Oops....

I should have saved up my earned STEEM aside for maybe the next SF4 tickets or even sell it off to pay the bills...

Instead, I went off on a shopping spree on a lazy day, taking multiple breaks from work just to check on splinter cards marketplace for the right price...

I can't help it; I am being slaughtered by stronger players over and over again

Yeah, what an excuse...

And I have decided to purchase of my most used cards straight away to level 2, because my Starter Pack card I got from #steemfest was not own-able.

And sooner or later, I have to invest on summoners if I need to go higher.

Besides, I already invested on a dragon Summoner upgraded to level 2 and I also got myself a Pyre level 2 earlier I should literally try to upgrade some of my most used cards to level 2.

I even tried to look at gold cards and see if they worth cheaper than leveling up multiple level 1 cards....

And even fancied myself a gold card for $0.73 cents worth of STEEM at 0.12 cents exchange rate....

I am pretty sure when you got a little more to spare on your STEEM from your author rewards and it isn't really that strong yet, you would probably end up getting some cards for leveling up, just to stay in the league you are in - ALIVE till the end of the season.

And today after much consideration I even got this Kobolt Miner even though I don't use it all the time; but half of the time when my opponents are using it I ended up getting slaughtered.

At least at level 2 it's life span is up by 1 point...

So how much have I actually spent throughout ever since I played Splinterlands...?

That includes testing purchasing a Beta and invested on 4 untamed packs before launching...

Almost 19 USD

Where some of the other cards were purchased via DEC, following @slobberchop's suggestions

It doesn't look a lot in USD, but it is a freaking almost MYR 78 worth.... that literally can buy a good few days vegetables and meat for home.

For not EVEN putting SF tickets first! haha....

But I HAVE thought about it.

Sometimes, you just gotta spend in order to be able to save up later.

I know I can't forever stay in guest cards mode and wait for 1 daily reward card at a time if I am going to try to get more Season Ended reward cards + daily reward cards by not being totally slaughtered left and right.

Who knows when my handicap will be over?? I really do hope I am given a little longer time just so I can get at least a level 2 card from what was kindly lent to me... because those are the really expensive ones

So what do you think?

Would you strategise yourself and leverage your author rewards to stay in the game in hope you can get some leverage earnings in DEC that can sell back to STEEM later, or would you not even waste your time and just play for free and refuse to spend a single cent on a single card AT all?

I know for sure if you are an avid beta card user then you have got to bank on some STEEM (that you have earned) just to gather yourself the right amount of army to be utilized later.