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.

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).

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

Cinder Obtained from Burning Max Regular Foil CL Cards

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

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...........