The Painful Necessity of Burning What We Built
I am thinking about Cinder. I am still not sure if I will craft all the land cards mentioned in the latest post. Yet, if I do it or not, it is better to be prepared. I have all the required resources for minting by allocation of cards, but I don't have the Cinder, which is 1.5 times the CP.
Generated by Leonardo
In the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and play-to-earn games, the concept of "minting" is celebrated as creation—the birth of a new, unique, digital asset. But in the case of Splinterlands, the creation process was too successful during 2020-21. We now face a classic economic crisis, amplified by the efficiency of the bots (rather individuals running those bot-farms). Massive oversupply (especially of the Chaos Legion regular edition and reward cards) has driven the price of those cards plummeting, creating asset hyperinflation that threatens the game's long-term viability. This market correction is not a gentle dip; it is a profound economic trauma and supply overhang. It forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth that mirrors real-world tragedy, from the razing of abandoned homes in Detroit and bulldozing of cities in China.
In the meantime, Grain continue to rally
The economic crisis facing Splinterlands—rooted in the flood of overprinted assets like the Chaos Legion Reward cards—demands a solution as stark and unforgiving as the problem itself. This is where the Land expansion introduces its brutal, elegant corrective: the currency of pain. To participate in the Land economy, players must acquire Cinder, a resource that bypasses the market entirely because it cannot be bought or sold. It can only be forged in the digital furnace of sacrifice, obtained solely by burning the very cards that now burden the economy. This mechanic forces players to confront their excess, to personally endure the loss of their devalued assets, transforming what was once a liability (oversupplied cards) into the only key (Cinder) capable of unlocking the platform’s scarce, valuable future (Land).
People are producing more grain than ever
The Plan
This is all good and poetic, but ultimately I need to understand can I afford the Cinder. I did an initial test with just common cards earlier and I realized that I couldn't. Today I dug a bit deeper and also purchased a few cheap CL cards. Let us see where I stand at this point.
Cinder Needed
| Rarity | Intended Burn Quantity (BCX) | Cinder per BCX | Total Cinder Generated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 1,142 | 375 | 428,250 |
| Rare | 205 | 1,875 | 384,375 |
| Epic | 68 | 5,625 | 382,500 |
| Legendary | 11 | 37,500 | 412,500 |
| Total | 1,426 | - | 1,607,625 |
Cinder Obtained from Burning Max Regular Foil CL Cards
| Rarity | Copies Needed (BCX) | Base CP per Copy | Total CP (with 5% Max Level Bonus) | Cinder (1.5x Total CP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 400 | 5 | 2,100 | 3,150 |
| Rare | 115 | 20 | 2,415 | 3,622.5 |
| Epic | 46 | 100 | 4,830 | 7,245 |
| Legendary | 11 | 500 | 5,775 | 8,662.5 |
I did a simple filter in Peakmonsters, saying Max Level Regular Foil cards that are not in wagon or on land, and no delegated to my scholars. The result is as follows:
Current Cinder
| Rarity | Quantity of Max Cards to Burn | Cinder per Max Card | Total Cinder Generated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Common | 205 | 3,150.0 | 645,750.0 |
| Max Rare | 104 | 3,622.5 | 376,740.0 |
| Max Epic | 17 | 7,245.0 | 123,165.0 |
| Max Legendary | 13 | 8,662.5 | 112,612.5 |
| Total | 339 | --- | 1,258,267.5 |
Conclusion
I am still short by about 350K Cinder. I think I am okay with this. That is one max common card short, and if I really need it, I can get it later. I still do not know if I will do it or not, but if I do, then I will probably have following maxes:
3 Commons, 1 Rare, 1 Epic, and 1 Legendary.
I will be burning 339 cards! If I average them at $3 (I think I probably paid more than that), it is $1K plus (probably $1300)! That is just for cinder! Burning a thousand dollars worth of cards to ashes. This is the concept, I am still having difficulty warming up to...........
So this should maybe make the price of those packs that I have been holding onto go up? Have we already started to see people buying cards off the market to burn? I haven't bothered to look, is Cinder transferable or is it like soulbound?
I think it is too early to tell...
If people burn enough cards, and then they still want some more and there is no cards on the market cheap enough, only then they maybe looking into the packs.
Yes there are some evidence that people are buying cheap cards.........
Look into this post:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@beaker007/my-land-card-plan-for-the-engagement-challenge
I have been recently buying cheap cards primarily in my Investor777 account, prior to the cinder even... But I was just trying to improve the strength of my deck as win rates have been declining and cards seem super cheap, I have been nibbling on Untamed card set even...
That sounds reasonable. There are still a lot of cheap cards on the market.
I've got 171 Riftwatchers packs that have been sitting out on the market forever... :P
I think you still have to wait.
Cinder is souldbound
Crazy times ahead. Cinder is my weak point as well as most of my cards are utilized between playing decks and land. Decisions decisions…
You got to either buy some cheap cards or CL packs
Yup yup.
I also am going to remove all land cards and redo everything. Trying to be a bit more efficient. Past few months I have not had the time to rework and restrategise, so I gotta get cracking.
Props to the Splinterlands for the new land game play! It introduces new deflationary element to DEC and cards by burning them for Cinder. There are other resources needed as well to craft the cards. It's an exciting time for land owners.
The goal is the increase the price of resources
Fun post. I like the narratives for added effect. If you "only" end up with those 5 (or hopefully 6) total maxed land cards the biggest regret down the road may be quite likely not getting more.
Yeah getting more will be contingent on cinder for me. That is the bottle neck.
Do you think this can really solve the card overprinting problem?
It's a process. I say this is a good start.