SoRare: A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Once upon a time, sports fans of every age would hunt and collect the rarest sports cards. Depending on the card’s rarity, these collectibles could later earn their owners’ immense fortunes.

SoRare is bringing sports card collections into the virtual gaming space. Players can choose their favorite sport and start collecting players just as their forebearers once did from sweet packets and magazines.

Below is our guide to SoRare, where we’ll guide you through the process of getting started, what to expect, and a few insights to help you succeed on the platform.

SoRare

Collecting cards is as nostalgic a practice in the 21st century as stamp collecting was in the 20th. The launch of Play-to-Earn (P2E) gaming and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has seen a cavalcade of card collecting games, including the ever-popular Pokemon-inspired Axie Infinity variety.

SoRare is a global NFT fantasy football platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. The game already has a league of loyal fans, with football players and NFT enthusiasts flocking to the game. The excitement in the air is enough to stir a world cup audience to a Mexican wave!

It’s the first game to use SoRare branded blockchain cards. Blockchain allows users to authenticate their digital player cards as we did in good ol’ 1999. You can buy, sell, and trade cards with other online users. Officially licensed and representing real-life footballers for a particular season, the game tracks the individual performance of footballers from 23 leagues. Players participate in competitions and earn either cash or Ether crypto – as Matt Tudge reported for P2E Diary back in May.

• Collect officially licensed digital NFT cards featuring your favorite Major League Baseball players

• Build lineups from the cards in your collection and enter them into a variety of tournaments

• Score points based on the real-life performance of the players in your lineup

• Your player cards earn XP when you compete in a tournament with them, making them more powerful.

• Compete for rewards with other fans around the world

• Buy, sell, trade, and collect your favorite cards with complete freedom

– SoRare: MLB Guide

The platform concept comes from actual on-pitch events in football competitions worldwide, including the most significant leagues in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America. Major continental events such as the Champions League and international competitions also feature.

Joining The Platform

As SoRare isn’t a gambling platform, there are no lengthy security checks, no bank details to enter, and no initial deposit required. So, it’s pretty straightforward.

There are no deposit bonuses for new users on SoRare. Still, there are referral links that are worth a look –and they’re available anywhere SoRare-related content exists, including on YouTube, Twitter, and every guide out there.

Note – all SoRare referral links offer the same thing and don’t include Rare Cards. However, you may still see some blogs and social media users falsely promoting this.

Kick Off!

Users trade players, enter tournaments, and compete for prizes worth thousands of pounds weekly. Furthermore, cards are limited in supply, meaning owning the best players is rewarding, both on the pitch and when trading!

To kick off your SoRare experience, the fundamental bases to cover are:

• Build a Collection of the Best Cards available.
• Enter Tournaments and Win Prizes, such as Cash or More Cards.
• Buy and Sell on the Transfer Market for a Profit.

The higher your players move through the rankings, the better your prizes.

To get setup to start your journey:

• Create your first team. Sign up to SoRare for the first time and receive ten standard cards immediately.
• Enter your first team in the Rookie League, which is only for new players—Managers.
• Build your first team. You’ll need to choose five cards in total.
• Enter up to four leagues, or play for four weeks, and there’s a promotion to New Manager. Congratulations!
• Build your team with playing cards you’ve won, or trade for some on the Transfer Market.

One of the best features of SoRare SO5 in the early game is the number of resources available to help you build up your skills as a Manager.

Key Features

Leagues

Participants may enter the Tournament of their choice by submitting a Team of five Collectibles representing five players and containing at least one goal, one defender, one midfielder, and one forward and selecting a captain from the submitted Collectibles.

Different Tournaments depend on the scarcity of the Collectibles composing the Teams. Participation in these Tournaments is subject to restrictions in terms of Team composition:

• All-Star League: The All-Star League contains several Divisions in which you can play with any combination of Player Cards (Unique, Super Rare, or Rare).
• Under 23 League: The Under 23 League contains several Divisions. Users can play with any combination of Player Cards (Unique, Super Rare, or Rare) whose real-life age is 23 years old or less.
• Regional Leagues: The Regional Leagues contain several Divisions in which you can play with any combination of Player Cards (Unique, Super Rare, or Rare) who are eligible for that region (Europe, America, or Asia)
• Training League: Training League contains several Divisions in which you can play with any combination of Player Cards (Unique, Super Rare, or Rare)
• Rookie League: The Rookie League was, at one time, only available to new players for eight weeks. Now it’s open indefinitely, so players can keep stacking common cards with rewards until they feel confident in buying some cards and progressing through the divisions.
• Weekly Challenges: Weekly Challenges are one-off Tournaments. You can play with any combination of Player Cards (Unique, Super Rare, or Rare), providing they fit the entry criteria.

Please Note: The 4 Divisions in each League structure have entry criteria based on your “Team Power” to ensure managers of similar strengths compete closely.

Cards

Common 

SoRare’s referral links often offer new players a selection of ten Common Cards to get users started.

Common Cards are not NFTs. Simply put, they exist within SoRare’s game but not within the Blockchain. Players can’t sell or trade these cards or use them in other applications outside SoRare. There are no limits to their scarcity, and they help players learn the game without risking revenue.

