Splinterlands was by far the best thing that happened to me in the year 2021. I did not find the game until August, so I have really only been playing for a few months. It feels like this game and this community has always been a part of my life! I wanted to take a minute to look back and reflect on how far I have come on my Splinterlands journey.
I remember when I first found Splinterlands. Well, Beren found it. He was looking into games that were play to earn on the blockchain. He found Gods Unchained first, but I was not really a big fan of it. Then he found Splinterlands, and I was immediately drawn in! I loved the card artwork, the sounds, the strategy. I loved that I could buy cards and level them up. Collecting things is fun! I could immediately sense that this game would become a big part of my life.
It was actually really hard for me to learn the game mechanics. I remember that for the longest time, I thought that flying monsters could attack from any position. I mean, they could fly, right? It took way too long for me to figure out that wasn't the case. Learning about attack order, speed, and abilities was really mentally challenging. It was a wonderful distraction for me, because I had been struggling so much with the loss of my sweet mom.Then, I discovered card packs. Oh my goodness, was I hooked at that point. We all know how much I love to open card packs! At the time, Dice packs were still available. Beren and I purchased a large amount of them before they sold out, and then even more on the secondary market. I wish we had bought more! At the time, it seemed like we had enough. I didn't expect to need to level up all of my cards so soon! I progressed quite quickly into Silver league. Then, I started to hit Gold by the end of each season. As I leveled up my cards, I was able to play consistently in Gold league!
I started joining tournaments to compete against some of the best players in the game, which taught me a lot! I always say that I learn the most from losing. I try to take each loss as a lesson to be learned from. One night in October, I got a phone call telling me that my uncle passed away. I was absolutely devastated, especially since I was still grieving the loss of my mom. Shortly after that call, I had a tournament. I wasn't sure I wanted to do it because I was so upset. Somehow, I managed to channel that energy into the tournament, and I made it to the final round. I was up against 
At some point, I don't remember exactly when, I discovered the wonderful 
Recently, I was asked to join Knights United by the wonderful 
Two seasons ago, I started hitting Diamond league by the end of the season. Last season, I actually got up to Diamond 2, and played quite a bit in Diamond league! My cards aren't quite leveled up enough to really progress in Diamond yet, but I think that will come in the near future. Eventually, I would love to start placing on leaderboards and eventually get to Champion league. I am so excited for the future of Splinterlands. There is so much yet to come! I am particularly excited for the land expansion. Beren and I bought a few plots of land on the secondary market, and I think it will be worth the investment. We also invested heavily in SPS and have gotten a lot from the airdrops from holding Splinterlands assets, so that is exciting too! The future of Splinterlands is bright, and I am so excited to be a part of it.
