For those unfamiliar with Sorare, it is an Ethereum blockchain based football trading card game.  There are plenty of posts about how it used to be, so I won't delve into that. 

The folk over at Sorare HQ identified a few frustrations with the gameplay, managers weren't progressing and an element of pay to win was creeping in to the top competitions.  There is a good amount of information on their blog post where they go into extra detail.

Global Cup 2022 - A Perfect gameplay testing opportunity

The 2022 world cup gave Sorare a perfect opportunity to explore a new system of gameplay whereby managers drafted a team out of all available players.  There were rules to this draft to ensure fairness and a more diverse range of results across teams.  For example, only two players from each country squad could be selected, there was an overall budget and players had different values to make sure you couldn't just fill your squad with superstars.

Sorare NBA - a new type of gameplay

Sorare also launched their NBA competition and with it brought in some new gameplay mechanics. Introducing existing managers to the new world of fantasy Basketball. The major updates to gameplay that were introduced to the NBA competition were:

A capped team competition - This means that you have to be more selective when setting your squad.  As the top players 'cost' more in points value, you can't just load your team with superstars. 

Swap system - where managers can trade out any common cards with the hope of bringing in better players.  This is especially useful if players are injured or unavailable.  Something that I've always had a bit of a gripe with, so I was glad to see this introduced.

Overall I'm always happy to see a company trial new functionality and take risks with the intention of improving their product.  It takes confidence to know when something isn't working and look to test out new ways of working.

What has also been great is the communication and engagement with the player community ahead of the changes.  The publicity team over at Sorare HQ have got a great hype machine.

The Problems with the Casual league

Previously in the common competitions you could choose your team from players playing in leagues all over the world.  For most players a lot of this involved guess work if your players were from leagues you were unfamiliar with.  For example, I had a lot of players from the J-League and had to rapidly learn the teams and players in Japan's premier competition if I was to stand a chance in winning anything decent.  

The thing with the common competition was, you won a new card however high up you ranked.  The quality of the card was graded from Star down to Tier 4.  I had to slowly build up players from across the world, bloating my card collection, until I was finally in a position to start winning decent cards like Neymar, Messi, Sané etc.  

And now they've changed the rules...

But aside from not being able to play these cards I have built up the squad to win... I'm not bitter.  No, honestly!

The common competition as it previously stood, was bloated and needed to change.  So taking inspiration from their success with the Global cup competition, Sorare have introduced drafted competitions that are specific league competitions.  That is:

• Germany: Bundesliga
• England: Premier League
• Spain: La Liga 
• France: Ligue 1
• Italy: Serie A

The gameplay across the different competitions is basically the same.  New players will draft their squad with players from across the teams in that league (subject to licensing not all players/ teams are available).  All cards in the draft phase are 'Common' and therefore have no scarcity value and are free to collect and play.

There is no pay to win in the amateur level of the competitions, just your knowledge or luck in picking a winning squad will line you up with potential prizes.  Once you've won a limited card, you can enter the next level of league competition.

Got an injured player?  No problem, just switch him out ahead of the next gameweek.  This is also a great feature if you are like me, and have a habit of picking underperforming players!

I'm suddenly overtaken by the urge to introduce or remind you of this puppy:

For the uninitiated, this amazing puppy is Bluey and she is the star of the eponymous children's TV show and has many an adventure. 

But what has this got to do with a soccer trading card game? I hear you ask. Stick with me, I've got a point to make...

There's a particular episode in Series 3 of Bluey called 'Pass the Parcel' in which the young pups attend a birthday party and play pass the parcel.  Modern rules dictate that there is a prize in every layer so each child wins a prize.

However, one of the Dads protests this "we're raising a nation of squibs" and when it comes to his child's party, he changes the rules, or goes back to how he remembers it being played.  That is, one big prize in the middle and nothing for just taking part.

(I fully recommend watching Bluey, even if you are not a parent because it is excellent.)

Anyway, the point to this little segue into children's television, was the similarities to the changes made to Sorare where the original casual competition was like the modern pass the parcel rules where every player gets a prize.

But now we are playing Sorare by Lucky's dad's rules, and you only get a prize if you deserve it, i.e. winning the game.  

And I'm all for it.

So what do you think of the new gameplay updates at Sorare?  Also any fellow managers fancy setting up a publish0x league? let me know in the comments.

If you want to know what I'm talking about, there are some links to my sources below:

This is Sorare, if you enjoy the game and end up delving into the marketplace, we could both get rewarded.  But for me it's all about sharing the game.  So click and enjoy!  Note you don't have to pay anything to play.

This is bluey, she even has her own youtube channel