Overview

The Monthly Snapshot is a regular publishing of information in regards to happenings within the NationStates Cards. It details overall market use (by players), the most notable cards, the most recognizable traders, card events, and more!

Why Should I Read This?

As to why it is advisable to read the Snapshot, it is due to the fact that NationStates Cards is a growing and expanding feature. It was supposed to have only been an April Fools event in 2018, but it was later kept due to a massive effort by players to keep the feature. Therefore, administrators and players have been tirelessly working to make cards more interesting, and the Monthly Snapshot serves to highlight ongoing things players might've skimmed past (due to the relatively new addition of cards as a whole).

Section written by Destructive Government Economic System.

What's Been Going On?

1. The second-ever condemnation has been written for a cards trader - During this month, talented writers Honeydewistania and Westinor came together in order to pass Security Council Resolution #320 - Condemn Noahs Second Country on August 20th of 2020. Noahs Second Country is a well-known issues author (and most recently, an issues editor as well) who had (themselves) authored the commendation of another cards player. Their most recent contributions, however, laid upon their impacts regarding the international artwork community. Noah has inflated many cards during their time within the trading sphere (even being the first to purchase a card for 10000 bank) to the point where it has helped them achieve the #2 spot in deck value. In addition, they casually managed to purchase nearly every card of an entire season's rarity using their near-infinite bank, putting Noah in the leagues that might even compare to Koem Kab themself!

Overall, the passage of this draft has continued the much-needed growth of the cards community through recognition of notable cards players, and the fact that writers as skilled as Honeydewistania and Westinor contributed to the resolution's passing marks as a likely indicator that subsequent cards-related resolutions may always prove to be a possibility in the future!

2. The North Pacific Cards Guild is going to be led by another trader soon - Praeceps has long been the Guildmaster of The North Pacific Cards Guild since its very founding. As a result, they have earned themselves a much-needed break for all they have ever done, and they have indicated that they will be stepping down to make way for another user.

Though Praeceps will no longer be the official head of the Guild, they will continue to be remembered as the first-ever leader of a fully card-based organization. The Guild has always served as an example on how regional communities can utilize cards to facilitate their own growth, and it is due to the efforts from users like Praeceps that this became a reality. Whoever fills their shoes surely will have a long task ahead to further the interests of cards (particularly cards within The North Pacific!).

3. A fully card-based region will become a key player for an annual event - Though not particularly notable due to the event only appearing once every year, it is quite a welcome surprise to see a card region - completely composed of card farming alt accounts - be included as a member region in one of the soon-to-be-largest factions this year!

N-day is scheduled to begin on the 27th of September, and the Potato Alliance is a rising faction that (at least this time around) is composed of Game-Created Regions (including The North Pacific and The Rejected Realms, notable User-Created Regions (particularly 10000 Islands and Spiritus themselves, along with a conglomerate of 1000+ card farming puppets (primarily ones owned by 9003 and Noahs Second Country stored within the region of Big Farma! The results from this union of card farming users and regular Gameplay users is going to be an anticipated outcome for this year, so good luck to the traders who may potentially impact the course of N-day this time around!

How Will the Guild Continue to Function?

Due to Praeceps's intended retirement, some may be wondering as to how The North Pacific Cards Guild may grow. This is understandable due to the figure leading said Guild also being the first-ever Guild leader in existence.

However, it is also worth noting that the Guildmaster had been serving as one since November of 2019, and therefore has had ample enough time to appoint deputies to aid the Guild projects. With this in mind, it is safe to say that a new leader of the Guild - particularly one who has been serving as a deputy - will prove to be an adequate head going forward. In addition, former Guildmasters are 100% capable of returning to serve as advisors to aid future leaders - as what Praeceps currently does to ensure things are still running smoothly in the Guild.

All in all, while The North Pacific Cards Guild may shift in terms of leadership, its overall growth is almost guaranteed to persist - and card programs will continue to be worked on whenever + wherever possible for the sake of all of the trading community!

Article narrated by Giovanniland.

