This is an awesome post @flauwy.

Just reading through it gives me fond memories of my time here on Steem blockchain.

I remember hesitantly purchasing that starter pack hoping I had not just fallen for a scam and blown some Steem.

I was overjoyed when battles finally came out and the game started to take the shape we were promised.

Unfortunately for my Steem Monsters journey I was following [@nathanmars](https://steemit.com/@nathanmars) at the time so I was busy networking with communities.

I do not regret this as seven77 is an awesome community I am proud to be apart of .

I was lucky enough to score some alpha cards at this time.

After this I played Steem Monsters on and off for a bit and then all of a sudden tournaments were released and I started to get excited again .

The mistake I made was just before Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) came out I thought it would be good to convert some of my alpha cards to beta cards.

Thankfully I did not get carried away and transfer them all.

With the launch of Steem Engine and DEC soon after .

It got me really excited about Steem Monsters.

Recently I have been playing daily and am loving how this game has developed over time.

One thing I did notice you did not mention is the PayPal payment option.

I feel this was a major breakthrough for Steem Monsters and Steem blockchain.

We could now buy Steem Monsters cards with fiat.

All the troublesome conversations handle for us.

Even better we did not have to use our hard earned Steem to pay for them.

Thank you so much for sharing,
Have an awesome day!

Oh and yes I just realised I still call it Steem Monsters.

Maybe it’s time to start calling it Splinterlands .

I’ll see how I go with that.