A new update about the experiment in which I start playing Steemmonsters with only a starter deck because I want to experience first hand what it is like to join the game at the start of season 6. Things seem to be going smooth.

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Busy

I've been pretty busy these last couple of days, so I didn't really get a chance to follow up closely or even do something with my Steemmonsters account, except for completing my Daily Quest. As a result, it'll be just as new for me as it is for you to find out how I managed to collect the 18 Steem that is currently in my wallet.

To avoid the same disaster as the one I experienced a couple of days ago - when I spent more than an hour writing a post, only to delete it by clicking one wrong button - I've returned to my good old HTML-editor. Boy, that has been a while. I have gotten so used to using Markdown, it is a weird feeling to swithch back to HTML again.

But anyway... you're here to find out how things are going with the account, and what I have found out about starting to play Steemmonsters during season 6, without having any extra money to invest.

Donations

After the generous donation I received from @stiant after writing the post '@itisjustme's Home For The Unwanted Steemmonsters Cards', some more donations came in. Again, not a very realistic outcome, because the cards I received were donated by people of who I'm pretty sure they know who I am. Another factor that has an influence on this experiment, but let's look at it as proof that building a network here on SteemIt is the most important thing you can do.

First, there was this amazing donation from @bashadow. I'm such a terrible person, because only now I notice that these were not all simple level 1 cards... Shame on me!

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As you can see in the image above, the Sea Monster, one of the Highland Archers and one of the Goblin Mech cards are level 2 cards. OMG! Sorry I didn't notice earlier, @bashadow. I've been so busy I don't even remember if I thanked you properly...

Let me make that up to you...

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And there's more...

I told you in one of my previous posts that I had realized that if I ever wanted to get past the bots, leveling up would be more important than completing my deck. But that was easier said than done, since summoners are pretty expensive compared to other cards, and you need 3 level 1 cards to combine them into a level 2. I didn't have a clue about how I would ever be able to get enough Steem together to get myself two extra summoners...

But before I figured it out, I got this AMAZING gift from @rentmoney.

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A LEVEL 2 Alric Stormbringer, summoner of the Water splinter!

I could hardly believe it! This gift solved one of the biggest problems I had come across during my journey. Suddenly I had myself a leveled summoner - and not just any summoner, but Alric, the team leader of my favorite splinter to play at the low levels.

Together with the level 2 Sea Monster and the extra Sea Genie I got from @bashadow, I suddenly had a splinter with 3 level 2 cards. I don't think anything could have made me happier.

@rentmoney and @bashadow, I can't thank you enough for your generosity!

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I've added both of you, and @stiant, to my autovoter. For now, that doesn't mean a lot, because my vote isn't worth anything... yet. But it might be in the future.
(I've also added the three of you to the fan base of my main account, so at least I can give you something in return.)

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Giveaways

The idea to join as many giveaways as possible, already paid off.

After the Wood Nymph and the SBI share I won in one of @cryptictruth's giveaways, I also won a Cocatrice card in one of @stiant's giveaways.

I have expanded my way to earn money to buy cards by joining other contests too - even those that are not related to @steemmonsters. Provided they don't take up too much of my time, of course. After all, this is only a side project, and I'm already spending way too much time on it.

I only started yesterday, so we'll have to wait and see if it helps to add Steem to my wallet.

Daily Quests And Reward Cards

After the amazing collection of reward cards I showed you two days ago, I knew I should not get my hopes up too high, because you don't get a dragon card for free every day.

Although it was not as good as the day before, I wasn't unhappy with yesterday's selection.

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Compared to before, I had to work for them, though. I lost more battles than I'm used to. (I had to play 17 battles to win 2 DQ's)

I've already made it to Silver 2, so it's not going to get any easier.

Part of the problem is my geolocation. I have loads of free time to play during the day, but since most players live on the other side of the globe, I get to battle a lot of the Life bots during daytime. So I wait until about midnight, just to be able to have human opponents. But then I'm often so tired, I start making stupid mistakes.

Anyway, still no real complaints on this part of the challenge.

Sales And Earnings

Surprisingly, my method of selling leveled reward cards I announced in this post seems to work just fine. I've been selling quite some cards.

Thanks to @rentmoney's gift, I could sell my level 1 Alric Stormbringer. Since the price of the reward cards is so very low, I decided to also sell the Magi Of The Forest from the Earth Splinter. I don't use her very often anyway. I got rid of the Black Dragon too.

Earnings from sales:

Alric Stormbringer: 1.542 STEEM

Magi Of The Forest: 1.209 STEEM

Black Dragon: 8.671 STEEM

Getting that Black Dragon as a reward card was even more beneficial than getting those three Gold Foils durng the first week.

I could add 11.422 Steem to my wallet by selling only 3 cards.

https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUAyLaapeNZxLeW4hPsdrWGtoN2SNPPNKAKLwwvfgkjaZ/wink.png ^Source

I've already been so lucky - ever since the start of this experiment - I know it can't last. But I would be lying if I would say I'm not enjoying it...

Next Step

I haven't had time to think about what to do next. These last few days, I've been so busy with real-life stuff, I could hardly find time to play, let alone think of strategies.

I think leveling some more cards of the Water splinter is the way to go. But then again, having only one splinter leveled up isn't going to be enough. After all, I'm not going to get a DQ for the Water splinter every day.

Tomorrow, I'll probably have some time to take a look at my options. Maybe, it would also be a good idea to make an inventory of my deck, like @senstless is doing for his experiment with the @senstlessmonster -account.

I already stole his idea to follow up on the progress of this account by getting its stats from the @steemmonsters Discord channel:

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Shameless Promotion

Although the post has almost reached payout, I want you to know that @itisjustme's Home For The Unwanted Steemmonsters Cards will remain open. I will be happy to adopt any of your leftover cards and give back their self-esteem by giving them a chance to feel useful again.

You can read more about my shelter for unwanted cards by clicking the image below.

@itisjustme's Home For The Unwanted Steemmonsters Cards

Daily Updates

I'm really going to try and do my best to publish an update daily in the future. Posts like this take up way too much time to write. On top of that, with the @steemmonsters upvote and my first SBI share, publishing a post every day will bring in more rewards.