Although the Common Card isn’t tradeable or up for sale, it is still valuable.

As a beginner using these cards, players enter beginner contests In the Rookie League and begin navigating the fantasy football game. New users are given eight entries to The Rookie League, with a guaranteed payout of at least one Common Card. If players make it to the Top Three finish across these entries, they win a Rare SoRare card – A scarce card within the Blockchain that is tradeable.

Limited

Limited Cards are yellow, and 1/1000 is available to collect for play in Division 5. Moreover, these cards are available for Global All-Star, Global U23, Champion Europe, Challenger Europe, Champion Asia, and Champion America games.

Rare

Rare cards are red and the second lowest rarity, with a maximum of 100 cards available each season.

How Does SoRare Work?

Players earn points based on how well they play during the league rounds. Several factors affect the way it scores. These include: minutes played, goals scored, assists made, clean sheets, and yellow and red cards.

In simple terms, the better the performance of your players during real soccer matches, the better the score they will secure for your Sorare lineup.

The number of points a soccer card receives can change depending on the amount of XP accumulated. Cards can have more or fewer XP points for many reasons, including the age of the card (if you field cards from the current season, you will get more XP points), how often you use your fielded cards, and the minutes played per game.

SoRare’s Weekly Rewards System

It’s time to explore one of the core reasons gamers flock to the Sorare platform: the prizes.

Weekly rewards represent the beating heart of the Sorare game. Users who participate in different competitions have the opportunity to grab not only playing cards but also variable amounts of the cryptocurrency Ethereum. SoRare rewards are additional depending on the Tournament.

For example, the top three finishers in the All-Stars global championship receive large amounts of ETH and a rare quality players. There’s a lot of loot to win, and players will need a competitive team to score such goals.

The top 10% of participating users take home rare players that can be used in tournaments or sold for the respective value in Ethereum. There are also some “threshold prizes” that go to players who score a minimum of 205 points (for a prize of 0.01 ETH) and 250 points (a reward of 0.02 ETH). These thresholds are more available to beginner players.

Select Your Team

To get going, players need to add some Ethereum to their SoRare wallet to purchase players. Users will always use Ethereum cryptocurrency when buying players and receiving a counterpart when selling them.

There are two ways to deposit and add Ethereum to a personal Sorare account.

The option is to Ramp, which is an excellent method for beginners who are not yet familiar with cryptocurrency transactions, as it quickly adds funds using a credit or debit card directly. Ramp has disadvantages, however, as players will receive a slightly lower amount of Ethereum due to commission costs.

The second method uses a digital wallet like MetaMask – a better option suited to more experienced cryptocurrency users intending to make larger deposits. MetaMask allows players to buy the amount of Ethereum they will deposit in SoRare directly from an exchange such as Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, etc.

Once an account has sufficient Ethereum balance, a player is ready to acquire their first SoRare kicker.

Buying From The Transfer Market

Bidding isn’t for everyone. It can bring out a lot of anxiety or feed into gambling behaviors. It can be awesome, but it can also be quite stressful at the closing stages of an auction.

To purchase existing cards from the Transfer Market:

• Hover over the Market tab and select the Best Value, Latest listing, #1 serial, or Transfer watch.
• Use the filters on the left to find the card you want.
• When you are ready, click on the Buy button.
• Choose your payment method, define your bid amount, and click on Buy to buy the player; please note that there are fees (10%) for direct purchase with a credit card on the Transfer Market.
• You may have to validate card payments via 3DS (authentication system to detect fraud); open your bank’s mobile app, or check your phone (SMS) to validate the transaction.
• For payments using your Sorare wallet, choose ETH as your payment method, then define your Bid, ensure you have sufficient ETH in your wallet, and click on Buy to buy your player.

SoRare also has an option where players can list their cards for sale on a Trading Market. There are no auctions between managers and a simple pricing structure to get the card. To Buy from other managers, press the Transfer Market and then choose the ‘Manager Sales’ option, which will bring up all the cards that other managers are selling. Players can pick any card they want to purchase and buy them. The prices are fixed, with each listing active for two days.

Buying From The SoRare Auction

To purchase new cards via Sorare auction:

• Hover over the Market tab and select Cards, Bundles, or #1 serial.
• Use the filters on the left to find the card you want.
• When you are ready, click on the Bid button.
• A pop-up asking for a credit card or ETH payment will appear.
• Choose your payment method, define your bid amount, and click on Bid to place your Bid.
• You may have to validate card payments via 3DS (authentication system to detect fraud); open your bank’s mobile app, or check your phone (SMS) to validate the Bid.
• For payments using your Sorare wallet, choose ETH as your payment method, then define your Bid, ensure you have sufficient ETH in your wallet, and then click on Bid to place your Bid.

Scoring on SoRare: SO5

SoRare player scores for each game correlate to their real-life performances, including a Decisive Score (DS), All-Around Score (AA), and the XP bonus a card has, plus a captain’s 20% XP boost if applicable. The lowest score possible by a player is 0, while the maximum score caps at 100 points. Cards from the current season have a 5% season XP boost, but older cards lose that bonus once the minting is complete for the next season. However, they retain their training bonus.

