Interview Series: xawi
Alright, so she was never #1, but if you are around the game or around SL discord, you should know who Xawi is. The Princess of Splinterlands. The fun, vocal, jovial, 'fight-till-you-die', always present ambassador and galiador of the game. She is around so much, that some of her close even said that she is a BOT. Trust me ladies and gentlemen, she is not a bot :) I have known her for a long time. Again, I believe her attitude as a young lady is commendable and her prowess and persistence on this 'male dominated world of online gaming' is something of a 'showcase'. I wish my daughters grow up and gets some of Xawi's positive attitude. She hails from Pakistan, and in my mind represents the true warroir women from the northwest of the subcontinent. Her beginning was quite humble, but soon she became one of the strongest players of the game with her unique style and formidable performance in the tournaments, where she shines the most. Without further said, I present you XAWI! :)
Highest rank of #8, and 38K Champions Points!
The Interview
azircon —
Ready?
xawi —
yes
azircon —
When did you start playing SL?
How did you find out about hive/steem back then?
xawi —
I started playing in October 2018. I even remember the day :)
5 October 2018 when I purchased my starter pack.
azircon —
Excellent! That’s a lot of writing coming up 😉
xawi —
Well, how did I found out about steem/hive :p Don't laugh I have an interesting story behind it XD
3 years ago when I was in my University I joined our university group on Facebook. Then I joined some Mathematics related groups where in my free time I used to help solve math problems of other students. It became my hobby and I started spending quite a lot of time in those groups. In semester 2 we had to study one subject web development. I had no idea about programming so I started exploring things online. My first assignment was I had to convert PSD to HTML and CSS for that I joined some web development groups and that's where I heard about steem that you can earn by blogging. I wasn't a blogger of course but I wanted to try it. Now you will find me here all the time :p
azircon —
That is right along the line of the mighty Panda we know! Amazing! So how did you get interested in this game?
xawi —
It is because of Neoxian sir. I will give him all credit. He tempted me to join splinterlands even though I knew that I am not a gamer. Imagine a girl who plays candy crush in her free time will start playing digital cards game.
Neoxian sir used to share his battles on his discord server. I couldn't resist and jumped into this game.
I purchased my starter packs when it was just 11$ and it seemed quite a lot to me. But now when I see the price of the spellbook I thank God I got in at right time.
azircon —
Great. So let’s talk about being a young lady and a gamer. Did you face this that ‘girls can’t be gamer’? For the record I have two daughters and I love for them to be a gamer like you! 😀
xawi —
I faced this girls can't be a good programmer 🤣
Yes, when I started playing splinterlands i used to lose a lot and then I started learning the abilities of my cards. I studied how to play page a lot of time. I wanted to learn each and every bit about ranged, melee, magic and what is HP and attack etc.
All these things were totally new to me because I never played any card game beofore; P
I actually feel proud when I see other female players doing so well
Clove, Raynie Maria
azircon —
Yes. Of course. I will interview some of them as soon as I can. I play against all of them and they are all excellent. You, young lady, are one of the very best. How did you arrive there? Meaning how long did it take you to play Champions?
xawi —
It took me 2 years to build my deck.
My deck was not so compatible with higher leagues. As you know Crypto is banned in my country and there is no direct way to put real-life money into this game. I didn't want to do P2p. I've always wanted to compete for leaderboard but my deck was so limited. I managed to achieve champion 3 with my gold level decks when J6969 bots were everywhere. At that time playing against those bots with your weak cards wasn't that easy. I started this game from scratch and I became a regular blogger just for this game. I took plenty of loans to build my deck and then I paid those loans by posting regularly on steemit. At that, we didn't have a card renting system nor an account delegation thing. Due to my University routine, I wasn't a regular tournament player as well. I used to play on only weekends. But then any time tournaments made my life easy and tournaments winnings helped a lot to build my deck.
azircon —
Well it is banned in my country as well :)
Texas for sure
They think it’s a country 😀
Let’s talk about your country. I know that you are from a developing country, Pakistan, how is gaming viewed as a profession there?
xawi —
I didn't tell anyone what I do online. I already get scolded by mama all the time that i spend too much time on a laptop. If she will ever get to know I am spending time playing games she will kill me. :p XD
You know typical traditional parents 😂 . It is so hard for them to believe that one can earn a decent money just by playing games. But I have another problem I can't withdraw money so I can't prove that I am actually earning real money. So I have told them I am blogging and learning new things online 😂
I can't withdraw money this factor went in my favour. I was able to build my huge empire of splinterlands :p
azircon —
Well when you buy your own car with SL money she will understand 😀
So I guess as most pro players you play multiple decks. I should tell people that you play my main deck as well in TS-. It is my privilege that you play my deck. Very thankful! So, how many decks/accounts you play?
xawi —
I am privileged that you picked me to play your account. I am really honoured.
I am playing 2 delegated accounts one is ts-neoxian and the other one is yours ts-warrior 😃
My own account, Xawi and my gold foil account Zawarrior.
