Splinterlands: Rag to Riches, Week 3 + 4

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After skipping a week of blogging, I am back. My recent weeks had been busy and I am playing the game much lesser than usual. Between work and a few days of researching board games for a colleague gathering, I just don't have the time for Splinterlands. It's not a good habit to get into if I want to keep blogging about the game so I have been playing more recently.

Reward


I apologize for accidentally deleting my seasonal reward without uploading it first. It's a rather dull one though, I have gotten nearly nothing valuable out of it and the best card, out of 6, is Fineas Rage.

You know, I kinda understand why they are trying to change the system. I am not supposed to hit like 2,637 ratings with just level 1 cards and no extra investment into the game besides the starting $10 for the spellbook -- yet I was. Essentially, if you play enough and you aren't just straight up horrible in gaming, you will go up. I am not sure about those level 1 bots going to champions though as I see a lot of the bots I met a lot of times hovering around the 2,100 to 2,300 range on the final day of the previous season. But, that is still more than they should be able to get to anyway. What I am not sure about, is how they go to solving it.

Power Fodder

If you wonder why I have so much power, that is what I am doing in this brand new phase 2 of the ranking revamp. You see, this collection power method solves...not a lot in my opinion. I am still meeting a lot of all-1 players at the 1.6-1.8k range I am currently in and the only thing that had changed is their league level. The collection power doesn't solve matchmaking at all, I was expecting to meet tougher opponents but that's just simply not the case. It merely forces bots to have more collection power if they want more rewards per day, which honestly, the bots can easily get if their owners give a crap.

It's the same method I used to boost my power: renting "power fodders". PeakMonsters is an amazing website and the renting system they provide is nothing but game-changing. I figured it's mainly used by tournament players or champion tier grinders to get their cards on a cheaper basis or obtaining them without paying the whole price at once, but now I expect more people to be renting cards as I do. It's just the simplest and most effective way of "combating" this new collection power wall. I mean, if it's providing nothing on the matchmaking front and the league ranking system is not implemented yet, people are bound to just find ways to go up to the leagues they usually grind at. If the way to do so is so easy to find, people are going to use it.

I only have 3,330 genuine power in my account, which I think is already far above the average curve of a rag guy after only a single month of playing because I actually hit two legendary reward cards out of sheer luck. An average rag is probably only going to have like 1K+ or so.

I boosted it to 70k to hit Silver I after I am certain I am still matching mostly against people I have a fair shot on. It'd be stupid to go this high in power if I cannot win at that rating as I would eventually drop to a lower rank. The opposite is happening so far and I committed.

What I did was just renting ultra-cheap legendaries on PeakMonsters. I am talking about the absolute minimum investment, as most of the cards I rented are $0.001 per 1,000 power or more. The cheap legendaries like Gloridax Guardian and Bila the Radiant are available for rent at $0.001 per BCX, you would even find some level 4 with 11 BCX at lower than $0.01. It's not just the legendaries you should be looking at. I found a $0.001 max level Undead Minotaur at $0.001 per day and it gives me 7,953 power.

Most of them also have no escrow fee so I don't even need a lot on my PeakCredits. I sold 1,800 DECs, which is almost all the DECs I had earned so far, and I got a good $1.05 or so to spend. Currently, I am paying around $0.033 per day for these powers, which to me, are absolutely worth it because of the reward jump I had from Bronze II to Silver I. I am definitely grabbing more to hit Gold III when I hit the rating of that league.

According to my simplistic calculation, $0.04 is about 100 DEC. If I can earn enough of that or even just 70% of that per day, I am easily profiting from all the potential cards and even packs I will be opening with those investments compared to without. I totally expect renting to cost more eventually once more players pick up on this "power fodder" market. Like, if it only costs $0.04 to get 70K power, getting to the champion league (500k power) is about $0.28 per day, which is the tip of an iceberg for all of you major investors. If this rag can afford it, all of you can. But you probably won't find enough ultra-cheap cards to rent to get the $0.28, so let's say $0.5 per day, or even $1 per day. It still feels like it's worth it to me if you can find breakeven or more value in your daily chests and seasonal chests. I am not that high level yet, so I will let you all calculate on that. You all are much better in investment than me anyway.


My power fodders



Straight value

Until the day where the rental price is much higher for these efficient power fodders, as in they are cards that are not good in the current meta and have low monetary value, but provide the same power as many expensive cards of the same rarity and set, I don't see collection power being an effective gate to keep the bots away. If I can do this, many could. It's just how many cards are there to rent for all these players out there. I really feel like this new implementation is a wonderful new opportunity for the PeakMonsters marketplace and the dedicated renters out there

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And that's all for now. Thanks for reading and I will see you all again next week.

If you are interested in the game, I'd appreciate if you check it out, and hopefully buy in, with my affiliate link.



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Great write-up about the possibilities to ramp up your collection power with cheap rentals. Finally something to revive the sleepting rental market again.
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