After its original announcement back in May, Sorare: MLB has finally arrived. A recent community update revealed most of the game’s details, giving us a great insight into how this spinoff will function. We’re pleased to see that the game is in good shape, with launch dates having been secured, a host of MLB cards ready to be purchased, and strategies waiting to be put in place. Our Sorare: MLB guide gives you a good look at all the game has to offer. From rules to card scarcity, tournaments and more, we’ll give you a full rundown of what the game has to offer.
What is Sorare: MLB?
Sorare: MLB is a free-to-play, NFT fantasy baseball game played using digital player cards. You will collect these officially licensed digital NFT cards of different scarcity levels, featuring your favourite baseball stars. These cards are used to form strategic line-ups that are deployed in the many Sorare: MLB tournaments during subsequent game weeks. The points your team scores during these tournaments are directly set by the players’ real-life performances during their respective game weeks. All players who take part in tournaments earn XP, increasing their effectiveness and power. All these competitions will pit you against other players from across the globe, with a variety of rewards to be won. The Sorare: MLB marketplace allows you to buy, sell or trade digital cards with no constraints or limitations.
New Managers
All new managers who sign up for Sorare: MLB gets the opportunity to pick their favourite Common card from a selection of top-tier baseball players. The other 12 common cards are randomly selected and distributed immediately. With 13 cards in hand, you’re all set to begin strategizing and building our first line-ups. All players get a variety of players that can play in different positions. These include:
- 4 Starting Pitchers
- 2 Relief Pitchers
- 2 Corner Infielders
- 2 Middle Infielders
- 2 Outfields
Sorare: MLB Cards
Digital NFT cards in Sorare come in a variety of scarcity levels. These scarcity levels are set on the blockchain, with every card having its quantity and ownership recorded there. Furthermore, these scarcity levels also affect the tournaments you can join. Rarer cards will unlock access to the more lucrative Sorare: MLB tournaments.
All new Sorare managers get 13 common cards for free to help kickstart their collection. Common cards are at the bottom of the scarcity level pile and as such cannot be bought, sold, or traded. On the other hand, Limited, Rare, Super Rare, and Unique cards are won through tournaments our bought on the marketplace. The card scarcity levels function as follows:
- Common cards with grey colour and unlimited availability per season.
- Limited cards with yellow colour and 5,000 units available per season.
- Rare cards with red colour and 1,000 units available per season.
- Super Rare cards with blue colour and 100 units available per season.
- Unique cards with black colour and 1 unit available per season.
Despite the different scarcity levels, all Sorare cards have several elements in common. These are seamless across all scarcity levels and define a card as a genuine Sorare: MLB digital token. All Sorare: MLB cards come with:
- Player Name
- Player Photo
- Player Position
- Team Logo
- Card Season
- Serial Number
The Serial Number is crucial to mark the card’s scarcity level at Limited, Rare, Super Rare, or Unique. A couple of serial numbers on every player card at the mentioned scarcity levels make them more collectable than the rest. These are the #1 serial number and the serial number that matches the one on the player’s actual jersey. Both cards have a special design around their serial number.
Your Sorare: MLB Line-up
Any Sorare: MLB line-up you create must feature 7 players. Your selection cannot be set at random and must instead fulfil the following player positions:
- Starting Pitcher
- 1 Relief Pitcher
- 1 Corner Infielder (First baseman, third baseman, or designated hitter)
- 1 Middle Infielder (Second baseman, shortstop, or catcher)
- 1 Outfielder
- 1 Extra Hitter (Any position player)
- 1 Flex (Any position player)
Managers need to be strategic in picking the right players for the appropriate squads, as players can only take part in one squad per game week. Having multiple cards of the same player will not change this, so you need to stick by your decisions with each competition.
