A Steem Monsters Christmas Tale

I know it's not exactly Christmas anymore, in fact its pretty far from it. But better late than never, right?

My little 10 year old brother Toby, is quite the gamer and if it was up to him, he would spend most of his days glued to the screen. Me being an Osteopath I know first hand the consequences of sitting and leading a sedentary lifestyle, which is only amplified at younger ages. Therefore in the past I have always gone for tangible outdoor toys as Christmas gifts, especially for him. All that changed when I found out about Steem Monsters and got gifted my first cards. Thanks @a1-shroom-spores!!!

Toby had played online collectable card games (CCG's) before in the form of Pokemon, so is fairly familiar with the game dynamics and general gameplay of these kind of games. However it was time to introduce the concept of digital scarcity to my little Bro. I told him there will ever only be a certain pre-determined amount of booster packs that people can buy for $2 each, once there gone, they are gone. I said the booster packs are a lottery, you get 5 cards which a comprised of mostly common cards and at least one rare or better. Occasionally you would get an epic card and if you are really lucky you might even stumble upon a legendary. I then told him there was a marketplace where you can buy/sell these cards for a type of computer money called STEEM. I explained that you can make teams with your monsters and battle other peoples monsters to earn daily cards and climb your way up a season leaderboard to win even more cards. His eyes lit up with intrigue, "So you're telling me that I can win cards and sell them for real money??" Yes, yes I am and the stronger your teams are the more cards you can win!

I'm broke so could only afford to spend around $20 each on my two youngest siblings. So for Toby I bought him the $10 starter pack and sent him 4 $2 beta booster packs I still had from a previous season.

More eager than a virgin in a brothel he raced through flipping over one card at a time to reveal what monsters he had got. During the reveal of his last booster pack, one of the cards did that shaking thing before it turns over. Oh jeez here comes a Legendary I thought. When the card finally flipped on its back my jaw dropped............

A gold foil fucken Hydra!!!

Toby had no idea why I was freaking out, except that it was a good thing haha. I said, go to the market and see how much that card is selling for. The current going rate for a gold foil Hydra was $250 USD, or more importantly for him $370 New Zealand Dollars!

With all the racket and jumping up in the air both of us were doing, we caught the attention of Mum and Dad. I knew I would have a little explaining to do. As would be the case for many baby boomers, they couldn't fathom the concept of digital scarcity and why people would pay so much for a single card. I tried my best to explain that what Steem Monsters are doing has never happened before and we are witnessing a gaming revolution. All my explanations seemingly fell on deaf ears and verbal warfare broke-out between my parents and other siblings, with all of them wanting answers at once. My parent's attitude to it all was to get that money out now! And if you don't its not real!
To which I said, "It's not up to you, it is Toby's asset and he can chose what he wants to do with it".
I spoke to Toby about putting it on the market for a little less than the current lowest seller to gain some STEEM (I mean a lot) which he could then re-invest and buy other cards with. That was until my Mum got in his ear.....

Just moments earlier before this whole fiasco, I opened an envelope from my Austrian Grandma which had a lazy $200NZD tucked inside (Danke Oma!). My Mum knew this and planted the seed in Toby's head to offer me that card in turn for my $200 cash I received for Christmas and put that money towards a Nintendo switch which he had wanted for a long time. I told everyone that is a dumb move on Toby's part and I didn't want to rip him off. They all laughed and thought I was the fool. With that I agreed to the deal and handed over my 200 bucks cash. I put the Hydra card on the market myself for $245USD. Within 5 hours the card had sold and just over 800 STEEM went straight into my account. Win!
Straight into Power up mode!

Even though my little brother had never held so much cash before in his life and was over the moon with his present, I still feel a little dirty. Like I've cheated him somewhat. What my family don't realise is that 800 STEEM is going to be worth so much more in 5 years and thats a given. How much exactly nobody knows. I do know I won't be selling any STEEM until we reach parity to its previous all time high (ATH). Thats $6400 USD.......... instead of $200NZD....... which will be worth closer to $160 in 5 years due to inflation. I know where i'd rather have my money.

Nevertheless I have successfully onboarded a new Steem Monsters' player for life!
He absolutely loves the game and the monetary incentive that comes with it. His account name is @mobidesert, make sure you kick his ass on the battlefield!