Blood Lust -vs- Life Leech

Banished from below over the past several decades, there has been a bitter feud between the Venari people and the Dream Warden, who rules the Underworld realm. The Dream Warden collects the bodies and souls of dream criminals from all over the world, confining them in an elaborate prison of illusions that resembles a dream. When the Dream Warden’s territory became overfull of prisoners, he began expanding into the Strite and interfering with the daily lives of the Venari. The Venari are fighters and not the type to be bullied, so they resisted the loss of their valuable land. For nearly 30 years, an underground war occurred between the Dream Warden’s nightmare forces and the Venari people from below. The Dream Warden was ultimately victorious, but he had to sacrifice the captivity of every one of his prisoners to find that victory. All in a moment, he released their minds and bodies, but not before implanting a single thought into their waking consciousnesses: The Venari must be banished to the surface.

SLiNe.pngstats.png

The Venari Bonesmith is a card that was massively overprinted so I managed to get two MAXed copies for cheap. One for play and one for renting out. I wasn’t sure what kind of land plot I was going to get so I got a variety of MAX-level cards. Now that DEC is no longer handed out like free candy, we must find other ways to earn it. I rent out any gold foil cards that I also have a stronger standard card of, hold the SBT token (It drips VouchersSPS, and DEC daily directly to your game account), and I convert all of my HBD to DEC from all of my Hive posts. The Venari Bonesmith is a strong card for the mana used. It can life leech which means it steals heart life from the enemy with each magic strike. If you put it in the right spot it can get up to twenty life points or more which can win you the match. It also can poison and dispel.

battle.pngI like to share my battles as animated GIFs, but I got utterly smashed by my enemy because of Grum Flameblade‘s blood lust ability where my enemy didn’t lose a single card so a simple screenshot will do. Blood Lust boosts all of the card’s stats each time it kills so once it gets on a roll it can be impossible to stop and that’s what happened to me today. This was a “healed-out” battle where neither summoner nor healer cards work so I went with a bunch of life leech and scavenger cards. This usually works, but not when Grum gets a taste for blood. I really love him and plan on getting him to MAX level soon, but he’s good enough at level 3 for me now. Thanks for reading about my battle today. What do you do when healing is not allowed?

line.png

Check out my battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_0e9424322578e5e5f79c3f2bd1ef1737&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s SPLINTERLANDS BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Challenge:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-july-5-2023

Check out my original artwork at NFTShowroom:
https://nftshowroom.com/jeremiahcustis/gallery

Check out some amazing art by the Splinterlands community:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-248

@alexa.art.jpeg
by @alexa.art

EaRTH-QuaKE

He has been known by many names: Eater of Death, Lord of Ruin, The Pestilent. Usut is all these things, but more than anything else, he is the Undying. Only those that have lived with death and walked its halls can truly know the joys of life. Usut knows this all too well… so who better to torment and persecute the living. Three hundred years dead, Usut was made revenant by the Lord of Darkness himself. Lagfael found the red dragon’s corpse on a mound of bones and treasure in his lair within the Black Glacier on Mortis, preserved within a frozen tomb of ice. There was something about the dragon that pleased him, so he breathed an ancient spell, and life once again found purchase in the great drake. Usut now soars the skies of the Splinterlands. His haunting cries are a proclamation to all: death is coming, and it is only a matter of time until it finds you. He is Lagfael’s personal reaper and a creature that fears nothing. It is said that to look upon his terrifying visage is to welcome death into your heart. There are records of those brave enough, or foolish enough, to seek to slay the Undying. Their bones lay with all the rest, scattered across Usut’s pyre of death. Never before has the undead become such a living nightmare.

stats (1).png

Usut is a great new reward card that I’m glad to own and was afraid to see in my enemy’s lineup because if it can kill then the bloodlust ability kicks in and all stats increase by one each time it kills an enemy. Usut can just start devouring your monsters if it gets going so you have to kill it first if you can. I like to distract my enemy with a taunt so Usut can get to work. Once he’s MAXed out he’s a very OP card, but I doubt if I’m lucky enough to win 10 more of these cards. Whenever soulbound reward cards can get unlocked and sold, I’m sure Usut will sell for a pretty penny because few players will want to part with it.

