Hi Splinterfans, hope this season is treating you well! Having read lots of post and comments on Splinterlands, it seems like people are struggling to hit the same heights as last season. We all need to remember last season was particularly long as the team implemented several large updates to the game. So, the extra days meant we all could get more chests. Also, I think several bot farms got switched off to work through the new updates. Sadly, this meant that the bot farms are back in full force this season and they are smashing it in the lower leagues that I am playing. The thing with playing against bots is that most have similar set-ups that can be countered with the right cards.
Rentvesting
Let’s start with the concept of Rentvesting first. It is a home-owning strategy where you rent a property to live in that's right for your lifestyle, while you own an investment property that's right for your budget. If you are like me and not a rich person, there are limits to what we can spend on our home. So, the logic behind Rentvesting is that you buy a property that has high potential for capital growth, rent it out and use that rental money to rent a property that you like, maybe closer to the city or the beach. In my opinion, this is a bit of a cashflow & tax planning play which works in Australia, but I am not sure if its applicable to other countries. If anyone has experience elsewhere, maybe share with us what you think.
What’s it got to do with Splinterlands
Actually, almost anything related to economics can be related to Splinterlands. @bteim has written several interesting articles on them if you want to know how to apply economics to the “game” of Splinterlands.
How do we apply Rentvesting to Splinterlands do you ask? Some of you might already be doing it unconsciously, but what I am suggesting is that you do it actively! If you have been playing Splinterlands for at least a few months, you would have amassed a small number of cards from rewards, maybe some legendaries or GFs. Or you might have used your DEC to buy the CL packs or if you were early in the game, gotten some Untamed or Dice packs. Basically, you rent out the cards you own and rent cards to play with. But first, homework time.
Review your past battles
The first step should be to battle and battles heaps, so you know what the bots play in what rulesets. After reviewing enough battles, you should start to notice a pattern as to the bot preferences. Of course, human players also tend to play in patterns, but some bots are so good that I can’t tell the difference anymore.
Now is time to devise your counter squads. I would suggest a minimum of two splinters if you are on a budget, but if you can afford it, four splinters will really help with RP/FP generation. My mini in Bronze Modern is running two splinters (Earth & Water) while my main in Silver Wild is running 4.5 splinters (Fire, Earth, Water, Life & half Death). I struggle with Death, so I don’t rent that much, Thaddius and some cheap monsters. Also, all my rentals are Lvl 1 so I can take advantage of the cheap 0.1 DEC monsters to stretch my budget. I will leave it up to you to devise your counter squads as much of the game is figuring how things work and there isn’t one cookie-cutter that works for everything.
Cutting the fat
With your squads in hand, you need to take a hard look at the cards you own and rent out anything you won’t use. Doesn’t matter if it’s a legendary or looks pretty, if it doesn’t fit, it needs to be on the rental market. The exception will be the Gold Foils, but there has to be a use case for it, if not, onto the rental market it goes. You have to be strict with this as your margins are going to be very tight. Why? Because if you don’t deem them very useful, potentially others won’t as well, and they may not rent for much or at all. If you have lots of 1 BCX reward cards, check the market and consider combining them as they might be more useful at the higher levels. A great example is the Pelacor Conjurer that gets Magic Reflect at Lvl 4.
Renting
I enjoy renting and finding the great deals on PeakMonsters. I am not spruiking them for a referral fee, but I appreciate the fact that have been in this game before it became super profitable and that they keep innovating. The GUI is just so user friendly and so many options that you can use to help you get that great deal.
But as with lots of things in life, patience is required. Being able to check PeakMonsters at least daily also helps. I have been able to get several summoners at a low price just by checking in constantly. There is a bid function available as well, but I don’t use it much unless I intend to bid higher. I just try to snipe them if I can. Also try checking in at different times of the day as cheap rentals sometimes drop off.
Conclusion
Below is a summary of my Rentvesting tactic.
Rental Out
Rental In
I have been playing Splinterlands for more then a year now and I have also spent some money buying cards & packs, so I have decent smallish collection. As you can see, my rentals out are pretty shocking with only a 11.48% ROA, but because I rent out majority of my cards, I still get around 260 DEC daily vs my rentals in of 63 DEC.
As I mentioned earlier, Rentvesting to me is a cashflow play and I just try to always make sure I at least break-even daily. It’s a tactic I have been doing since I start playing and I just try to keep stacking rewards I get and buying the occasional packs. This is just one small economic side of Splinterlands and there are numerous others that you can get involved in as I have.
Hopefully this post is useful to you and if you have any questions, feel free to pop them into the comments below.
While I don't have any experience doing it with real-life property, this is pretty much exactly what I do in-game - great writeup!
Cheers, I do enjoy reading your economic posts and how they can apply to Splinterlands.
Splinterlands sometimes feels more economics then actual gaming.
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