I've been a part of Steem Monsters since the very beginning. I purchased the game almost right away and I began buying and selling some cards. I'm not a huge player, I consider myself average in the game and I don't have plans to invest more in the game in the near future. I'm in a moment where I would have to invest a significant amount of Steem to upgrade my teams and my pockets are empty for that. I prefer selling the cards that I earn and improve my Steem Power.
Tournaments have been launches but I have only participated in one. I don't know I prefer playing the regular game and advance every season as high as I can to earn good cards. I only own two teams: The Light and the Death Splinters. I think that the game is a little bit slow at the moment but I also think that great things will come in a couple of months. I read that you will now be able to lease cards, that is amazing. I think I should have kept some of the good cards I earned. Nah... I sold them at a very good price and I'm happy about it. On December 25 I sold a Gold Legendary card for 99.99 USD I got a good amount of Steem that has doubled in value.
Steem Monsters was the first huge game on the Steem blockchain, it is still very relevant and I think that it will continue to improve, it must improve. The developers of the game have done a great job and they have also created great tools. A lot of other great developers have created tools for the game. A great example is @peakmonsters that allows you to buy and sell cards in batches and you can even sell cards immediately to people that have set bids. I have used this feature for a while and it is very effective, you sell your cards at a lower price but you don't have to wait.
In conclusion, we can expect huge things about this game, it is already helping the Steem Blockchain to improve in many ways and it has also brought a lot of users to the platform.
Keep up the good work!