Introduction

Collections are the bread-and-butter of Trading Cards. When cards were simply an April Fools mini-game, lots of people collected themselves or their region-mates, while others sought for high-value cards. But then cards were fully integrated as a regular feature of NationStates, and other interesting collections started appearing. The creation of off-site marketplaces (like a Discord server dedicated just for trading) further increased collaboration between farmers to build impressive collections, to the point a forum thread listing several interesting ones was created by Ponderosa. I am now the maintainer of the same thread under a new version, and the main skill needed to keep it running is to define what makes an interesting collection. In this article, I will write my thoughts over this theme and hopefully help new collectors willing to build a new collection!

What Makes an Interesting Collection?

The main part of a collection is the theme, of course. That should be the first thought when one seeks to build a collection, because it's what will hold it together. Here, the possibilities are endless: one can collect every card of a specific type of card, all cards with a kind of badge, or everyone from their region, just to give a few examples. Sometimes, just by looking on the market, one can find a card that will get them to collect others of its kind. Other collectors may be inspired by their real life hobbies. Although it's worth noting that, the unique a theme is, the more interesting the collection gets. For example, legendary card collections: there's just too many out there, so it probably won't be that interesting unless the collector has bought most or all legendary cards.

After choosing an unique theme, the collector's main goal should be to make their collection stand out among others. This can be achieved by several ways: size, diversity, or both. Large collections, such as ex-nation and default flag ones, have thousands of cards united in a single theme. In this case, these collections aren't interesting for containing nice or special cards to look at, but rather for the sheer quantity of cards the owner has collected. Some other collections balance those two aspects nicely, housing hundreds of cards but still maintaining a diversity of cards the viewer can appreciate: examples on the top of my head are the cat and tree themed collections. Finally, collections can also be very interesting despite having a small but interesting amount of cards. Most collections are included in this group, and many unique ones can be seen in the thread linked in the first paragraph. One advice I would give is to not increase a collection by adding several copies of the same card, because that can make it boring very quickly. In conclusion, interesting collections come in all sizes.

I'd say those are the main aspects of what makes an interesting collection, although there are other tips one can follow to give their collection a nice final touch! Sometimes, there just aren't enough cards that fit in the collection theme. In this case, one is free to create more nations with interesting flags or names that fit within a desired theme and wait until the next season. However, collections made entirely of puppet nations' cards aren't interesting either, so be careful on how many will be added. Another tip is to add animated cards to the collection, granted they fit the theme; there were over 500 GIF cards in Season 2, and a significant amount has also been founded after that. A final consideration to make, specifically for those that have nearly or completely completed their collection, is to check your own collection and search for any cards that may also be included in another collection. Therefore, you can start a brand new collection after you finish your previous one!

This was all for this article, and I hope this was a nice read for all! Building collections is definitely a nice part of Trading Cards and one that doesn't depend on card value, so even the small trader can create an impressive collection, so I'm glad I could write an article on this topic and hopefully help people that want to establish a brand new collection. Stay tuned for more articles by me on other card topics on the future!

Section written by Destructive Government Economic System.

General Trends

Click Me!

Thanks to Racoda for making the GIF!

Any Noticeable Shifts?

As of the beginning of 8/1/2020 to 8/31/2020, trading has seen a noticeable rise in activity in comparison to the previous month's stagnant slope!

For auction activity, trades within this field began to slope upward from the start of August, leading the mean number of auctions to be an estimated 2500 for this month (in comparison to the 1850 that occurred in July).

As for gifting activity, it has slightly risen in comparison to that of last month, with an average of 1450 daily gifts as of the end of August.

And finally, regarding Seasonal trends, trading activity for Season 1 cards has slightly decreased in comparison to July, with 550+ daily trades being conducted for this type of card. For Season 2 cards, a highly fluctuating - yet positively sloped - mean than that of July has been shown, in which the new estimated number of daily trades seems to be at the 4000 mark. This mean is a result of the averaging of the spikes and dips that are displayed in the graph above.

