A little while ago an experienced, well known player asked chat which cards he should upgrade next. He'd built up some excess electrum and was looking for some versatile cards to spend it on. He told chat that he usually tried to stay below 2k electrum... which floored me. Newer players often ask either the same question or questions about when to sell cards, so I thought it'd be worth writing a post on the subject of money management.
First let me say that there's nothing wrong with however you want to invest your hard earned electrum. This game is for fun, and nobody should be able to tell you that buying a life-size stormtrooper replica is wrong if you really enjoy life-size stormtrooper replicas. But for players who want to accumulate wealth quickly there are two rules of thumb.
Please note that it has historically been very important to get a fully upped AI3/t50 grinder and a fully upped FG Grinder. To reach these goals you probably shouldn’t feel bad about selling currently useless upgrades to up cards and make the decks you grind with more effective. After that point, though, you enter a wealth accumulation phase.
Rule of Thumb Number One: Never sell upgraded cards unless you have more than six copies, and never sell unupgraded cards unless you have over 12 copies total (unupped and upped).Suppose you’re accumulating wealth and you decide you’ll never play with Aether cards, so you sell them all. If down the road you enter a PvP Event or a Tournament which requires Aether cards, you’ve paying about a 40% markup over each card you sold. And the waste adds up quickly.
Why six and twelve? Because the most copies you can have in a deck are six and you can’t unupgrade cards, having over six upgraded copies is superfluous. At the same time having ten unupped Flying Weapons and two upped Animate Weapons available means you can upgrade an additional four if you need to and still hold six unupped copies. If you win an additional upgraded copy you can sell an unupped copy and still be positioned ideally.
Selling cards is particularly heinous with rare cards that can’t be bought. If you sell your Tridents and tomorrow someone creates a new FG deck using the card, you simply can’t make the deck until you find more Tridents. That goes double for nymphs which can only be given by the Oracle or as rewards for Tournaments and Leagues. Resist the temptation.
Rule of Thumb Number Two: Never buy or upgrade cards unless it's necessary.Suppose you’re accumulating wealth, you've now come into 9k, and you're considering upping six Flying Weapons because you think you'd like to play a Flying Titan deck down the road. If you upgrade them for 1500 each and then win upped Animate Weapons before you need them for your deck idea, you'll sell excess copies for 1157 each. Which means you've thrown 1500 - 1157 = 343 electrum in the garbage for each. And the waste adds up quickly.
A number of players buy all unupped non-rare cards as soon as possible. I agree it'd be nice not to have to click over to the bazaar whenever I'm missing a card I need but you have to recognize that you're paying a substantial convenience charge. For each unupped card you buy, later win, and sell the excess copy, you spent about 40% more for that card than you needed to. And the waste adds up quickly.
Another important reason not to upgrade cards without reason is that having electrum on hand gives you versatility if you suddenly need something. Put another way, if you have 45,000 electrum, you have enough dry powder to use any fully upgraded 30-card deck you'd like. By not upgrading cards you effectively have access to
all upgraded cards should the need arise.
In conclusion too many players complain about FG grinding and then turn around and throw electrum away by buying, selling, and upgrading cards unnecessarily. Many veterans follow the above rules of thumb; I know of one who currently has 500,000 spare electrum and fewer unupped cards than upped cards. Follow the above rules of thumb to maximize your deckbuilding options.
