Splinterlands: Helping Small Players Get Land

byzantinist (58)in #steemmonsters • 4 years ago (edited)

During the first Splinterlands Land Presale (on November 7th, 2020), there were 50 lottery entries for the 27 full regions available via lottery. Then the 3 remaining regions (3000 plots worth of land) were sold out within 21 seconds. This led to a lot of angry and frustrated players who had been looking forward to buying land but were unable to do so.

For the second Land Presale (November 28th 2020), up to 23 of the regions will be guaranteed for the 23 entrants to the first lottery who were not selected. The remaining 7 regions (along with any guaranteed regions where the player chooses not to exercise that option) will be available via lottery system.

My pooling group, Cat Land, really wanted our cat-themed region in the first lottery. In addition to our primary entry, I also fronted the money for two additional lottery entries. Fortunately, we ended up with the 1 region we were hoping for. That also left me with the option of 2 guaranteed regions in the second presale. Since so many small players had trouble getting the land they wanted, I have decided to use these 2 guaranteed regions to help the small players ("minnows") with a "Minnow Pool." If I simply chose not to exercise the option to buy these regions, they would be available in the second lottery but there is no guarantee that minnows would be able to get them before the whales. And even then, the minnows would have to pay the higher unit cost ($12/plot) instead of being able to benefit from the cheaper bulk rate that pool groups get ($9/plot).

If you bought individual plots in the first presale it was $10/plot.

If you buy individual plots in the second presale (through the lottery) it is $12/plot.

Through the "Minnow Pool", I have 2000 plots worth of land that I am offering to smaller players at cost ($9/plot), which is cheaper than buying individual plots in either of the presales.
You will get 9 raffle tickets with each plot (one raffle ticket per dollar spent).
These are from a guaranteed region. With the second lottery, there is a chance you won't get the land you want if there is too much demand and you aren't selected in time. Unlike other pooling groups which are contingent on enough funds being raised, Minnow Pool is going to happen. I'll front enough funds to buy the 2 regions regardless of how many people have joined by the time of the second presale.
I will distribute the plots and the raffle tickets as soon as I receive them (right when the lottery period ends and presale #2 begins).
Since these are individual plots, there is a chance for a keep or a castle but none are guaranteed. If you have multiple plots of land, you can request that they be located together and Splinterlands will try to accommodate that but even if they are next to each other they could be straddling different tracts or regions.
I strongly prefer U.S. PayPal for payment (since the original amount from the first lottery was put on my credit card and I now have 7.5 million credits sitting on each of two accounts), though I can also probably take any sort of crypto that Splinterlands accepts. For those who want to buy land with DEC, there may still be room in some other pooling groups that you can try. Or you can try converting your DEC into crypto and then joining Minnow Pool with that.
If someone wants to buy more than 50 plots, I can put the excess (over 50) on the waiting list. I want to first give as many people as possible the chance to purchase plots. If there is leftover supply, then I can sell the rest.
To contact me you can DM on Discord (Byzantinist - 🐎 Purebred Sires#2992) or you can reply to this post.