Golden Opportunities - December, 2023
Following Second Dinner’s recent realignment of Snap’s internal economy, gold–and free gold especially–is scarcer than ever. Spending it wisely can make all the difference between fast-tracked progression and cash-strapped depression. Join us now as we look for the true gems among the gold bundles to find the best opportunities to spend Snap’s premium currency. Because this is based on datamined information, details are subject to change.
Showpiece
The Kai Lun Qu showcase was covered in November’s Golden Opportunities; it extended into early December, so here is a reminder of what we had to say about it.
Returning now to another mammoth bundle mentioned earlier, we focus our attention on Artist Showcase: Kai Lun Qu. 9,000 credits is not just the most this month, it is the most ever in a bundle costing less than 7,500 gold. It is also the only gold bundle in November offering two variants, including a series 3, and they can even be played in the same deck with a decent amount of synergy. With that come 1,000 tokens, enough boosters to take both cards to infinite twice, a conquest ticket, and avatars.
We would be remiss not to comment on the art itself. There is a real, hand-painted quality on display that adds depth to the luscious colors and emotive composition. These characters have never looked better, so you will likely keep playing the Kai variants for a long time to come.
Artist Showcase: Kai Lun Qu
Tokens per gold: 0.15
Credits per gold: 1.38
Some Mysteries are Better Left Unsolved
November Mystery 5 was covered in November’s Golden Opportunities; it actually released in early December, so here is a reminder of what we had to say about it.
Though not actually releasing until December, November 2023 Mystery 5 rounds out November’s assortment of mystery bundles, and boy, is it unappealing. For 2,000 gold, you get 1,000 tokens, 500 credits, and a premium mystery variant. Those currencies would cost 1,800 gold at baseline rates. While 200 gold for a premium variant looks good next to the shop price of 800, consider that most good bundles offer a discount on currencies before you even consider cosmetics. September’s Avast Ye, Admiral! supplied 1,000 tokens and 600 credits for 1,600 gold, and even that wasn’t top-tier value.
November 2023 Mystery 5
Tokens per gold: 0.5
Credits per gold: 0.25
Chit Chat
Having tired of copying over the separate entries for Booster Packs and Token Tuesdays each month just to tell you not to buy them, I have chosen to summarize them here together. Booster Packs are one of the worst values in the game, and you should never buy them. Token Tuesdays generally deliver a worse rate of return than do non-recurring bundles. They can be worth purchasing situationally, but generally you are better off saving your gold.
Booster Pack
Credits per gold: 0.83
Token Tuesday
Tokens per gold: 0.71
Maybe if You Squint
First, an apology for the lateness of this article. Oh No, He’s Hot!!! Has already ended at the time of writing, so it is included here only for the sake of completeness. Sorry, folks, this one’s on me.
As a massive bundle sandwiched between Artist Showcase: Kai Lun Qu and Sugar, Spice, and Everything Ice; Oh No, He’s Hot!!! is in an unenviable position. The two of them have been known from datamines for months and combine appealing variants of series 3 cards with hefty currency returns, so He’s Hot has a pretty high bar set for it.
Alas, it falls well short of that standard. 3,000 tokens would cost 4,200 gold in Token Tuesday bundles, and 600 credits would come to 480 gold, so the 5,500 being asked for He’s Hot is a marked upcharge from the standard rates. Add in that the cosmetics are a kind of boring depiction of a cloaked Cyclops, a starter card with no ability, and a kind of boring title, and this bundle never stood a chance.
Oh No, He’s Hot!!!
Tokens per gold: 0.55
Credits per gold: 0.11
Electra Boogaloo
Electra may not be the most appealing card as an underpowered series 1 with a low win rate and an abysmal play rate, but Rip and Tear at least allows her to look bad–as in, good bad–doing it. The demonic makeover is perhaps the most imaginative of a pool of variants that largely depict the character posing or dancing with her sais out. True, the demonized variant still just has her posing with a sai out, but now she has wings. All she needs now is a buff.