Today i rented out all cards of my alt account everythingsmgirl because I didn't have enough time to play. But renting already making me so happy. My idle account started giving me some passive income on daily basis. It is a great achievement for me.
Revenue from rentals (filterable): 4,620.601 DEC/day out of 8,046.313 DEC/day listed
azircon —
using the delegated decks, and with current high prices, do you think you earn more compared to any regular job that you can do in Pakistan at your current qualification?
(we will be investigating the earning side of the game next, and maybe compare it with another game that you play, Axie)
xawi —
I am earning way more than an average employee
Can you imagine?!!
My brother is Doctor and his initial salary was 70k pkr now he is an assistant professor his salary is 150k. I will tell you what I am earning right now.
Last month I took a loan of 2500USD
I paid that loan in just 20 days and my one month earning is more than 3k. Even Doctors are not being paid this much in my country. So if it keeps going up one could retire on SL money :p
azircon —
I expected this, but wanted this confirmation from you. These are amazing numbers of course, but maybe people can say that this is related to high prices. My question is, before SPS, I am sure your earning were lower, but still substantial, correct?
xawi —
My SL earning paid off my loan I took for Axie game
Axie halved their rewards now 150 to 75 and if you are not good on Arena you are done with that game.
Axie after spending 2 hours gives you 20$ at current price whilst my alt account I rented out giving me 100 HIve/day
azircon —
Hopefully you don't have to take a loan again :)
xawi —
no no way :p
SPS changed the whole game for me. Yea before SPS it wasn't like that.
azircon —
Another item lot of external folks are saying that many of players/investors now earning a lot because they were 'early'. New players can't earn that much. What do you say about that?
xawi —
This is true early investors are earning now. It would be very hard for new players. Even I can't afford to buy all those expensive cards. So definitely gonna be very tough for newbies. People want instant money and it's not possible
azircon —
Right. That is my view as well. But they can rent cards and start earning something. Maybe win some tournaments and earn some DEC. What do you think?
xawi —
Tournaments are the only way to earn decent money, but tournaments are being ruled by the top and skilled players.
If I rent one card 200 dec/day. Then I know 200 decs I can earn just by playing 1 battle. It is not the case in a lower league.
There should be set rental system
where you can rent whole set for a specific league
azircon —
Yes, that is a very interesting and valubale thought
Ok, lets switch to your personal game playing.... Tell us something memorable, may be a battle, may be getting a card, maybe winning a tournament....whatever made a SL related item memorable for you...
xawi —
There are many memorable things. My first tournament win, My first Gold foil legendary :joy:
But I don't have any memorable battles. All are just normal
azircon —
True. That is very typical Xawi! All 'normal'! "All is well" :)
But your play style of the leagues is very interesting, and different from others
You typically don't like to play the last day of the season :) Have you been #1 ever?
xawi —
No, I never played for #1. I don't play last day that's because I can't handle last day pressure. It is not a different style. I literally hate this thing about myself 😢
azircon —
ha ha. Its very interesting. I have watched you play perhaps 2 years now closely and there is a lot to learn from you. I personally don't like playing the last day myself... maybe because I learned from you :)
Alright any funny things you have done to play this game? Hide in your room maybe? Set up alarm and wake up in the middle of the night maybe? You barely sleep :) Right now its 5 AM in Pakistan, and you were up most of the night I am guessing, how do you handle this?
xawi —
Hmm, My sleeping routine is messed up. today I slept 7 p.m and woke up at 12 a.m
this is how I sleep 😛
And yes I set alarms plenty of the time for tournaments. So when I feel tired i sleep i dont see time :stuck_out_tongue: And yes I still remember i slept while playing active tournament :stuck_out_tongue: XD and I was doing pretty good in that tournament 🤣
funny memory of my life
slept while playing a tournament 🤣
azircon —
LOL
I am sure people will love this part!
So at the end, I am typically asking people to share a cool battle or a tip. Can you share something and explain it a bit?
xawi —
ok I just played one battle
against jacekw
i assumed he might use Lir and i was correct
and I used magic attack while using Yodin :stuck_out_tongue:
azircon —
LOL! Excellent!
Link please
xawi —
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_e4329981489b12a606135e5c94c46e42&ref=xawi
azircon —
Wow! Very close match, very unusual, you obviously won, but your Magnor didn't attack at all, was that intentional and did you want to use the Magnor as a 'spunge' to absorb lots of attacks?
xawi —
It was intentional I took a calculated risk I knew that my magnor will attack when it will get the chance because of its slow speed
azircon —
Very cool. Well Xawi, thank you for your time. In closing do you like to say something to the new players and to the community at large?
xawi —
My message for new players. If you want to be successful in this game then hard work and consistency is the key. All those top players you admire went through many hardships. If you came into this game thinking it will make you a millionaire overnight then you are at the wrong place.
For the community, I have nothing because the community is already doing great.
azircon —
Wise thoughts! Thank you. I will get it published :)
xawi —
Thank you Azir
Final Thoughts
There you go folks! Xawi un-edited!! Enough said :)