I joined Steemmonsters from the beginning, I bought a few packs and started playing, but I then started noticing that in order to advance you had to spend more and more. I am kind of impetuous so I decided to sell all my cards and just quit the game. Under the circumstances, I thought it was the best thing to do.
A few months later I joined again and was able to again hold quite a lot of cards some of them with some intrinsic value, but gameplay for me was tedious, normally to end a quest would take thirty or forty battles so again I sold everything and quit.
Last year I again started playing and with some luck and discipline I again got to have a few cards, but this time I ended up in a financial fix and had to sell my cards once again. This time I really needed that money so it was kind of a lifesaver.
Now I am again playing but things are certainly more difficult now, to get cards is incredibly hard, at the end of a season I might get one card, so if I have another financial emergency Splinterlands will not be a salvation board, so maybe this time I will get to keep the few cards I have for a longer time.