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In recent years, SDS has brought so many legends to The Show for us to use in Diamond Dynasty. It wasn't long ago that our pool of legends was limited to only a few per team. Now? Almost every team has a good number of legends.
The Show 17 brought us Ken Griffey Jr., Roberto Alomar, Wade Boggs, Jorge Posada, and Jason Giambi among others.
The Show 18 gave us Babe Ruth, Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza, Bob Gibson, Vladimir Guerrero, and Roy Oswalt among a lot more. In fact, I think The Show 18 might have been our biggest jump from year-to-year.
... and of course The Show 19 continued the trend and brought out the big guns with Willie Mays, Rickey Henderson, Ivan Rodriguez, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Cy Young, and Walter Johnson.
With all those legends added, the game has evolved into a baseball fan's dream, especially in Diamond Dynasty where they've found a good balance of time spent and rewarding the player without the feeling that you need to spend money like so many other Ultimate Team card collecting modes. It made a ton of sense for them to target the bats before the arms but I think the next few years should be spent focusing on getting the big name pitching legends that we've been asking for.
It's true that they've added more than a few of baseball history's best hurlers but I still think that the selection of pitching legends is far too small. Obviously they took a huge step the last two years in acquiring rights to some great legends and I'm glad they got the rights to Mark Buehrle, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Robin Roberts, and Al Leiter this year; while last year we got Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, and A.J. Burnett. There's no denying that the selection we have already is impressive but imagine a game with all the legends we have now, plus big names like:
Yeah, a few of those guys are unlikely (Clemens and Schilling specifically) but to match the legendary bats of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., and Lou Gehrig, we need the best pitchers the world has ever seen to match. Just adding a few of these legends like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Roger Clemens would go so far and further the notion that MLB The Show offers the best Ultimate Team experience of any sports game.
It's exciting to think about the ridiculous matchups we could have and likely will have in the coming years. I could go on for hours talking about players I'd love to see return to or make their debut in The Show. I'm certain the team at Sony San Diego Studios shares this belief and are working on getting a large number of these guys into the game. Even beyond the household names they could build on those by adding other popular pitching legends like:
... and guys that recently retired like:
I finally finished the Live Series collection! This is only the second time I have been able to accomplish this -- the only other being in The Show 17 and I didn't finish that one until late-August/September.
I got super lucky and pulled Mike Trout this year in the middle of April after beating the 2nd Inning Showdown (what a thrill that was for me!) and since then, I've been dead set on getting it done. I thought it would take me until mid-June at first but I put my flipping skills into overdrive the past few weeks, with the last week being especially crazy.
I want to say it was sometime last week (I want to say Wednesday or Thursday) that I bought Gerrit Cole (162K), then I flipped my way to 200K and bought Christian Yelich (39K) and Cody Bellinger (163K), last night I had enough to get Jacob deGrom (108K) so I pulled the trigger.
Today, I spent the entire day getting to 140K Stubs and finally had enough to get Nolan Arenado. I am so proud but I will say I may need to buy a new PS4 controller in the near future as my 'X' button has to be obliterated. My thumb hurts and I think I see the menus when I close my eyes (lmao!)
Anyway, this is going to get pushed down quickly so I'm not sure why I typed so much but I just have to share my experience with my MLB The Show-brethren.
Honestly, now that I'm done... I'll share my method but be warned, it's tedious, boring and you have to be patient sometimes.
Bronze cards are your moneymakers. Sure, you can buy Commons for the 5 or 6 quick-sell price and take advantage when they're selling for around 40-50 Stubs. I did that with a few cards and I mostly stuck to ones that I knew usually sold for more. The biggest thing though is, take advantage of having unlimited buy orders, that alone made flipping so much better for me.
The best advice I ever heard when it came to flipping sounds so simple but it helped me change my mindset, "all profit is good profit." Now, that doesn't mean buy a card for 45 Stubs and sell him at 50 Stubs, but making 40-50 Stubs on each card you flip adds up so quickly. The last two days, I focused on low-bronzes that I could put buy orders in around 25-30 Stubs and then I could sell them for 80-110 Stubs a piece. The more you flip, the more you realize there are certain teams that move much quicker, sell for more, and just have excellent profit margins, but on the flipside, there's teams you want to avoid like the plague! For example, the Angels are a waste of time and personally, I more often than not have been disappointed by Cubs and Cardinals players for whatever reason. Oh, and the Yankees! There isn't much Stubs to be made off the Yankees.
Aside from that, it's all about finding your rhythm. If you place a buy order and the profit margins are nice but by the time you actually get the card, the margins have dropped -- hold onto them! Chances are the price will be back to a healthy profit within the next 6-12 hours.
I hope this helps someone. Good luck guys!
