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Steem Monsters – Lessons from the First Two Weeks by stortebeker

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steemmonsters · @stortebeker ·
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Steem Monsters – Lessons from the First Two Weeks
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<p>Just like so many other steemians, I was caught by the monster fever and started playing Steemmonsters. Collectible playing cards in the vein of Magic the Gathering, and all this based on the Steem blockchain? I just had to check it out. Also, after many months I am back where I can spend hours on-line, so why not indulge a bit in fun and games. As it turns out, I just converted a bunch of SBD to STEEM, so I was psyched to spend some of it on a starter pack, and see where it would take me. That was exactly two weeks ago. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Starting Out With the Basics</h2>
<p>For exactly 41.018 STEEM, which was $10 USD at that time, my starter pack got me the following 30 cards, all of them level one of course: &nbsp;&nbsp;The summoners of the red, blue, green, white, and black splinters and monsters from the&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
  <li>Red splinter: <em>giant roc, kobold miner, fire beetle, pit ogre</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Blue splinter: <em>pirate captain, spineback turtle, crustacean king, water elemental</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Green splinter: <em>flesh golem, goblin sorcerer, minotaur warrior, stonesplitter orc</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>White splinter: <em>feral spirit, silvershield knight, silvershield warrior, peacebringer</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Black splinter: <em>animated corpse, haunted spider, skeleton assassin, haunted spirit</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Neutral cards: <em>grumpy dwarf, elven cutthroat, centaur, cocatrice, cyclops</em></li>
</ul>
<h2>Jumping Into Battle Without Practice</h2>
<p>I have to admit that at first I was quite afraid of a ranked game, since I assumed I would lose the cards of the monsters that died in battle. As I could not find any opponents of my level who were up for a practice run, I decided that we just lived once, and marched my monsters into their first real battle. (Supposedly nobody does practice battles, and they may even get rid of that option.) I got my ass kicked royally, but I was happy to notice that <strong>I still had all my cards.</strong> So I tried again, and eventually I won.</p>
<h2>Booster Packs: Not Worth the Bother</h2>
<div class="pull-left"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/steemmonsters/cards_beta/Mushroom%20Seer.png" /></div>
<p>After playing for a couple of days, and watching the spectacular monsters my opponents used against me, I realized I needed some better cards. Seeing that my starter pack came with the bare minimum of monsters (as one would expect) I bought myself a booster pack for 8.952 STEEM worth $2 USD. The result was sobering: The five random cards I ended up with were a black <em>spineback wolf</em>, a white <em>feral spirit</em>, a blue <em>medusa</em>, and a <em>flesh golem</em> and <em>minotaur warrior</em>, both in the green splinter.</p>
<p>That’s when I learned that <strong>by combining cards you could level them up, but you could not use them in battle unless their summoner was also at their level</strong>. So I visited the market, and went on a bit of a shopping spree for specific cards I actually needed. 4.272 STEEM later I had myself a flesh golem and minotaur warrior, needed to level them up, plus two more <em>Lyanna Natura</em> cards so I could actually use them. I also bought a third <em>feral spirit</em> to level it up, but I’d need to get two more cards of its summoner <em>Tyrus Paladium</em>. In any case, I spent about half of what the booster pack cost me, and got the exact cards I wanted. <strong>So I don’t see myself getting another booster pack, nor do I recommend it to anyone.</strong></p>
<h2>Daily Quests and Reward Cards</h2>
<div class="pull-right"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/steemmonsters/cards_beta/Sea%20Genie.png" /></div>
<p>Fortunately, there are other ways to improve your collection. Each day you can take a quest, and be rewarded with more cards when you complete it. A quest consists of having to win five battles with a certain splinter, for which the reward is <strong>one card</strong>, until you reach a rating of 1000 points, or Silver League. Since you get points taken off every time you lose a battle, reaching that stage could take a bit. For me it was about a week before I made it to Silver, but from then on my rewards for completing a daily quest gave me <strong>five cards </strong>each time, the same as one booster pack.</p>
<p>These are the 18 cards I’ve gained from playing quests:&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
  <li>2x <em>Daria Dragonscale</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>2x <em>sea genie</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>1x <em>mushroom seer</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>7x <em>vampire </em>(one of them gold!)&nbsp;</li>
  <li>8x <em>highland archer</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>5x <em>rusty android</em>&nbsp;</li>
  <li>4x <em>hobgoblin</em> (one of them gold!)</li>
</ul>
<h2>Finishing Season Four</h2>
<div class="pull-left"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/steemmonsters/website/icons/leagues/league_6.png" /></div>
<p>So now, after playing for two weeks, I can say <strong>I’m ready for Season Five</strong>, starting tomorrow. My current rating is 1698, so that should give me a reward of 30 cards, the same as a starter pack. I could see myself buying some more cards, specifically to get my summoners on a higher level, but I'll leave that for the next season.</p>
<h2>So is Steem Montsters worth getting into?</h2>
<p>Well, considering the 54.242 STEEM (about $13 USD) I spent on 40 cards so far, and that by the end of the season I’ll have <strong>close to a hundred cards</strong> (including the ones I combined for leveling up), I’d say it was well worth it. The other thing is, that over these two weeks my earnings on Steemit (from blogging, commenting, etc.) were approximately the same, breaking me about even. In other words, <strong>I can highly recommend getting into the game!</strong>&nbsp;</p>
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vote details (705)
@adamada · 
I invested my steem into the game during the alpha phase and slowly reaping the rewards by quests and earning season rewards. I just keep on selling cards I don't need and eventually profit from the rewards the game offers. I can agree with your observations into the game. In fact, blogging with steemmonsters as a topic can be a feasible niche to get into.
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@stortebeker · 
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I was surprised to be curated. Never thought this post was considered quality. Anyhow, I'm excited to be in at the start of the new season. And yes, I know I'll be selling some of my reward cards. Too many of a kind and I expect to be getting more of those. Problem is: many others do that too, so the price is accordingly low.
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@stortebeker · 
Hey @adamada, I just noticed we (almost) battled this morning. But then you let me win by forfeit. As happy as I am about the few extra points, I'm burning to ask you about your motivation behind surrendering. It happens to me all the time that an opponent runs away, and looking at their numbers, as it was in your case, I'm sure they would have beat me in battle. 
Anyway, you are the first person I'm interacting on Steemit as well as on Steemmonsters, so I'm curious about some insights from a more experienced player.
By the way, I checked out your blog. Very cool art!
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@adamada · 
Thanks for checking my blog ^^

