The evolution of the great game that Splinterlands has become is incredible to consider! First, we played these seasons for fun and to see what our cards could do. Soon after, we started to play through the ranks in hopes for a good placement and rewards. The developers then took it further and started giving us Beta cards (yeap, betas that are now about to sell out) for completing our Seasons! However, as the player based grew, that would no longer be feasible so they created the Reward Edition cards for Season and Daily Quest Rewards! All this with only needing to purchase a $10 Starter Pack! Seems like a great deal which has so far proven itself!

However, that didn’t stop them from innovating as they also launched Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) which are not only in-game currency but also traded on the Steem Engine market. This increased the value of playing even more as cards could be burned or acquired for/with DEC. Items like Orbs, Potions and Skins can be purchased with it as well. The step towards creating an economy within the ecosystem is well on its way. This has left me wondering how much we can actually acquire during a Season just to be even more impressed with the returns we can get from participating every day.

I started last season with about 136k DEC in game. That was after a long grind to try to reach the Top 50 for bonuses which unfortunately was unsuccessful. It also meant that my Energy Capture Rate (ECR) was very low which would delay the amount I would be able to earn until it regenerated. Like Steem Power, we can build ECR by not using it for a short period of time. I only played when needing to do my Daily Quests but also signed up to plenty of tournaments as they are a great way to play and earn DEC while not using the ECR. My plan was to calculate how much I can earn during a season.

I have not burned any cards for DEC which is what many do to increase earnings as I feel that the scarcity of cards in the future will payoff to hold them longer term. However, I did use DEC as I buy Mystery Potions every five days for additional rewards. At 5,700 DEC each due to the great Guild discount (6k normally), I used 16,100 this season for Potions. I held off using any more until after I calculated my total for Season end.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was able to accumulate 191,050 DEC at the end of the season! Including the DEC used on Potions, that made my total earned for the season add up to a total of 71,150 DEC! At $0.000966 (0.006851 Steem @ $0.141) each according to the Steem Engine market which is quite active and liquid, that meant I earned about $68.73 (or 487 Steem) this season on DEC alone as cards earned from Daily Quests and End of Season Rewards are not included (maybe a good idea for a future post though).

I recognize that my situation is somewhat different to most players as I have the advantage of not only being in an awesome Guild (thanks @peakmonsters) but I also mainly play Alpha cards which have bonuses for earning DEC in addition to Gold cards, winning streaks and Guild bonuses. I typically average 140-220 DEC per win during the season using my Collection so I am happy the potential my Collection has shown given the benefits of being an early adopter.

As my optimism on the game and the ecosystem continue, I continue to reinvest into my Collection and given the launch of new Reward cards at the end of the Season and the potential to get some Legendary and Gold Foil cards, I used this earned DEC to buy both Legendary and Alchemy Potions right before opening some Orbs and my Reward cards I had ready at the end of the Season. I was happy with the results as I got a couple of the new Reward Edition cards; one being the latest Legendary to come to the game which will hopefully make the Death Splinter worth playing again when Daily Quests are set to that Splinter.

I have been also taking some DEC and moving it over to my Steem Engine wallet as a savings for the future as it feels that the game is only beginning its growth and adoption phase. I see new players everyday and considering I spend most of my time in the Diamond and Champions Divisions, it is quite impressive given how competitive the ranked playlist has become every Season that passes.

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