Sakaba Game Report: Earning While Enjoying CryptoSpells
This is @hametaro_bcg, Sakaba’s research officer. I’ve been enjoying web3 games daily since 2019, delighted by the experiences only possible with blockchain and NFTs.
As reported in my previous article “Diving into the World of CryptoSpells”, the essence of CryptoSpells is not only the fun of the game itself, but also the enjoyment of collecting NFT cards. However, I believe that the “chance to earn” is also an important aspect of web3 games, so in this article, I will report on how to make money with CryptoSpells! Please note that the start time of play and individual skills are dependent, so I will refrain from mentioning the amount of investment/payment and investment performance. The focus is purely on the means of earning.
Table of Contents
- Earning by being a top performer
- Earning by steadily playing
- Earning by creating
- Earning through Trade
Earning by being a top performer
In CryptoSpells, various tournaments are held, and you can win prizes by performing well in these tournaments. Playing skill is important, of course, but without a good collection of cards, it can be a tough world, so those who are just starting out should consider purchasing cards carefully.
Challenge Cup (Once a month)
If you become a top performer in the Challenge Cup, which is held once a month, you can earn in-game currency ‘Soul’ and titles.
With Soul, you can exchange for out-of-game currency ‘OAS’ or ‘game items’. Because 10,000 OAS are shared each month according to the amount of Soul burned, your motivation increases as OAS appreciates. Although Soul can also be exchanged for game items, it seems that the variety of items that can be exchanged is not yet abundant.
Ranking winners can also win NFT cards. There have been instances where strong cards with a limited number of issues were traded for tens of thousands of yen. Since the cards distributed vary from month to month, it’s not good to consider profitability solely based on winning these cards.
Guild Battle (Once a month)
CryptoSpells has five guilds, and each player can belong to one. The top performers in the Challenge Cup represent each guild to decide the №1 guild. A lot of Soul is distributed to the guild or individual that performs well.
Some guilds may also provide additional rewards based on contribution to victory, so it’s a good idea to carefully choose the guild you belong to. However, guilds with many benefits tend to attract stronger players, so it’s a good idea to consider whether you have confidence in becoming a representative.
Official Tournament (4 times a year)
An official tournament is held where you win the qualifying coliseum and proceed to the final tournament. Commemorative cards are given to the finalists, and ‘TCGC’ is distributed to the winner.
It is a BO3 (two-civilization deck required) tournament and there are many strong rivals, so both the financial and playing skill hurdles are very high.
Earning by steadily playing
From here, I will introduce ways to earn even with little or no investment. It is recommended for many players to start from here.
Card Mining
You can consume “mining tickets” accumulated in free battles that anyone can play at any time, and mine tradable silver cards. The formula for calculating the probability of mining silver cards is not publicly available, and it is expected to be designed to be difficult to “Free to Earn”. There are rumors that it may relate to the number of cards held or the number of consecutive victories. Even if you consume mining tickets obtained from hundreds of battles, it’s often that not a single silver card appears. It’s better to enjoy playing while accumulating mining tickets, and consider it lucky if you can mine a silver card.
Participate in User Events
In CryptoSpells, many tournaments are held where you can win cards by lottery, and even if you don’t perform well in the tournament, you can get cards if you’re lucky. You can enhance your deck with the obtained cards or sell them to make pocket money. Try participating in many tournaments and increase your chances of acquiring cards.
Earning through Creation
Making money in CryptoSpells is not just about playing. You can also monetize by hosting events or creating content.
Hosting User Events
I’ve explained the method of participating in user events and receiving cards by lottery.
“Why would individual users distribute cards?”
While some players distribute cards at their own expense, in most cases, it’s due to sponsorship from the CryptoSpells management. When hosting an event, multiple cards are sponsored, so many people keep one for themselves and use the rest as tournament prizes.
Selling Custom Cards
In CryptoSpells, you can issue your own cards and play with them. And you can sell your custom cards. While strong cards tended to sell at high prices, recently there have been cases where artistic works or cards with some kind of bonus provided by the user are being traded.
However, custom cards cannot be used in official matches (Challenge Cups, Guild Battles, Official Tournaments), so the number of transactions is small. If you are good at creating illustrations, it may be better to accept orders for creating illustrations rather than selling and creating custom cards.
Write to Earn
CryptoSpells has a collaboration with Japan’s first blockchain social media “ALIS”, and if you meet certain conditions, they will give you an NFT card. Since this campaign started, a culture of writing blogs and disseminating information on ALIS, and liking and tipping each other’s articles has taken root in CryptoSpells. Try writing game strategy articles and impressions, and earn a lot of ALIS tokens.
4. Earning through Trade
The fourth way to earn money is through card trading. You will need to take on the risk of holding inventory.
Short-term Trade
Monitor the in-game and external markets, buy cards that are listed at a low price, and sell them at a high price. Since you have to pay a commission when selling in each market, it’s hard to get a big return unless you find a card whose price significantly deviates from the market price.
Medium to Long-term Trade
Cards that are strong and have a small issuance tend to be traded at high prices. However, what constitutes a strong card changes over time. A card that is weak now may increase in value if a card with a synergy effect is issued. Conversely, even if it’s strong now, its value may decrease if a countermeasure card is issued. Buy when it’s not attracting attention, and sell when it does. However, it’s also entirely possible that it remains weak, or that the card market overall declines while you’re holding it.
Conclusion
CryptoSpells does not only provide earning opportunities to those who are good at card games. There are chances to earn for card game veterans, beginners, non-payers, small spenders, creators, traders, and many others. In my case, I have been monetizing by steadily playing and increasing cards, as well as trading cards.
Depending on the amount of investment/spending and the time available for the game, the ways to earn vary. It would be great if you can enjoy CryptoSpells in a style that suits you.
Game Details
- Game name: CryptoSpells
- Genre: Trading card game
- Release date: June 2019
- Official website: https://en.cryptospells.jp/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CryptoSpells_en
- Discord: https://discord.com/invite/nbrzk9b
- Operator: CryptoGames Inc.