Obviously, these are probably a pretty long way off from releasing (I'm thinking mid-July), I've been thinking about this the past few days and I think Team Affinity 3 should finally be the meaty content drop we've all been waiting for. I think there's a very good chance that Stage 4 will be each team's "Finest" card. This makes sense for a few reasons...
It'll be releasing in the Fall, so in all likelihood late-September/early October, and that is usually the time of year SDS releases The Show's "Finest" series of cards.
Last year, we got a "Finest" series card for each team. Instead of doing packs, I think it makes sense to tie these into Team Affinity.
So, with that said, what could we be getting in stage 3 of Team Affinity? I've got my fingers crossed that we'll get a high-90s (95-98?) Signature Series, Prime, or All-Star cards. If that's what it ends up being, we could see some really sweet cards that I think we've all been patiently waiting for.
I've made a mock-up list of who I think could be included if this is the direction they go in. I could be way off on a lot of these, and hopefully you'll chime in and let me know who we could see for your favorite team. I'm also hoping that the developers will maybe come across this thread and possibly give them some ideas of who we all want to see.
Without further ado, here's my guesses for each team:
Baltimore Orioles Manny Machado - 96 OVR (2015 Prime All-Star)
Boston Red Sox David Ortiz - 96 OVR (2006 Prime Silver Slugger Hardware)
New York Yankees Mariano Rivera - 97 OVR (2005 Prime All-Star)
Tampa Bay Rays David Price - 97 OVR (2012 Prime Cy Young Hardware)
Toronto Blue Jays Josh Donaldson - 98 OVR (2015 Prime AL MVP Hardware)
Chicago White Sox Mark Buehrle - 95 OVR (2005 Prime All-Star)
Cleveland Indians Omar Vizquel - 96 OVR (1999 Prime Gold Glove Hardware)
Detroit Tigers Jack Morris - 95 OVR (1986 Prime Impact Veteran)
Kansas City Royals Zack Greinke - 97 OVR (2009 Prime Cy Young Hardware)
Minnesota Twins Rod Carew - 97 OVR (1977 Prime MVP Hardware)
Los Angeles Angels Vladimir Guerrero - 98 OVR (2004 Prime MVP Hardware)
Oakland Athletics Jason Giambi - 97 OVR (2000 Prime MVP Hardware)
Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez - 96 OVR (2010 Prime Cy Young Hardware)
Texas Rangers Michael Young - 96 OVR (2004 Prime All-Star)
Houston Astros Mike Scott - 95 OVR (1986 Prime Cy Young Hardware)
Atlanta Braves Andruw Jones - 97 OVR (2005 Prime All-Star)
Miami Marlins Giancarlo Stanton - 97 OVR (2017 Prime MVP Hardware)
Washington Nationals Bryce Harper - 96 OVR (2015 Prime MVP Hardware)
New York Mets Al Leiter - 95 OVR (2000 Prime All-Star)
Philadelphia Phillies Jimmy Rollins - 97 OVR (2007 Prime MVP Hardware)
Chicago Cubs Bruce Sutter - 95 OVR (1979 Prime Cy Young Hardware)
Cincinnati Reds George Foster - 97 OVR (1977 Prime MVP Hardware)
Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun - 95 OVR (2011 Prime MVP Hardware)
Pittsburgh Pirates Jason Kendall - 96 OVR (1998 Prime All-Star)
St. Louis Cardinals Adam Wainwright - 96 OVR (2010 Prime All-Star)
Arizona Diamondbacks Steve Finley - 96 OVR (1999 Prime Gold Glove Hardware)
Colorado Rockies Dante Bichette - 95 OVR (1995 Prime All-Star)
Los Angeles Dodgers Orel Hershiser - 97 OVR (1988 Prime Cy Young Hardware)
San Diego Padres Ryan Klesko - 95 OVR (2001 Prime All-Star)
San Francisco Giants Matt Williams - 96 OVR (1994 Prime Gold Glove Hardware)
I'm probably the worst hitter out of all of you and I beat it on my first try.
Although, I will say that I got crazy luck when it came to drafting players in this one. I ended up with a lineup of:
C : Christian Vasquez & Carson Kelly 1B: Matt Olson & Frank Thomas (84) 2B: Gleybar Torres (LS) SS: Jonathan Villar 3B: Bobby Dalbec (FS) LF: Cliff Floyd** CF: Mickey Mantle (99) & Bryan Reynolds (He came up BIG like 3-4 times) RF: Larry Walker & J.D. Martinez
Pitchers I Used: Colin Poche (Silver, LHP from TB Rays) Alec Hanson (Common, former White Sox prospect with good 5-pitch mix) Austen Davis (Common, LHP from Phillies) ...and I can't even remember if I used my actual SP the entire time (I don't think so)
Tips:
Take pitches against Mariano Rivera. Remember, he's a relief pitcher. His stamina is going to start to get brutally low once he hits about 40 pitches. Just survive with enough outs until then and I promise you'll beat him.
