Steem Monsters - Buying my first The Steem Monsters Starter Set

Nearly everyone of us loves to collect stuff, whether it be Magic, Pokemon or Yugioh Cards, or for example coins, stamps, figurines or chicken feet. Collecting is a passion, a feeling of having something you really desire. I did collect a lot of things, stamps, stones (always from vacation, like from a hidden valley in the Philippines) , leeches(wow, luckily i'm over this stuff now) and Magic Cards.

Magic was always somewhere in my life, playing competitive tournaments, trading and collecting every card i could get my hands on. Someday, my father started selling cards on Ebay, so we could make the monthly installments for the house. At that point, i and in that case we, just did what we needed to do and sold big parts of my collection and other collection we bought. Other stories will be told in future, including a trade of a PS2 and a bunch of dual lands.

So Steem Monsters, a trading card game based on the Steem blockchain, is in Pre-Sale now. Do you remember Crypto Kitties, the collective cats on the Etherium blockchain, which slowed down transactions on the network?
The Steem Monsters TCG has the same idea and goes a step further. Ownership of cards is handled with the help of an unique identifier (which every card has) and recorded transactions.

Every Starter Pack consists of 30 preselected cards, so don't expect the bombs at the beginning. Steem Monsters is giving its collectibles the power of interaction. Like in Magic, your cards are used to duel with other steemians bringing a competitive factor into the mix.

At the moment, there are two different types of cards, Monsters and Summoners. They are divided by Rarity(like in every TCG or Collectible ) and Elements(comes close to the MtG colors). An interesting concept is the fact, that cards can earn experience and level up, which results in new skills. EXP is gained in fights or by combining/merging identical cards.

Right now, fighting is not implemented, but it is based on the four stats attack, defense, speed and health(somehow redundant). Skills will play a major role to increase damage, slow your enemy down or even stun them. The creator of Steem Monsters states, that it will take through fall to implement this feature.

Prices are okay for now, considering that you actually just can collect cards and nothing else. With upcoming features, prizes will rise and if the support of the community gets stronger, few cards will get higher values. A Booster costs 2 USD at date, paying for 5 cards of the entire set including at least 1 rare or better card. The latest Bonus Promotion gives you an extra 10 packs if you buy 100 packs.

There will be Tournaments in future, which will have different prizes like sbd, steem and cards.

Check out @steemmonsters for further updates and check out this Post of the Creator to get deeper insights of the game.

My personal opinion

I really like the idea of the game and the fact that ownership is based on the blockchain. At the current state, the first set consists of 60 different cards. So if you would buy 100 packs (+ 10 extra packs from the bonus promotion) you should be able to get every card and a lot of duplicates. Nevertheless, i feel the price is a bit high at the moment, considering the fact, that the price will climb higher with more features unlocked in the game. I am not complaining, just stating my thoughts about the pricing. Maybe my thoughts are influenced by the fact, that the major selling point for me, the dueling with other steemians, is not ready jet. I will buy 1-2 packs a week, but i wont go all in at the moment, because delays may occur, which will might kill the hype around the game. But still i hope this game will be a success, without the overloaded hype like around crypto kitties.

Disclaimer

All pictures a screenshots from steemmonsters.com which i took by myself. I don't claim any properties on the content in my screenshot. I just use them to demonstrate the game. At the moment, i am pretty unsure, if i need to state this points or not, so if any one could help me with this stuff, i would be glad.