As I have now been playing Steem Monsters for nearly three months now, and have wanted to contribute something of ACTIONABLE value to my fellow players (and future players) - but NOT fill my Steemit feed withdaily images of quest rewards, after some serious pondering, I have decided that a weekly "Steem Monster 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 hopre that readers (now and into the future) will benefit from this series. Also, feel free to hit me up on the battlefield...
1 ) Playing SteemMonsters is a GREAT way to multi-task. I have been experimenting over the past month on how to integrate my regular playing of the game in with the 6-8 hours of computer work I do each day (as my main source of income is freelance transcription and social media marketing - (link below to my main web site related to that)). Some tasks which integrate well with playing a few Steem Monsters battles - one at a time, and at a comfortable pace throughout the day - include: listening to audio podcasts (which DON'T require you to look at (consume) content on the screen. I often listen to the audio for several minutes while LYING DOWN on my bed next to the computer (which helps give my back/eyes/etc. a rest (to counter RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury)) and then every 5-10 minutes I will initiate a Steem Monsters battle. If it is an important (or especially interesting) battle, I will pause the podcast audio and actually watch the whole battle. If it is just a less significant "workhorse battle" intended to complete the daily quest, and/or climb to the next level, I will often let it run (in "mute" mode), and keep my eye on it. If I am clearly losing the battle I will often hit "go to the end of the battle" as this frees up my time to concentrate on the podcast audio. You get better with this through pratice, but it is great that SteemMonsters had the forsight t include these feature in the game design. A second task I use to multi-task with my SM battle playing is when I go through my standard Steemit post posting in Steem Chat. After I make each of my Steemit posts I go ahead and start posting them in Steem Chat. I usually make one post in several chatrooms (spaced roughly five minutes apart), and I do this each day (like three days) for around one hour per day, so the task does not become too tedious or time-consuming). I can ALSO integrate this into the podcast listening multi-task, so that I end up listening to the podcast, AND THEN make a quick past of the post text into one Steem Chat room, AND THEN initiate a Steem Monsters battle. So it is essentially a "TRIPLE-task multi-task". By multi-tasking in this way, you are able to play ENOUGH to properly complete each daily quest, AND climb to the highest potential level in the season, continue gaining experience in the game, and getting the maximum number of JUICY reward cards each day and at the end of the season. Try it out.
2 ) Last month I started trading cards directly with fellow player ( 
3 ) "Will Work For Steem Monsters Cards" - Steve Cronin (
https://www.youtube.com/user/stevecronin/videos
Since my main gig is freelance transcription and social media marketing (more info and samples of my work here ):
https://diaryofafreelancetranscriptionist.com
we decided to try a "work for cards" exchange, where I transcribe some of Steve's YouTube/Dtube videos for payment in SteemMonsters cards. Now, the major advantages of the "work for cards" model include: 1 ) many of the cards you will use to "pay" someone for work will likely be ones you got as rewards, and some of those will be "lucky cards" (gold, rare, etc.) which means that you essentially got a significant amount of EXTRA VALUE just due to luck. As a result, we could conclude that if you are paying $xx.xx USD per hour for a service like transcription, you are actually getting an INHERENT DISCOUNT on that rate, due to the fact that you received the cards as "rewards" from daily/seasonal quests, and some of those cards are of MUCH higher value than the common rewards cards, and that "higher value" ultimately translates into a "discount" for the labor (ex. transcription) you are receiving in return for those cards. Also, an incentive for the person who works/receives those cards, the potential for them to go up in value over time is an added bonus. So, if Steve "pays" me for part of my work with one "Phantom Soldier (Gold)" card which I have requested (valued at $3.00 at the time of publishing this post) and then in a year from now (when SteemMonsters is EVEN MORE popular) that card is worth $6.00 then I essentially got paid DOUBLE for the work done in exchange for that card. Of course, there is the risk of the card going DOWN in value, and so if you "work for cards" you need to decide if you want to take that risk. There is always the alternative option of "working for fiat" instead of "working for cards", which can easily be done via PayPal, and other fiat exchange services.
4 ) I mentioned in the last post in this series that I was a bit "stuck" when the season began, because I had to start back at Silver I, and many of my most powerful cards and summoners were LIMITED by the lower level. I suggested that a solution to this is that I started spending more time learning about the newer Steem blockchain game "Drug Wars". I made SOME progress in that endeavor, but then realized that ANOTHER obstacle to my daily progress on Steem Monsters was my additional work requirements and responsibilities outside my house which took away some of the play time needed to climb the ranks. So what the strategy adjustment I decided to make was to be MORE STRICT in setting and completing the AMOUNT of posts on the #steemmonsters feed pages which I consumer daily. Firstly, I can ALWAYS access the #steemonsters pages via mobile, while on-the-go. Setting a goal of, let's say, consuming 3-5 articles per day can go a long way towards progress in the game (in COMPLEMENT to game play, or IN REPLACEMENT to game play when I simply can't play). In other words, we can consider there to be (at least) TWO ways of making daily progress on SteemMonsters : 1 ) ACTUALLY PLAYING the game, and 2 ) following the NEWS about the game, and the progress of other players in the community, via the #steemmonsters hashtag on Steemit. The second activity can be done anytime, anywhere (via mobile wifi connection).
5 ) The outcome/achievement of the past season (Season 8) was less than past ones. I ultimately received 30 season reward cards (with a couple of gold's and other juicy ones), and probably around the same amount (30) daily quest reward cards for the season. HOWEVER, I believe I made some BIG GAINS in terms of developing my strategy (as explained in this post) while also spending some more time exploring the more general blockchain gaming industry as a whole. Some days (especially at the beginning of a new season) the actually GAME PLAY of SteemMonsters can be tedious and energy draining, and so - just as with any other regular activity we engage in in our lives (ex. weight training, studying, etc.) it is often HELPFUL and HEALTHY to take some time away from the actual actvity to REST, and ANALYZE our progress, and DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT new ideas and directions. I have found this larger strategy to be helpful in maintaining my progress and interest in the SteemMonsters game over the long-term, and I hope that some of you who are reading this can/will as well.
I hope you find some/any of these tips useful in increasing your understanding and/or skill level in the game. More JUICY tips to come with each weekly update, as I become more experienced and successful in the game. All comments welcomed.
See you on the battlefield...
@transcript-junky