This article is a transcript of an interview recorded on September 16, 2023.

Javeer: I started playing Sorare about three years ago. Around that time, I had just begun on another blockchain game, NBA Top Shot. I am not a basketball fan, but I really enjoyed NBA Top Shot and the hype around it. I just thought to myself, if there was a football equivalent of TopShot, I will go 100% into it. I did not realize that Sorare had already been operating for over a year and a half before NBA Topshot. I was in a few crypto and NFT Discord groups at the time. I don’t remember the exact one but I was very actively following the Ethereum and Bitcoin community groups online and there was one member in the group who posted about Sorare, a football based NFT game. I used his link and signed up to Sorare to suss it out. I was literally like, “Wow, exactly what I have been waiting for. This is about football with dynamics comparable to NBA Top Shot; this is just so cool”. BUT… at the same time a voice in my head was also very skeptical because I know first hand in crypto, Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc, you need to be very careful in the projects you participate in. If you interact with something that isn't legitimate(i.e. a scam), that could end up with your entire wallet cleaned up by a scammer. So as a result, I tried to stagger my start in the game and my first thing was just to verify that Sorare was actually a legitimate platform with people who are working with good intentions and genuinely motivated about football. And yeah, as soon as I verified that Nicolas and the team were very legitimate and serious about football(through their interactions online), I decided to dive in and have not looked back since.

Boris: I have checked your SorareData profile, and I saw that you registered in November 2020. Did you arrive with a specific budget?

Javeer: I did not prepare a budget to start, but initially, my idea on Sorare was to look for young players and get some players with potential. Get those players early, and build from there. The initial thought was “when you have good young players, you can grow a gallery on a good budget—not too big, you don’t have to spend too much, and you should be fine”. But I quickly realized that young players are not always the top-performing players. I needed to add experienced players to the young I had. A problem that I had was buying players from different leagues and they were not all playing in the same game week but at that time, there were not that many tutorials about how to play Sorare, properly. So, yeah, it was all about trial and error. But, because I live in Japan, I decided to focus on Japan. I was familiar but I did not have a big knowledge of Japanese football at that time. I would definitely say I knew little compared to now in regard to Japanese football. Sorare really got me hyped about J-League and K-League so I focused on the Asian markets and then planned to build up a stronger gallery that could be competitive.

First cards

Javeer: Pedro Chirivella. I knew this player quite well because he was in the Liverpool academy. I am a big Liverpool fan, and Chirivella just got transferred to Nantes, so I was like, “Okay, I am gonna get that card.” I went straight out and bought Chirivella. He was a pretty young player, and he ended up being a good buy.

Boris: What was your approach regarding the game strategy? What were your division targets?

Javeer: I decided to go into J-League more and focus on Asia. When I purchased a card of Mitoma, he was playing very well in the J-League and I wanted to build a team around him.

Initially, without setting myself a budget, I did not necessarily make available the most capital to buy the cards of these players l. Finally, in my mind, I put a solid amount of capital into buying these cards. I bought one Unique very early on, but everyone knows that if you want to compete in Unique you need to have at least 5 good Uniques on top of a few more; you can’t have only one Unique and expect to play with it(an example of how much I didn't understand the game in the beginning). I focused on Kawasaki Frontale, and Mitoma did very well for me. I got my first win in Asia, nothing special, just a Tier 2 win, but I was so excited to finally win and, for me, it really convinced me that I was moving in the right direction. And, then I got an offer for the Mitoma card. A manager offered me 0.3 ETH for the Mitoma card that I had, maybe less; in USD it might have been about 500 USD, that was good money for this Mitoma card at the time which I had purchased closer to 100 USD off of secondary market(note: Mitoma 2020 Rare card purchased for €91. Sold for €469). So I decided to sell and take profit to spread that profit across a few good cards that could do well for me. I was able to bring in 4 or 5 cards thanks to that sale and build more competitive lineups. And then, sudden news, Liverpool are announced to be coming onto the Sorare platform, and that, for me personally, was crazy. As a Liverpool fan since very early, I was like, “I NEED to get my hands on those cards”. So, I liquidated crypto investments that I had elsewhere. When Liverpool launched in Sorare, I just went all in and got some of the earliest cards from Liverpool. I started competing in Champion Europe in addition to Asia.

Boris: So your choices were more oriented around the regions and scarcity rather than the divisions because the divisions' choices are pretty limited.