I lost connection during the match. But I wasn't really aiming to win any matches during that time. I reached my goal of earning 30 cards for the season and with what points I had during that time, it's not likely I am going to reach 35 cards for seasons prize unless I spend more time on the game. 

Competition is more intense during near end of the season because people want those rewards. I try to raise my ranks up and reach some feasible goals from the start to mid of the season so that I don't get a hard time achieving the minimum. During the early to mid, people become complacent and think they can rank up higher, I bet they do with more time but if you're the type that wants to squeeze out more value for your time then avoid the rush. 

What's so great about a few minutes of not playing steemmonsters vs playing during that period? well, I could focus on creating a blog. I already got my season rewards target done so the rest of the time I'm free to do something else productive. I'm sure spending hours of win and lose for 5 cards isn't really being productive. You could create 2 to 3 good posts with that time. 

As for why some people surrender, I could draw up two rational reasons for it. 1 is not spending time on predictable reasons, if they know they are going to lose, it's better not waste a few seconds on building a deck and only to lose a few points. Move on to the next opponent. The second reason often seen during near of season is trying to loose more points near reset value. 

Steemmonsters resets ranks lower than what you previously ended up with. Players with experience and good decks can get cocky by farming low tier players and rise up to where they previously ended. This also leaves room for experimentation of decks in ranks without harsh punishments of being psychologically losing at higher tier players they deserve within their league. 

A less rational reason is crappy internet or just losing for fun. Anyway, I don't mind losing a few points. I'll rise up to the ranks and aim for 30 cards again as a minimum. This works for me because it's feasible. The game may give the illusion of rewards but it's just one aspect of the blockchain you can grow on. Best to allocate some time on some other stuff like engagement. I wasn't able to reply on time because I'm busy with hospital work but I do check in some messages.
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@curie ·
Congrats on a Curie vote!
Hi stortebeker,
<div class="pull-right">
https://steemitimages.com/DQmXgrYG8AKimJKRSu2urPB5SPcftN6GCGx2gVJJMwBkuTu/Curie%20Logo%2075px.png
</div>
This post  has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed).  Have a great day :) <br>
 
Visit <a href="http://curiesteem.com/">curiesteem.com</a> or join the <a href="https://discord.gg/G6RPUMu">Curie Discord community</a> to learn more.
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@guchtere · 
blogging about the steemmonsters did gave you a nice amount of steem to buy some new cards I assume with the Curie upvote you had 😎

Wich cards did you upgrade by buying them in the market?
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@stortebeker · 
"So I visited the market, and went on a bit of a shopping spree for specific cards I actually needed. 4.272 STEEM later I had myself a flesh golem and minotaur warrior, needed to level them up, plus two more Lyanna Natura cards so I could actually use them."
Right... blogging about steem monsters might be what I should do, actually. As I'm noticing that 14 Vampire cards (and similar reward monsters) aren't really that helpful, plus the market is saturated with them. But wait! Let me elaborate this issue in my post!
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