Getting to the Top
To calculate your player’s points in every game week competition, Sorare: MLB considers several on-field actions. These actions are transferred into game points which are compiled together for a team total. Points in Sorare: MLB are calculated in the following way:
Hitting
- Run – 3 points
- Run Batted in – 3 points
- Single – 2
- Double – 5
- Triple – 8
- Home Run – 10
- Walk – 2
- Strikeout – -1
- Stolen Base – 5
- Hit by Pitch – 2
Pitching
- Inning Pitched – 3
- Strikeout – 2
- Hit Allowed – -0.5
- Earned Run – -2
- Walk – -1
- Hit Batsman – -1
- Win – 5
- Save – 10
- Hold – 5
Game Weeks
Sorare: MLB uses Game Weeks to define its tournament cycle. Every Game Week runs for 3-4 days, giving players a bi-weekly set of competitions to enjoy. Every week, one game week runs from Monday to Thursday, while the other carries on from Friday to Sunday.
All Game Weeks in Sorare: MLB are numbered sequentially, starting from the first game week in July 2022. The game week begins 10 minutes before the first game takes place in that period. All line-ups for that respective game week lock-in when it begins. Once the game week line-ups are locked in, they cannot be changed for that game week. When the last game in that respective week comes to an end, all points are calculated, game week results finalised, leaderboards released, and rewards distributed.
Should a particular game be postponed and moved outside of its original game week, then all respective statistics will not count. Should a game get suspended, all statistics up to the point of suspension will count if the game is moved to another date within that same game week. If the suspended game is moved to a different game week, the statistics cease to count.
As soon as one Game Week begins, the next opens for registration, allowing you to start putting line-ups together and strategizing accordingly.
Sorare: MLB Tournaments
During its first season, Sorare: MLB is offering 7 distinct tournaments.
- Common All-Star
- Limited All-Star
- Limited Pro
- Rare All-Star
- Rare Pro
- Super Rare All-Star
- Unique All-Star
Tournaments are split into two categories: All-Star and Pro. The main difference between the two comes through the rewards you’re able to earn. In All-Star tournaments, managers earn more cards of that same level of scarcity, helping you to build and strengthen your weekly line-ups. On the other hand, Pro tournaments offer reduced rewards, although the cards earned here can be of an even higher scarcity level. This helps you progress onto even more tournaments, opening up more competitive opportunities along the way.
All Sorare: MLB tournaments are accessed through the game’s lobby. Here you can see all of the available tournaments, together with their respective details. At a glance, you’ll be able to tell the tournament’s name, scarcity level, rewards, and participants.
As a free-to-play game, Sorare: MLB offers players the Common All-Stars tournament. This can be played with the game’s most basic cards which are given away for free upon registration. All other tournaments require higher scarcity level cards that can be obtained through the game’s marketplace.
Limited scarcity tournaments require 7 limited cards to play. Initially, Sorare: MLB allows players to have up to 3 common cards within their limited line-up, although this number will be reduced to 2 and eventually 1 throughout the first season. Eventually, players will need to have all 7 limited cards to play. On the other hand, Rare tournaments ask for a minimum of 4 rare cards, while the other 3 can be limited cards. Similarly, Super Rare tournaments require 3 super rare cards, and the rest can be made up of rare cards. Unique tournaments need 2 unique cards, while the rest can be of super rare scarcity.
Building a Winning Squad
One of the great joys of Sorare: MLB comes with putting your team together. After having selected your desired tournament, you can start building your squad. The team selection screen will display all of the squad positions, as well as the players that can fill those respective slots. Players are sorted by the tournament’s scarcity level. This means that when competing in a Rare tournament, all rare cards will be displayed first. They are then sorted by their average Sorare points per game. You can make your pick based on the player’s season average, their card bonuses, as well as the number of matches they have in that respective game week. You’ll also be notified if any of your starting pitchers will be scheduled to start in that game week.
More advanced managers will meticulously choose players based on a myriad of elements and principles, but the game lobby gives you a more direct idea of which players might be best to field. Once the game begins, you can follow your squad’s progress in real-time. Through the game’s lobby, you’ll have a look at the current MLB games that your players are playing in, as well as you’re their respective point progress. You’ll also see how you’re doing on the tournament leaderboards, watching your live progress throughout the game week. Although you won’t be able to re-strategize halfway through the game week, the live following is a great way to check up on your team’s progress and keep up with the latest MLB scores.
