I meant to reply much earlier than this, but wanted to make it an elaborate reply and give you the due respect for giving me your time when I needed it most (less than a handful of people I can say that about). So thanks muddy, you're an absolute legend. I always look forward to hearing from you. I don't really have much time any more, for bullshit artists - there are way too many of those types around - and life is short. I’m tired of all of them, so I will now troll them openly on the blockchain (when I can be bothered that is – which is not that often, but often enough lately) as I just don’t give a shit what any of them, or anyone else thinks. And discord – well, that is mostly a haven, for pathetic cowards.....it’s easy to troll people on there, so it doesn’t count lol. Ruffling a few feathers can be quite enlightening though, as the reactions are quite revealing at times.

But you have worked all of that out and then some, so I have no idea why I am even saying it lol....Guess I’m in a ranting kind of mood (which is not my usual self over the few years we have been here – apart from recently in the last few months or so).....and I usually save it for the blockchain to leave an everlasting mark of annoyance towards some of the true wankers around here.

Maybe it’s because of all the sleep I’ve been getting since last week. Almost 30 hours sleep in the last two days, previous. - and today, it was only 11 hours of interrupted sleep lol.

Good to hear you’ve been busy and love the tourettes comment with your partner btw – too funny :P

Splinterlands has turned into a whale circle-jerk fest (collection power turned into something other than what it was intended to be originally), so don’t even bother giving your money away. It will mostly just be the same people winning most of it. Just a bunch of mostly whales who swap money with each other/buy more and more stake in the game, while swallowing up all the small/medium fish (and eventually themselves) and then blaming them for the state of the game = no shame button. The entire thing is a joke at this point, and the only solutions floating around from the talking heads, are band aid solutions that will never solve anything. Anyone else outside of the talking heads, is ignored as selfish and “entitled” to divert away from the real problem children. Where have you heard that before muddy? I will give you only one guess. I think they forgot to look in the mirror, as the truth is the complete opposite. Instead of applying real solutions that fix the root cause of the problem, band aid solutions are being promoted, that will never solve anything. I think there is a very good reason for this – It’s called DENIAL of their own hypocrisy.

As far as playing again is concerned, I didn't actually let Dave talk me into anything - it's all of my own doing, and only have myself to blame. I asked him to play. I told him I wanted to play again, so don’t go around blaming that half corpse, half man for my own voluntary actions. I simply wanted to see if I could still find the energy and drive to compete with the best. I don't really care about being "the best", but only the best I can be at this moment in time. I just wanted to challenge myself more than anything, to see if I can find that drive, energy and competitive spirit once again and just enjoy the game for what it is and for whatever amount of time I want to spend on it - Maybe even have a little success along the way. I did find out one important thing the hard way, from this experience however (well, actually a few things – some I was already well aware of already). After playing a more intense schedule than I could handle (in hindsight) - which included both ranked and tournament play from a couple of different accounts, I am absolutely exhausted in both mind and body. After all that sleep over the last 3 days, it was a reality check that I had to “retire” again. Yes, I quit once again, a few days after this result, because it’s just way more than my mind and body can handle on an ongoing basis. It took a hell of a lot out of me, and completely sapped the energy and motivation I built up to have another go at it once again.....but I feel like a huge winner and much richer/grateful for the experience. It’s now time to move on/step aside for the younger people out there.

I am just amazed that I was even close to this competitive after all that time. Maybe, it does show that I have some above average skill and understanding of the game, although you wouldn’t really know it from the almost mute response to such an achievement, even from some of the supposed people who are part of my “circle” in the game....especially when you tried to help some of these same people in some way, in the past. I have to admit, that I am very disappointed about it in general, considering the events of the last couple of years, but I am also very used to it, and unsurprised as well. I was always underestimated, and undervalued for the longest time in comparison to others who have always overpowered me in the game when I was playing myself, due to the fact that I had a much inferior deck in comparison, but also due to a great knack for being self-promoting virtue-signallers. I think we are both aware, that this is way more important on the blockchain in general, rather than any actual skills in any department in particular. There are some amazingly spiteful people out there too. I’m pretty sure that I only won this tournament because I suddenly just had better cards :P The very thing, I was up against from the beginning. Suddenly the script will be flipped when it suits lol. It gets pretty funny at times.

These are the times, when I truly understand the real and true character/nature of some individuals.

In comparison however, there are some players who are constantly getting their butts tickled and constantly lauded as superior to most and highly skilled, even though I gave them the biggest butt raping when I was still playing competitively on a regular basis (from my shitty alt accounts too, and not my main account), which they are still trying to recover from after all this time. But since they have access to an awesome sugar-daddy blockchain circle-jerk free money printing whale at their disposal, they have been handed success without any effort apart from some spectacular ass-licking skills. And fuck me, so may people fall for that cool-aid and consider them to be the up there with the "best players". Even a dipshit can learn to play above average with a championship deck at some point - let alone just overpowering most opponents

I have a pretty nice and competitive couple of decks at different levels myself atm (which others play), but when I was playing back in the day, they were nowhere near as competitive and I was playing from a much inferior starting position in comparison to the competition.

That's what it basically comes down to. You need to have a deck that can win tournaments, as well as have the skill to execute a winning strategy with a winning premium tournament deck. That is the only combination and winning formula there is. Any mediocrity in either of those two departments, and you don't have much of a chance really.

That’s enough....no more ranting for today. Time to go and relax a little.

Thanks, be well, and take care:)

P.S. Here is a comment I made on a recent SL post. Enjoy another rant lol.

@splinterlands/splinterlands-tournaments-updates