Overall, barring the easily predictable trend for Season 1 cards, every aspect of the overall market has seen a positive increase! Whether this be due to a general increase in trading from the entire NationStates community (or an increase in trading from the already-known traders) is unknown, but it is quite welcome to bear witness to a more active traderbase. With this in mind, August has done a fine job in representing the unpredictable and exciting nature that characterizes the card market!

Section written by Destructive Government Economic System.

General Trends

Click Me!

Thanks to Racoda for making the GIF!

Any Trend Shifts?

In terms of rarity activity, general market trends have deviated from the past few months, with a new increase in trading activity being unprecedented from that of before.

Overall Trend Differences?

[Note: Following the discovery of better methods to utilize the Card Market Watch, exact averages of rarity trades have now been introduced for the reader's benefit.]

Legendary cards naturally remain the lowest, with the average now being at around 138 daily trades at any given time. The most notable contributors to this have not changed, with Koem Kab and The Northern Light being examples of some of these contributors.

Epic cards do not seem to have made a noticeable change. As compared to last month, the exact average this time around is 473. Purchases by Frisbeeteria and program-induced gifts by The Northern Light primarily have led to the sustainability of this trend.

Ultra-rare cards possess a relatively high trend this time around, with the new average being 379 daily trades. There is currently no particular nation(s) associated with this trend.

rares now possess an average of 432, marking it as a trend similarly high to that of the epic market. This rarity's activity can mainly be attributed to the activities of Fauzjhia and The Cosmic Mainframe as part of a monthly event.

Uncommons saw a slight uptick this month, with the average trades scaling up to 685 trades. For similar reasons as Fauzjhia and The Cosmic Mainframe, Riemstagrad played a major part in the activity for this particular rarity.

And last but not least, there is the common category. It (naturally) remains the highest, and a significant increase in trading activity occurred as an addition. Trades averaged at the amount of 2604, over a 1000 daily trading difference in comparison to July. 9003 continues to stand as the chief buyer, but nations such as Bawkie have also contributed to its noticeable growth.

Overall, the activity for rarities this month has increased for most individual trends. This is quite an interesting conclusion due to the possibility that traders might have desired to wait out the rest of the season in favor of the next one. However, this does not seem to be the case this time around, and the strong activity for rarities very likely means that people continue to find ways to expand the trading community to even greater heights!

Section written by Destructive Government Economic System.

Card Description - Season 1 Improving Wordiness

Why is this Card So Popular?

Season 1 Improving Wordiness is the name of an extremely old, incredibly rare, and monumentally valuable ultra-rare card from that of the previous season of NationStates cards. It currently reigns as the single most valuable ultra-rare card in the game, and even traders as influential as Koem Kab have gone out of their way to acquire as many copies of this card whenever possible!

The card's desirability primarily results from the fact that the user behind the card, Improving wordiness, is a retired defender from the well-known region of 10000 Islands. Their achievements within the Gameplay community led them to be commended by the World Assembly Security Council, and this particular badge has done much to further reinforce the inherent value in which Season 1 Improving Wordiness currently possesses in the market!

[As a bonus, this particular card also possesses the "ex-nation" card design, which is no longer an available feature for cards in subsequent seasons, therefore providing even more incentive to purchase this particular item from any of the owners (though don't be surprised if they won't budge!).]

Overall, Season 1 Improving Wordiness displays a remarkable set of factors that may characterize a truly desirable card in the market, and it only remains a matter of time before yet another trader attempts to add the card to their collection!

Section written by Destructive Government Economic System.

Trader Profile - Praeceps

Praeceps is a well-known trader famous for their initial leadership of The North Pacifc Cards Guild, the first official cards-based organization within the NationStates trading community.

Under Praeceps' tenure, the Guild saw widespread membership along with several new card programs released for The North Pacific, including: 1) monthly card pullevents, 2) card competitions, and even 3) the very cards newspaper you are currently reading! The success of the Guild has largely been attributed to Praeceps' efforts, and many thanks have been offered to him for undertaking the task of managing such a cards organization.

