This is the first post in what I'm hoping will be a regular series where I implement the method I recently posted to evaluate the ROI of a single card in Ranked (post). I have a number of cards I want to test using this approach, and want to share my results with the community.

As a reminder, the method is to rent a card for 48 hours and see how often that card is used in a winning team (where each win is worth ~$0.26) and determine a card's APY based on that. To be worth it, a card needs to beat the ROI I could get in other methods, such as renting the card out, or putting the money is a Liquidity Pool.

The Card

Today, the card I'm evaluating is Commander Jacek, one of the legendary summoners from Chaos Legion. The reason he is one of the first is that my fire deck is a bit on the weaker side, and Commander Jacek seems like he could be a strong addition, primarily with the +2 speed. But he also has what is usually a drawback in the form of scattershot, and I don't know how often he'll be able to overcome that.

How did it do?

I rented Commander Jacek at level 4 on January 23 for 48 hours, during which my bot played 84 battles. Commander Jacek was used 3 times, but won none of the matches it was in.

Based on this, the APY of Commander Jacek would be 0%, obviously below the return necessary for me to purchase the card. So at this stage, I won't be buying Commander Jacek.

Conclusions

Commander Jacek is one of the few summoners that has an ability that is not always advantageous. In general, I would prefer my cards not have scattershot. For Jacek teams, this is often avoided by stacking cards that ignore scattershot, such as those with sneak or snipe. In those cases, Jacek's extra speed and piercing can do some work. But in general, that does not seem an efficient use of a 6 mana summoner. Instead, the bot I use (Archmage) often just uses Lux instead for 1 less mana and more survivability. Even when Archmage did decide to use Jacek, Jacek wasn't strong enough to pull off the win.

All this said, I do think Jacek might play nicely with some of the upcoming reward cards, so I will likely reevaluate him in a few months when I have decent access to those cards. But until then, Commander Jacek remains a card I don't own.

So far, I am 0/2 on adding summoners - Lux does so much work on her own it is difficult for other summoners to carve out their own niche. We'll see if this continues next week when I rent out Rathe, what is generally considered one of the stronger CL summoners.

Referral

Interested in Splinterlands? Want to start collecting cards like this one and join in on the fun? Use my referral link here and shoot me a message. I'll set you up with some early cards to get you a good start from day one!

https://splinterlands.com?ref=badrag