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 ) With the newly tweaked strategy of buying one 100 (+10) "Orbs" cards packs per month, as an effort to more properly PACE myself, AND provide additional DEC liquidity, I was happy to find that I was able to keep my "pack problem" under control by sticking to my carefully-designed "protocol" for opening packs, and discovered some surprising ADVANTAGES to opening only the 1-3 packs per day (in line with my strategy). One of the advantages is that by opening only 1-3 packs per day I am able to more closely monitor the price changes of the different "Orbs" cards (the edition of cards I am primarily focusing on right now, until they sell out) over time. I have kept a meticulous record of ALL of the rare, legendary, and gold "Orbs" cards I have gotten in the FOUR 100 (+10) promo batches I have bought and opened. That record looks something like the data below (** this one is from the current batch, where I separate the record into "10-pack" sections, and then do a subtotal after opening every 10 packs (10-pack sections are denoted by the "..."):
$2.80 - Goblin Chef (gold -Level 4)
$1.79 - Dwarven Wizard (reg - Level 1)
$6.10 - Silvershield Bard (gold - Level 3)
$4.40 - Minataur Warlord (reg - Level 1) --> [sent to 
$4.50 - Lord Of Fire (reg - Level 3) --> [sent to
(I opened these above 10 (free) packs (in one go) on November 16th, 2019)
...
$1.85 - Dwarven Wizard (reg - Level 1) - November 17th, 2019
$1.85 - Dwarven Wizard (reg - Level 1) - November 18th, 2019 (experimenting with TWO packs per day - 100/2 = 50 days)
$1.80 - Enchanted Defender (gold - Level 4) - November 18th (2nd daily pack)
$1.89 - "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1) November 19th, 2019
$1.89 - "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1) November 19th, 2019
etc. etc.
As you can see above, I got the "Dwarvan Wizard (reg - lvl 1)" card on November 16th, and November 17th, but the price changed from $1.79 to $1.85 USD. This is helpful information, ESPECIALLY as I can compare the price of the cards over the longer-term by keeping this running record of the card values when I first open them. This also makes it easier for me to do the "input/output" accounting to get a clearer idea of the return I am getting on the crypto I spend on the packs. Another main advantage of opening only 1- 3 packs per day is that this slower pace allows me to replenish the three most continuously useful potions ("+5 reward cards" + "brilliant legendary" + "brilliant alchemy") in a more efficient manner, so that I always have a decent amount of DEC liquidity, as I convert reward cards, and non-keeper "Orbs" cards into DEC. The main reason I made this tweak was because I was running too low on liquidity by buying the 100 (+10) batches and opening them all at once.
Here is this week's breakdown of the reward cards, and "Orbs" cards openings:
** Keep in mind that I don't expect you to read every detail of this log, but I provide it so you can see the level of DETAIL of my accounting, AND ALSO how the specific details I am recording are used for the larger strategy decisions**
Daily Quest Reward Cards
keepers - 210 DEC
non--keepers 45 DEC
total = 255 DEC
Orbs (Pack #1 - following completed quest)
keepers - "Dwarvan Wizard" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.85 USD - 600 DEC)
non-keepers - 210 DEC
total DEC - 810 DEC
purchased - "+5 rewards cards" potion - 3,600 DEC (31,542 DEC balance)
"Orbs" (Pack #2 - experimented opening this SECOND pack per day to increase the pace from 100 days of opening packs to 50 days - in order to strike better balance between conserving DEC reserves (aka "liquidity) versus unlocking card DEC earning potential - instead of letting the cards (and their DEC-earning potential) lie dormant.)
