How I accidentally became a SteemMonsters merchant

It all started with a little tourism. I had played it a few times, then played it a few more times, and I never quite got the taste of it. I don't like paying for things and Steem Monsters is basically a pay-to-win game. Well, that's kind of debatable. Once everyone has paid the same amount and has all max-levelled cards, it becomes a neutral and balanced game again, but it's undoubtable that if you don't buy hundreds of cards to level up your team, you won't be at the top 20.

I was driven further and further away from the idea until @lunaticpandora said that if I got to rank 1000, I could get 4 free packs of cards by the end of the season. That meant that I could probably earn money while doing this! So I set out in a mission. I joined Steem Monsters and saw that you could earn an extra booster pack of cards if you won 10 games with cards from the water splinter! I jumped into the game, used my already existing water splinter cards (coming from the starter pack) and started playing.

I spent hours playing. I didn't know it could become so addictive. However, I only got to a rating of 800 with my level 1 team. I had to get to 1000 or I wouldn't get those 4 packs. I saw that those that were at rating 1000 had cards that were level 3 at least (3 and 4), so I bought cards to level up my own team until they were level 3 and 4. I played and played with it, and I got to rating 1300. I had earned the right to 5 packs by the end of the season (plus the extra pack from the daily challenge).

Then came other daily challenges, so I had to buy a blue splinter pack of cards, then came more challenges, so I bought a fire splinter one, and I kept at it so hard that I came to realise that I had bought around 60 SBD worth of cards!!!!!! So wasteful! Here I am, trying not to be poor, and I'm spending a month's meals worth of money on cards.

I went to sell them but didn't want to sell them too cheap! I started pumping up the price a bit. If I had bought a card for 1 sbd, I sold it for 1.2, etc., and I put most of the expensive cards for sale that way except for the main team. I woke up the next day and saw that many of those cards had been sold! I was earning! I was meaning to just cut back on my expenditure, save a bit of what I had wasted in my carelessness, and I ended up making my initial investment grow!

I was excited, so I put more and more cards for sale. I put all my cards for sale, in fact. And ever since then, I've been getting a stable influx of coins every few minutes or hours. Whenever I'm going to play, I see which team I want to play and I buy those specific cards. I don't need all of them all the time. I need some cash for my own life (I'm going to take some cash out because I incurred some debts to save my neck :(, but my neck is worth any money), but I can still afford to play the daily quests, and when the season is ending, I suppose I'll race @clove71 to the top with some nice cards and holger's bot, maybe?

Last season, I ended in Diamond II with just a small water team because they were OP (levels 4 and 5). I got 13 booster packs out of that! Then I put all the cards I used for sale :D (and the 13 booster packs). I'm still refilling my vaults. I really used up too much of the money I was saving for some necessary expenditures. I'm sure I'll still have some money to spare when my ordeal is done and I'll keep playing a bit of Steem Monsters, but for now, I will keep being a merchant and buying and selling cards every day.

I think I've bought and resold the Peaceful Giant about 4 times already. Whenever I am in need for a 5-mana tank, I just buy 25 Peaceful Giants (usually for around 5-6 USD in total), combine them into one big level 5 Peaceful Giant, use him for what I need him for, then sell him back to the market for around 8-10. I don't know why people buy them, but I'm glad they do. I guess I don't mind being spoon-fed by spendthrifts. :) (Please don't steal my trade. I like my profits.)