I’ve been playing video games my whole life, starting back playing Pool of Radiance on the old Commodore 64, however I’ve never previously played a card game like Pokemon/Magic either on computer or with physical cards. This is not only my first card game experience, but also my step into crypto. So why Splinterlands?

I first saw a Youtube video about a year ago by Bulldog, (who I had followed due to SWGOH), but dismissed it due to my inexperience with card games. After a few more of these came up in my feed I decided to download the Mobile version, however due to my “Free game means free game” mentality, I never bought the spellbook, and therefore didn’t enjoy the game as I was using only the borrowed cards.

Eventually after watching a couple of Youtube videos of Bulldog & Luke plays to earn, I saw that they were actually making money, and also very bullish on the future of the game and assets. This finally led to my purchase of the Spellbook.

I tried to play for free for a while, but when the only rewards are credits, potions, and the odd Venari Heatsmith, it isn’t any better than playing without the spellbook. I decided to put in $50 AUD to buy enough power to get to Bronze 2, and also get some decent cards to help me actually win the battles required to climb there.

Unfortunately, The help guide I found was a bit dated and I bought Crustacean King, Sea Monster, & Sea Genie which, while all ok cards, have been superceded by better combos. I tried renting a couple of cards to try some other teams before I bought again, and found that a team that worked really well was Alric with Djinn Oshanus & venari wavesmith, as well as other water magic (hello Sea Genie, my old friend).

This strategy helped me climb to the top of Bronze 2, where I realized I would need to get to Silver to start earning DEC chest rewards instead of Coins. I invested another $90 AUD which helped get me to the 15,000 CP threshold to jump to Silver, which is where the fun (and some frustration started).

The $90 spend was not only used on CP, but I also bought some valuable cards to help me in battles including Tusk the Wide, Tenyii Striker, Djinn Oshanus (my MVP), Nerissa Tridawn, Venari Wavesmith, Nectar Queen, Harklaw, Uraeus, Sand Worm & Battering Ram. My most expensive buy was a $5 USD Torrent Fiend, which I use all the time as a tank in front of Oshanus.

The enjoyment factor jumped off the charts as soon as I got into Silver. When I initially saw that had restrictions & conditions on most battles, I thought it would be a deterrent, however the opposite was true. The conditions enable you to use more of your roster and theorycraft. Don’t get me wrong, for every cakewalk victory that had me thinking I was the greatest player alive, there are plenty of crushing defeats such as when I’m forced to use a splinter such as Life (where I have invested next to nothing). It’s just that the feeling from the great wins outweighs the bad, and makes me want to keep playing, (similar to golf, where that 1 good shot in a round makes you forget the frustration of your other 150 bad shots).

The improved reward chests helped bump up my CP, (although the best reward I have to date is a Twilight Basilisk), and added some DEC to allow me to rent and test. I recently spent another $100 AUD and bought 3 more Fiends (Fire, Earth & Death), along with a Furious Chicken, and with some other playable Fire, water & earth cards. I also bumped up my CP to 20k, due to the talk of halving CP requirements for reward tiers.

I plan on spending a couple of hundred dollars per month, (which I understand is a lot of money for many), which won’t affect my household budget too much. This was the most significant mental challenge for me, as I have never spent more than $100 on a game in the past. Knowing that I have actual assets that can be sold feels like a safety net under me, in addition to the fact that I’m not going to spend more than I can afford to lose.
I would also like to become more active in the Splinterlands community, hence this post.

The other motivating factor with starting my Splinterlands journey, was to dip my toe into the Crypto waters. I’d done some cursory research, and seen the volatility, which was concerning, however the mechanics behind blockchain technology seem very sound. After listening to a few podcasts involving very intelligent people, who got in on the ground floor of Bitcoin and NFT’s, and hearing the passion and optimism, I thought that Splinterlands would be the ideal way to immerse myself, while having fun at the same time.

I would recommend the game to anyone who enjoys strategy gaming, especially if they have some disposable income, that would like to get in on the blockchain revolution.

I do however have a lot of learning left to do. 

I still don’t fully grasp the purpose of staking SPS, even though I do it as I am earning what seems like interest on my (tiny) staked amount. For me it feels like my cards are like stocks while SPS is similar to a dividend, which I reinvest back into the game to help me earn more dividends.

My biggest questions now, however, revolve around Guilds. What are the advantages of joining a guild? Are there disadvantages (apart from DEC donations, which I’m sure have a purpose)? Do I have to join a Guild with other people in, or around, my time zone to allow me to be an active participant? 

Thanks for reading, and please let me know if you have an opinion or answers to my questions.

Dengar

Posted using [Splintertalk](https://www.splintertalk.io/@dengarzone/beginning-my-splinterlands-journey)