Blockchain games offer a lot of upside potential in purchasing the tokens and NFTs early. But if you want to reap all the benefits from these games, you’re better off by participating in them.

For instance, we saw with live games like Axie Infinity and Gods Unchained that you could earn a lot more if you actually play these games.

However, gaming is a hobby that, like all others, requires skills and, most importantly, an active interest that comes from within. If you don’t possess either of these and cannot devote your time to it. Don’t fret.

Today, I will take a deep dive into the gameplay of a blockchain game that could possibly align with your hobby: a fantasy soccer game, Sorare. It has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years and recently secured $680 million in a Series B investment round led by Softbank.

Founded in December 2018, Sorare is a fantasy soccer game based on Ethereum NFTs and has partnered with several top soccer leagues in the world.

It includes the top four out of five most popular leagues—La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), Seria A (Italy), and League 1 (France)—but the number one league, the English Premier League (United Kingdom). Nevertheless, a Sorare official recently told the media that “hopefully we will have something to announce with the Premier League.”

Fantasy league games are widely popular among soccer fans around the world. Reportedly, more than 7.6 million players played the Fantasy Premier League in 2019. The winner of these games wins varying prizes, ranging from brand merchandise to season passes.

Sorare’s Fantasy Gameplay

In Sorare, gamers don the hats of soccer managers. But instead of having to pay an entry fee to enter fantasy league tournaments, Sorare’s managers own player NFT cards—issued on Ethereum.

The Sorare NFT owners can use these player NFTs in Sorare’s S05 weekly tournaments. They can win some ETH and new player NFT cards based on how their team ranks every week.

Each NFT card entered into tournaments is awarded points based on the players’ actual performance in the real world. So if in a week, your goalkeeper makes a lot of saves, or your attacker scores numerous goals, they earn more points for your team.

Each of these player cards must represent a different player. You need a goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, attacker, and one extra field player in every team.

Source: bundesliga.com

The NFT player cards on Sorare are classified as Common (unlimited copies), Limited edition (1000 copies of each card), Rare (100 copies), Super Rare (10 copies), and Unique cards.

You can recognize the cards from their color codes: yellow for Limited, red for Rare, blue for Super Rare, and black for Unique ones. Different color codes enable participation in various tournaments based on eligibility.

For instance, to enter Rare card tournaments, you need at least four rare player NFTs.

Source: sorare.com

Ideally, you’d want to start with Rare level tournaments. Your initial investment should likely be around $3,000-$5,000 if you’re looking to make a reasonable amount of money. You can earn your initial investment back within the quarter based on your managing skills. Moreover, you can sell your NFTs back on the marketplace at any point.

While the minimum cost of Rare NFTs is less than $10 on the marketplace, the average price of top 50 players is around 0.675 ETH (worth around $3,000). To win, you’d want to keep at least one top player in your rooster.

The top three players of Rare level tournaments currently win $700, $432, and $260, respectively, alongside another rare player card. Besides podium finishes, From the 4th until the 510th place, competitors will win 1 Rare card, depending on the ranking.

Besides their utility in Sorare’s fantasy games, these NFTs can find applications in other games as well. Ubisoft set such an example by creating a game with Sorare’s NFTs.

Further, the NFT cards are also valuable as a collectible; Super Rare player cards of top players like Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo have gone for around $90,000. Follow Sorare’s social media account and register on the website for updates on auctions of rarer cards.

Source: soraredata.com

Last but not least, DAOs have become the norm for blockchain projects lately. There is a slight chance that Sorare may launch a DAO with a native token airdrop for NFT holders.

Overall, with only around 50,000 weekly active users, Sorare has a huge upside potential compared to traditional fantasy games. The early editions of NFTs, especially the rarer ones, are likely to be worth a lot in the future.

How to Join?

The first step in joining Sorare is signing up on the website.

Source: sorare.com

Enter your email address, a nickname, and a password for your account. This step is similar to signing up on all Web2 applications.

To load money to your Sorare account, select the Wallet icon on the top right-hand corner. You can deposit using your credit/debit card or by using ETH.

Source: sorare.com

When you click on the wallet icon, you’ll see a sidebar appear on the page. Click on Ramp for depositing via credit/debit card. For depositing ETH, click on Connect My Wallet option and connect it to your Metamask browser extension.

Make sure you have ETH in your Metamask wallet to pay fees too.

Source: sorare.com

Deposit your desired amount and confirm the transaction on your Metamask wallet.

Source: sorare.com

Now, you’re ready to purchase player cards. Hover over the Market Tabs from the top menu and select the Cards option.

Source: sorare.com

Build your squad by bidding for the cards on auctions. To enter weekly tournaments, click on the Play tab on the Sorare webpage, and select an ongoing “Open” league from the Game Weeks.

Source: sorare.com

Select the competitions in which you want to enter.

Source: sorare.com

Since the outcome of the game is dependent on the real-world performance of the players, keep a track of the Matches section to enter the best team for the week.

For valuable card auctions, follow their Twitter page to track the announcements.