"Knowledge is not skill. Knowledge plus ten thousand times is skill."
This notable quote from Shinichi Suzuki reflects what I have learned in the past 10 days of my training. If you didn't know, before a person becomes an official Axie Buzz scholar, he/she needs to undergo coaching. Soon-to-be-scholars will be supervised by no other than, @axiebuzz, the manager himself.
During those days, I realized that all the guides I have read and tutorials I watched are useless if I fail to execute them with precision and accuracy. I won't learn a skill by merely reading because there are no shortcuts in developing one. I have to lose, learn and repeat the process to accumulate experience that will take me to the higher ground.
PURPOSE
You might be wondering why potential scholars need to undergo training before turning into an AB scholars. Typically, managers would send their scholars on the battleground as soon as they got accepted, so why? In boxing, a boxer needs to be subjected to intense training before entering the ring. They are not only taught how to punch but to punch with maximized power and proper technique.
In addition, they also learn how to strategize by studying their opponent’s past performances. A well-trained boxer is more likely to secure triumph by K.O. and that’s exactly what the training in Axie Buzz aim – to teach scholars how to win the game in the best possible way. We can’t just enter the ring immediately and hope to win against someone as skilled as Pacquiao.
Axie Buzz wants us, potential scholars, to earn valuable knowledge from firsthand experiences because it will teach us the right way to play, and prepare us for the tough battles. Moreover, the training will help us assure higher SLP earning capacity, better performance in PvE and PvP compared to those without training, thus resulting in more earnings and a higher rank on the leaderboard.
HOW IT WORKS
Papa Buzz had a draw on August 1 for the first participant of the training/whitelisting program, and luckily, I was picked. I already have the Axie Infinity app installed on my phone before the training started. If you haven’t installed it yet, I advise you to have it as soon as possible because no one knows you might get onboard anytime. If you don’t know how to do it, you can watch tutorials on YouTube, there are plenty of them. Going back, here’s how my training worked.
The day after I was announced as the first trainee, papa Buzz sent me a QR code on Discord (Make sure you also have Discord). I downloaded the photo and opened the Axie Infinity app.
Then, two options appeared. I chose “Choose from photo” and click the photo of the QR code from papa Buzz.
After that, as per papa Buzz’s instructions, I went to “Axies” then “Sync Axie”. The team of Axies I’m going to use appeared. It was composed of a Plant and two Reptiles.
Next, I went to “Teams” then “New Team”. There I placed my Axies in their positions according to their roles. The Plant is the defender (in the front) because it has the highest HP. The Reptiles in the middle and at the back as the attackers. After all, they have cards with the highest damage. Don’t worry because papa Buzz will guide you in placing your Axies correctly.
After that, I played in PvE (Adventure) and PvP (Arena). The most important step in this training is to screen record my gameplays and send it to papa Buzz. Through this, he’ll be able to watch and monitor my gameplays and give me tips and tricks to improve my skills. The training lasted for 10 days.
When the training ended, I log off from the Axie Infinity app. Then, the team will be used by another potential scholar.
A RECAP OF MY TRAINING EXPERIENCE
Day 1 and 2 – In my opinion, the first two days were the hardest. Each game was time-consuming because it takes me a lot of time choosing the right cards to use against the chimeras in the Adventure. I thought the game was easy when I was watching gameplays on YouTube but it wasn’t. I had multiple defeats in the first few Ruins which are supposed to be easy for beginners.
Even though I reached Ruin 8 with my Axies on lvl 5, I know I lack strategies. I tried playing in the Arena once and it was a nerve-wracking experience. I thought it will end up as a defeat but it was a draw. I sent papa Buzz my gameplay and he gave me a lot of advices.
Day 3 – On the third day, I tried spending more time in the Arena. But unfortunately, my number of losses is greater than my wins. I had 6 wins and 8 losses. I was still absorbing the tips papa Buzz gave me. I used the remaining energies to farm EXP in the Adventure (Ruin 5).
Day 4 – Next day was a bit better. I had 7 wins, 6 loses, and 2 draws. During this time, I was gradually learning how to optimize the abilities of my Reptiles, but not my Plant yet. My defender always ends up being killed easily because I was focused on attacking my opponents as fast as I could.
Day 5 and 6 – During these days, I finally learned how to make use of my defender especially, when to use its cards to gain energy or to keep its HP high. I also skip turns when my opponent has no stealing abilities in order to gain more energies. I also pick cards faster than I did on days 1 and 2.
On the 5th day, I spent all my energies in the Arena. I had 12 wins, 6 loses, and 2 draws. On the 7th day, I had 6 wins and 6 losses. After every game, I was checking my MMR (Match Making Rating), and it ranged from 1100 to 1200. My ranking was somewhere in 400,000.
Day 7, 8, and 9 – The training was supposed to be for 10 days but we lost our count haha. I forgot that I started on August 2 and thought it was going to end on August 10.
Anyways, during these last three days, my winning rate is a bit stable now. On the 7th, I had 12 wins, 6 loses, and 2 draws. The next day, I had 11 wins, 8 loses, and the last day I had 12 wins, and 7 loses. The game was really tough. There were times I thought I’m going to win but ended up getting beaten. There were also times when I my Reptile is about to die but still manage to secure a win. The things I learned from day 1 to day 6 are finally getting into my brain and produced better results. And when I checked my MMR, it increased as well. It ranged between 1300-1400 and my highest rank was 147,714th place.
HOW MANY SLP DID I EARN?
Throughout the training, I made sure I keep in track of how many SLP I earn every day. So, I made an excel file to record it. My purpose was to see if I can keep up with the quota which was 150 SLP per day not until the Season 18 was launched which cut the DQ and PvE earnings in half (75 SLP).
On day 1, I only got half because I failed to complete the DQ and the 100 SLP limit in the Adventure. On days 2 to 5, I was fired up that I completed the 150 from DQ and PvE plus the SLP from winning in the Arena. Those were the highest SLP I earned. In the following days, I was earning a lot of SLP from Arena. It ranges from 60-80 (86 was my highest) but I was only able to farm 50-80/100 SLP on Adventure because I had a problem with managing my time. If we calculate the average, I earned 175 SLP per day, which I think is not bad for a beginner.
MY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS TRAINING
You’re probably expecting me to put specific learnings on this part like “Some of an Axie’s ability won’t activate if some conditions are not met”. I’m sorry to tell you but I won’t because I strongly believe that it would be better if you learn those things base on experience rather than just from reading it.
I’m going to talk about the training program in general. This training has changed my perspective about the game. It showed me the different sides of the game. Axie Infinity is more than just a simple game where cute creatures fight each other. It is a game that requires gamers to create tactical strategies and make quick but effective decisions. And those skills can’t be learned overnight. It takes a lot of defeats, and frustrations before we reach the victories ahead.
I believe that the training has given me an advantage against other new players. It was like I learned how to end my opponent with a K.O. while my enemy just learned how to wear gloves. I hope more managers will run this training program before they send their scholars inside the ring especially that the latest update on this season gives higher rewards to skilled players in Arena than those players who just focus on finishing the DQ and PvE.
Wanna be an Axie Buzz Scholar? Read this complete instructions:
@axiebuzz/how-to-apply-for-axie-buzz-scholarship-program
Follow papa buzz on Twitter: @/axiebuzz
My Twitter: @/eeeee__ai
Join our growing fam on discord! https://discord.gg/kxZK3Vbd