Steem Monsters Sunday: A look at the Kickstarter Exclusive Cards

It has been a busy week but one of the new routines I have established on the platform has been to ensure that I get Daily Quests completed on @steemmonsters as they provide a great chance to get new cards for the collection. The collection part of this game has been something that first attracted me to the game in general. As a collector of trading cards in the past, I have always been attracted to completing collections as an achievement. In this case, given the competitive landscape of the gameplay, I have thought that the ability to have diversity of cards available to play would create an advantage to my collection.

This has been confirmed even more so as the development team has continued to change rules around the battles that require the player to become more strategic about team building and placement. The way the game adjusts its conflicts every couple of days by changing the Mana cap and/or assigning special rules has made the game more dynamic and has increase its replayability as teams could be favored for a short period of time or conflict just to be completely out of favor for the next conflict. This adds the importance of having a diversified collection of cards as the variety of conflicts and rules requires alternatives to remain competitive. Given the rewards being offered to play like free booster packs for daily quests and season rewards or the SBD for top 10 places of the season, being competitive is a key factor in succeeding in this game.

Due to the importance of having a complete collection of cards, I immediately signed up for the @steemmonsters Kickstarter campaign when I saw that they were offering exclusive cards for those who pledge above a certain amount. While little was known at that point, the fact that we could get exclusive cards for collecting and using in battle was enough for me to sign up for them. They included four cards that had both their base versions in addition to their Gold Foil version given to backers. This was the last part of the Kickstarter items that they distributed to those who pledged. I was excited to redeem them when they finally got distributed but was surprised to see what I saw shortly thereafter.

Screenshot taken from Steem Monsters Website

Immediately after I redeemed the cards, I realized that they were special. The flexibility and variability that these cards provide to a deck were clear to me when I opened them. The summoner, like Selenia Sky, allows you to also side with any specific splinter and create a team of dragons with that Splinter. The new legendary dragon, Shin-Lo, only requires one mana to be played with as well which is unique among all the cards currently available. I often see myself have one left over space for one mana that wasn’t being used so this could be an alternative. The fact is that the team of new Dragons have added more diversity and that has been seen in the prices in the market for these new cards.

Screenshot taken from Steem Monsters Website

Immediately upon their release, the cheapest one you can find was the common for $8! The Legendary was being offered for over $100 upon release as well. The scarcity of these is also a factor to consider. Less than 6,000 of these cards, including their Gold versions are in circulation and unlike other Beta cards, they will never be released again similar to the Alpha cards out there to today. When considering their Gold Foil versions, the total of all eight exclusive cards exceed the amount of the minimum needed to pledge the Kickstarter project. This is despite considering that we already have received 110 Alpha Booster packs and 50 Beta Booster packs!

Screenshot taken from Steem Monsters Website

The Kickstarter pledge has probably been one of my best investments ever if you consider the potential return I could achieve by selling everything I received for it. It is too bad that I did not purchase additional cards when offered as I could have sold some for some more #STEEM or actually level them up. However, I have enjoyed the game so much that I think it has created even more value than that of the prices being seen today. Consider the fact that tournaments have not even launched yet, you can imagine the value of having a diversified collection once they start. I decided to take the cards for a spin so I created a team to play using the new cards.

Screenshot taken from Steem Monsters Website

I had to add a Legendary Dragon to the mix to ensure I was competitive given the higher Mana cap than that of the new cards. I was excited to see the battle and how the speed statistic influenced the gameplay. Despite the current ruleset that negates the ability to dodge due to speed, I saw how speed help gain an advantage as a card cannot hit you if it already down. I think the new cards will add some great alternatives to teams that often need different approaches to their attack and defense. The win showed the capabilities of a full Dragon team which will be interesting to consider as battles heat up.

Screenshot taken from Steem Monsters Website

My experience with playing @steemmonsters continues to demonstrate the greatness of what the developers have created for the #STEEM community. It is also very encouraging as they continue to ensure that the game remains balanced to ensure that the players are having a good experience. I have seen multiple new entrants to the ecosystem because the game introduced them to the blockchain and what can be done here. The game is allowing a way to engage across the ecosystem with very little need to become fully invested. This is an excellent opportunity for #STEEM to prove its flexibility and engagement as it continues to grow with great projects like @steemmonsters.

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