In addition, Praeceps currently holds one of the most valuable decks in the game, with special emphasis being placed on his ownership of 13 copies of HMS Unicorn. Most players would desire either factors for their collection (i.e. a large deck value or ownership of the aforementioned cards), so congratulations to Praeceps for their current collecting achievements!

Interview

Due to efforts by The North Pacific Cards Guild, NationStates had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to interview Praeceps! Here's what the user had to offer:

[All questions were asked by Destructive Government Economic System, current Guildmaster of The North Pacific Cards Guild.]

Section written by Destructive Government Economic System.

What is the TMCCC?

The "TMCCC" is the shortened term that stands for The Monthly Card Collection Competition. It was first started by The North Pacific Cards Guild on December 14, 2019 by order of the first Guildmaster Praeceps.

As to what the TMCCC does, it is (essentially) a contest between all traders within the cards community to see whose collection fits the month's theme (whatever theme it may be) the most! The month's theme (which is decided by Guild leadership) can be anything, ranging from cards that relate to comedy or collections that solely deal with the topic of love.

At the end of each month, two winners are decided (one by regular Guild members, and the other by Guild leadership), and each winner is awarded a legendary card for fitting that month's theme the best! With that in mind, it is highly encouraged to participate in the TMCCC, since you may find yourself a much-needed asset (should you win) in the form of highly valuable cards!

August 2020 Theme

The TMCCC's theme for August was respect. The nation who won(both) the member's and master's choice was Devil Heart, with their collection: "Women Commanding our Respect", consisting of cards that depict female figures that have made a significant impact on the course of history.

Devil Heart received a Season 2 legendary The Dark System and Season 2 Smiley Bob. Congratulations to them for winning both selections!

Notably, there had been only 2 submissions for this month, therefore drastically increasing the chances for the competitors to win a card from their submissions. And of course, that also meant - as seen above - that a significant chance would also occur for any contestant to win both the Member's and Master's Choice! As a result, it's always a good idea to consider submitting any collection you think up; you may never know as to how good your chances of winning actually are!

Section written by Destructive Government Economic System.

What are Pull Events?

Pull events are auctions in which traders deliberately sell rare/valuable card(s) that they own to themselves (or other players, should they be trusted enough) in an attempt to have other nations pull those cards (from packs) during the auction's duration. Pull events usually have a set time and date as to when they occur (along with prior notice given before they actually start) in order to give the chance for players to prepare (whether by saving up issues or doing other tasks that allow them to participate in the event), and these events typically yield a greater chance to pull rare nations' cards than when opening packs on a normal day (a.k.a. during a time when that card is not being auctioned).

The North Pacific hosts these pull events each month, with the card to be auctioned (and pulled) being chosen by a nomination + vote from players within and outside of The North Pacific Cards Guild. At times, should The Northern Light possess enough bank, multiple cards may even be selected for the monthly pull event!

Seeing that The North Pacific regularly hosts these pull events, we've decided to regularly update the card playerbase on what went down during these exciting times, including 1) what cards were chosen (by the Guild) to be pulled, 2) who contributed to the ability to even auction the chosen card(s) for the event, and 3) who were the ones lucky enough to pull those cards. See below for each month's pull event!

August 2020 Pull Event

On August 24, 2020, the pull event vote for the respective month went up, with the Guild voting for Season 2 Frisbeeteria and Season 1 Foucaults garden to be pulled. However, the former's inclusion in the pull event would later be replaced by Season 1 Frisbeeteria due to concerns regarding pull event mechanics.

With this info in mind, both cards would then be auctioned on August 30th, at 12 P.M. PST - with The Northern Light starting both cards' auctions and extending them via overbidding their initial offers.

Overall, while there certainly were some successful pulls (and do note that the latter card, Season 1 Foucaults garden, has been a CTE card for over 1 year, thereby making the mere pulling of it an enormous feat), the overall turnout rate for this event sharply paled in comparison to the pull event of the previous month. This may be attributed to several factors, including an increased unluckiness to pull cards from packs with regards to recent changes, to a possibly upping trend to participate in pull events as a result of the changes. Whatever it may be, hopefully the pulling rate for chosen cards will be better in August!