I just played the final in the 'Steem Monsters WilTravel Silver Leagues Tournament' and got faced with a team I hadn't expected at all...
Source
WillTravel Tournaments
The tournaments hosted by 
This one was a Silver League tournament. I like Silver ones the most. Although my deck is perfectly leveled to play gold, I guess I'm just not skilled enough (yet) to do good in those gold tournaments.
For me, the only downside to the WillTravel tournaments is that they are single game, single elimination tournaments.
In single game tourneys, it's not only your skills that count. You also need a little luck. One wrong decision and the tournament can be over before you know it. Because there's no double elimination, it's a big disappointment if you lose one of your first games.
When you play 'best out of 3', the skill factor becomes more important. If you make a mistake, you still have a chance to set it straight by winning the other two battles. But those tourneys take up a lot more time, and often get really confusing if not run properly.
Opponents
Like I said, you need a little luck in those single match, single elimination tournaments.
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]Click to see full-sized image
My first opponent was 
I always get nervous when I see his name pop up, because I know he's often one of the last players left in the tournaments he enters. His deck is a little stronger than mine, but because this was a silver league tournament, that difference is wiped out. The problem is that he's also a better player than I am.
But today, luck was on my side, since we needed to play one of my favorite battle rules.
As a result, I managed to beat him fairly easy.
I didn't know my next opponent very well. I think we have been matched once or twice before, so I didn't really know what to expect.
When playing a 'best out of 3'-tournament, you often get a little time to go check out your opponent's deck on Peakmonsters, and check out if he has a favorite team by taking a look at his battle history, but I since it all went so fast, I didn't have the time to do either.
So, I started the fight without any information at all.
And it ended up to be one of the weirdest battles I've ever played...
His Water Splinter took out my Haunted Spirit-tank pretty fast, and it was obvious that I wouldn't stand a chance without her. We were both convinced he would win the battle, since the last two monsters on the battlefield were his Frozen Soldier and my Twisted Jester.
Since the ranged Twisted Jester can't attack when in first place, we both assumed it would just take him two strikes to take me out.
Fortunately, my haunted spider had poisoned him earlier in the game, and it was that poison that killed him and allowed me to go on.
You can watch the fight here
Although
This time, my Fire splinter was too strong for her Earth splinter and I could take her out pretty quickly.
In the semi-finals, it was the hard-to-beat 
After checking out her deck, there's only one conclusion I can make: she's a very, very good player. I see her at the top of the bronze and silver tournaments' leaderboards all the time. I can't even remember if I ever did win a fight against her before. I'm pretty sure I didn't.
Up until today...
I was pretty unsure about the team I had assembled. I started playing the Life splinter only recently. I never liked the Splinter, until the Sacred Unicorn came along.
Last season, the Life splinter was by far the strongest splinter in the game, so I practiced a bit while trying to survive in the Champion 3 league, but I still have a lot to learn about the abilities and options of Life.
This time I was lucky. My Life team beat her Earth team and for as far as I remember, I beat
All thanks to the 
So I made it to the final again. It had been a while since I got this far in a tournament.
It was no surprise to see that 
I don't know if there's a way to look up how many times one has lost against a certain opponent, but in the case of
This time, it was no different. And I can only blame myself.
The battle rules were almost exactly the same as in my previous battle against
I don't have a clue why I decided to replace the Life splinter - which enabled me to beat
I didn't stand a single chance...
You can watch the fight here
Conclusion
I was happy to reach the final again. After winning a couple of tournaments in the beginning, my results had been pretty disappointing lately.
It pumped my self-esteem again: if I stay focused, I can do it.
After getting kicked out of so many tournaments in a very early stage, I started doubting myself more every time. As a result, I was never sure which splinter to go with, and I often switched teams with only 30 seconds left on the clock.
I definitely still have a lot to learn about the
I also need to take the time to learn the rules of attack. Believe it or not, I still don't have a clue which monster is going to be attacked by a monster with the sneak or snip ability. All I know is that it isn't the first one, lol.
So, if I ever want to get any better, I will have to start with studying the rules again. And then find me a good sparring partner - someone who knows all about the game - and not just play challenges, but also discuss the fights afterwards. I need to learn where I go wrong every time...
Anyway, this is no time to complain. After all, I finished in 2nd place, and won another 5SBD.
I assume I will learn everything I need to know eventually, as long as I keep playing...
See you in my next post!
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Source
Screenshots taken from the Steemmonsters website
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