battle.gif

My battle today was exciting because it wasn’t clear who was going to win until the 7th round. I knew my front-line monsters would die in this earthquake battle from enemy attacks so I didn’t care if they could fly or not. The self-healing eyeball of death never seems to die so I put it in the back and Uriel in the middle so he would be fresh when it was time to fight the other flying monsters that I was sure my enemy would choose. I think I won just because I had a stronger summoner. (If all stats are the same, then the player with the higher-leveled summoner goes first.)

lock.png

Are you ready for land? I’m so excited! I’ve saved up some DEC and have 5 MAXed 🌳Earth🌳 cards ready to work on cutting down trees on my forest plot. Am I doing it right? 🌳Earth🌳 cards will work best in a forest right? I can’t wait to start chopping down some of those digital trees!

Usut.png

Thanks for reading about my earthquake battle with Usut today. I didn’t realize it was a dragon-like creature with its mouth open until just now. I always thought that he had a helmet on with one glowing eye.

line.png

Check out my BaTTLE with Usut:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_cfec5d982219dfea45a6fe381df722e1&ref=jeremiahcustis

BaTTLE MaGE SECRETS:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/battlemagesecrets-5-3-2023

Amazing Splinterlands ART:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@splinterlands/splinterlands-art-contest-week-239


@kojart.jpeg

by @kojart

Harklaw: My favorite new Legendary Death NFT reward card on Splinterlands

Harklaw has achieved the highest degree of Dark Eternal existence in this realm. For many years it has been ready to cross over to the dark reality, but it has graciously stayed behind. Such is the tradition with the greatest Dark Eternal sorcerers of all time to help with the conversion and advancement of others. Little does the Lord of Darkness know that Harklaw stays behind not to help his fellow Dark to oneness, but to pursue selfish and secret goals. Harklaw has already won the loyalty of some of the Dark Lord’s closest confidants, and together they are concocting a scheme to dethrone him forever.

share.png

This week’s Splinterlands Share Your Battle featured the Crystal Jaguar. I’m not too keen on this card and can’t remember it ever winning me a battle, so for this week, I will show you my favorite new card, Harklaw.

legendary.png

I’m not a rich man, but here are my current Legendary cards. I’m broke and haven’t had a job or real income for years so I only have the cards I think are one hundred percent necessary. I think most of these cards are Reward cards.

mybattle.jpg

Harklaw‘s shield made him mostly invulnerable to his enemy’s weak Life attacks. This is a must-have card that you can win simply by playing the game.

Harklaw.png

Check out my battle:
https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=sl_6a41329c2a3c248d096e2bd68ad96747&ref=jeremiahcustis

Participate in this week’s challenge:
https://peakd.com/splinterlands/@splinterlands/share-your-battle-weekly-challenge-crystal-jaguar

SPLINTERLANDS: My Dragon NFT Battle Victory

Some time ago, Daria Dragonscale nearly lost her twin brother Delwyn to the Burn that had stricken so many of the scaled. She would have lost him completely, but at his deathbed, she hired the services of a dark sorcerer who transferred his soul into a special Heliosoulstone. While he was suspended inside the stone, Daria traveled to the Earth Splinter, where she visited the Flesh Golems in the root of the Elder Tree. With their help, she created a new Golem from fleshy scraps. Delwyn’s soul was transferred into the new Golem, and Daria had her brother back… forever.

drag.png

I’m having a lot of fun playing Splinterlands now that there are so many new players. It makes the game harder, but also better in many ways. I was once a Champion player, but got bored and sold everything before the recent popularity. Now I’ll be lucky if I can crawl back up to the Silver League. At least I still get daily SPS airdrops for back in the day when I earned those Champion points.

potion_quest.png

If you’re like me then you’ll regret seeing just one treasure chest reward while struggling in the Bronze League. That’s why I make sure I have a Quest Potion before I complete my Daily Quest. It will add 5 treasure chests to your reward. It’s not expensive if you pay with credits. You can also pay with DEC, but with these strong DEC prices today, you’ll pay way more.


mybattlewin.jpg

My dragons kicked ass! We didn’t lose a single monster in this battle! My Sea Monster was able to take most of the damage while my dragons got to work destroying the enemy.

Delwyn Dragonscale.png

I chose this Dragon summoner, Delwyn Dragonscale, because he increases everyone’s magic attack power.

Serpentine Mystic.png

The Serpentine Mystic can take away an enemy’s special power like self-healing, so I always choose him.

