As I have now been playing Steem Monsters and Drug Wars for several months, I've wanted to contribute something of ACTIONABLE value to my fellow players (and FUTURE players) - but NOT just fill my Steemit feed with daily images of quest reward - or battle - SPAM, (no offense to those doing so). Ultimately, Steemit is about ADDING VALUE to the social experience - that is the magic of blockchain technology. So, after some serious pondering, I decided that a weekly "Steem Monsters + Drugs Wars player strategy diary" type series, with CONCISE and ACTIONABLE tips, would be of most value to my audience. Please let me know your thoughts (good and/or bad), and I hope that readers (now and into the future) will benefit from this series. If you gain a better understanding of blockchain, gaming, "blockchain gaming", marketing, and/or any other area of knowledge I end up exploring as this series naturally progresses, then I will have done my "good deed" (of providing value) for the week. Also, feel free to hit me up on the battlefield...
( 1 ) In the last post in this series I mentioned that I felt like buying the 100 (+10) "Orb" pack batches had reached a "point of diminishing returns" in that I was getting a lot of the same cards, and was selling too much Bitcoin to buy the packs. Sure, those extra 10 packs increase your chance of hitting some "super cards" within those extra 50 cards (10 packs x 5 = 50 card), but the issue is the "opportunity cost" of spending 0.03 Bitcoin (which may SKYROCKET - especially with the upcoming BTC "halving") as opposed to purchasing more #SteemMonsters packs, more gradually. I explained that I would now be buying "ONE "Orb" pack per day", since my daily DEC earnings from battles is ROUGHLY 2,000 - 2,500 DEC (right around the price of one "Orb" pack). Well, I kept meticulous records this past week, after starting the "one pack per day" strategy, and here is the record documenting what I scored (including details on the gold and legendary (high value) "Orb cards", plus a more general breakdown of the DEC earned from converting "non-keepers". I have also included a breakdown of the DEC earnings from my daily reward cards, and the payouts from the posts in this series - to show how the amount of INCOME I have coming in daily is REASONABLE related to the daily cost of the "Orb" pack:
[** DISCLAIMER: my method of record-keeping evolved over the week, so the below info may be a little bit confusing, but I wanted to get this post out in a timely manner, and will clean up the info for the next week**]
single daily "Orb" pack purchase records (market value on the day of scoring cards):
November 2nd, 2019 - "Corrupted Pegasus" (Legendary - Level 1 - $12.00 USD) + 210 DEC (commons)
November 3rd, 2019 - "Electric Eels (Gold)" LVL 3 - $6.49
November 4th, 2019 - 330 DEC (commons) 41,564
November 5th, 2019 - "Goblin Chef" (Gold - Level 4) - $2.30 + 220 DEC (commons) 39,709
November 6th, 2019 - "Molten Ogre) (Gold - Level 4 - $1.50 USD) - 210 DEC (commons)
November 7th, 2019 - 240 DEC (non-keepers - converted to DEC) - 22,966 / 117,792 ("Orbs")
rewards - 15 60 72 (Gold Vampire -Level - $0.72) ~ 1.00 USD (keepers) - 360 (converted to DEC)
November 8th, 2019 -
"Orb" cards - 240 DEC (non-keeper "Orbs" converted to DEC)
reward cards - 90 DEC (keepers - upgraded existing cards) // non-keepers (converted to DEC) - 240 DEC
November 9th, 2019
rewards - keepers 840 PLUS (Sea Genie (Gold) - up to Level 8) + 300 (Manticore - upped to Level 4) - non-keepers (converted 105 DEC)
"Orbs" pack (#1 - daily pack) - 240 (non-keepers, converted to DEC)
"Orbs" pack (#2 - from 7.00 Steem payout from my previous Steemonsters weekly post series (this series))
keepers "Corrupted Pegasus" (Legendary - Level 1 - $13.49 USD (3,000 DEC)
non-keepers (converted to DEC) - 300 DEC
Notes: Without going into too much excruciating detail, I think you can see that at the "one "Orb" pack per day" pace (PLUS one additional "Orb" pack when I reach the next level of the game in the season (bought as a "future" against the potential earnings of the ~ 10 additional rewards card for bumping up to Gold III), PLUS one "Orb" pack upon payout of each post in this series - currently around 7.0 Steem + 7.0 Steem Power) ultimately has a significantly POSITIVE return relative to the cost of the packs (2,400 (with my current "guild discount of 4% on potions, "Orb" packs, etc.) If I am to simply keep up this pace until the remaining ~ 117k+ "Orb" packs are sold out, I believe this will be a high-ROI long-term investment, in terms of BOTH the value of the more rare "Orbs" cards, AND the bonus 10%-20% of DEC that I earn from using these "Orb" cards in won battles. Since one "Orb" packs costs roughly $2.50 USD (or 16 Steem, or (16 (Steem) x $0.15/Steem = ~ $2.40 USD) you can then calculate the value of the above "super cards" against the cost (in DEC) - which is 2,400 DEC per "Orb" pack - to find BOTH the ratio of output of DEC versus the input of "super cards". HOWEVER, what we need to keep in mind is that each