Javeer: That’s right. If I could go back, one thing I would have done differently… I would have gone straight into Super Rare. Because Super Rare would have been a very good level to go into long term(best balance between scarce cards and the fun we love from Sorare IMO). But I simply can’t go back in time (laughter).

Boris: So then, what were the major evolutions in your strategy since you started the game?

Javeer: There was one MAJOR catalyst in my gallery very early on that I was able to utilize. I am sure you remember early on, there were David Beckham cards in the PSG kit. I bought one of those cards quick fast when I started. I don’t know why the seller was selling so low. Around 90 USD; I got a very nice deal. I was like “Jesus, I got a David Beckham card, I can’t use it in SO5, there is no utility, but someone is going to want this card one day”. And I think just around the Gary V. boom, there was a big whale that came onto the platform, and he was just buying cards for fun; I don’t remember the username, I need to check SorareData to find it out. As soon as that manager came onto the platform, I listed my David Beckham card for 1.5ETH. He/she bought the listing within 20 minutes(Note: David Beckham 16/100 card purchased for €93.Sold for €2314). I do not see anybody talking about these Beckham cards anymore. I don’t know if people are holding onto them, maybe they will have collectible value later, but, for me, that was another win in a different way. I was not necessarily winning at SO5, but I won in the market. And I was able to take that money to put into other cards, like Champion Europe cards to help my gallery and get more Liverpool cards in and hopefully be more competitive in Champion Europe. Compared to the other users like YNWA(of course he got the best Liverpool cards) I got some good cards, but I did not necessarily have the best, I got Alisson. I did not have Trent early on before getting him later. Robertson I bought because he was so cheap. Matip, Jota, Henderson the same. So, for me, with that Liverpool stack I was just playing more or less the same stack every week. I knew that stack was not good enough to win every week, but it was gonna hit eventually. I won All-Star Rare with a stack of Alisson, Matip, Jota, and Coutinho with the Barcelona shirt, so again, for me it was just: “I know I am not continuously winning, but if I can just stay consistent with my stack, it’s gonna hit eventually, and I can have the success that way”, and I was happy with that during that period in my time playing Sorare.

Boris: What are the next evolutions you would like to make?

Javeer: Right now I would love to compete in Super Rare more. I have Super Rare cards, but one of the changes that Sorare made was to enter Super Rare; you now have to have a full set of 5 Super Rare, and you can’t now utilize the one Rare card as a GK or another position in the Super Rare division. I did not have a Super Rare GK, so I just want to add more goalkeepers at a Super Rare level. I just have one that is playing, which is Zion Suzuki, at Saint Truiden in Belgium. That’s something I was looking at to see if I could get good talent in early, and hopefully, I can capitalize on Super Rare more.

Boris: I have just checked, the 1st place in All-Star brought you a Maignan.

Javeer: Yes, that is right. It's a great card to have. I don’t have an AC Milan stack, but I have added a Calabria. So, I now have Maignan and Calabria as a Defensive stack. I am now targeting the division Champion Europe Rare Pro because I got a Minamino Super Rare, and he is doing quite well, so I am trying to build around that. I think I can get some success going in that direction. It seems like Monaco and PSG will fight in Ligue 1 so I am hoping Minamino keeps scoring well so I can continue to compete.

Boris: How do you sell?

Javeer: It is a good question. I am definitely amongst one of the slowest ones to sell. I can hold a card because I don’t panic. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad. I will give you an example of a bad time. Coutinho, after getting that win, I should have sold. His price has just continued to freefall. I could have sold his card for 0.5 ETH and got a 0.3 ETH profit. Now I think it is always nice to consider selling after you get a good win with a card. I think it is a great time. I think it is also good for your mental. Sometimes we sell a card, and we regret it. If you get a win with a card and you sell in the success, it is a double win, I can let this card go with good conscience. I have seen excellent managers doing that, and I think that I need to do that more.

