Splinterviews: Kotenoke - User Profile and Interview

Hello everyone and welcome to Splinterviews! The series where we take a closer look the users that inhabit the Splinterlands and keep things alive in the Splinterlands Discord Server.

Today we're shining a spotlight on @Kotenoke.

Known for being a great teacher, Kotenoke is usually found in the general chat in discord, when he isn't busy creating another giveaway to help new players get started. Expect to see moments such as these:
Kotenoke is also known for the picture of his cat, Nobu, which he uses as his profile pic in Discord.

Source: https://peakd.com/@kotenoke

Here's what some of the community has had to say about Kotenoke:

"Trustworthy... I've traded with him and sent first." 

"Pretty active. Does giveaways... cool of him to do." 

"That gentleman seems to be rather helpul and informative." 

Favorite card(s)?

Gold foil Axemaster: It was the first major buy into this game for me and has won me many games.
Byzantine Kitty: I’m clearly fond of cats and Byzantine Kitty is the same breed as my cat Nobu.

source: https://peakmonsters.com/market

Now onto the interview:

Kotenoke, when did you first enter the Splinterlands?

I am actually new, only first dabbling with it late Aug. I found out about it from a friend that I played Gods Unchained with.

Do you remember what the DEC price was when you first started?

Not specifically but it was at least .005. Right as I started getting involved everything exploded.
Sps was something like .2

source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dark-energy-crystals/

Whew that's quite a change from what it is now. Was your interest more about finding good deals on cards to invest in, or more on the financial side of things?

I was actually interested as I have historically played TCGs and the idea of a digital one where I could sell my cards when I was done appealed to me. That said, I’ve always been interested in the economics behind blockchain and gaming.
I work for one of the largest joint venture / venture capitalist companies in the tech space so it’s fun for me seeing new projects take off. We funded Coinbase/Uber/Honey etc for perspective.

Would you say that a factor in the success of Splinterlands thus far lies in its being a TCG?

I think Splinterlands has been successful for a few reasons:

1. Shares first mover advantage with Axie.
2. It is easy to start with growing complexity as you advance.
3. Matches are short and mobile friendly.
4. TCGs in nature are collectible and blockchain is an ideal platform for this concept.
5. Splinterlands as a company values and supports 3rd party developers.

I wonder, are there any kind of habits or rituals you have while playing your matches?

Not specifically though most often tend to chat with the discord group. There are some really great people in this community and getting to know them and fostering their knowledge is enjoyable to me.

Shout outs to anybody on the Discord?

Absolutely to @failingforwards. He more or less taught me “how to fish” per say as it relates to Hive. The guy is a gem and is incredibly humble.

How much time would you say you spend in Splinterlands on average per day?

Playing the game itself, maybe 30 minutes but definitely at the hour to two hour mark if you count making hive posts, talking on discord etc.

What will be the value of DEC at the end of this year?

Well given DEC increases supply as it becomes more valuable id guess Dec will trend back down towards its soft peg of .001. By year end I wouldn’t be surprised if it was at .007 again. I suspect it will stay above .004 until the SPS airdrop is over however.

Most overrated/overvalued card?

Oh boy there are a few. Personally I think Kretch is massively overpriced. Not a bad card but given he was a reward card botmasters have hundreds of copies and thus he is subject to his market being flooded.
Some of the more infamous botmasters have done so to him before dropping him all the way down to $3.

Just like in non-crypto markets I suppose

To a point. Non crypto markets have a lot of regulation that stops most of those behaviors
As a whole though I’d argue the entirety of the market is overpriced. I’ve watched other TCG markets, both physical and other NFT tcgs, go through new gen releases and the common denominator is that card prices of older cards always drop.
It will be interesting to see how CL plays out in this respect given Splinterlands has card power and other mechanics to try and combat this issue

What your secret tip to help new players get out of Bronze 3?

As far as rating is concerned, just play and enjoy the game. Mechanics are easy enough to pick up and bronze comps are relatively simple. Make sure to use the info available and try to guess what your opponent will play. As for power, just rent the cheapest 15k you can. Lvl 1 base cards are more than sufficient to have a decent win rate in silver 3.

Ty Kotenoke

My pleasure

Highlight Match: Kotenoke vs. Zeenairadnegel

Watch this match for an example of how Kotenoke utilizes Axemaster to capitalize on the "Equal Opportunity" ruleset, in which all monsters are given the Opportunity (attack lowest HP opponent) ability. Since those tend to be very low HP cards, choosing someone who can attack twice separately, like Axemaster, is brilliant.

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That's all for today's Splinterview, folks. If you have any questions for Kotenoke, ask in the comments below and he might just find the time to reply. As for me, if there's someone else you'd like to find out more about, suggest them in the comments!

Check out Splinterlands: https://splinterlands.com/
Splinterlands Discord: https://discord.gg/nKnYWEaC

Be sure to Follow me as there are more Splinterviews to come! Next find out more about one of the mods in the Discord, bragurr!