Despite the wings, it is the currency side that really makes this bundle soar. 2,000 credits at the shop rate would run to 1,600 gold, so this bundle represents a 25% discount. There are no historical bundles to compare this to, since 2,000 credits have never come so cheaply before. Consider that December 2023 Ticket 3 charges 900 gold for 1,400 credits (and no cosmetics), and it is apparent that Rip and Tear is in an entirely different class.
Rip and Tear
Credits per gold: 1.67
The Icing on Top
Much like November’s Peach, You’re So Cool; this megabundle first popped up in datamines as an exceptional value only to be scaled back before release. Reportedly, Sugar, Spice, and Everything Ice may receive further tweaking, but the iteration showing right now offers 6,000 collector’s tokens, 2,000 credits, variants and avatars for The Sentry and Destroyer–both series 3 cards–enough boosters to split them each twice, and an infinity conquest ticket. That places it very much in line with July’s Cosmic Wildfire but with two characters featured instead of one.
That places Everything Ice on very steady footing, as Cosmic Wildfire remains one of the ten best gold bundles ever released. The cards are both very playable, with Sentry enjoying peak popularity after the release of Annihilus and Destroyer maintaining a spot in some destroy packages and the occasional control deck. The two can work well together; Destroyer is a viable tool for removal of The Void provided you can protect Sentry with Armor or Professor X.
After its reduction in value, Everything Ice sits below November’s High Stakes among large gold bundles but still above the Kai Lun Qu showcase by the slimmest of margins. Boon of the Savage Lands, forthcoming in January, seems to be another option patterned after Cosmic Wildfire, but it too will feature only one variant. Pre-release changes notwithstanding, Sugar, Spice, and Everything Ice looks like a very worthy purchase.
Sugar, Spice, and Everything Ice
Tokens per gold: 0.8
Credits per gold: 0.27
Return Ticket
The pushing of tickets for gold continues, December 2023 Ticket 3 being an exact copy of November’s Ticket 3. We know now that the ticket on offer is not gold but infinity, which, although notionally better, is unlikely to give much of an advantage to anyone who couldn’t earn infinity tickets by winning in conquest. The 1,400 credits remain the primary selling point, and, at 900 gold, they remain a very good if not top-tier value.
December 2023 Ticket 3
Credits per gold: 1.56
The Golden Mean
Although December’s best gold buy falls short of November’s after the recently datamined changes to Sugar, Spice, and Everything Ice, the breadth of quality offers is impressive. Rip and Tear leads for currency return, while Everything Ice and Artist Showcase: Kai Lun Qu combine great returns with appealing art. December 2023 Ticket 3 falls just outside the range of highly recommendable bundles, yet it surpasses everything on offer in January except for Boon of the Savage Lands. In other words, December is a great time to spend some gold.
Best tokens per gold
- Sugar, Spice, and Everything Ice (0.8)
- Token Tuesday (0.71)
- Oh No, He’s Hot!!! (0.55)
- November 2023 Mystery 5 (0.5)
- Artist Showcase: Kai Lun Qu (0.15)
Best credits per gold
- Rip and Tear (1.67)
- December 2023 Ticket 3 (1.56)
- Artist Showcase: Kai Lun Qu (1.38)
- Standard shop rate (1.25)
- Booster Pack (0.83)
Best overall currencies per gold*
- Rip and Tear (1.69)
- Sugar, Spice, and Everything Ice (1.67)
- Artist Showcase: Kai Lun Qu (1.66)
- December 2023 Ticket 3 (1.56)
- Token Tuesday (1.25)
*Expressed as credits per gold, valuing tokens at 1.75 credits based on the Token Tuesday rate of 1 token for 1.4 gold and the shop rate of 1 gold for 1.25 credits, and adding 25 credits for each new card and variant
We hope that illuminates the gold market for you and hope you will join us again in the new year for a review of January’s gold bundles!