keepers - "Dwarvan Wizard" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.85 USD - 600 DEC)
non-keepers - 210 DEC
total - 810 DEC
Daily Quest Rewards Cards
keepers - 210 DEC
non-keepers - 195 DEC
total - 405 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #1 - after daily quest rewards dump)
keepers - "Enchanted Defender" (Gold - Level 4 - $1.80 USD - 1,500 DEC)
non-keepers - 210 DEC
** bought one more "Orbs" pack with past few days DEC earnings - 30,668 DEC in-game balance
"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second of "two packs per day" schedule)
non-keepers - 240 DEC
Total - 240 DEC
** bought one additional "Orbs" pack from DEC earnings from past day ** - 30,146 DEC in-game balance
Daily Reward Cards
keepers - 150 DEC
non-keepers - 120 DEC
Total = 270 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #1 - after completing daily quest)
non-keepers - "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.89 USD - 600 DEC), "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.89 USD - 600 DEC)
** sold both of these on market for $1.89 each ** // commons - 180 DEC
Total - 1,380 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #2 - For reaching "Gold I" Level)
non-keepers - 330 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #3 - second (1 of 2) daily pack)
nonkeepers - 240 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #1 - BEFORE finishing daily quest, because quest was difficult to finish. Opening the pack helped MOTIVATE me to finish the quest. This is actually a VERY helpful strategy tweak, as it's easy to get "stuck and frustrated" on a difficult daily quest)
non-keepers - 330 DEC
Daily Reward Cards
keepers - "Rusty Android" (Gold - Level 4 - $0.68 USD - 750 DEC) + 255 DEC
nonkeepers - 375 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second (evening) daily pack
nonkeepers - 240 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #1 - morning daily pack, opened BEFORE finishing daily quest, which was morale-boosting, because the quest was difficult today, and took a few hours more than usual)
non-keepers - 240 DEC
Daily Reward Cards (** JUICY **)
keepers - "Black Dragon" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.41 USD - 1,500 DEC), "Daria Dragonscale" (non-gold - Level 1 - $0.49 USD - 300 DEC) + 135 DEC (commons) = 1,935 DEC
nonkeepers - 270 DEC
Total = 2,205 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second daily (evening) pack)
nonkeepers - 240 DEC
Daily Quest Reward Cards
keepers - "Ruler Of The Seas" (non-gold - Level 1 - $4.00 USD - 1,500 DEC) 30 15
nonkeepers - "Sacred Unicorn" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.70 USD - 1,500 DEC) 60 15 300 15 45 15
Total -
"Orbs" (Pack #1 - after daily quest rewards)
nonkeepers -
"Corrupted Pegasus" (non-gold - Level 1 - $12.75 USD - 3,000 DEC) --
** sent this card to
Total = 3,210 DEC
"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second (evening) daily pack)
nonkeepers - 240 DEC
** bought new "+5 reward card" (5 charges) potion - 3,600 DEC
** bought one additional "Orbs" pack (2,400 DEC) to celebrate today's JUICY pull of cards. I am finding that, based on my average daily income (of DEC), AND accounting for the ongoing costs of the "+5 reward cards", "brilliant legendary", and "brilliant alchemy (gold)" potions, it is best to purchase one additional "Orbs" pack every OTHER day, instead of DAILY. Pacing is the KEY to this whole process. This enables me to continue adding packs to my reserve stash (to satiate my "pack addiction") AND ALSO have enough liquid DEC to keep all of the potions at max (since those potions significantly increase the possibility of getting "super cards" which can then be used to buy more packs. I think this is the BEST option based my current DEC income of ~ 2,000 - 2,500 DEC/day). I am also monitoring my average daily DEC earnings, as my collection grows, and will adjust the pack-purchase pace in line with that income level.
"Orbs" (Pack #1 - Before completing daily quest, because I wanted to try to reach "Diamond III" level before completing the quest, to get more reward cards"
nonkeepers - "Minotaur Warlord" (non-gold - level 1 - $3.98 USD - 3,000 DEC - put for sale on market) + 300 DEC
Total = 3,300 DEC
Daily Reward Cards (it was too difficult to reach "Diamond III" this morning, so I will work on that AFTER the now completed quest)
keepers - "Sea Genie" (Gold - Level 4 - $0.72 USD - 750 USD) + 90 DEC
nonkeepers - 120 DEC
Although there are some DISADVANTAGES to slowing down the process of opening (and being able to USE, and earn, DEC from any "super cards" in the 100 (+10) pack batches, the reality is that I think I now have ENOUGH "power cards" to minimize this disadvantage, and so waiting a few weeks to open some of those "super cards" is not going to make a HUGE difference compared to the value of having proper DEC liquidity. In addition, once the "Orbs" cards run out, I plan to use this SAME strategy to continue buying the new "Untamed" series packs. So right now I am laying the foundation for my LONGER-TERM system of perpetually buying SteemMonsters card packs using the assets I ALREADY have in the game (instead of using crypto from OUTSIDE of the game (ex. Bitcoin). My ultimate focus right now is building the momentum to do this.