Dragon Whelp (2).png

The Dragon Whelp isn’t usually a strong card, but when his magic attack is increased by the summoner he can do some damage.

Fire Spitter.png

I should’ve chosen more magic attack monsters to do the most damage, but I think this is a beautiful card and my battle would look cooler with the Fire Spitter. Thank you for checking out my battle today. Get in the game!

Splinterlands.gif

Check out my battle:
https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=sl_c4dfcf6c85e260124fd88cbe32d8eee5&ref=jeremiahcustis

Participate in this week’s challenge:
https://peakd.com/splinterlands/@splinterlands/share-your-battle-weekly-challenge-dragons

NBA Top Shot: My first impressions and ⭐️⭐️ review

If you’re like me then you want to become a whale in the NFT game. I recently sold all of my Splinterlands cards like a total fool. I would’ve been a crypto millionaire right now if I hadn’t gone all APR Defi crazy and let greed and rug pulls destroy my deck. I felt like I had been playing the game for years and nothing happened, then all of a sudden, BOOM! Cards that weren’t worth a food stamp are now over $100. I even see gold cards I’ve sold for a few hundred bucks worth $100,000. I know I’m not the only one. Not wanting to miss out on the next great NFT opportunity, I checked out the list of top NFT projects at https://dappradar.com/nft.

open.png

I felt like most of the projects I looked at were lame and just copycats of Cryptokitties. I bought a kitty back in 2018. Is it worth something now? I think the game is so stupid that I’ve not bothered checking. Plus, I hate working with the Etheruem network. NBA Top Shot works on Etheurum and it shows with its sluggish operations. It costs $9 to get started. Let’s see what I got…

reveal.png

Let’s hope one of these is a $1 million M Jay or LeBron James NFT moment…

set.jpg

No such luck. I paid $9 for these three cards and they can be sold for $3 each so I don’t feel ripped off, but I don’t feel entertained either.

choose.png

NBA Top Shot made it seem that if I chose a favorite team, they’d give me a free pack.

buymore.png

I’m not a BB fan. I quit watching when Jordan retired. I do remember watching the original Dream Team kick ass in the Olympics and collected as many plastic cups from McDonald’s as I could when I was a kid. I liked the movie Space Jam and played a lot of NBA Jam on the Sega Genesis too, but that is all I know or care about BB, so let’s choose the Chicago Bulls.

quest.jpg

It’s true they’ll give you a free pack, but you better bring your credit card on this “quest” because you’ll need to get three more moments from your favorite team to “earn” the pack. The cheapest moment from the Chicago Bulls was $4, so I changed my favorite team who I feel is the least liked team in the NBA, the Salt Lake City Jazz. I mean whoever liked them? You’d get beat up fast wearing their jersey when I was in middle school.

jazz.jpg

Nope. Everything is $4 at the cheapest with the Jazz too. This feels rigged. It’s definitely not a decentralized free market like Splinterlands. They also have strong KYC rules. If you decide to withdraw or earn any seriously valuable moments then get your ID ready and take that selfie holding it straight without breathing standing on one foot and juggling some dates or whatever other nonsense the NBA demands.

Conclusion

I don’t recommend NBA Top Shot, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea either. It’s a centralized cash grab bullshit NFT project of the NBA. I’m not upset that I spent $9, but I will not check or think about it again for several years.

What about you?

I love Splinterlands and have only tried NBA Top ShotWar Riders, and the Upland NFT games. Are there any good NFT gaming gems that have gone under the radar?

Resources:

NBA Top Shot
https://nbatopshot.com/moment/ConversationGaming+1393fdd5-97f5-449a-a44c-98e0ecb5643b?

Dapp Radar
https://dappradar.com/nft

DARK HA’ON Legendary NFT battle challenge (rented)

Scholars of Khymeria have studied the shapeshifting, mystical beasts known as Ha’on extensively since their appearance ten years ago. At an early age, each Ha’on chooses a single power form, into which they can transform. Their time is then divided into their original humanoid form and the power form, which takes a considerable amount of energy to maintain for long periods of time. The Human forms of Ha’on are recognizable by their frightening single-colored eyes, a trait with which they are endowed when they realize their full shapeshifting potential. The Dark Ha’on is one of the strongest Ha’on, taking the power form of a large flying cat.

share.png

I remember when this NFT Death Legendary card was less than a dollar. I even had one maxed out. I didn’t have the cash to buy it today so I rented it for a few cents. Don’t feel bad if you sold all of your cards or are just getting started. There will soon be a new batch of cards that will give us all another chance.

battle.jpg

I photoshopped and duplicated a copy of Dark Ha’on and enlarged it for dramatic effect. My enemy had a good strategy. They put out a strong tank, healer, sneak attacker, and some magic cards.