of these "super-cards" (gold and legendaries specifically, but also ALL "Orb" ("promo") cards generation 10% - 20% of BONUS DEC per won battle (aka "dividends"), and so when doing the accounting, in the long-term the extra perpetual DEC from these cards EASILY covers the 2,400 DEC cost for the daily "Orb" pack. I am also monitoring the decrease in supply of the "Orb" cards (currently at ~ 117,433 packs at the time of writing this sentence), and - depending on how many "super cards" I get as we approach the "final run" of these limited edition cards, I may do one (or a few) last buys of 100 (+10) "Orb" packs, as those extra 10 free packs will equate to ~ $25.00 USD (or 50 "free chances" to score some final "super cards") to max out the "super cards" and their long-term income. If one of those cards is another "Minotaur Warrior" (Gold, Level 3) then that would be BOTH a ~ $200 USD score, AND the final card I would need to max out that card, of which there are only 32 in existence - Oops, 31 now, as of the final edit of this post (someone burned one out of the 32 cards!) The main issue right now is how to MINIMIZE OUTPUT (in external crypto) while MAXIMIZING EARNINGS. I think this main strategy of the "one "Orb" pack per day" is feasible, and a most efficient use of my limited (but consistent) budget of DEC (when you account for the cards I get in the daily quest rewards (some of which I convert to DEC immediately to offset the cost of the one daily "Orb" pack, PLUS any NON "super cards" in the "Orb" pack, PLUS the additional daily bonus DEC I earn from the "super cards", etc.). In other words, the 2,500 DEC cost of the daily "Orb" pack is PROGRESSIVELY less costly each day as I continue with this strategy, because the DEC is being RE-INVESTED into the cards, and thus the "earning potential" of my collection as a whole. Let's see what happens. Things look good so far.
( 2 ) For several reasons (including limited time, as well as having to divert some energy to other important projects) I ended up finishing the last season at Gold I level. This means I was bumped down to Silver III at the start of the new season. This was a bit of a "blessing and a curse", but an informative/enlightening one. On the negative side, starting out at Silver III imposed a significant enough amount of limits on my cards and summoners. So much so that it took a good FIVE DAYS of serious, concentrated effort to get back up to Gold I, and this was both frustrating, and limited the number of daily reward cards I could score for a few days. On the POSITIVE side of things, I came to the realization that my current collection of "Orb" promo (gold and non-gold) cards is now providing a MAJOR advantage in this EXACT situation (where the cards are limited in their level). One important thing to keep in mind is that, since we are being matched with opponents on the same level (ex. Silver, Gold, etc.) their cards ARE ALSO LIMITED to the same degree as yours. This is where those "Orb" promo cards (gold and non-gold) have a MAJOR advantage. Firstly, since you are unlikely to have more than Level 2 or 3 of these cards they are generally NOT especially limited in their functionality at the lower levels of the game. This means that you can BOTH use them INSTEAD of their non-gold counterparts (for instance, since my "Electric Eels" (Gold "Orb") card is now at Level 5, and my "Electric Eels" (NON-gold "Orb") cards is at Level 8. HOWEVER, at the Silver III level of play the NON-gold "Electric Eels" card is limited down to Level 5 -- the SAME as the gold version! This means that I can use the gold version with THE SAME amount of power/ability as the non-gold, and earn a 20% bonus (per card) per won battle (10% for "promo" PLUS 10% for "gold" = 20% for "gold promo") instead of merely the 10% for using the Level 8 (no-gold) card at the higher levels (ex. Gold, Diamond). In fact, I have found this to be so productive in the early stage of the season (likely earning DOUBLE the DEC I normally would) that I wasn't in too much of a rush to hit the Gold level! There was less PRESSURE on my to go up the ranks now that I have a "cushion" (via my growing stash of "gold promo" cards to subsidized the DEC earning lost by starting at the lower level). This was further reinforcement of the value of buying the "one "Orb" pack per day" strategy). This is actually a VERY important concept, so please ponder it seriously. It also reduces the pressure to upgrade your "gold promo" cards to higher than Level 4 or Level 5 (which often requires only a few cards), and so I will be focusing on doing just that. Right now I am trying to get hold of one more "Dwarven Wizard" (Gold - Level 3) cards, because I just need one more to combine him to Level 4, thereby unlocking his very powerful "stun" ability, which will be a serious "game-changer" (pun intended). I am hoping that, with my current purchase of one "Orb" pack per day, I will land another one of these "Dwarven Wizard" (Gold - Level 3) cards. I would be content with him at Level 4.
