Interview Series : jacekw

With the recent rise of popularity of @splinterlands, I thought there need to be a discussion regarding the top players of the game. Sort of a feature. I heard that this was done earlier once, years back, but I think this is a high time to do this again. So it is my idea to publish a written interview of the top 'pro' players of the game. With this idea, let us begin with @jacekw, the MAN the LEGEND!

I decided the publish the interview on discord un-edited. Readers can decide, if this is a format that is good. I don't want to do this as a video. I find the written records better.

The Interview!

azircon — Yesterday at 2:24 PM
Ready??

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:25 PM
Yes, I'm ready

azircon — Yesterday at 2:25 PM
alright lets do this!!
So, you ARE the #1 SL player, When did you first started playing?
and I am assuming you are Polish, right?

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:27 PM
I started playing in October 2018, so unfortunately I wasn't from day 0.
Yes, I'm Polish

azircon — Yesterday at 2:28 PM
Impressive! How did you know about hive? And then SL?

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:30 PM
I found out about Steem (it was Steem before Hive fork) through a friend who posted about this blockchain in a social media and I signed up out of curiosity

azircon — Yesterday at 2:31 PM
yeah steem of course, I started in Jan 2018

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:32 PM
In our #polish community there were a couple of Splinterlands players (e.g. imperfect-one who was playing since day 0).
That's how I learned that this game exists. But I was not interested, as I thought that this game is not for me haha.
But my other friend @pkocjan told me that she likes that game so I decided to give a try.

azircon — Yesterday at 2:32 PM
Excellent!
So you are also a data guy, are you a programmer in real life?

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:35 PM
Yes, I'm a software delevoper... but I work only part time these days, currently I'm freelancer because I don't enjoy full time job anymore.
And because of crypto + Splinterlands maybe I will retire.. but I still like my job and as I said I work only part time + I work only on what I like (so no boring stuff).

azircon — Yesterday at 2:37 PM
I suspected/expected that. We will get into the earning aspect of the game, but before that lets talk about the begining. How did you really got interested? Did you play any other card games earlier?
for example, I am a Pokemon player, for 20 years....

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:40 PM
No, I never played any other cards games before. I knew that games like Heartstone or Magic the Gathering exist but I never played them.
In the past I played chess a lot (as an amateur, my online ELO ranking was around 1700) and that's why I loved Splinterlands. Because it's like chess - simple and complex at the same time.

azircon — Yesterday at 2:40 PM
cool!
So this is you the LEGEND! :) (I am showing your gamer profile as above)
how many times you were #1? In the Champions? You are a data guy, so I am hoping you keep a record

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:42 PM
Haha, I stopped counting a while ago, I think around 30 (but I can check what the exact result is)

azircon — Yesterday at 2:43 PM
No prob... ballpark is good enough
how many seasons happened till date?
24 in a year
you also have the highest rating ever!
probably the highest number of Champion points
and perhaps the best win rate

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:45 PM
I think it's 64 seasons since I started, but it took me a long since my collection was good enough to compete for top1 champion spot
Oh, my rating is not the highest, there was a season when people got 20k+ (I think it was 2nd or 3rd season)

azircon — Yesterday at 2:45 PM
Do you remember the first time you were champion #1
oh .. those were early anomaly
we have to ignore them
I also remember the time when we all will go every high in rating....that is not that long ago
like my 5000 rating, which is impossible for me today

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:49 PM
Yes, I remember, because I really wanted to get top1. And I think it took around 10 seasons from the time I was #2 (playing with limited collection) for the first time to finally get #1.
I just needed to improve my collection / battle skills etc

azircon — Yesterday at 2:49 PM
So you studied manually or programmed a bot? (since you are a developer too)

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:50 PM
Oh, there were a couple of seasons (I think 2 or 3) that I managed to get 8000+ points.
And I was the reason why they changed how ranking system works (no 10 points per win and no winstreak above league limit)

azircon — Yesterday at 2:51 PM
exactly!

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:52 PM
I play manually, although some people think I am a bot. And I am okay with that haha. I just enjoy the game!
And I spent a lot of time analyzing other people's battles in the past, that's what helped me a lot.

azircon — Yesterday at 2:53 PM
Also, you invested in cards. 10M collection power is high. Did you buy?

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:56 PM
I didn't invest too much, I think I spent around $1000 crypto and $1000 fiat in my early days.
Then I improved my collection mostly by trading. There was a time that I enjoyed trading more than battling.
But it was before tournaments were released. And I fell in love with tournaments.
And then I spent what I won in tournaments to buy more cards.

azircon — Yesterday at 2:57 PM
Right, most pro players I talk to are that way

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:57 PM
Oh, that screen above includes rented cards (I still rent a lot)

azircon — Yesterday at 2:58 PM
right, of course! I really enjoyed your post regarding the new 'art of renting'!

jacekw — Yesterday at 2:59 PM
Rentals helped me to get top1 for the first time, without them probably I would never be able to do that
Or it would take much more time
I didn't enjoy ranked battles too much, before I had maxed deck

azircon — Yesterday at 3:00 PM
let us shift towards the earning uspects of the game, as I think that will interest many people.....most pro players play multiple accounts, their own, and a few delegated account on a earning share basis. How many do you typically play?
personally I like it a lot. As this gives the game 'pro' vs amateur aspect

