Revisiting Splinterlands Sesameseed Dragon Promo Cards

The Splinterlands / Sesameseed promo collaboration is just over a year old. With the recent Halfling Alchemist promo card being release, I thought it would be helpful to revisit those Dragon promo cards and their current use and value.

The Sesameseed / Splinterlands promotion started in April of 2019 with card tokens being distributed in May and available for redemption May 31st 2019. Unlike packs, each token represented a promo card and was instantly redeemed when sent to the player's Splinterlands account. The tokens were created on the Tron blockchain and are labeled SGPromoCard id 1002351. Currently around 36,000 of these tokens still remain unredeemed and sitting in Tron wallets, but the exchange for purchases and sales no longer exists.

If my math is correct, 383,296 individual Dragon Promo tokens were redeemed resulting in the following stats:

Personally, I think these print stats are perfect for a promo edition. The cards have enough volume to be leveled but with just enough scarcity to give the promos some consistent value. New card abilities such as opportunity and dual attack types were first released with this set, and we saw the first common summoner.

Delwyn Dragonscale was the first common summoner to be released. The high print count initially dropped the card's value down to less than $.06. Fully maxed cards were often available for less than $30. However, with the 505 cards required for max regular foil, the cost for individual bcx cards is now at $.18 with the cheapest max at $45. The changes to Archmage Arius from 6 mana to 5 mana negatively impacted Delwyn, but it still remains one of the most affordable summoners. Magic is heavily utilized in Dragon, and I think new players who can't afford Arius will continue to be drawn to this card. The Delwyn gold version also provides players another affordable option for entry to gold card tournaments.

Dragonling Bowman provided Selenia Sky players another ranged attacker. At 4 mana, the max Dragonling has 3 ranged along with Sneak and Piercing. With more ranged options becoming available, the Dragonling's value has dropped a little with maxed versions available for $12 and single bcx cards starting at $.15. Still the Dragonling fits nicely into certain rule sets such as Little League and is an affordable promo card.

The Fiendish Harpy was the first card to utilize the Opportunity ability and at a low 2 mana! Opportunity is now often combined with Scavenge, but the Harpy still has some advantages. At 2 mana it fits in nicely with low cap games, and the flying ability provides additional value. Consistently one of the top 5 valued Epic cards across all releases, the Fiendish Harpy single bcx cards start at around $3.00 while a fully maxed version can be obtained for $90. The Harpy does not pickup the opportunity ability until level 4 and receives melee 3 at max level 6, resulting in a high rate of combined cards.

The Red Dragon was the first card to offer dual attack types. With Melee and Magic, Red Dragon can be deadly in certain rule sets such as the combined Back to Basics + Up Close and Personal, but it also finds use in Melee Mayhem and Super Sneak. The problem was always the 8 mana cost, but the release of high mana games has increased use. Archmage Arius boosts both the melee and magic attacks, and return fire remains a scarce ability. The Red Dragon value has fluctuated but single bcx regular foil cards have leveled off around $6. The gold foil version has recently jumped to a listed price of $390.

Overall I think this set has seen continued use and retained it's value despite new cards and abilities being released. The print rates and unique new abilities perfect fit the goal of a promo set and the Splinterlands development team has done a great job making sure they continue to see use. Promo cards are always appreciated