Looking to buy Splinterlands packs? There are two ways to do it and depending on how you’ve timed the current print cycle, you’ll want to consider both. In this guide, we’ll show you not only how to buy packs, but also why you might choose one option over the other and how to make the most out of your investment.
Before you Begin
This guide assumes that you’ve already loaded up on Dark Energy Crystals (DEC): the primary currency of Splinterlands.
If you haven’t this yet, be sure to first visit our guide on How to Buy Dark Energy Crystals.
Are Splinterlands Packs Sold Out?
New players should understand that Splinterlands sells card packs directly in the Splinterlands store only sometimes.
The challenge is this: in the game’s first two years of operating, card packs have been sold out more often than not. Something that the game has mastered is creating scarcity through a slow, steady release of print editions. To give you an idea, here is every Splinterlands print edition so far:
- Alpha
- Beta
- Essence Orb
- AZMARE Dice
- Untamed
- Gladius
- Chaos Legion
There’s also a steady flow of Reward cards that are given as in-game rewards. These cards are always changing and you can find out the current status using our Reward Cards Tool on the menu above.
Many Promo cards have also been released that were not available in packs.
This point is this: depending on your timing, you may only be able to purchase card packs on the secondary market. We’ll show you to figure this out as you read on.
Is Splinterlands Currently Running a Pre-Sale?
With the release of Chaos Legion, Splinterlands introduced a voucher system to restrict the game’s wealthiest players from just buying up all of the new booster packs immediately.
This system released these packs in phases where a limited number of packs were released in batches until selling out.
To purchase packs, players were required to spend the vouchers that they accrued through staking the game’s governance token: Splintershards. This currency is similar to the game’s reward token of Dark Energy Crystals, but unique in two key ways.
- The supply is limited (and the value is intended to increase, unlike DEC).
- SPS will enable voting in the future (as a governance token).
You can learn more about acquiring and staking Splintershards for the purpose of accruing pre-sale voucher rewards in our article on How to Buy Splinterlands Tokens.
Can I win Splinterlands Packs in Reward Chests?
Sometimes! But not usually.
Currently, to accelerate the distribution of Chaos Legion booster packs, Splinterlands is giving away some packs in reward chests for players in the Silver league or higher. Those packs can be acquire as rewards for quests or at the end of the season.
This particular pack giveaway is a bit unprecedented, though, and the drop rate is very low. So to be blunt: don’t count on it.
Buy Card Packs from the Splinterlands Shop
If Splinterlands packs are currently on sale directly, you’ll find them in the Splinterlands Shop, then choose Packs.
Here we can see that Chaos Legion packs are on sale for $4. That’s historically a pretty good price for packs, but we may also want to check the secondary market to compare, which we’ll dive into next (SPOILER: they’re currently cheaper there).
After clicking on Buy Packs, you may find that there’s another a twist. Most players will have most of their Splinterlands capital in Dark Energy Crystals rather than Credits. To fix this, click the Crypto button shown below and you’ll be able to select your DEC (as well as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.).
Note: Credits can be used to purchase cards and packs, but cannot be converted back into DEC or SPS that you can directly remove from the Splinterlands platform. Make sure that you only convert what you plan to spend!
How to Open Packs in Splinterlands
After purchasing your Splinterlands booster packs, you may be wondering what to do next.
To open packs, navigate to the Open menu. You should see your newly purchased packs below.
You’ll drag a pack into the giant portal int he middle of the screen (shown below) to open them. Before you do, you may want to buy more potions (shown along the top of the screen) to increase your odds of a legendary card, but that’s not required.
Buy Card Packs from the Secondary Market
Because Splinterland card packs tend to sell out quickly, you may have no choice but to purchase packs on the secondary market. In fact, even if packs haven’t sold out, you may be able to find a better price elsewhere.
Here are the major markets that you’ll want to consider.
How to Buy Splinterlands Card Packs on Tribaldex
On the Hive blockchain, Tribaldex is going to be your best bet. Head over to https://tribaldex.com/tokens or just click Tokens on the Tribaldex menu.
Partway down the page, you should see not only Chaos Legion packs (for cheaper than the shop), but also all of the past print editions (which are now selling at a premium).
How to Buy Splinterlands Card Packs using Wax
Aside from trading cards packs on Hive, you’ll find a thriving secondary market on the WAX blockchain.
AtomicHub will be your best bet for that which offers Splinterlands card packs here.
