SteemMonsters has been live 2 weeks now.

The SteemMonster market is quite active.
- It can be a bit confusing.

Source

SteemMonster basics

There are 2 types of cards; summoners and monsters.

Summoners don't actually participate in the battles,
other than giving out their special powers
before the battles begin.
Monsters actually participate in the battles.
To play you will have to purchase a starter pack for $10.
You can use credit cards, paypal or crypto (Steem, SBD, BTC, LTC, ETH, etc.)
- The Steem Monsters Starter Set includes a pre-defined set of 30 digital game cards that allows players to compete in the daily tournaments once they begin later this year.
- The purchase of a Starter Set also unlocks your ability to buy Booster Packs, thereby paving your way to obtaining powerful epic and legendary cards!
- As an added bonus, players that are new to Steem will be granted a free Steem account as part of the process.
  + If you want the free Steem Account, make sure you are not logged into SteemMonsters.

Summoner basics

The summoner's mana does count against the mana cap.

Mana is the top left number on each card.
- Mana for all the original summoners is 3.
  - Mana for the new beta-only summoners is 2.
    Meaning you will have an extra mana to use on your monsters.
- The promo summoner Neb Seni has a 4 mana.

Summoners call up monsters from their own splinter.

Fire, water, earth, life, death, dragon
- The exception is Selenia Sky who can call from any splinter.
  - Also any summoner can call up neutral monsters.

Summoner Levels

You can level up your summoners by:

Purchasing Level 1 cards and combining them.
Usually the cheapest way to level up your summoners.
- Purchasing the particular level you desire.
  You can purchase on
  - the SteemMonster site.
  - https://peakmonsters.com/market

Source - SteemMonsters discord > sm-voters_hut > $levels

The level of the summoner determines the level of monsters he can use.

If your monster is a higher level than your summoner can use,
the monster can still be used.
It will play at the max level the summoner can call.
- You will see a yellow triangle with an exclamation point.
  - The charts are below.
    Level - Common - Rare - Epic - Legendary

Alpha summoners include:
These are all Rare cards.

Fire - Marlic Inferno
- Special Power - Friendly melee attacks +1
Water - Arlic Stormbringer
- Special Power - Friendly magic attacks +1
Earth - Lyanna Natura
- Special Power - Friendly monsters +1 Health
Life - Tyrus Paladium
- Special Power - Friendly monsters +1 Armor
Death - Zintaur Mortaus
- Special Power - Enemy monsters -1 melee attacks
Dragon - Selenia Sky
- Special Power - Friendly ranged attacks +1
  Can call monsters from any splinter.

Beta cards introduced...
The same ones as alpha cards, plus these beta only cards...
They don't have special powers.
These are all Epic cards.
Remember, these only use 2 Mana.
Beta-only summoners

Fire - Talia Firestorm
Water - Xia Seachan
Xander Foxwood
Kiara Lightbringer
Jarlax the Undead

Promo Summoner

Neb Seni
4 Mana
- Special Power - Friendly monsters Speed +1

Market Analysis

The following charts show the current USD prices as of October 28, 2018.

Original Summoners (alpha and now beta, also)

Name A/B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Malric Inferno (A)	0.48	0.96	1.92	3.84	7.68	12.48	22.08	41.28
(B)	0.27	0.81	1.35	2.97	5.67	9.45	16.47	32.67
Arlic Stormbringer (A)	0.54	1.08	2.16	4.32	8.64	14.04	24.84	46.44
(B)	0.28	0.84	1.40	3.08	5.88	9.80	17.08	33.88
Lyanna Natura (A)	0.47	0.94	1.88	3.76	7.52	12.22	21.62	40.42
(B)	0.30	0.90	1.50	3.30	6.30	10.50	18.30	36.30
Tyrus Paladium (A)	0.48	0.96	1.92	3.84	7.68	12.48	22.08	41.28
(B)	0.29	0.87	1.45	3.19	6.09	10.15	17.69	35.09
Zintar Morteus (A)	0.89	1.78	3.56	7.12	14.24	23.14	40.94	76.54
(B)	0.42	1.26	2.10	4.62	8.82	14.70	25.62	50.82

Name A/B	1	2	3	4
Selenia Sky (A)	22.90	45.80	91.60	206.10
(B)	16.00	48.00	80.00	192.00

New Beta-only Summoners

Name A/B	1	2	3	4	5	6
Talia Firestorm	2.70	8.10	16.20	29.70	62.10	124.20
Xia Seachan	2.75	8.25	16.50	30.25	63.25	126.50
Xander Foxwood	2.38	7.14	14.28	26.18	54.74	109.48
Kiara Lightbringer	2.60	7.80	15.60	28.60	59.80	119.60
Jarlax the Undead	2.80	8.40	16.80	30.80	64.40	128.80

Zintar Morteus is the highest priced original summoners.

Putting together a Death team was quite popular for a while.
- Haunted Spirit can reflect magic attacks at level 4.
  - Water magic attacks were quite popular because they were winning against a lot of teams.

Selenia Sky has been quite popular at the higher levels.

Beta cards are usually cheaper than alpha cards.

You might want to put together a spreadsheet to help you figure out which is actually cheaper to reach the level you want.
- Use the chart above for how many cards you need to reach the level you want for alpha and beta cards, depending on the type of card (common, rare, epic or legendary).
  - It takes more cards to level up with beta cards,
    but they are usually cheaper,
    so this is usually the best way to level up.

Putting together a team

As with most phases of SteemMonsters,
putting together a team is a balancing act.

Playing at any level can be quite fun,
but if you want to reach the upper levels plan on spending quite a bit of money.

I took my water team to a 4104 rating, around a rank of 50. (currently ranked 99).
My rise happened during a 25 mana limit with regular rules of combat.

I used
- level 6 Arlic Stormbringer Summoner = $14
- level 3 Frost Giant (Legendary alpha) = $28
- level 5 Medusa (Rare beta) = 4
- level 7 Crustacean King (Common) = 21
- level 4 Mischievous Mermaid (Epic) = 7
  - About a $75 total
    Which beat many higher level teams of all splinters. :D
This earned me 25 booster packs valued at $2 each.