Ever since the new season started, I have been tracking my DEC earnings per win in Bronze II.

Over 5 days of playing in Bronze II, I have amassed a profit of 11.6 DEC.

11 DEC is a decent progress for a beginner but I feel that it can be rather slow compared to my own expectations.

Tracking data will allow me to evaluate whether it would be better for me to play compared to other earning alternative such as renting or flipping.

Renting

Considering 11.6 DEC over a span of 5 days, I am earning a rate of 2.32 DEC per day by playing. If I can rent out cards at a rental rate of higher than 2.32 DEC, it will be more profitable to rent than play. Additionally, if I can strike a balance between playing and renting, I can potentially double my earnings.

Considerations: Given that the market is on the decline, card prices and rental prices are also on the decline. Therefore, it is noteworthy that demand for card rentals might be lower compared to before, and the rental prices are lower (more competitive).

Flipping

So long I can identify cheap cards and buy them at low prices and resell them for a profit, usually I can earn minimally 10 DEC per card. This is comparable to 5 days of playing.

However, flipping is not that easy and smooth-sailing as you might think you bought a price for cheap, but afterwards the card drops further in price and you are left with the card and the dilemma whether you should sell the card and take the loss. However, with the current market outlook, potentially most cards will go up later on, just a matter of time. But this would mean that you will have to hold on to these cards for an uncertain period of time. This also locks you out of potential profits for other cards.

Additionally, if you are using Splinterlands/Peakmonsters, there is a 5% market transaction fee which cuts into your profit even more. Therefore, you would need to look at a potential difference of 10% (5% profit 5% market fee) between buying and selling price to ensure a decent profit.

Lastly, you have to make sure that there are demand for the cards you would like to flip. You do not want to follow my footsteps where I got too excited and locked myself into some dead cards.

DO NOT REPEAT MY MISTAKES

Therefore, flipping is a delicate form of art and skill in order to ensure profits.

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Sharing some examples of the cards that I flipped:

Hill Giant

Orc Sergeant

Tenyii Striker

Sharing an example of a card that I tried to flip, but the price dropped, but eventually bounced back and I managed to sell it at its peak before it dropped again:

Venari Spellsmith

All in all, there are money to be earned in the market, but I warn you to be extra cautious as there are risks involved. But the rewards can be very attractive.

Just to make the warnings even more explicit, sharing some of the cards I got locked into and the prices plummeted but I am still holding (it is not all rainbow and sunshine):

1. Battle Orca
2. River Nymph
3. Rusty Android
4. Bone Golem

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Advice:

Do not feel like you need to start doing your homework only when you have the money. If you do not have money but have time, start researching the market, observe the market. As you slowly make money from playing, invest in the cards that you have done your research on. That way, you are taking less risks.

All in all, I feel that flipping seems to make me the most profits now but I will still continue to play and flip concurrently. I aim to do some research on the profitability of renting and do some cross-referencing and evaluation. Hopefully I'd be able to identify some profitable cards to rent and recoup my initial purchase cost.

I hereby wish everyone good luck in making profits and Merry Christmas :)