A player’s decisive score relies on any event directly impacting a game. Moreover, this includes goals, assists, red cards, own goals, an error that led to a goal, last-man tackles, goal-line clearances, penalties conceded, and penalties saved.

Players can also achieve a decisive score award when they start (35 points) and come off the bench (25). Clean sheets, however, are a part of an all-around score for 10 points and are not considered as decisive for defenders. Goalkeepers get a decisive award for keeping a clean sheet.

The decisive scores are awarded based on levels, with each positive action increasing the player level and vice versa for a negative action. A player starts at level 0, and their score cannot be lower than the minimum guaranteed at their level, regardless of the all-around score.

For example, A player with two goals, one assist, and a red card will end up on level 2 (70 points). Similarly, a player involved in an error that leads to a goal will be on level -1.

What Is an All-Around Score on Sorare?

SoRare calculates an All-Round from the performance metrics during a game that isn’t considered as decisive but is just as valuable when evaluating a player’s overall impact on a game. Actions include big chances missed, shots on target, shots saved, clearances, etc., divided into general, goalkeeping/defense, possession, and attack.

There is no cap on the AA score of a player; it can range anywhere from negative digits to over 100, although a player can’t score above 100. It is a bit more challenging to track.

Bear with us, we know it looks crazy, but it does play off. Defenders can earn additional bonus points based on their defensive contributions, such as interceptions, won tackles, and net duels.

Bonuses

The bonuses divide into three categories:

• Double-Double (4 points): At least two from two of the three relevant categories (e.g., two interceptions, two tackles, but fewer than two net duels).
• Triple-Double (6 points): At least two from all three categories (e.g., three interceptions, two tackles, three net duels).
• Triple-Triple (12 points): At least three from all three categories (e.g., three interceptions, four tackles, three net duels.

If one of your players has two games in the same game week (e.g., one club game + one International game, or two club games), only one will count by counted Sorare. These are some of the rules in case a player has a double game week:

• If a player is in the lineup for the first game, even if he remains on the bench and does not play, this appearance will count toward Sorare scoring.
• If the player is not in the lineup for the first game, but he is in the lineup for the second game, their appearance in the second game will count toward Sorare scoring.
• Only the first game will count if the player is in the lineup for both games.

Tip: Players that are good at generating a high AA score tend to have the highest floors in the game and are perfect if you want to build a threshold grinding team for the All-Star Rare league.

5 Quick SoRare Tips for Beginners

1. Train your Players 

Each game week, it’s worth entering all your players in the training leagues unless they are in the main tournaments. Even if they don’t have a match, they will still earn something called XP, which gradually increases the power and, ultimately, the value of a card over time. You can submit training teams via the ‘mix’ tab in the ‘Play’ section.

2. Scout Players & Use SorareData

The best tool for scouting and trying to value players is SorareData. It is free to use and offers far more information on each player than you get on Sorare itself. Players can see what fantasy scores everyone posts over the last 40 games and every previous exchange price. In the early phase of deciding targets, players may spend more time here than on SoRare itself. While it can be time-consuming, proper scouting can reap the rewards.

3. Find your Edge 

SoRare is a global platform with football in more than 20 different countries covered. That creates a unique environment, and if you are highly knowledgeable about one of the less popular leagues, they can find a real edge. Few managers on Sorare are experts on the K-League or J-League. However, many still regularly buy and sell Asian players and enter Asian tournaments. Even if you’re not, you may wish to decide to get into one of the more minor leagues, watch some matches and educate yourself. It shouldn’t be long before you have an advantage on the market. It’s also worth noting that many players in Asia and the Americas score better than some of the elite European stars but are often cheaper to purchase.

4. Take Advantage of Short-Termism 

There is a large amount of short-term thinking on SoRare. Managers often focus on ensuring they have the right cards to field teams in the next matchday. If you’re willing to play the longer game, buying players out of season or merely those who are injured or out of form is a strategy that can pay off. Typically, players skyrocket in value when they hit form or as the start of their respective seasons draws close. You can take advantage of these shifts with proper scouting and research. In a rapidly growing market, significant returns are possible in just a few months if you get it right!

5. Be Careful with Decimal Points

Maybe obvious, but many players often sell for ten times their value. This is because somebody has mistakenly typed 0.2 ETH instead of 0.02. That’s a difference of between 60 and 600 US Dollars at the time of writing. Also, be wary of a few managers who deliberately offer 10% of the going rate to trick people into selling. There is a block button. Don’t be afraid to use it.

Conclusion

There is more to Sorare than just the S05 Tournament. The company encourages community members and enthusiasts to create their side games with real prizes from Sorare itself! Moreover, it includes free-to-play SoRare Academy and Captain SoRare side games. SoRare Mega and the SoRaredata Cup, where you can enter the cards you own, are some of the few.

It’s free to join and offers players opportunities to try it out before investing in any currency. We hope this helps you get started!