Only recently I got to spend some regular playing time with Splinterlands - I had to create a new account but good thing is I already knew the basics from the game. As necessity made me choose to spend only the minimum necessary at first, after buying the Spellbook I had only the necessary DEC left to rent a couple of cards. Since many players at the lower leagues use mostly ghost cards, I believed some good choices would be enough to help me get to some upper leagues before the end of the season, as well as to get some more DEC along the way. My choices were the Venari Wavesmith and the Demented Shark. Later on I also managed to rent the Efreet Elder and the Flame Monkey.
So that was it, fellows! Besides ghost cards that was all I had available to reach my goals and I was confident I would be able to do it. But little I knew, my friends! After the first battle (which I won) I would soon be desolated with the mortifying message:
Get to Bronze II league to earn DEC rewards!
WHAT the f...iresplinter!!!
When did this thing change?! I was asking myself hopelessly. Damn! No DEC earning until Bronze II? I was not counting on it and it certainly would make my life much tougher since I had no DEC left in order to rent more cards if necessary. Still, after a deep breath, I said to myself we should keep on going - these moments set apart the brave ones from the cowards.
And I do have to say the beginning of my path was glorious - soon Novice league was below me. But then Bronze III started... and I was unaware of what it had become. Sincerely I tell you, my friends, no previous experience had prepared me for what was to come:
Battle royale!
As I was making some progress but also losing a much higher percentage of battles, I started to understand: all those people with mostly ghost cards were in the same situation as I found myself in. I could see in their eyes, I tell you guys, those people had nothing to lose. Just like in the recently worldwide famous South Korean TV series Squid Game (aka "Round 6"), we were all desperately slaughtering each other in hope to reach some of the so desired DEC, which for sure would change our lives and get us out of misery. And I was shocked to witness all those people hopelessly trying to get out of the mud pit Bronze III league had become.
Although starting to fear for my sanity, I was determined to see it through to the bitter end, and at some point my goal didn't seem to be so far away. A rating of 400 was my goal. The start of a whole new life where opportunities were to be shared by everyone and not only by the ones with money! - as you can see it was acquiring more and more a deeper meaning. I was sorry for those lying along the path, doomed to remain forever in that stinky Bronze III place, but I was eager to escape all that misery.
Suddenly, I could feel my fingers trembling before a match. And I could not control the flow of thoughts: "What if the internet connection fails?!" No! There must be a God in the universe!
I could see the shiny sparks of the Crystals, I could smell the DEC, never had I been so close! I knew I could do it! The world was to be mine. But shall we not forget that thus speaks the proverb: "The higher you climb, the harder you fall"!
I was so close... Frustration made me start to lose my temper:
Defeats were starting to send me back to the bottom of the pit - the place I certainly not wanted to be in. Maybe some of my choices were compromised at this point or maybe it was just the strength desperation was giving the other players - I was getting on the verge of despair. I gotta get out of this place!
Another round:
No... no, no... no, no, no, no... "Why do you hate me Scarlet?! Why?!" I'm never gonna leave this place... I'm never getting out of the Rat Race... Forever stuck in the Bog of Eternal Stench!
Soon you may check the second part of this journey...