I used a summoner which gives all of my cards the ability to reflect magic back. Dark Ha’on absorbed most of the attacks while my two scary-looking archer and sniper ghosts helped my lead card wipe out the enemy.

Thank you Splinterlands for creating such a great game. The light years of advancement over the years have been truly impressive and I know there is a lot more where that came from.

If you are interested in getting started with NFTs, then I couldn’t imagine a better place to start than Splinterlands. Get in the game!

Check out my battle:
https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=sl_64b15bb9c1f67a234629e62aab92361c&ref=jeremiahcustis

Participate in this week’s challenge:
https://peakd.com/splinterlands/@splinterlands/share-your-battle-weekly-challenge-dark-haon

OCTOPIDER

You may be thinking that a spider already has eight legs, so why Octopider? For one thing, the Octopider is much larger than a spider, closer to the size of an octopus. Its legs, although they can scurry like a spider, are actually the tentacles of an octopus. In fact, this monstrosity has nearly all the most terrifying features of both spiders and octopi. The Octopider can move easily in water or on land. Whenever threatened, the Octopider disappears into an inky, venomous cloud. They say the Octopider was a grotesque creation of the Gorlodon, a famed monstrous dark sorcerer of the deep water.

share.png

This week’s challenge theme looks super scary. Imagine the horror as this monster sucks your face off while its tentacles squeeze you to death! Luckily, it’s just an NFT. It has a ranged attack of 3 right from the get-go at level one. The demoralize ability kicks in at level three. This will reduce the melee attack of ALL your enemies which is very useful. At level seven it has the ability to blind making it more likely your enemy misses you when attacking. This is a cheap, but must-have card in my opinion.

firstbattle.png

My first battle was a victory thanks to the Haunted Spirit’s ability to self-heal. The OCTOPIDER wasn’t exactly the MVNFT of the battle, (Is Most Valuable NFT a word? It is now 😉 so I battled again.

battle 2.png

This was a good ranged -vs- ranged battle. The OCTOPIDER with its ranged attack of 3 was the heaviest hitter on the battlefield. Thanks for the victory OCTOPIDER, you scary-ass spider of an octopus NFT monster.

My battles:

https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=4e9c32af978f08015b7c260dba0b02cce170aa85&ref=jeremiahcustis

https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=27e7907844ba2fd9cc31a0e3d97776e8e2027e15&ref=jeremiahcustis

This week’s challenge:

https://peakd.com/splinterlands/@splinterlands/share-your-battle-weekly-challenge-octopider

Dear Dragons, Help me escape the Silver League!

There are many play to earn crypto games, but none so far have the community or solid gameplay Splinterlands provides. You need to buy a $10 Summoner’s Spellbook to begin, but you’ll also get a HIVE account where you can post and earn with communities like TravelfeedLeoFinance, and the HIVE Gaming Community. There are many more great communities on the HIVE blockchain, but those are where I spend most of my time. I came across this Dragon challenge today, so I monstered up and tried to break free of the SILVER LEAGUE with the help of my lovely DRAGON cards.

Each time I get close to the gates of the GOLD LEAGUE, I get kicked down and struggle to come back only to be kicked down again. It’s because you only earn 10 rank points when you’re near the top where most of your opponents are lower ranking and when they win you’ll take a huge hit to your rank.

After this great battle I knew I had something good to share and it also gave me the momentum to go on a ten straight winning streak…C2441C4A483144C68A9FFBA9DF0CC743.jpeg9B31D74ABF95464088086068C748792E.jpeg

And to finally be free of the dreaded SILVER LEAGUE. Why is SILVER LEAGUE harder than GOLD LEAGUE? I think it’s because GOLD LEAGUE players rely on strong cards while SILVER LEAGUE players are using weaker cards, but better strategies. Anyways thanks for checking out my battle today. Have a good one!