Have a high enough rating and thinking about going up a league to get more end of season chests? This post is a guide on how to approach securing your own rentals at the end of the season.
If you've actively been playing Splinterlands for more than a season or two then you know that the end of the season gets hectic - Collection Power rental prices spike as everyone scrambles to secure enough power for the end of season reward chests, and unless you're exceedingly lucky, you've probably had at least a few of your rentals get cancelled on you. Going up in leagues is not always worth it, but you can determine whether or not it is and maximize your end of season gains by following these steps:
Step 1: Wait
That's right, wait. Renting for collection power for your daily rewards chests is a great choice and often pays off. However, if your main goal is just to obtain the end of season chests then wait until there are 23 hours or less left in the season. If you rent sooner than that then there is a chance that whoever you rent cards from can cancel the rental after you rent it and recall their cards before the season ends (or even worse, during the season end snapshop). Definitely not a good thing, as it can result in you getting demoted a league or two.
Step 2: Determine How Much You Can Pay
It doesn't make any sense to pay more for your rentals than you will receive in end of season rewards. This chart is taken from Splintercards and reflects market prices during the writing of this post:
You can see the latest version here.
Look at the rewards value for your current league, and the value for the league you are targeting to rent power for. Make sure that that power you rent costs less than the difference in rewards - otherwise you'll have a negative expected value on average will lose DEC by renting more power.
For example, from the chart above, moving from Bronze III up to Bronze II in this case will be expected to net you 104 DEC (365-261=104) in additional chest value. So you should pay, AT MOST, 104 DEC for rentals (though ideally much less).
Step 3: Get your Rentals
Once you know how much you're willing to pay, go and get your rentals. Calculate the CP/DEC that it translates to and aim for cards that are as cheap as possible, but definitely cheaper than that rate. From the Bronze III -> Bronze II example above, moving up in leagues requires 1000 Collection Power so you should pay, at most, 1000CP/104 DEC = 9.61 CP/DEC. (And if you were thinking that this sounds high...that's why rental rates go up so much at the end of the season!)
Feel free to try and snipe rentals on PeakMonsters, but I prefer to just use the Collection Power autorent. Remember to pay more than however much you calculated in Step 2. An important point here is that rate may be too high. In that case, DON'T. RENT.
Step 4: Profit!
Hopefully you were able to secure your rentals and bump your collection power up. Since there are less than 24 hours left in the season, you're all set. Do keep an eye on your other rentals from earlier to make sure you don't get any last minute cancellations.
If rents were too high, don't worry about it. Just play your games for the season and enjoy the slightly lower league chests - sure, you might have a couple less of them, but your overall collection is still the better for it.
Thinking about giving Splinterlands a try but haven't signed up yet? Feel free to use my referral link, and be sure to reach out to me if you have any questions!