Axie Infinity has been wildly popular these days. Its popularity is brought about by the immense possibility to earn money by simply playing the game. For the uninitiated, Axie Infinity is like a team-based Pokemon-inspired card battle mobile game. It was created by Sky Mavis, and co-founded by Trung Nguyen and Aleksander Larsen.
In order to give you a picture of how massive this game is, let me share with you one of the points that BloomX Founder, Luis Buenvantura II, said:
The average daily active user count of Axie Infinity is 300,000, about 50% of which are Pinoys. Now, remember that these gamers are all playing for the rewards. The average player can earn 4,500 $SLP a month, so if we assume that about a third of those Pinoy players are playing at the optimal level, they are collectively going to earn 222,750,000 $SLP this month. How much is $SLP in peso terms? Well, as of this week, it’s over 9 pesos each, which means that these kids are cumulatively going to be raking in around 2 BILLION PESOS this month.
https://www.facebook.com/helloluis/posts/10159844546551518
Two Ways to Play Axie Infinity
Major Update as of August 9: Mavis decreased the maximum daily rewards per day from 100 to 50 on PVE Rewards, and 50 to 25 on Daily Quests Completion. More info here.
There are currently two major ways to immerse into the game and earn cryptocurrencies in the process. You can either breed or battle other teams in Arena. If you decide to breed, you will need to spend $AXS (Axie Infinity Shards) and $SLP (Smooth Love Potion). Each Axie is considered a non-fungible token or NFT. The better the stats and breed count of the Axie, the more expensive it is. I encourage you to read more at Axie Infinity and CoinmarketCap for details about circulation and trading volume.
Another way is to play the game on your mobile devices. The game has bosses, quests and adventures lined up for players. Actions taken in-game are limited by a number of energy, and players get to earn SLP in the process. The biggest factor here in order to earn as much SLP as you can is to have the right team of Axies. Buying Axies has become very expensive lately. At the time of writing, a team of 4/7 breed count sells for around PhP85,000, which based on our experience should earn about a maximum of 150 SLP per day. The increasing and volatile cost of a team is a huge barrier to entry for a lot of Filipinos to play the game.
This significant barrier to entry gives some Filipinos the FOMO, and this article is more of telling you three alternatives on “riding”, “trying” or “ignoring” the hype. Note, however, that this article should not be considered as an investment recommendation, but rather an exploration of alternative ways to earn from Axie Infinity. Conversely, this article will not discuss the specifics of how to play Axie Infinity and withdraw $AXP and $SLP to your preferred wallet. We will cover that in the future, or you can check out the articles from other reputable tech sites like Unbox and Yugatech.
Got the money? Then buy from a legit and reputable breeder.
If you have the money to buy an Axie or a team of three Axies, your first real-world quest is to look for a reputable breeder, or by simply buying directly from Axie Infinity Marketplace. The latter requires technical know-how on how Axies are bred by looking at breed count, identifying body parts to check their purity, and understanding the skills of the Axie to see its fighting chance in the arena.
We have to understand that breeders need to recover their ROI thereby pricing Axies accordingly. According to Nhil Diaz, a streamer and an Axie Infinity breeder, they use an average of 2,475 SLP and 12 AXS per team. As the prices of SLP and AXS rise, the cost of capital to breed more teams becomes higher as well.
If you have direct contact with a reputable breeder, he can sell you your chosen Axies (or Team) via Ronin wallet. You can pay the breeder via various means – PayMaya, bank-to-bank transaction, PayPal, etc. Good breeders can offer you the right combination of Axies or provide advice on which type that is best for your playstyle.
Short on budget? Don’t buy a team, but rather directly buy AXS or SLP via Cryptocurrency Exchange sites.
If you are short on budget, you can instead buy $AXS or $SLP via cryptocurrency exchange like Binance or BloomX. I personally recommend BloomX because it’s developed by a local Philippine team and they have several cryptocurrencies on their platform.
For instance, you can buy 33 SLPs via BloomX for PhP600 or as much as 1,106 for PhP20,000 at PhP18.08/SLP. You have the option to scalp or hold your purchased SLPs until it reaches a certain amount you want. Note, however, that the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile and risky so expect prices to fluctuate. You are not playing the actual game, but you’re basically “riding” the hype and demand by simply participating in the market.
I feel that SLP is posed to go up further because of the demand for more people to play the game, thereby minting more SLPs in the processes. The demand will further increase, and more Axies will have to be bred by breeders. The breeding process burns SLP, but will then be recovered and minted as more people play the game. The call to grind the game is high in this case because those who recently purchased PhP85K worth of teams won’t just simply sit down and not mind their ROIs. Naturally, they will have to play the game, thereby appreciating the price of both cryptocurrencies. This, for me, is the best option especially if you don’t have enough money yet to buy a team. “Huwag mo ibenta kaluluwa mo para makabili ka ng team. Start off small, and yung kaya mo.”
This also works best if you have the money to buy a team, and yet choose not to put all your eggs in one basket. Classic, right?
There is one important thing that you need to keep in mind though: VOLATILITY. Investing in Cryptocurrency is VERY risky. If you do not know what you are getting into, putting your money in cryptocurrency exchange is not something I will recommend. Build your savings, buy insurance, pay-off your existing loans, buy things that are essential and invest the rest. My friend, Carlo Ople, talked about this in his past vlog. You can check it out below.
Got no money? Offer your services to play the game, and get a cut from the Manager’s profit.
Now, what if you don’t have the money to either buy a team or participate in cryptocurrency exchange? Offer yourself as a ‘scholar’.
“Gawin mo na lang akong scholar, lods!” You may have probably heard or read this on social media. Investment players, Axie players, in this case, have this conundrum of managing time. As someone who owns more than three Axie teams, it is difficult to manage the time and effort to play multiple accounts on different devices. This is where scholars become very helpful. Scholars can offer their services to play the game on behalf of the manager, and partake from his profit. The only challenge now is where and who to find as your manager.
So, you see…
Axie Infinity introduces a revolution in how people play and earn. This is the best time to play the game, especially if you have the investible money to purchase a team or simply offer your service as a ‘scholar’. FOMO is real, however, and if you cannot purchase a team, you can try buying in cryptocurrency exchange.
Games like Axie Infinity is also huge step in the evolution process of video games and lifestyle. Who would have thought that this game, where you battle cute elemental cryptids, can give earning opportunities to a lot of people.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