Remember to look at each challenge AND THEN set your Perks. For example, if it says you're starting in the 8th inning, you know to use a perk like Spark-Plug where you make better contact in and after the 7th inning. This will save your life.
Personally, I always switch to Directional for Showdowns. It makes it 100x easier for me, for some reason.
Don't draft more than one reliever and starter. I didn't even use my starting pitcher but maybe you will. I'm not certain that they have more challenges.
In my experiences, I've had the most success with the Defibrillator perks; silver gives you a contact boost in even counts (0-0, 1-1, 2-2); gold gives you a contact boost when you are behind in the count (love this one); and the diamond gives you a huge contact boost when you have two strikes. The diamond one is great for a number of reasons, not only can you basically put the controller down until you have 2 strikes but once you do, you can pretty much foul ANYTHING off which is going to raise the pitch count even higher!
I'm also a big fan of the perks that affect exit velocity. In combination with ones that give you a contact boost, you can straight wreck these final bosses.
If there was one thing definitely worth it for pre-ordering, it was this. It's so nice getting not only two stamps per day towards the free pack but also getting two cards. Yeah, I've never actually gotten anything this year but I'm sure I will get a few pretty decent cards because of this.
@AGENTSxOFxCHAOS said in Topps now moments:
Did you see some of the pitching Moments? One screw up and you fail. With the way the CPU is hitting/defense in these modes; 10K isn't worth it in my opinion.
I'm on the last one right now and I'm a well below average player and I have found them to be incredibly simple to do.
I'd say the one with the most potential to be annoying is the Kyle Hendricks one but even that one isn't all that bad. I beat all of them on my first go except the Kike one.
@tylerslikewhoa said in Of course, they finally give Ben Zobrist a high diamond and...:
So basically he is a free card. Sweet
This is a [censored] comment.
I feel you 100% on this!
So many teams with expensive/high Live Series diamonds and they give you a diamond that if it were on the market, would barely be above quick-sell value -- i.e. cards like Garret Anderson (Angels), Robin Roberts (Phillies), and Shane Victorino (Red Sox).
Out of all the cards you get for collecting the Live Series (I only need deGrom, Arenado, and Freeman it), the only cards I found remotely useful so far have been:
Jason Giambi, 92 OVR (Yankees collection) This card rakes so hard. I was so excited to get the Roberto Alomar, but as it turns out... Giambi was the real gem. I had a game last night where I hit 2 HRs and a double with him and that felt like an average game for him. I don't know what it is with this card but everything just jumps off his bat. The only knock I have on this card is Giambi's lack of speed (29). I didn't think I would be replacing the FotF Matt Olson until a Prime/SS Frank Thomas was released but Giambi can even mash lefties, something I was a bit spotty doing with Olson.
Cody Allen, 88 OVR (Indians collection) He's in my bullpen for now, but I can already tell it won't be long until I'll find someone to replace him. I like him a bit better than the Robb Nen but I may give Eric Gagne a try after I finish off the Live Series collection (only need deGrom, Freeman, and Arenado!). I wish he threw a little harder, I'd probably feel a bit better using him. But he'll be replaced as soon as I get Arenado back and lock him in to get that Adam Ottavino.
Sean Doolittle, 88 OVR (Athletics collection) This card -- on the other hand -- is excellent! He's easy to control, has decent break, and a silky smooth delivery. The only problem is, I feel like I have too many left-handed relievers I like to use with Billy Wagner, Aroldis Chapman, Amir Garrett, Josh Hader, and now I also have this Dan Plesac card. I sold off Zack Britton because of this very problem, but even so, I still really like this Doolittle.
Vladimir Guerrero, 91 OVR (Nationals collection) This was the first collection I targeted to get done, and while that was a good choice in hindsight considering I paid maybe 65K for Max Scherzer (he's now around 120-130K, this Vlad didn't stay on my team very long. I loved his arm strength and he hit a ton of doubles and got on base a lot, but the power just didn't play up for me. I hope we get a better Vlad soon as he's one of my favorite players of all-time and this was the first year I got to use a diamond card of his.
Mark Prior, 86 OVR (Cubs collection) This is a very underrated card. I think this was the second or third collection I finished so Prior got some run in my rotation before I upgraded on him. He has a nasty slurve, which is always one of my favorite pitches, and was a strikeout machine for me. I don't know what it is about Cubs diamond pitchers, but I always do well with them (Jake Arrieta the last few years and Fergie Jenkins last year).
Mike Piazza, 92 OVR (Dodgers collection) I just bought Bellinger and unlocked Piazza about an hour ago, and while I have yet to play with either of them, I am so excited to do so! Bellinger was easily my favorite card last year, I finished with something like 172 HRs with his Live Series card before I retired him. Piazza was also a card I really liked using. He was my end-game catcher (well, him and Finest Yasmani Grandal) and this version looks pretty good too. I unlocked Craig Biggio earlier this week and had been using him at catcher but I may move him to 2B or left field now and let Piazza take over for awhile.
