How Much Does It Cost To Play Splinterlands? — The Update

A couple of weeks ago I took a look at how much it would cost to build a max-level collection for each of the Splinterlands brackets.

As I said at the time, this was never meant to answer what it really costs to play Splinterlands. You can play for free, rent cards, earn cards through playing, receive delegations or spend far more than is probably sensible building the collection you want.

The idea was simply to put a number against the question:

If a new player arrived today and wanted to buy the cards needed to max a collection for a particular bracket, what would it cost?

The original post used data from 28 August 2026 and, because card prices and the way the figures are calculated have both moved since then, I thought it was worth coming back for an update.

Before getting into the numbers I need to give full credit to @beaker007, who created SPL Stats and continues to improve the site. It is the Buy Missing CC tool on his site that makes this comparison possible, so please go over and take a look at everything he has built.

A reminder of the original numbers

For Silver, the original estimate for the current Conclave-era cards was:

Adding the Foundation cards and Foundation Extras took the full(ish) Silver estimate to approximately $2,391.

That already came with plenty of caveats. Not every card was available, some listings were over-levelled, regular foil was not always the cheapest route and nobody actually needs every card to compete.

So what does the calculator say now?

Using the updated SPL Stats Buy Missing CC calculator created by @beaker007 on 11 September 2026, the Silver estimate for the Conclave-era cards is now approximately:

$1,630.13

That is $348.21 lower than the $1,978.34 estimate in the original article, a reduction of approximately 17.6%.

That looks like good news for somebody wanting to build towards Silver, but it still needs a little context before we declare that the cost of playing has fallen by nearly 18%.

The calculation

The current estimate is calculated as:

Required CC minus Current CC × Lowest Price for 1 CC

The important part of that sentence is Lowest Price for 1 CC.

If a card needs 60 CC for Silver, the calculator values all 60 CC using the cheapest single-CC listing currently available. In reality, somebody building a deck is likely to look for combined cards, larger lots, gold foil alternatives and opportunities that appear over time.

So this is better viewed as a high estimate based on what is available right now rather than a guaranteed shopping bill.

That does not make the number useless. In fact, it highlights something important: market depth matters just as much as the cheapest headline price.

A card may appear cheap per BCX, but if there are only one or two copies at that price, you are not going to build a Silver-level card at the advertised figure.

What would I actually recommend?

My view has not really changed from the first article.

I would not recommend that a new player arrives and immediately buys every card from every current set. Apart from being expensive, it is probably not the best way to learn the game.

A more sensible approach would be:

• Start with Frontier and earn Foundation cards while learning the game.
• Choose two or three elements that you enjoy playing.
• Buy the important Archons and the cards that make those teams work.
• Rent expensive or situational cards before deciding whether to buy them.
• Look at combined cards and every foil type rather than automatically buying individual regular-foil BCX.
• Build towards the bracket you actually intend to play.

There is a big difference between the cost of owning every card and the cost of having a competitive deck.

That difference is probably where the most useful part of this series sits.

Is Silver still the sweet spot?

For me, Silver is still the level I am most interested in following.

Wood and Bronze are cheaper entry points, but Silver gives cards enough levels and abilities for deck building to become much more interesting. Gold and Diamond offer even more options, but the CC requirements and the cost start climbing very quickly.

Silver feels like a sensible point between accessibility and depth, particularly if brackets are returning and players can choose the level at which they want to compete.

But a complete Silver collection is clearly not a cheap starting point if we price every current card from the available one-CC listings.

What I want to track next

One snapshot does not tell us whether playing Modern is becoming more or less affordable.

Over the coming months I want to track:

• The cost of each set at Wood, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond.
• The difference between one-CC pricing and combined-card pricing.
• The cheapest route across regular, gold and black foils.
• A realistic two- or three-element competitive deck rather than every card.
• How Battle for Praetoria changes which cards new players actually need.

That last one is probably the most important. A theoretical full collection is an interesting benchmark, but a playable and competitive deck is a much more useful target.

So has Splinterlands suddenly become nearly 18% cheaper in two weeks?

Not necessarily.

The headline estimate has fallen, but we are also looking at the market through a different and fairly conservative calculation. The truth for an actual buyer will depend on patience, combined listings, foil choices and, most importantly, not buying cards they do not need.

I will keep checking the numbers and, next time, I want to move away from the theoretical cost of everything and start building some realistic Silver decks.

What would you rather see next: a full Silver deck for two or three elements, or the cheapest competitive deck I can build for a fixed budget?

Don’t forget you can join the Monday Night Madness tournament , which uses Silver level Ghost Cards, and jump onto the PhoenixReborn Twitch stream for prizes and giveaways every Monday at 19:00 UTC.