Once the game week finally comes to an end, all the points are put together and the results published. If you manage to score enough points with your team, you’ll win several Sorare: MLB cards that will help you strengthen your winning squad further. As outlined before, the tournaments you take part in determine the scarcity levels of the cards you earn. These are redeemed immediately through the game’s lobby, ready for deployment in the following game week.
Advanced Tactics
Players who do not form part of any Game Week line-ups still get the opportunity to level up their stats through training. All cards are accepted in training teams, so you can set up as many squads as you can manage. Of course, there are no rewards to be won through the training programme, although your cards will get an XP boost which strengthens them for any upcoming Game Week competitions. With no one left behind, you can continue to strengthen your entire collection, no matter what tournaments you decide to enter.
XP points are used to level up your card collection. Every card has a level assigned to it which increases with any XP you earn through tournaments or training. Each new level a card reaches will increase its card score in a tournament by 0.5%. Different scarcity level cards will start at varying card levels. Limited cards begin at level 0, Rare, Super Rare, and Unique cards start at level 20, 40 and 80 respectively. Cards also get a 5% card score during their respective season. This means that cards released and used during the 2022 season will all carry that bonus. Once the 2023 season begins, the 2022 cards lose their 5% bonus, although they do retain all of the levels that they earn through XP.
XP is earned through tournaments and training in any given Game Week. This is calculated using a set formula that combines the base player’s XP score with the team’s performance. Any player that participates in a Game Week tournament earns a base of 75 XP. That figure is inflated further with the player score XP. This is calculated by multiplying the team’s overall score by 0.125. This means that if a player forms part of a team that scored 100 points, your player’s score will be 87.5 (75 + (100 x 0.125)).
Although your card’s XP rate is based on how frequently they’re included in Game Week line-ups, their XP rate also dwindles as they progress further up the level ladder. This means that the higher the card’s level, the more difficult it will be for it to reach the next level. It takes 100 XP to get from level 0 to 1, but it takes 3,600 XP to get from level 19 to 20.
The Sorare: MLB Marketplace
Higher scarcity level cards are purchased on the Sorare: MLB marketplace. There are two kinds of markets within the game, each offering a very distinct service. Both come equipped with a strong filtering system, allowing you to sift through the myriad of cards to find the one that suits you best. This can be done based on scarcity, player position, price, card level, serial number, team, player, age, season average score and average over the last 15 games.
The New Card Auctions offer players newly minted NFT cards directly from Sorare: MLB. This makes the buyers the very first owners of the card. All purchases are performed through an auction. Managers place their bids during the auction period and the manager with the highest bid at the end of the auction takes the card. You can use a series of filters to find the right card for you, before hitting the bid button. You can choose to place your bid using a credit card or ETH. Once you’ve chosen your payment method, you specify your bid’s amount and place your bid. The payment method requires validation for card payments, functioning through your banking app. On the other hand, ETH payments can be done directly through your Sorare wallet. New Card Auctions are the only way to acquire newly minted cards in Sorare: MLB.
Manager Sales is an altogether different affair. It allows Sorare: MLB managers to buy, sell and trade their card collection, by listing them on this peer-to-peer marketplace. Sales here are instant, so you can buy a card directly, without having to go through the auction process. You can use the Manager Sales’ filtering options to find your ideal card and then simply hit the buy button to purchase it. Enter the bid amount in the following section and then hit buy once again to purchase the card. Bear in mind that direct purchases always come with a 10% fee when purchasing cards with credit cards on the transfer market. Payments can be made either through credit cards or Ethereum.
A New Way to Enjoy Sorare
Sorare: MLB marks a big change in the game’s direction. It has expanded the brand beyond the confines of football, bringing a whole new sport and its fans into the equation. With all of the features that have been included at launch, Sorare: MLB promises to be yet another smash hit. It also brings about the question of what other sports the game could branch into. At WeSorare, we’re incredibly excited to dive into this new experience and can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Sorare brand.