Introduction

This is article #4 in the series. Today we are going to walk through all the Currencies that you as a new player should know or at least be familiar with.

Links to All Articles (once published)
Article #1 - Just Getting Started
Article #2 - Battling & Strategy
Article #3 - Cards Cards Cards
Article #4 - All Currencies
Article #5 - Items
Article #6 - Guilds & Gladiators
Article #7 - Everything Else & More

SPS / Staking SPS

SPS is Splintershards which is the official Governance token for the Splinterlands game. SPS plays a major role in the entire Splinterlands ecosystem and honestly I am kind of impressed with how the team built SPS into the game and gave it as much utility as it has.

Owning Splintershards (SPS) gives you a few things.

1. Staking SPS will earn you passively more SPS.
2. Staking SPS will allow you to vote on proposals for the Splinterlands economy. (the actual governance part of the token)
3. When staked, it also earns you 'Vouchers' which we will get into later
4. When staked, it earns your a multiplier when battling in leagues. The general rule of thumb is the more SPS staked the more Glint/SPS you earn from ranked battels.

So while 'normal' governance tokens are just for that purpose only, the SplinterShards (SPS) token has more utility than just governance. You need a certain amount staked to earn a multiplier reward when battling in Modern or Wild format. So the entire ecosystem encourages players to own part of the governance of the game.

The best part is that when you have SPS and you stake it, you also earn passively!

At time of writing the SPS earning is 10.22% APR which is nice! You also earn Vouchers proportionally based on how much SPS you have staked.

DEC - DEC is KING

DEC, oh where to begin with you old friend. DEC stands for Dark Energy Crystals.

DEC is used as the main currency in the game. If you want to buy cards on the secondary market, well then you are most likely going to use DEC. It used to be easier to obtain though, before SPS was released you would earn DEC from battling and winning matches. But that went away and now you earn SPS from battles.

You can buy DEC (swap crypto for it), you can burn SPS to get DEC, you can sell cards to earn DEC, you can rent out SPS to other players and get DEC. So while there are many ways to get DEC, there is no single easy method for consistent and repeatable DEC earning. That stinks but here we are.

I usually get my DEC by swapping Swap.Hive for it on TribalDex but that is just me.

What do you need DEC for?

1. Buying cards on secondary market.
2. Each season a WILD pass costs 2,000 DEC.
3. You need to stake DEC to your LAND plots to power them up.
4. If you want to rent SPS, you pay in DEC.
5. If you want to rent cards, you pay in DEC.
6. New set packs for sale are buyable with DEC.

So basically any normal buying of items ingame is via DEC.

Credits

Credits (at least to me) are not widely as used as DEC. Credits are basically a stable coin version of DEC. They are pegged to 1,000 Credits = $1. That doesn't change. You can buy cards on secondary with Credits or other ingame items as well if you really want.

But I think for most people beside the credits you start with after you buy a spellbook, you probably never use them again.

Glint

Glint is precious. You earn Glint from battling in Wild or Modern format. You can NOT transfer Glint or sell it or do anything with it except spend it in Gwen's Glint Shop.

There you can buy reward cards (which are soulbound) or potions, chests, titles, etc. There are a bunch of things you can buy with it and they are all pretty solid options.

IF you finish a season in the leaderboard you get a bonus amount of Glint which is nice too!

You can see if I keep up this rating until the end of the season I would get a extra 75,000 GLINT at the end of the season.

Glint and I have a love hate relationship but it serves it's purpose. It's basically a on-chain / in-game token that is not transferrable but can only be spent in game. You can however buy items with it and then sell them for DEC and turn a profit if you are savy enough!

Vouchers

Vouchers are a little different. The only way that I know of to get Vouchers is by staking SPS and earning it passively. Or buying them from someone else I guess.

Vouchers have 1 purpose and 1 purpose only. To buy exclusive cards.

Right now you can purchase the "Tasoshi Drakamoto" card with 250 vouchers. This is the only place to buy the card and it's only live for a certain amount of time.

So for newer players who are not investing money into Splinterlands, Vouchers are not really something you will need to pay much attention to but still something to keep an eye on.

Merits

Merits are a in-game currency that is used for Guild related purchases. You earn Merits by participating in Brawls. And you can spend your Merits in the Guild shop.

The most common item purchased is probably the "Gladius Case" which contains 5 Gladiator cards. You can't buy/sell/trade Gladiator cards which is different. So this is the only way to obtain them.

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That concludes our Article on Currencies in Splinterlands. It is not an exhaustive guide but it should give you the basics and everything you need to know to get up and running!