Hi, everyone. Welcome to my post. In the Social Media Challenge, I will discuss anything about SPLINTERLANDS, it can be about cards, abilities, rulesets, battle reviews, End of Season results, or my playing experience.

in this post, I will tell you about my journey in playing this game (SPLINTERLANDS). When I first discovered this game, how long I've been playing it, what I've accomplished, and what the next target to achieve in this game will be, I will try to tell it as detailed as possible.

My "SPLINTERLANDS" Journey

Discovery of Splinterlands

The first time I learned about "Splinterlands" was in 2021 when I wanted to find a #Play2Earn game that could be played on all devices, especially for my smartphone which had low specifications at that time. I searched for the information through Google Search and found several websites. Two of them were https://playtoearn.net/ and https://play2earn.net/.

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Before knowing Splinterlands

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Before knowing Splinterlands, I only knew 1 #play2earn game at that time, namely Axie Infinity. Around June, Axie Infinity became the main topic of discussion among Crypto enthusiasts (Including myself who just jumped into the Crypto World in the same year). Many players can earn money just by playing the game for a few hours (That's when I learned the term #PlaytoEarn or #Play2Earn).

I was very interested in it (earning money just by playing games for a few hours) because previously I had lost enough money in several Cryptocurrencies because I hadn't mastered the "Technique", fell for Ponzi schemes under the guise of Crypto, Memecoins (FOMO), etc. Finally, I decided to find out about Axie Infinity, until I realized that I needed a lot of capital if I wanted to start playing this game (in 2021).

However, it turns out that there is another method to play Axie Infinity without spending capital, namely Scholarship. We "use" other people's accounts for us to play, and the results will be divided between the player (scholarship recipient) and the account owner (the percentage depends on the account owner). Unfortunately, this method also encounters difficulties, namely the number of potential players who use this method. Although the game account owners (who rent out) are quite a lot, the queue of prospective scholarship recipients is also not less. Moreover, each account owner has certain rules and specifications for prospective players who can be accepted.

I was frustrated because I couldn't get a scholarship (either because I couldn't fulfill the requirements or because there were too many queues). At that time I decided to look for other alternatives to Axie Infinity that did not require a large capital and could be played anywhere without limiting device specifications. There were several games that I tried (I prioritized the Free to Play ones first) but didn't get the results I wanted.

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After several games I tried, finally, in August 2021, I registered my first account in SPLINTERLANDS.

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At that time, I was still not actively playing because I still needed a process to learn the mechanics of this game. I could only play in NOVICE LEAGUE and BRONZE III.

I only started focusing on playing this game when I got Venari Wavesmith (around late August). In its time, this card was very useful even though it was only a Rare Rarity. With its PROTECT ability (adds 2 ARMOR to all my monsters) and combined with Summoner Alric Stormbringer which adds 1 Magic Attack power to my monsters, these two were the Meta of its time and were often found in almost every battle.

^{In its time, this card was already considered Overpowered even though it was only level 1 (when combined with Summoner Alric Stormbringer).}

Duration of Participation

If you look at https://hiveblocks.com/@vrezyy, I've been playing for 30 months (shouldn't it be 27 months?). https://hiveblocks.com/@vrezyy or @vrezyy is my Hive account. When you sign up for SPLINTERLANDS, you are also automatically entered into the Hive Ecosystem (SPLINTERLANDS is one of the games in the ecosystem).

Wait a minute...

I seem to have just remembered that I actually registered in this game in June 2021 (meaning 30 Months is the correct answer), but my attention was more focused on Axie Infinity at that time. In June 2021 I only registered in SPLINTERLANDS and looked at the tutorial (haven't bought Spellbook for $10). It was only in August 2021 that I decided to buy Spellbook (in order to get rewards when playing) and started playing SPLINTERLANDS. And it was at the time of purchasing Spellbook that I also entered the Hive ecosystem.

Time Spent in Splinterlands

Hmm, I've never calculated how much time I spend playing SPLINTERLANDS each day. But when I started playing this game, I only spent only 1 hour per day because at that time I was not focused on this game and was still looking for other alternative #Play2Earn games out there.

But around November 2021 (when I started making my first post) I started to focus on playing SPLINTERLANDS and started to worry less about other #Play2Earn games because I was already earning "income" in this HIVE ecosystem (although not from games). I got it just from writing articles (sharing my daily life, gaming experience, sharing other hobbies, taking part in challenges, etc).

It allowed me to focus on playing SPLINTERLANDS without having to worry about "monthly income ". After I started focusing on SPLINTERLANDS, the time I spent playing was not too different from before (around 1 to 2 hours).

With that much time, it won't interfere with daily activities especially for me who only relies on posting on HIVE as my main income. I can still do my other hobbies like drawing (that was back then, now I'm just fixated on Stable Diffusion), watching anime, cycling, etc.

Accomplishments & Upcoming Goals

The goal I achieved in SPLINTERLANDS was to feel the atmosphere of playing in a higher league (Gold League). But unfortunately, lately, the battles have gotten more competitive (especially the MODERN LEAGUE) so I plunged into the SILVER League (And I'm still trying to move up to the GOLD League again with only a few days left before the end of the season).

The next goal is to experience the atmosphere of battle in the DIAMOND League. Although I had risen to the DIAMOND League, I was "beaten back " after losing 1 or 2 battles in the DIAMOND League so I returned to the GOLD League.

Regarding Rewards, I've managed to level up some of my cards so that (some of them) can be used to their full potential in higher leagues. But I still need more cards to level up my other cards, especially Legendary Cards. The Legendary Cards I have can never reach Level 3 despite my efforts to keep playing this game.

For other Rewards such as SPS (if it was DEC that was the REWARDS before), until 2 years of playing, I have never gotten a large amount of SPS (Above 500 SPS) even though on several occasions, my Season Rewards were in the form of DIAMOND Chest. My biggest record is only getting a few tens of SPS in 1 Chest.

Advice for Beginners

For beginners, my advice is not to think of SPLINTERLANDS as a #Play2Earn game. Although you can earn game currency here, it will take a long time (you need enough skill and capital if you want to play and get higher rewards).

But if you want to get serious but don't have the capital (Cards or game currency). You can try https://gateway.nftyarcade.io/ where you can borrow decks with a profit-sharing system (where you can still get card rewards and some game currency while the original owner of the deck you borrowed will get some game currency along with the Card Pack). And if you have a writing hobby or other hobby that you want to share, you can write articles about it on one of the Platforms provided by HIVE (Hive Blog, PeakD, Ecency, etc). You will get a certain amount of currency that can later be exchanged (either for daily needs or for playing SPLINTERLANDS).

Those are the kinds of things I discussed in this Social Media Challenge. Thank you for reading to the end and see you in other discussions in next week's Social Media Challenge.

<sub>For those of you who are curious and want to experience how fierce the battles are in the Modern League but haven't joined Splinterlands yet, you can use THIS LINK.

Link to this week's Social media Challenge (Here)</sub>