# Interview Series: Marianaemilia When I first started the Interview Series, I thought I will do a whole bunch of them rather quickly. It turns out the "Star Players" are rather busy playing the game. At the same time, lately I have been quite tied up myself with various things. Also this interview format takes a lot of time. It is a discord chat of about 2 hours and then formatting and publishing, andother 2 hours. Alright, enough excuses. Let me introduce our Star Player: Marianaemilia https://peakd.com/@marianaemilia/posts She is well known in the community. Skillful Top 20 Player AND owner of a full GOLD CARD DECK!! ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/azircon/23vsEDnvzo6J8FY8jjcCkD4qX2Kt6E1dFKnP6s1ZS8AAuYwM1mHbnycdgFYWiiro7qHDF.png) _No! That is not Mari, that is Judit Polgár, Mari's idol!_ # The Interview azircon - So you are Maria, everyone knows you for your gold card collection :) Tell us how did you start? meaning which year, and how did you know about SL? Mari - I was at Steemit and it was there that I found out about the game. I started by collecting the cards. It was still Alpha times. I didn't play, I just participated in draws and I won some Alpha and Beta cards, then when I started to play it was already the end of the Beta phase. azircon - so around 2018 early in the year I am guessing? Although cards were cheap back then, but still, it probably required some investment, at the time did you have any alternative source of income? Mari - I don't remember the exact year, but it's over 2 years, maybe 3. I played chess, but I was afraid of playing online video games and getting addicted because of my uncle who spent many hours playing Diablo on the computer, so I it took me until I decided to play. Then I found out about the Capture rate and that I couldn't play for so many hours, I thought this was good, and I decided to start, on the first day I lost all the battles and I asked my 10 year old sister to play for me and she won! 😅 At first i tried to play only with the cards i had won in drawings, but i soon discovered that for the cards to be more powerful i would need several equal ones, combine them and give LVL UP. So I decided to invest more and I remember spending 250 dollars that I got for my birthday. It was my first card purchase, and I bought them all in gold foil, made a little Life and Earth deck. I remember that on this day a Lord Arianthus in gold foil cost 60 dollars and I didn't buy it because I thought it was too expensive. azircon - Gold Lord A!! Yeah, we all want that now :) ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/azircon/23xAKHbcXqgwmoB9B4YtzovBdCVHHHE4Y1RbqN2jMXxDYNgeyo471dJtLRwMZRWCqu1U4.png) Mari - Yes, I didn't buy that day at 60, but I paid 200 or 250 a few months later, at the time it made a lot of difference to have this card in a gold foil tournament, and I really wanted one. I was always impulsive to buy, and it seemed crazy to spend so much on game cards, but luckily I did it, instead of buying bags and shoes like my friends I spent it all on these little cards. azircon - So is Crypto popular in Brazil back then and now? Mari - I believe so, there are a lot of people talking about Crypto in Brazil, and it is already regulated by the government, people need to declare their crypto on the Income Tax azircon - Very Nice!! But now your 10 year old sister doesn't play your account I am guessing, because you are very good, and I battled you many times. And you are Brazilian, I am guessing.... was crypto popular in Brazil back then? Mari - My sister doesn't play anymore, just me. She loves games but says she doesn't want to play Splinterlands, just other games. Yes, I'm Brazilian, I live in Florianópolis / Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. My house is just 5 minutes walk from the beach and I love swimming. At the time I learned about crypto on an investment site, I study economics and was interested in the stock market, etc. So I was already buying a bit of Bitcoin. azircon - Most excellent. So are you still in college then? Economics must be very helpful. I love economics myself. Mari - Economy fascinates me. Yes, i'm still studying, i wanted to invest in the stock market, but i ended up going to this world of cryptos, the bitcoin i had, at that time valued a lot, so i sold it at a big profit and spent it all on splinterlands cards. azircon - Yeah, don't forget to pay taxes :) I know I do pay my taxes. So looks like you have never been #1; but I see you frequent top 20 regularly, and you are part of the Roaring Twenties guild, some very good players there, you must be towards the very top. How do you like your guild? ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/azircon/23tRt5JzMiAEFoLEWLx84ak41d2GuYzTUF59mwrVmXUEdVFNJMgfxpvdFran9R7YYLNR7.png) Mari - Not at first, but I got third place in the rankings once with my other account: dosh I love my guild, they are all wonderful and there is great harmony between the members. azircon - I assure you, you are doing much better here. Oh, you play dosh :) Yeah, I have faced Dosh many times too :) Alright now into Chaos Legion. I see that you are heavily invested in it. How many packs do you think you might buy? ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/azircon/23tcLquYHbAsKtNCJduqeqEc1KASHHN9KQ1uAkiRJXadhrGXj8UUtmHg4QYU3uc5bcjCe.png) You and I have very similar SPS staked looks like :) Mari - This season i'm stopping playing on the dosh account and i'm putting the cards up for rent, i'm engaged, should i start working and live alone, yeah i still live with my parents so i have no time to play so long. I should buy only 2000 which gives the best discount. In the past I did better buying cards directly from the market, rather than packs, and I should try to do that later with Chaos Legion to get the missing cards. azircon - Yes, I have done the same in the past. However, market is now outrageously expensive, so no option any more other than buy packs, until the prices come way down. Mari - Well, I intend to, but speaking like this you convince me to work in Splinterlands, after all the Lands are coming and I will need to dedicate myself to cultivating them 😅 azircon - Well, nothing in the real world can pay you this much for a fact. However, the experience in the real world matters. That is my personal opinion. I see that you don't rent much, and YES, currently renting your second account is probably more lucrative than playing it. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/azircon/23tbP7R4Kdov6zTx2mgATr18e81BpGFf4sksKeuqS1X8Ae8X79z8CHmJo3u1gkvLuJ9b7.png) But that is an unreal collection!! You should be very proud of yourself, young lady!! Mari - Yeah. I think I'm very consumerist, impulsive, that's why I've been buying more gold foil cards every month. It was difficult because for a long time, maybe 2 years, the price of the cards did not appreciate, so it seemed crazy to invest so much, but I never wanted to sell the cards. Also attached to my things, I have difficulty getting rid of material things. Until a few months ago I hadn't withdrawn any $ from the game. I always reinvested everything buying more cards, I looked here that I've won almost 7 million DEC just in tournament prizes and with only one account, and spent all this buying more cards. azircon - I am sure your investments have paid off.... Ok, we are nearing the end. So let us talk about game . Also you being a 'girl' as a gamer... you know this will come :) Did you ever found any resistance for your gaming profession while being a girl? I asked Xawi the same question :) Back to playing; how many accounts do you play? Mari - At the moment only 1, marianaemilia, I stopped with dosh, but in the past I played other accounts, at times I played 3 accounts at the same time, I played the accounts cryptoreaper and brolgacrane, this one belongs to nealmcspadden. No, fortunately on the contrary, just admiration, I always won all chess tournaments at school and I always beat the boys, but there was no prejudice, they just massaged my ego, I've heard a lot: Wow, besides being pretty, she's smart! Despite the praise I have always been humble and I don't consider myself a talent, I'm just hardworking, I had a teacher who helped me and said that it's no use being talented and lazy, and that work, study and persistence are also a talent. I wanted to play chess, but in Brazil chess is very little valued, but my idol was always the chess player Judit Polgar, and I always looked up to her. If you can take a look at her biography, she is amazing. azircon - Wonderful to hear....and yeah we have all watched Queens Gambit!! :) As a chess player, SL should probably come way too EASY for you, isn't it? > I had a teacher who helped me and said that it's no use being talented and lazy I have a lot of life experience compared to you and I agree with your teacher 100%. Mari - I think it helped, especially to enjoy the game, because there is calculation and strategy, but still Splinterlands has much more influence of luck and is different in many aspects. But I don't believe that playing chess well makes it so much easier, by the way I also never got to be so strong in chess to play at a high level, like the masters. azircon - So Maria (do people call you Maria?), what do you like to say to the new and less experienced players? Also any particular game or strategy you like to share? Maybe a sample game... Mari - Well, my name is actually Mariana, but people call me Mari who is similar to Mary. That's why I put Mary on my profile. For new players I would say be patient to learn, especially watching your opponents, the game is difficult at first, in the early days I lost a lot and I wanted to give up. As I'm anxious and stubborn I made a lot of mistakes by not studying how the game works, at first I didn't pay attention to the skills and battle rules so I took a while to improve. Persistence is important, and if you don't have a lot of $ to invest in cards, I highly recommend that you join the Hive Blockchain (Peakd) social network, and create content about the game, as this can bring additional income that allow you to buy more cards. Go to the official Splinterlands blog on Peakd and read the post called Social Media Challenge, which explains exactly how it works. More of Chess and being a girl gamer.... No, fortunately on the contrary, just admiration, I always won all chess tournaments at school and I always beat the boys, but there was no prejudice, they just massaged my ego, I've heard a lot: Wow, besides being pretty, she's smart! Despite the praise I have always been humble and I don't consider myself a talent, I'm just hardworking, I had a teacher who helped me and said that it's no use being talented and lazy, and that work, study and persistence are also a talent. I wanted to play chess, but in Brazil chess is very little valued, but my idol was always the chess player Judit Polgar, and I always looked up to her. If you can take a look at her biography, she is amazing. Which would be this in the end: But back to your question, thinking about it, this is actually a certain prejudice, after all, no one says to a man: "You are not only beautiful, but also intelligent". It's as if they said to me: You besides a pussy are still smart. At the time I didn't realize it and I was flattered. azircon - So Mari, any sample game/strategy you like to share in closing? Mari - About battles and strategies I like a lot, and there are a lot of old posts on my blog about battles. There are many interesting topics, I'll look for one here One of the things that fascinates me is seeking maximum initiative, attacking earlier and having more speed almost always decides the battles in your favor. another cool theme is using Death with Weaken and Redemption! 1 - https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=402438fa345160006af2231872f87050fcab5e8e 👆 this one is on the subject of speed and I took it from this post: https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@marianaemilia/amazing-battles-13-speed-speed-speed-speed-speed-speed azircon - I can tell just from the beginning that your opponent has NO CHANCE! Speed is Zaku's weakness ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/azircon/23tbnjo4gxVyvdGoR5vZ3mMcnmZSdkcFaMcpuyGNMG5uMXU5JcycrSZ9SsLxvg9G2xdyV.png) Mari - 2 - https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=fcf271cb68eefd96513aa303f970d1815dc25960 👆 this is about the second topic, although I lost it, it was crazy" is in this post and has other examples: https://peakd.com/hive-140217/@marianaemilia/splinterlands-quick-battle-tips-death-with-weaken-and-redemption azircon - Jace!!! LOL!!! Holy HELL!! ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/azircon/23tbPi2LwNPzG9vckTQh7Ucmi2ZFMM12ZZGLS4LBnEL7HPq713wh6KJhXdReCH3NzR4cS.png) Mari - YES Jace is amazing and he always helped me by answering my questions, thanks to his willingness to help me I improved a lot in the game. azircon - Mari... thank you so much for the interview! We were at it for about 1 hr 40 min. Also I know you had to translate, so I appreciate your patience on sticking with me. Many thanks! I will format it, and likely publish it in a couple of days. Mari - You're welcome, it was a pleasure, talking to you is a delight and I don't want to stop. Thanks for the opportunity. https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/zord189/Zcxlm2md-azircon.gif