Other collection rewards I haven't used yet: Adam Ottavino (Rockies), Dan Plesac (Brewers), John Olerud (Mets), Ryan Klesko (Braves), Steve Finley (Padres), Luis Gonzalez (Dbacks), Walter Johnson (AL Central collection), Willie Stargell (NL Central), and Mike Schmidt (NL Eeast)
There are a few of the golds and lower diamonds I do like such as the White Sox Mark Buehrle (82 OVR), Rays Evan Longoria (85 OVR), Mariners Robinson Cano, Reds George Foster (85 OVR), and Cardinals Jason Istringhausen (85 OVR) but I have to say I feel pretty underwhelmed by cards like the AL East Roberto Alomar, NL East Mike Schmidt, AL Central Walter Johnson but I can safely say that the rewards of Mickey Mantle, Craig Biggio, Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner, Willie Stargell, and the other cards I mentioned make it all worrth it.
@ZFree1122 said in Orel H:
Id drop Leiter but I don't think he's that good. Wood is amazing if you get his confidence up.
I use Leiter too, but I agree that he's the first to go between him and Wood. In fact, I just took him out of my rotation for SS Chris Sale, who I just bought.
Right now, my rotation is...
Greg Maddux (99 // Signature Series) Chris Sale (99 // Signature Series) James Paxton (99 // POTM) Corey Kluber (99 // Awards) Kerry Wood (97 // FOTF)
Oooh, you got FS Casey Mize. Niiiiiice!
I would stick Hershiser in that rotation and reap the rewards of having a nasty rotation. Unless of course, you don't like "finesse" pitchers like Maddux and Hershiser.
It's obvious that they're hinting at a packed Conquest map that will rival the Jeff Samardzija "Shark" map we got last year.
I mean, we just got the Trout Collection dropped... this is their way of making that more attainable. You people come up with some crazy stuff though... lmao
IT WORKED!!!!!!
Will someone please just sell me Chris Sale already?
Please?
@MLBTHEJOE said in Topps Now Cards...:
@ccbased410 said in Topps Now Cards...: I just need the next 5 to drop so I can get my last voucher I just need 1 Prestige 1 Prime 1 Award 5 Topps now Until I get Trout. I wasn’t even going for him but since I’m close I might as well do it.
@ccbased410 said in Topps Now Cards...:
I just need the next 5 to drop so I can get my last voucher
I just need
1 Prestige 1 Prime 1 Award 5 Topps now
Until I get Trout. I wasn’t even going for him but since I’m close I might as well do it.
That's the same with me. I'm glad I'll be able to get him but I wasn't losing my mind over having enough cards for each set.
Here's where I'm at:
I got Baltimore and Boston done. It's a bummer your stats/innings don't count.
@T-mac4pro said in Should i just buy Roberts?:
I took my chances with the packs cause I wanted Robert and Gagne, got one tier each so got both of them for 80k total. That's a win!
That's a huge win! Congratulations, man.
Those are the two cards I bought immediately, too. I overpaid a bit for Robert (122K) but getting Gagne at such a cheap price (23K) made up for it, in my opinion.
@lazy_toast said in Should i just buy Roberts?:
yup just bought him for 110k. Did not want to chance blowing 80k stubs and not getting him so i spent 30k more and got my guy
I hate that I think like this, too -- but I just find it to be much safer. Knowing my luck, I would get Base round twice and then I'd still have to buy him on top of that.
I'm so excited for these. They will keep me very busy! I still haven't beat Last of Us 2 and Ghosts of Tsushima.
It's a good time to stay inside I guess...
@samguenther1987 said in Sell Beach Ball guys now?:
My bullpen is simply outstanding now and theres a chance to add Hoffman to this list. Wagner Dibble Diaz Betances McGee Fingers Gagne
My bullpen is simply outstanding now and theres a chance to add Hoffman to this list.
Wagner Dibble Diaz Betances McGee Fingers Gagne
You're telling me, man!
Got Eric Gagne for 23K and that feels like an absolute steal. Plus, it helps me towards getting Trout eventually as now I only need 3 more Awards cards and I should be able to get Longoria, Brandon Phillips, and someone else to complete it.
But now my pen is just amazing:
Plus, I have Tom Henke who I like using a lot, so I might have to mix him in whenever Britton or Wagner are tired. And I've barely gotten to use Edwin Diaz since unlocking him and it broke my heart to have to take out Dennis Eckersley. To think I was going to buy Dellin Betances, I wouldn't have a spot for him unless I liked him much more than Gagne or Fingers.
