<center>![Screen Shot 2018-08-23 at 6.15.04 PM.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmYtz36fMeKcAfhtrCZgtzW24JqBm72MjCwLtn5YKWoQfr)
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<center>[Source](https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-gameplay-mechanics-revealed)</center>

<div class=text-justify>The past week was interesting one from a players perspective as the announcement of the broadening of the game to include a new community was something to gather our heads around and consider the implications. Personally, it came down for me to make a decision on whether or not this was something I wanted to pursue further or just ride the current wave I am in. As I started to watch all the comments around the ecosystem and consider what the future may look like I mainly focused on the potential of an expanded player base that will allow us to further engage around even more ecosystems and communities. This was enough to get me excited and decide to really go all in and work on what will now become Splinterlands. Therefore, I will also work on the rebranding of my Sunday posts soon to Splinterlands Sundays!<p>

Considering the potential opportunity to engage with more players and also the continuation of the expanding game itself, I really worked hard this week to play more than my average which has definitely proven to benefit me rather quickly. For example, I am already in Diamond Division I which is a Division I haven’t reached in over three seasons. It has allowed me to continue to learn strategies to better matchup against players and their cards in both the seasonal rankings and in tournaments. I played in at least one tournament per day this week and today alone I will be playing in about four when I wrap this post up. Playing more has allowed me to really get a feel of the different strategies necessary to win. It has also taught me the areas where my collection was lacking when competing in some of the more challenging matches I have been playing.

<center>![Screen Shot 2019-04-08 at 10.17.47 PM.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmZe3xvvcHUauJSY7S58y38CTKMXxg7uZxvssXYwppjfG3)
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My focus continues to be on how to place consistently in the tournaments that we are seeing. As more tournaments continue to appear with new sponsorships and the growing ecosystem, I wanted to ensure that I am able to compete with them whenever I want. One area I have seen that I have been successful in tournaments have been those that require Gold Foil Cards to playing. Because I have a number of Gold Cards due to the amount of booster packs I have purchased, I felt that it was an area where I can focus and improve my game on. Therefore, I headed over to the @peakmonsters marketplace and had a shopping spree of Gold Cards to improve my collection. While I was able to purchase a few rare and epic cards, my focus was to acquire the rare Summoners that I was still missing. With this purchase, I became the proud owner of not only a full set of the Rare Summoners but also a Lord Arianthus.

<center>![Screen Shot 2019-04-08 at 10.18.11 PM.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmTqo6U1Ds4MpcQKMUW4YUXUkJwnctXS7Cqk9KDxQHWtxA)
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I also decided to pick up a couple of legendary cards in order to take a few towards max level in an effort to improve my power in the challenges that await me as I grow farther into Diamond Division this Season. The most expensive was the Hydra which is the card I have never been able to acquire via a booster pack. Therefore, I purchased enough to have a higher level one ready for battle. Also, a couple of weeks ago when I purchased the Legendary Summoners I had miscalculated the amount of one in particular that I needed from the Earth Splinter. While expensive, I have seen how powerful the card is in tournaments so I also bought one.

<center>![Screen Shot 2019-04-08 at 10.18.27 PM.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmdvbFzSFYKLsYqkwxTmfWGje96Rh7a9i6btqQAqzBcWrF)
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These cards allowed me to continue my growth within the Diamond Division which was amazing to see as in previous seasons it was becoming very difficult once in the Division to climb the leaderboard. However, the cards were definitely helping. I was able to also see that some of the tournaments focused on Alpha cards were relatively good with me as my collection continues to be focused on them. However, I started to see that I was unable to use the newly acquired and now at max level Legendary cards I had in my collection. After checking closely, I realize that it was due to the fact that some of my Summoners were at level six. Summoners are needed to be at least level seven in order for Legendary cards to be played at their max level. Therefore, I dug back into my wallet and went back into the marketplace to acquire some Summoners. As expected, the Summoners are more in demand and therefore require a higher price. However, I was looking forward to using my new powerful cards and therefore I purchased enough of each to be able to use them.

<center>![Screen Shot 2019-04-08 at 10.15.36 PM.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmQVMpmvbQpiUi79Ege9htQy3cVFBbcs1d25oWnrUp5J2f)
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After the purchase, I immediately went to my collection to combine the cards and start to use them immediately. Unfortunately, I came to soon realize the mistake I had made. After searching for my new purchased and validating that the exchange was processed, I sadly found out that I had set the wrong filters on the marketplace and instead of buying Alpha Sunmoners, I bought Beta Summoners!  Talk about spending money! Therefore, I had another decision to make: should I now use these newly acquired cards and just convert my Alphas into Betas or go back into the marketplace and buy the correct ones. I am very proud and jealous of my Alpha Card Collection so I decided to go back into my wallet yet again and go ahead and purchase the correct ones. On the bright side, I am surely to have a good amount of cards to benefit from through delegation when the time comes as Summoners will always be on demand.

<center>![Screen Shot 2019-04-13 at 9.20.42 PM.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmehMukZgZxuBGQcdvZpsTJEbUGq3LzhKYf3i5vJ7ryYwQ)
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These purchases have been the largest I have made ever in the game. I believe that I may look back at this time and be happy that I made these choices as I have already started to see the benefit of my new cards from Ranked play as I have my eye on Champions Division with a little more than a day left in the Season! I am also seeing my rank get closer into the top hundred in the leaderboard which will be the first time I have been there since the inaugural season. I feel confident that these changes will help me get there which will lead to more Reward Edition Cards at the end of the season as well as more rewards from the continued tournaments that I play in. I continue to apply my learnings from life in that the cheese is always moving so we need to adapt to changes and follow in order to become successful at what we want to achieve. The great thing about the ecosystem is that I am enjoying it while we do it. See you on the battlefield!</div>

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