It's an Exciting Day in the Steemit Gaming World!

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I am thrilled to share the good news to everyone that the Ooze is flowing again!

No, wrong game.......

Steem Monsters Has Gone Live!!! That's right, @steemmonsters battles have gone live and you can play them right now at the Steem Monsters Website.

I hope this how-to gaming post about How-to Play Steem Monsters on Steemit will help anyone new to the game.

Steem Monsters fans have been waiting months for the release of the game, all the while collecting our Steem Monsters cards, and trying to level them up as fast as we could. But we knew little about the game play.

The release of the Steem Monsters Battles unleashes the structure of the game play in an easy to understand way. I will reveal the steps to winning your first Steem Monsters battle, and some basic highlights of this new card game on the blockchain.

Are you excited???

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First, I should say if you do not have a Steem Monsters starter card pack, you will need to buy one from Steemmonsters.com to get started. You can collect the cards buy buying additional booster packs to fill your collection and increase the level of your cards. Duplicate cards can be combined to increase their level, making them more powerful, and the more cards you collect, the more monsters you will have to do your bidding. Bwahahaha.

Those of us who have been collecting the Alpha cards will have quite the collection to start battles. This is awesome because we can pick different cards to play around with strategy. We can also use the Beta cards that are on sale now, giving us even more options when we assemble our team.

The first new thing you will notice when logging into the Steem Monsters is the new Battle link at the top of the page. This is the link to the battle field where you will be fighting for Steemit glory and fame.

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Once in your Command Station you will be given options as to how you would like to play. You can choose either practice or ranked play for now. (Challenges will be coming soon.)

The game uses your Resource Credits to play, the same as being active on Steemit, so check Steemd.com to be sure your resource credits are filled.

To begin battles during the current conflict, Steem Monsters has set the mana cap to 20. This means, your team must consist of one summoner, and monsters that are a combined 20 mana cost or below.

Once you select the practice or ranked play, you can then assemble your team. Each of the summoners will have a blue circle in the top left corner of the card that will show the mana cost of the card. If you scroll over the different icons, you can read what each summoner's ability will be.

For example the Red Malric Inferno has a saw icon that represents melee. It shows this summoner increases the attack of melee by +1. If I choose this summoner, I will be taken to the Red splinter to select the rest of my monsters. Any of the monsters with the saw icon are melee, so at the beginning of the battle this summoner will increase each of their attack by +1 making the entire team stronger.

Keep the summoner's abilities in mind when selecting your monsters.

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After you select your summoner, you will move on to the next step of selecting your team. You should know the first monster you pick will be the first to fight, and therefore the tank. Most of the enemy's team will be attacking this monster first. It is a good idea to pick a monster with a lot of health, or one with a shield. I had some success using a healing monster as a tank too.

Speaking of healing, you will need at least one of your monsters to have the ability to heal. This will help keep your tank, or other monsters alive longer by healing in between rounds. You may also choose a monster that can reflect and use the enemy's attack against them.

Next, your team will need some dps, or muscle to attack. The cards will be marked with their attack inside of their ability icon. For example, the melee will have their attack amount inside the saw icon. This attack will decide the amount of damage the enemy monster will take every time your monster takes it's turn. Each time a monster is attacked it loses health. Each time a monster is healed they will gain health. Once a monster is out of health, it will die.

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As you add the monsters into your team, you will see them on a new list located on the left side of the screen. You will see the name of the summoner, the card's current level, and the cost of the mana. When you add monsters, the monster's name will appear on the list and the mana will be included in the total mana count above the names. You can then select the remaining monsters for the battle.

To change your monsters from the team, you can select the x by the name. This will remove the monster from the list, and the total mana cost for the team will be recalculated to show your current selections.

If you would like to start over again from scratch, you can select the x by the summoner's name. Steemmonsters.com will ask you in a new menu on top of the page if you would like to start over. You can click ok, and then you will be guided back to the last screen to select another summoner.

If you are happy with the team, you can then name the team and save it. You can make a new team with each of your summoners and then save them to play later. The drop down menu makes it easy to find your saved teams again.

During battle you will have a tank, and monsters to fight for your team.

Your summoner will not fight, but their special abilities will be used at the beginning of the battle. Once your tank dies, the rest of your monsters fall quickly, so be sure to choose your team wisely.

The higher level your cards become, the more powerful they will ultimately be in battle.

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Once you are happy with your selections, you can begin to play by clicking the big battle icon at the right top of the page. You will be magically transported from your computer into the mystical world of the Splinterlands where you will battle other Steemians to the death in Steem Monsters Battles by pressing the Rumble option.

The cool thing about this game, other than everything, is that the battles are recorded on the Steemit blockchain. The results of the battle are calculated as soon as you go into battle. This is before you even watch the fight. So you have the option of skipping the scenario of the game play if you wanted.

You could then go back to select another team, or you can choose to fight more by continuing the battle. This would take all of the fun out of the game, but if you are in a hurry and just hoping to battle real fast, you can skip the battle and go right to the results.

If you are here for the full effect of the game, you will want to watch the battles.

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I like the music in the game very much. It reminded me of the old adventure games we used to play when we were kids, way back when... I also loved the combination of the graphics and the sound effects. I am simply overwhelmed with happiness that this project has grown into such a super cool game on Steemit. The game is very easy to understand, the icons are crisp and easy to follow, and there have been very few bugs that I have seen.

I hope everyone on Steemit has had the chance to check out #steemmonsters tag and had a chance to collect some cards so we can all play a game together as we continue to stay active on the platform. I know that this game is quickly becoming one of my favorites, and just in time since I was just telling myself this morning that I needed a new game to play... knowing I really don't.

If you haven't had the chance to check out the Steem Monsters battles, be sure to do that today. Every win you make will be added to your battle count, and while in ranked play will determine your place in the Splinterlands... and maybe even Steemit.

I want to say a great big congratulations to everyone involved in creating this game and putting it all together for us to play. @steemmonsters has done an outstanding job in every aspect of this project and they shine bright as a beacon of hope on Steemit for all us gamers and lovers of the gaming life.

Let me know in the comments when you win your first battle and which cards are your favorite to play. I am learning more about the game as I play, and I will be sure to pass on any other exciting tidbits of information as it comes my way!!

Until next time,
Happy Gaming- Sim Girl

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