Another tip I would say is don’t have a fear that you can’t buy a certain card again. I think many people get stressed because they feel, “If I sell this card, I am not going to be able to buy it at a later point again”. But no. If you are growing your gallery in the right way an opportunity to bring that card back will open up for you in the market eventually. Big market dips occur too. You will have opportunities. I can use the example of when I sold my Mitoma for $500 at the time. I was thrilled! I could use that money to buy new cards. However I already knew clearly I wanted to buy that card again(or win it as a reward). It just wasn't happening for me. After I sold, Mitoma killed it in the J-League more than ever. I wanted the card more than ever!... It pained me. Until he finally moved to Europe. When Mitoma made the move to Belgium, a lot of managers panic sold because they thought that he wasn't going to make it in Belgium and that he would not succeed in Europe. I saw a small opportunity to get a Mitoma card back and I took it. It was a year or more later, but I got it. Mitoma card is doing great for my gallery right now. So don’t think you will never be able to own a card again. You will. It will come around. We have also seen the same pattern with Mbappé(depending on who you ask).

Boris: That’s nice. You wanted to speak about certain topics so I let you go for that.

Javeer: Sorare released the 3D card design, and the AR is the capability to project the card and make it appear in a room. I think the team deserves credit for being creative about this type of thing. When they mentioned 3D cards, I think many users, including me, were like: “What’s gonna be so special about 3D cards?” I think this Augmented Reality is cool, and it definitely is slightly gimmicky but it is a cool gimmick. It is the type of thing that people who don’t play Sorare may see on social media and it catches their initial curiosity about the platform. Perhaps we can get more users in that way. So, for managers who have been players for many years, I don’t think it's something that special at all, but I think that for the wider football community on social media, it is exciting. We might get more interest coming in if it can develop.

I also wanted to speak about potential new leagues. I’m excited about this because, since EPL, we have not received any new league announcements. There are people hoping for Saudi. I personally think Saudi is going to be announced for next season because of the amount of European profile players that have gone there. I am Australian and I am really desperate for the Australian league. I don’t think this league will affect the market because it is such a small league(player/squad size wise) relative to every other league Sorare supports. But I think that it can be a really good addition. Also, Australia just hosted the Women's World Cup recently so there is momentum to leverage football more. I think when we look at all the leagues that are on Sorare, we still don’t have a full set of teams for Portuguese league, that is huge. We don’t have the full set of Ligue 1 either; Sorare is from France, so their home league… They need to get those teams licensed too.

What do you think? What would you like to see in terms of new leagues?

Boris: For me, the more leagues, the better. I think it is a nice bet to take to buy cards playing in Saudi; I believe this league will arrive at some point. Maybe I am wrong. In 2-3 months, when no one speaks about this, I think it can be a good move to buy these cards and use or sell them in the future.

How do you prioritize the divisions you play? I know that for people with big galleries, it means more players to follow.

Javeer: It’s a good question. In the European summer, I really focus on Asia Rare Pro. It’s a division where I have the most chance of winning a high-tier card. Then, I will build into Asia Rare, Cap 240, and All-Star. That’s in summer.

When all the leagues are playing, I am slowly shifting to All-Star, but I know that the Benfica and St Petersburg stacks have some really good teams, and I am not sure that my combination of cards can compete. Right now, my focus is Champion Europe Rare. I am quite happy to stay in Champion Europe Rare. Then, I like Champion Europe Rare Pro, then the Cap, and then All-Star.

I would like to prioritize All-Star when all the leagues are live. It takes take time to compete there.

Boris: Let’s speak only about Champion Europe Rare. What I wanted to know, and I will explain to you why I have this question, is what is the strategy that you adapt when building Champion Europe Rare. Do you recommend buying a pool of cards and keeping this roster for 3 months, 6 months and keeping ETH in your wallet to make trades? And what number of cards do you recommend to be competitive in Champion Europe? I want to help someone who wants to play only in this division just arriving in Sorare. I would like to know what is the most optimal. For now, I recommend 20 players and keep them at least 2 years to benefit from their XP.

Javeer: I think, I like your strategy. If you can get 10 to 20 players as a pool to pick from, that’s a good start. But you need to have maybe 3 stand-out players who are gonna be those set picks that you choose most weeks. And I think for me, it’s important that they are not all from the same team. I think stacks are really important, but I think if you have 3 stacks in your gallery, Toulouse, Brighton, and a team stronger like Arsenal, that pool of 3 teams to choose from… I think it will give you enough variation to pick strong cards depending on their opponents and just benefit from their matchups. If you are just picking a stack from 1 team… Simply, there is only one ball on the pitch. You will probably have 4 players scoring well, but you have risks that they also do not score high. So you want all your players collecting AA to be in a good place. The way the Sorare system is right now, to rank high, you need to back up decisives. You can’t do well if you don’t have players hitting those AAs. I will give you an example. I am actually looking into Toulouse now just as a hedge against the other stacks that I have in my gallery…But with regard to Brighton. I have got Mitoma at Brighton and Fati, who just moved to Brighton. I can use that to balance my Liverpool stack. I like to play 4 cards + 1 from another team or 3 + 2, depending on the matchup. I hope that helps.

