🧙‍♂️ My Splinterlands Journey: From a Turkish Poolside to Diamond League

August 2021. I was on holiday in Turkey with my future wife, enjoying one of those chill, no-rush vacations in a small traditional hotel. Just us, the sun ☀️, and the pool 🏖️. I remember the moment clearly: I was lounging on a deck chair, checking my crypto portfolio on CoinGecko — as one does when relaxing, right?

I had started investing in crypto earlier that year, around March 2021. Nothing crazy, just DCA'ing into some coins. That day, while scrolling through CoinGecko, I stumbled across an article about a game called Splinterlands. And my reaction?

WOW. 🤯

I've always been into strategy games, RPGs, card games, board games, comics, Dungeons & Dragons — fantasy is my kingdom 🐉⚔️. You could probably guess it from my house pictures, haha.

So I went straight to the Splinterlands website. From my phone, with spotty hotel Wi-Fi 📶, it was honestly a bit overwhelming. I didn’t really understand everything right away, but it didn’t matter. I bought the Spellbook 📖, jumped into a few matches with ghost cards 👻, and… I was hooked.

I remember wondering if I should buy some Orbs 🧪, which were on sale at the time. In the end, I didn’t — mostly because I couldn’t tell if it was a good investment or not. But from that moment, I never left the game. 💘

🃏 My First Real Investment: Chaos Legion
My first real money into the game went into Chaos Legion. Nothing huge, just a few hundred bucks overall 💵. But that’s where it started.

As time went on, I got more into it. I decided I wanted to climb to Silver League — so I started buying a few BCX here and there, opening some packs 🎁, building slowly. When CL prices dropped, I took advantage and managed to build myself a solid Gold deck… and eventually a Diamond deck 💎 (with a few holes, sure — but it was competitive).

Each purchase, each upgrade, each little trade felt like part of a bigger journey. I wasn’t just collecting cards — I was building an arsenal. An identity. A name on the battlefield. ⚔️

🌌 The Riftwatchers Rush
I went hard into Riftwatchers. Maybe too hard 😅. I didn't fully realize that CL’s low market prices would end up impacting RW card values, but hey — I wanted the cards. I needed them to compete. And in a game like Splinterlands, knowledge is power, but so are options. The more cards I had, the more flexible my strategies became 🧠.

Thanks to a bit of flipping with some Gold Foil cards and grinding tournaments, I eventually secured a full RW set. Not the smartest financial move? Maybe. But from a player’s point of view, it was 100% worth it.

You can't put a price tag on dominance 💪.

💰 The SPS Grind and My Big Move into Rebellion
In the meantime, I kept stacking SPS, DCA’ing every time it dipped 📉. I believed in it — still do. Through thick and thin, FOMO and FUD, I held the line. It became more than a token; it became part of my commitment to the ecosystem 🧬.

My first big (relatively speaking) investment was Rebellion. I went in for about 5,500 packs 🎯 (unfortunately only 1,400 in the presale... sigh 😔). Still, I consider that the true turning point. That’s when I stopped thinking like a casual and started acting like a whale 🐋.

Now, I’m proud to say I’ve got a full Modern collection, including all promos — yes, even our beloved Heloise, the queen of hauntings and heartbreaks 👑🖤.

Every match, every new ability, every mechanic added by RB — it reminded me why I love this game: it evolves, just like we do. 🔥

🔮 What’s Next? Conclave Arcana and the Road Ahead
Since January, I’ve been planning and executing my strategy for Conclave Arcana 🕯️📜. That’s a story for another post — but let’s just say: I’m going all in 💣.

This time, I'm not just collecting — I'm curating. Hunting for Gold Foils, Black Foils, and legendary combos that will define the next meta 🧙‍♂️✨. Watching the market like a hawk 🦅, predicting the shifts, anticipating the synergies. It's not just gameplay, it's chess with monsters — and I plan to be five moves ahead. ♟️👹

The arcana is being revealed, and I intend to master its secrets.

❤️‍🔥 Why I Love This Game
What thrills me about Splinterlands isn’t just one thing. It’s the gameplay 🎮, the investing 📈, the card market 💼, the pack openings 🎉. It’s the community, the lore 📖, the constant evolution 🔁. Every time I crack open a pack, I feel the same excitement I had over 20 years ago when I first opened Magic: The Gathering boosters. That rush, that what if, that heartbeat skipping on the rare 💓✨.

Splinterlands brought back that magic — and gave it a Web3 twist. 🕸️🔗

Some people chase profits.
Some chase leaderboard glory.
Me? I chase the thrill. The grind. The game. The legend. 🛡️🔥

And I’m not done yet.