Having had the privilege of being invited to join Sorare as a beta tester in February, I’ve decided to document my experiences and insight into the game to help prepare those waiting for the public launch later this year.
The 3 pillars of the game are; Scout, Invest and Play and over a series of short articles, I’ll be sharing details on:
- Player Card Scarcity
- Sorare Player Auctions
- Gameplay
Player Card Scarcity
Over the final weeks of the 2018/19 season, Sorare used their agreements with the Belgian Pro-League and West Ham to produce licensed collectible cards for approximately 500 players to give beta testers the ability to scout, invest and play SO5; their first Fantasy Football Game.
Sorare uses 3 different levels of scarcity to differentiate their Player Cards — Rare, Super Rare and Unique and each season they define the level of supply given to each player card so that you understand exactly how scarce your player is relative to the total supply of players in circulation.
For 2018/19 the supply of each player was set at 1 Unique card, 10 Super Rare cards and 100 Rare cards. The versions are embedded on both the front and back of each card and despite having the same in-game value, we are seeing the First Edition cards (Rare 1/100 and Super Rare 1/10) command higher sales prices at auction over their later equivalents (e.g. Same player Rare 8/100 or Super Rare 4/10)
To date, out of the Player Cards won and sold, there are currently only 13 Unique Player Cards in circulation. Hans Vanaken (above) is the first player where all 10 of his Super Rare Cards have been produced and owned by users, whilst some of the most popular players are now up to their 12/100 Rare card version being auctioned.
How is Scarcity valued?
The Scarcity of a Card contributes greatly to its market value and in-game strength.
To evaluate a cards market value let’s first look at the additional variables that can differentiate your card from others of both the same and different scarcities.
1. Bonus Multipliers
2. XP Bonus
Bonus Multipliers
The inaugural Sorare SO5 game requires you to build a 5-a-side team where your players are given points for their real-life actions in the games they play. (e.g. a player that scores a goal receives 7 base points, a yellow card gives minus 2 points, etc.)
Owning a Rare card version of a player that performs a point scoring action receives a 2.5x multiplier. A Super Rare version of the same player will receive a 7.5x multiplier and the Unique version of that player will benefit from the games highest bonus multiplier which is 25x.
Experience (XP) Bonus
Each week the players you select for your SO5 team(s) receive XP.
If you want to improve the bonus multiplier on your players to make them even more competitive then you will need to build up their XP. The speed in which players level up also corresponds to a players scarcity — each player can be levelled up to a maximum of 20 grades with Unique cards taking half the time of Rares.
Rare Players receive 100 XP points, Super Rare 125 XP points and Uniques 200 XP points. Players that are not selected do not receive any XP.
To help bring perspective to the value of XP — the XP multiplier is 0.1 per level on a Rare card, meaning you can build your Rare Players Bonus Multiplier from 2.5x up to a maximum of 4.5x
Scarcity Specific Tournaments
During the beta phase, there have been 3 primary SO5 tournaments with different eligibility criteria.
The main tournament is the Sorare Master League. This is a tournament open to everyone where the winner can choose any Unique Player card as their prize!
There are also Rare only and Super Rare Leagues where you must field players of the corresponding scarcity. These offer Super Rare player card prizes to the weekly winners that can strengthen your squad or be sold for ETH.
As the different tournaments allow you to enter multiple teams, users tend to focus on trying to win a particular tournament based around the strongest scarcity of player they own.
It should be noted that the main Master League is more likely to be won by a team that contains both Super Rare and Unique players (because of the bonus multipliers) BUT we have seen some very high scoring Super Rare only teams.
We’ve seen the Rare and Super Rare Leagues tournaments consistently have different weekly winners thanks to users aiming for the games top prizes having to select their best players to compete in the Master League.
We’ve already seen fierce competition across all levels for the games top prizes with the different league options structured to appeal to gamers of all budgets.
Many more tournaments are in the pipeline for next season and we have been told that some will have ETH as prizes. As the user-base and player card bases grow, we expect to see leagues with eligibility criteria based around players nationalities, the leagues they play in, their ages and even the season of the cards!
Scarcity Card Strategies
Whilst it is too early in the game's history to evaluate the success of gamers differing strategies, it has been possible to spot a few trends over the first weeks of testing.
Scout for Youth
A common strategy for a lot of football ‘manager’ gamers is to look for upcoming talent. Buy them early, watch them develop and see an increase in their value as their global reputations rise.
The Jupiler League in Belgium is renowned for producing top footballing talent. Vincent Kompany, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Dries Mertens and more recently Youri Tielemans are just a few players that have become household names in World Football after being scouted whilst playing in Belgium.
In Sorare, you can profit from applying your knowledge of the leagues and players by investing in youth players and building up their XP. You may wish to keep and benefit from the points they can score you for your team in order to win more valuable player prizes OR you may wish to make them more powerful and simply sell them to the highest bidder on the Transfer Market.
Scouting the extensive database is simple and the filters will allow you to focus in on exactly the type of player you are looking for.
Popular U21’s in the Beta Phase that have been touted as ones to watch for the future include; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Yari Verschaeren, Sander Berge, Jonathan David, Giorgi Chakvetadze, Zinho Vanheusden and Moussa Djenepo (some of which you may already be familiar with).
Whilst the prices these players have sold for at auction have reflected their age and potential, if they do go on to realise their potential then these will be looked back on as shrewd acquisitions.
First Edition Players
Sorare release the Player Cards in order starting with the 1/100 for Rares and 1/10 for Super Rares (known as First Edition Player Cards)
With it being unlikely that 2 similar player cards will take an identical journey from the point of production (due to their different XP growth curves), one variable that may over time influence the resale value of a card is the version of the card you own.
Sorare at its core appeals to lovers of football, gamers and collectors, and it is expected that collectors will have a huge impact on card valuations as the game grows.
Looking back over just a short space of time it is clear that there is a premium being paid for First Edition 1/100 and 1/10 cards over later versions. Next season, when players are likely to sell out of all their scarcities, it will be interesting to see if and by how much the premium widens for First Edition 1/100 Rare cards over their 67/100 and 92/100 versions.
In a lot of Crypto Games early or low serial number NFTs tend to be highly desirable and so maybe your strategy (or a sub-strategy) will be to invest in First Editions which could also give you the added edge over competitors with trade negotiations.
Immediate Impact Players
If you are looking to compete for the Weekly and Monthly Prizes, you are going to need players that will score you points based on their real-life performances.
This means scouting for players that play 90 mins every week and that make a regular contribution to their teams success…. Goals, assists, clean sheets etc.
Be aware though — the players that fall into this category are players you can expect other users to also own a version of.
So, watching your player score 2 goals and getting you a nice point total is great but if you’ve only got a Rare version with a low level of XP, there is going to be someone else out there with a bigger smile as they own a Super Rare version with more XP. Or, in some cases, there will be a Unique version of that player in circulation that will obtain the maximum amount of points possible for that particular player.
Players worthy of a mention in this category are Hamdi Harbaoui (34 y/o striker — can’t stop scoring!) Mbwana Samatta (Leagues top scorer) and Hans Vanaken (16 goals + 14 assists — the perfect Sorare SO5 player!)
Scarcity Summary
The Rare, Super Rare and Unique card scarcities exist to provide a foundation for Sorare to appeal to collectors and gamers of all types.
The variables and endless gameplay possibilities attract both casual pick-up and play gamers as well as those seeking a more immersive Football Manager type gaming experience.
Add to this the growing population of ‘digital collectors’ and you can start to see why certain player cards have already traded hands for well over €500 each.
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