( 2 ) I am finding that opening TWO daily "Orbs" packs (one in the morning (either AFTER the daily quest, or BEFORE it (if the quest is difficult), and one in the evening) is an ideal pace, as it serves the DUAL purposes of staying motivated (knowing that I can look forward to INDULGING my "pack habit" twice on a regular (one "dose" every 12 hours) basis), AND keeping the pace of pack-opening to a "healthy" level so that I am BOTH unleashing the earning potential of the cards, but also doing so at a "comfortably replenishable" pace, so as to maintain DEC liquidity. This also allows me to progressively SAVE some DEC as a more long-term investment, as the price of the DEC token ITSELF may very well increase substantially in value as the game evolves and become more popular.
3 ) I know some/many of you reading this may be starting to think that all of the recordkeeping, and number-crunching, in these recent posts is a bit "neurotic" - which is (partially) IS - but in my defense let me state that there is a PURPOSE for such excessive detail. What we all should to keep in mind is that one of the MAJOR advantages of "blockchain gaming" is that you OWN the assets! So this means that the "accounting" process is actually AS MUCH a part of "the game" as the "active play" is! In fact, one of the reasons why I have tended to play "#drugwars as a "secondary" game (instead of putting my full focus on it) is because it lacks the second part - interesting "active play" features, and so I am using my "Drug Wars" more as a "marketing case study", and a way to explore specific feature specific to the DrugWars game (ex. gangs), than the more "active play" which I engage in daily with "Steem Monsters". Keep in mind that this whole series is essentially BOTH a "detailed" analysis of these two specific (Steem-based) games, AND a more "general" exploration of "blockchain gaming" as an evolving industry/phenomenon/technology. So, when I list all of the details of the "asset" transactions (ex. reward cards (with DEC values), pack results (with DEC values), and the additional transactions which result from those (ex. buying more packs, potions, etc.) this is to DEMOSTRATE (through actual daily activity) the "asset management" aspects of these games. Keep in mind that this is the FIRST time in gaming history that we have had access to this new aspect of gaming, so it is worth exploring, in my opinion. You can see, from the above detail, that my strategy is generally IMPROVING, and such improvement is primarily the result of this meticulous recordkeeping, experimentation, and analysis - just like in any proper business/project endeavor.
( 4 ) I got an EVEN JUICIER (100%) upvote from 
Also, one of the manual curators ( the lovely 
( 5 ) As I mentioned in the previous post, my new strategy is to move 0.03 BTC out of Coinbase and into Steem, in monthly installments, over the next few months (at least until I get proper momentum of DEC liquidity so that I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO tap into the BTC. However, this month I have ALSO been monitoring the significant decrease in value of Bitcoin. But the thing to keep in mind is that the most important thing is that RATIO of "BTC to Steem" (BTC:Steem). Like whereas today the values are (BTC = $7,600 USD (CoinGecko), and Steem = $0.126 USD), even with the price drop of BTC the AMOUNT/QUANTITY of Steem I can get for BTC (via 
( 6 ) This past week I was so busy with various projects that I did not have much time to dedicate to active #DrugWars play, but I DID manage to be able to stick to my core "passive" strategy of contributing 500k (drugs) + 500k (weapons) + 500k (alcohol) per day to the various "gang buildings" which needed topping up, and it appears that the other members have been keeping up on their end by doing the gang jobs, and so for now we are moving forward. I am also adding the task of checking our gang's Discord channel to check-in with the other members and see if there is any important news going on. I am doing this every time I make a one of my "three per week" Steemit posts, and share the link in Discord. Given my lack of time/energy right now, I think this is a "productive enough" stategy to keep thing moving in the 
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