Boris: Of course. I forgot to mention that, of course, it depends on the budget, it depends on how will use the cards, and in which division you can put them, these are factors that will impact your strategy.

Javeer: How about you?

Boris: Limited level, it’s only to finance the SorareInfo project, I consider that this money is lost and that all the players will be given out via giveaways or events physically. For example, I want to make a video in Barcelona, you shoot with the foot in a basketball ball, and if you succeed to enter in a basketball hoop, then I give you a Pedri card. It’s more from a communication perspective; I don’t have attachments or expectations for these cards. Now, all my cards, I got them for free because I cashed out; I am playing freeroll, it is a bit different now because I don’t have the pressure regarding the valuation of my gallery. I really want to focus on U23 Rare in 2026-2027, win good rewards, and then buy young Super Rare to compete again in a few years in U23 Super Rare. In Limited, it’s pretty easy because I have the budget; I don’t have to think because I have a whole stack of PSG with Donnarumma, Hakimi, Vitinha, and Mbappé + Schlotterbeck + Kimmich. Halaand, I will wait, as he is not U23, to buy his card. It’s pretty accessible for me, even if it is hard to win. I don’t really care about the winnings because I know that these cards are gonna be for someone else, I am not really engaged on my personal level, it’s more for the community and to understand the new managers when they want to approach the division, to be playing there, I can understand how does it feel as they are a new manager and I think as a content creator it’s essential to play. If I don’t play to run the business I want to run with SorareInfo, it can remove some legitimacy. I see it like this, and for Rare, I don’t know, but I feel it’s pretty competitive, and to have a competitive Champion Europe, it’s another budget, so I will keep my Limited because I don’t want to spend any money.

Javeer: I really respect the managers who are hitting the podiums in Limited. It’s so competitive—more competitive than any other division.

Boris: Maybe there are stuff you wanted to mention that we did not or not?

Javeer: No, I think that’s great. It’s cool to see people like you continue to make content and build the Sorare community because I think many content creators have been really important and vital to the success of Sorare, and it is still going strong. Are you still as excited as day 1 when you started?

Boris: It is a bit different because I did not have to manage the website and a lot of content creation. Now, it’s another level. I am running a media, I am not only playing Sorare. It is a different excitement. For Sorare the game, I am still excited but, of course, much less because, first of all, I have much less money involved. So this is for sure a factor. I think in 2 or 3 years, if I can get returns regularly and share them with the community, that would be amazing, but I don’t put all my expectations on that so as not to be disappointed. On the other hand, for the content creation, I am much more excited than when I started because the content creation increased the excitement because I saw the statistics growing. I see that the people are reading. I cannot say the same stuff I was saying at the beginning because many more people are reading, and the Boris from SorareInfo is different from the Boris manager of RoadToD1. As more people follow, I need to be more careful about what I say. It was hard to make a difference between SorareInfo saying something and Boris saying it because the community did not receive it the same. For Sorare, I am less excited because I have experienced really big booms that were really crazy.

Javeer: That was crazy, yes.

Boris: As a side project, on the other hand, I have never been that excited because it’s just the beginning. I am starting to receive requests from sponsors to advertise, so let’s see how it goes.

If we speak in 2 years, what would you like Sorare to have done?

Javeer: That’s a really good question. I want to see Sorare even more mainstream than it is now, and I want Sorare to “reimagine” the scoring system and take it to a new level. Sorare is now relying on Opta, but I would love Sorare to be one of the mover shakers and bring more player data via AI, working with another data company or working with Opta on a special level. We rely on Opta a lot, and Sorare has to open up more possibilities for managers.

Hall of Fame

These 5 cards/players bought me the most success early on to now. Matip has been injured most recently but he was an amazing differential for me against other LFC stacks at times. Vinicius was a star player I bought early on(I had a 2020 edition) but sold, and was able to win back as a reward(sigh of relief!). Araki's unique I got just before he exploded in the J-League