about. Take the Ronin-Nimo aqua for example. One of the most decent and cheaper ones in the marketplace is this one with Ronin-Nimo-Piranha-Shoal Star which is priced at $328. A huge $78 jump from the pure ones from before. And if we go further with our search and go something with Ronin-Nmo-Soothing Song we would encounter something like this list.
The current cheapest of these is around $560 which is more than double the price of the pure ones. So, someone might ask why these 'premium variations' are alot more expensive than pure ones. For me a good answer would be having a more flexible play style. Because of the pureness all attacks of these 6/6 aquas are at a disadvantage when dealing with plants and reptiles. Ideally, a standard team with no backdoors want to demolish the tanks as soon as possible to open the mid and so on. But because of the disadvantage in affinity the tank can stall a little bit longer. Sacrificing some speed by using counters like beast and bug cards to plants allows a more efficient and faster way in eliminating the tank.
So what if we want to go with double aqua as our starting but doesn't have enough money to afford even the standard ones. Should we go for the 5/6 pureness with ears/eyes not bird or aqua part? My friend the answer literally lies on the floor. This is not a suggestion but if I only have 0.2 Eth to spare and I wanted a double aqua team I might go as well with these two here.
This Midline is currently sold for 0.062 WETH ($215.23). Although it doesn't have much speed I think this would be enough to have enough initiative against 48 speed dusks. Risky arrow provides great burst damage against tanky opponents. Shoal star deals lots of damage to beast/bugs and even aquas and birds. It's also a god finisher move to prevent beasts and bugs for entering those pesky 3 bar last stands. And although it doesn't have a 3-figure damage Mosquito has decent shield and with the heal I think it could be a great help in sustaining the fight. There are way better aquas out there but at this price point I think this would be a great deal.
Personally, I would choose Risky Fish over Lam but this Backlineis definitely a good buy for me if I'm short in cash. With 1 Koi you can still outspeed birds and that Sinister Strike would be really fatal for tanks. With that Risky Arrow from the mid I think this chain combo could melt tanks fast. Jinx is a bonus preventing those unforeseen critical hits. The most important thing about it is that it's cheap. For me, it's bang for the buck at 0.07 Eth ($243).
So we found a playable mid and backline for a total of 0.132 Eth ($458). Just find a tank which costs around 0.068Eth and this would be a perfect 0.2 Weth team. It's for you to decide unlike aquas there are plenty of selection for the plants. I've even seen something good at around 0.06. Just play with the filter options and you'd stumble upon hidden gems.
And that is all for today.
Do you know, I actually thought of posting BBP and RBP recommendations but since it came out too long I decided to just make another post out it.
Anyways, hope you guys have a great day.
See you soon.
Ciao~