When you think about the way the game is structured, the presence of inserts is pretty incredible given their value in a points driven game. Its almost a chicken or the egg situation, as people chase points to get more coins, so they can buy more packs to get more inserts. But, inserts dont score differently (most of the time) than base cards, so what makes them the currency that Bunt runs on?

Status/Accumulation

Because inserts can be so tough to pull out of a pack, they are looked at in a similar fashion to a status symbol. If you have inserts on your card sheet, more people will understand that you have been around long enough to get them or trade for them. It doesnt mean you will get to be an important part of the community because you have them, but its that wow factor when someone pulls up your profile. They also increase collection score more than base cards, which helps in trading and also status. Your card sheet looks better with inserts, and like real cards, vanity is a big deal in showing you are at the top of the game. This is the reason photo sharing sites for real cards have been built to show things off. You want to look the part – you have to have the goods.

Card Design

There is no doubt that Topps had done a million times better this year in creating inserts that look like they are special. Fire boosts, signatures, real life cards translated to digital – the cards in 2014 bunt look awesome. Its clear that there is a lot of work that goes into designing some of the cards, and as a result, people want them. I will always overpay for cards that I think look awesome, and I know that will sometimes draw in people to do the same.

Reward Elements

Many inserts will come with some sort of reward, whether it is to build to a card you get for collecting a set, or an actual coin reward. This is a big deal, as I mentioned, especially if that award card is going to be extremely rare.

Crowd-sourced Value

Because the users love inserts for the reasons above, and because packout structure is built around pulling them, value is assumed for this reason. If the supermajority of users believe something has value, for all understandings, it will have that value. Rarity plays into it, as supply vs demand has a big part of the value too, but that’s not all. Topps makes these cards out to be an event at release, which only goes to show people that the GAME sees them as valuable too.

I have literally seen people freak out from not pulling inserts, even when they pull some of the top points cards instead. They want the good stuff, and they want it to remain valuable to protect their investment. To be honest, there is a very grey middle ground too – inserts cant be too tough to get, but they also cant be too easy. As we saw with the recent release of the Black Pack, the inserts from this pack are now relatively worthless because supply exceeds demand. Topps made it clear through this pack that it is NOT a good idea for inserts to be available at the click of a button, and that the rarity is engrained in the actual value itself. If everyone could get them, they wouldnt be special, right?

How Important Are Inserts to Your Overall Experience?

In all reality, you can have absolutely no inserts and still win your team award each week for first place. You can be at the top of the overall leaderboard with literally no special cards in your collection – so it really isnt the end of the world if you dont get any of the inserts. However, because we all have assigned value to them, it wont feel as special to own just the points cards and not have any of the cool inserts that have been released. That’s just a fact.

However, for new users, that doesnt mean you need to go and break open your collection to get some. They will come, as its statistically likely that you will pull at least one over the course of your bunt career. Stick to the packs with high odds, save your coins, and dont get caught up in the hype. Chase the cards YOU want, and you will come out happy. Trust me.