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:01 PM
My main account - jacekw
I play also delegated gold level @ts-yodin account and champion level @shinychamp.
And sometimes I play some other accounts, but only in tournaments.

azircon — Yesterday at 3:01 PM
for example I am a casual player, I love to play the game personally, but I also have my main deck delegated and a pro-player plays it
right... I also use ts-
I think it is a great idea

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:03 PM
And if someone asks me if I can play his account too - my answer is ... no, I have enough to play haha. I enjoy playing, but too much = worse performance.

azircon — Yesterday at 3:03 PM
exactly... I am seeing 3-4 is max for most pro players

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:03 PM
I played more accounts in the past (not only tournaments, also in ranked) but it was too much for me.
especially ranked is what makes me tired fast, it's not that exciting.
What I enjoy the most - tournaments (especially Elimination tournaments) and last day of season

azircon — Yesterday at 3:04 PM
and currently with the present market condition that is enough earning in most developing/developed countries
Yes, of course. Tournaments are lucrative in terms of DEC earning and competitive in terms of skills
So you are basically playing/trading cards full-time now, as I understand it. In Poland, would you say you are comfortable in terms of living standard with this game? Feel free to share some basic living expense number if you wish. Just to have a comparison..

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:08 PM
I was earning enough when DEC was still pegged at $1 or below and before SPS was introduced to cover my life expenses, but ... I didn't want to do it. Of course I diversified some earnings and bought BTC because I was not comfortable that 100% of my crypto assets is just Splinterlands... but I prefer to spend on cards.
And now with DEC so high and SPS airdrop, this is another story, maybe I will be a millionaire in the future haha? (joking)

azircon — Yesterday at 3:09 PM
No its not a joke, we all hope that!

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:11 PM
I'm half a millionaire already but not in USD, but Polish currency (PLN). And I have to say I still don't believe in that. That's a lot of money!
But I don't want to sell my collection ever

azircon — Yesterday at 3:12 PM
yes, I feel the same way myself!
Ok, any particular card you wish you didnt' sell or burned, but you did back in the day? I know I did the sin...

for my reference

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:16 PM
Oh... yeah, I regret selling / burning.. I usually spent what I got to buy more cards or cover rental fees... but it still hurts.
Especially I regret selling maxed Prince Rennyn at $300, I just wanted to use this money for something else and I was renting Prince Rennyn really cheap then..
And I burned a lot of gold cards that were close to burn value.
Oh, I also regret converting some Alpha to Beta in the past, becauce sometimes it was cheaper to upgrade cards this way

azircon — Yesterday at 3:17 PM
all our sins!!! :)
So, do you think, with this high prices, a new player can earn in living, say in western europe playing this game?

for my reference

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:21 PM
I think it's possible if someone is good enough. For me, that's the idea of play2earn games - if you are good enough you can earn (and sometimes earn quite a lot).
I am not a fan of play2earn being unterstood as "farming" = just spending your time on playing or using a bot.

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:21 PM
oh, that's hurts even more! I thought it's a bit cheaper now haha!!

azircon — Yesterday at 3:22 PM
I agree, I am of the same view on play2earn, so I decided I will do my part.... this.... we need to introduce 'star players' to the crowd
That is the closest thing to spectatorship that we can achieve.
Nearing the end, any particular classic stategy you like to share? maybe a sample game, you have thousands, so exposing one won't hurt :) :)

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:28 PM
Okay, let me find a batlle that will be interesting. I don't mind sharing, you can see all my battles here
https://peakmonsters.com/@jacekw/battlechain

azircon — Yesterday at 3:29 PM
but of course :) blockchain is transparent

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:30 PM
Okay, I think that will be interesting one:

https://splinterlands.com/?battle=f198d9571718655ff35efd98bee5734fa7813aa0&ref=peakmonsters

It's a classic Reverse Speed battle, where one player uses Yodin Zaku and the second player tries to counter with Shieldbearer (return fire ability)

Despite my opponent countered me (shieldbearer is a great counter for Zaku) I still won

azircon — Yesterday at 3:32 PM
Interesting you used Chicken in position 2

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:32 PM
And what is funny, I made a stupid mistake in that battle, but I won't tell what it is, maybe readers will try to figure it out
Oh, right, that's what I mean

azircon — Yesterday at 3:32 PM
LOL!

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:32 PM
haha!

azircon — Yesterday at 3:32 PM
Hey, looks like I pass!

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:33 PM
Well, fortunately this mistake was not that bad, chicken and aganju still attacked at the end of the battle
Of course, the battle was a bit longer because of this chicken on wrong spot
But my idea was to try counter Life+Shieldbearer and counter Yodin Zaku at the same time, so chicken was supposed to absorb some blast damage from Yodin Zaku.
But when I saw that my opponents played Life splinter I realized that Aganju will not be able to attack haha!

azircon — Yesterday at 3:36 PM
very cool!!
Alright. I will format and publish it, and you will get a ping!

jacekw — Yesterday at 3:36 PM
Okay, thanks!

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Final Thoughts

There you have it. The legendary @jacekw! This is simple and flat text. I didn't try to decorate it, or changed it in any way. We spend an inordinate time on discord, and let this conversation (and any future ones) be a testament of that!