If you had told me more than 3 years ago that a blockchain-based game could greatly influence the course of my personal finances, I would have probably answered something outrageous.

Today I am convinced that with blockchain-based projects, the ability to analyze them based on experiences and knowing how to anticipate possible scenarios, you can change your life in a positive way.

A little more than 2 years and 144 days ago I saw a post in Steemit where they invited to participate in a tournament of a game called @splinterlands, the post was from @tashidelek, I must confess that I did not call me so much attention because I do not consider myself a person who loves video games, even the only video game I was a fan of until then was Pokémon and not exactly the TCG, if not the main line of the role playing game, so my participation was not immediate; days later I heard some friends at a party talking about Magic while we were talking about banal and trivial things, just at that moment, I remembered the splinterlands post and I associated it, so the next day even if I woke up with a hangover I would investigate more about it.

On July 05, 2019 I entered, like everyone else, the first thing I did was to pay the access, it was 10 usd, fortunately the purchase gave you the set of common and rare beta cards, not just a book of spells with ghost cards as now, it should be noted that I had no idea I would be buying my first NFT's, I had not even heard the term that today is synonymous with countless debates in the networks. Even though the game was only a few months old, the truth is that I felt that I was already late because the expansion that was sold at that time were the Beta and the Promo mini-edition, the Alpha packs were only available on the secondary market, even so the concept was fascinating to me, something told me that I should not miss that opportunity. As I learned, I also made many mistakes, like spending the Capture Rate at more than 50% without knowing that it regenerated every hour, burning cards just to know what was happening, choosing a bad composition of cards, among other things, but the usual, I think, but it was all part of the learning curve.

Days later I joined the discord of the splinterlands community in spanish and despite not being a very active user or member in this, I think it has been one of the sites where I learned the most and above all where I found the motivation to continue playing, I remind you that I am not very gamer so it was hard for me to play daily, so if I wanted to improve it was essential to have feedback from people with more experience and invite some friends who could better understand the processes of TCG and strategy games, it is always better to "throw a lot" to the projects, besides that in the end I think what I have learned here is that this is about creating and strengthening a community.

A lot of that has happened, I had to be part of the lucky ones who received only cards in the rewards, of those who could reach champions with low level cards, those were times when there were no league locks or the power of collection so thanks to that I could achieve some champions points for the now SPS airdrop, I was also part of the Othermarker project, I think that's what it was called, where I was a part of the project "Othermarker", where I was able to get some champions points for the now SPS airdrop, I think that's how it was called, where they could delegate you an account and play by percentages, so I could capitalize better my time and I managed to buy cards without investing my money, I managed to buy beta summoners even an Alric Gold Foil level 6 at less than 15 usd per card, crazy, it was clear that it was something that I had to share with my closest circle of friends.

_{One of the screenshots that I keep of the game of the first time I reached silver 3, the funny thing is that at that time the rewards were not chests but cards (we were happy and we knew it)}

But of all my friends that I invited only two did not believe that I was completely crazy, and I think there was none that I did not tell, were only @davinzho and @leizerstark who understood the potential and saw the matrix and what gives me more pleasure is that they are still in play to earn and nft gaming projects increasing their income every day.

I must clarify that during those months, even though the game was not what it is now, the return on investment was very good, even when the cards were at their lowest floor and the dec did not exceed 0. 0009 usd, but there were also periods of uncertainty where I didn't know if the game could evolve for good or if it could have the necessary solidity to attract investors and new players so I was tempted to sell my card collection several times (good thing I didn't or not at all) even in December 2020 I think was the month where I was completely decided to sell at least half of these cards because I needed to buy a video camera to create content for my music project and my record label, and yes, some were sold, I think @ritch was one of those who bought more cards from me.

The fact of selling some cards discouraged me a little to continue playing and adding that my conventional work and music required my full attention, I stopped playing for a while, I moved away a little until I met the bots service of @vcdragon, thanks to his service I managed to give circulation to that capital "stopped", obviously the win rate decreased but the passive income was incredible and I did not have to spend time but to manage the bot, before you think the worst, yes, bots and multi-accounts are allowed so far in splinterlands, nothing happens, I am even faithful believer that even in a small percentage those bots influenced splinterlands to become what it is now, users with more time will not let me lie that before, getting a match in duels took some time, the bots gave life to the game, nobody wants to be in a game where you do not match and you can not play it.