( 3 ) In the same line of reasoning about the card limits at lower levels, I finally realized that my "Crypt Mancer" (legendary summoner) card actually DOES have practical value. I got a bunch of this summoner in my recent 100 (+10) beta pack batch purchase, (in addition to two other legendary summoners in different splinters (earth and fire), but since there were both LESS of the others, AND they are more expensive, AND I wasn't sure how/when to use them (how "practical" they were) I ended up deciding to sell them to buy some more gold cards and potions. However, I kept the Crypt Mancer (with the goal is EXPERIMENTING to see if/how I could use him), and he is now just one (~ $12 USD) card away from Level 3. The good news is that at my several days of play at Silver III level, this season, I finally discovered how my current Crypt Mancer can be very useful. He's stronger than my main "death summoner" (Zintar Mortaus), and good to use at the lower level at the beginning of the season, and so I will now likely purchase that final card to at least get him to Level 3. Then, over the next few seasons I can buy one card per season to max him out. I think it would at least be good to have one maxed legendary summoner in my collection.
( 4 ) I also saw that the "Furious Chicken" (Gold - Level 3) went down significantly in price over the past month, and for the TWO main reasons that I use this card in as many battles as possible, AND because by using him/her in GOLD version you automatically get a 10% bonus of DEC per won battle (added to all the other bonuses), then the $6.60 USD it cost me for my first card is ALREADY paying for itself. I LOVE the "Furious Chicken", and have fully intended to max BOTH the non-gold AND THEN the gold versions of this card. Now it seems that my DEC income level from my gold and promo cards, and the "super cards" I score in my daily quest rewards PLUS that "one "Orb" pack per day" will make it easier and faster to max him/her out. I actually only need THREE (3) more "Furious Chicken" (Gold - Level 3) cards to get to Level 5, which then would BOTH be equal to my current non-gold level, AND would unlock the "enrage" ability, which would keep my little chicken "in the game" longer to potentially do more damage. I am keeping a record of the number (and URLs of the battles) where my chicken has LITERALLY WON the battle ("been the "game-changer"), and that growing list is impressive. Adding the gold factor to that only BOOSTS the value of this very (elusively) powerful card. It must be that whole "0" (zero) numerology thing at work. It's one of my absolute FAVORITE "lucky numbers". And I don't say this lightly. I can write a whole book about the significant of the "chicken/rooster" in my expeditions through several "developing" countries on the saddle of my mountain bike, but that will be reserved for another series. For now, I will just leave you with a "breadcrumb" if you are so inclined to follow :
Year of the Rooster
https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rooster/
( 5 ) Good news on the #drugwars front. It turns out that the dudes over in my "BroBoss" gang are quite proactive, and increasingly so, and we have started making the Discord channel more "interactive" and organized by adding some forward-moving features (ex. an "introduction" section (where we can get to know a little bit more about our fellow gang members). One especially promising move is that one of the members (I will keep names confidential for now - it is a "gang" after all) has started initiating roughly one "gang job" per day. The IMMEDIATE benefit of this is that we all MAGICALLY get a nice dump of resources once a day for essentially doing nothing (aside from my JUICY daily contribution of 500k of each resource into the gang, of course, which IS valuable). Once I saw him doing the gang jobs I figured that since I had a rather large army, and have settled on a productive strategy with the "individual" jobs (doing only one job per day, and replenishing the lost resources overnight), I would just throw my whole army at a "gang job". I was warned by the other guy that you need to get to know the "gang job" algorithm, but because I saw that he only experienced a loss of like 200 "mama" units on the "High Noon" (Level 1) gang job I figured that if I just threw everything at it my losses would be less. WRONG! This turned out to be exactly like my first major battle in 
( 6 ) Last month, when my 
Okay, I think that's enough of a data dump for now. I hope you find some/any of these tips useful in increasing your understanding and/or skill level in the Steem Monsters (Splinterland) and/or Drug Wars game(s). More JUICY tips to come with each weekly update, as I become more experienced and successful in the game.
See you on the battlefield...
@transcript-junky