If you were part of Bunt at all last year, you are probably familiar with the Best of Bunt program that ran all through last year. These cards are built around the top players from the week, with consideration placed on their Bunt performance as well as their in game performances. It is back again this year, and yesterday’s contest was the first of its kind to drive the release of the cards.

Should You Pay to Play?

As you saw, the contest costs 50k coins to participate in this past weekend, and though there is no guarantee that the contest will continue to be structured this way, it is likely there will be some sort of entry fee to have a chance at a 1/1 card for the champion of the league.

I would say that of all the contests that are available, this is the most lucrative and the most competitive. Not only will it bring the big gamers to the field, but it will also offer a chance at a card that few will ever get to own. Anytime a 1/1 is offered as a prize, there are a number of people who want to compete. I know I would love to have one.

Regardless of your deck size, its worth playing in this league if you have the coins. Only a few hundred people payed to play yesterday, which means that everyone SHOULD end up with a Best of Bunt card as a prize. Because the design of the card is so cool and because the cards will be playable in contest format, its worth it to get your licks in on this format.

Value of Best of Bunt

Last year, BoB cards were up and down in terms of value. Because the player choice was relatively an uncontrollable, there was always an element of luck involved. You could place in the top part of the rankings for the week, and end up with low player quality because some rando had a good string of games. You could also end up with a low numbered card of a very popular player.

Some people really didnt like the BoB cards last year, as they werent pack pulled, and served as more of a trophy than anything. The photos were usually posed shots that didnt have the same appeal, and though the design was cool, not a lot of people were excited to have the spring training publicity shot as a card.

Others, like me, always wanted to collect the BoB cards for favorite teams and favorite players. We would pay through the nose to get them, and played harder when we knew that our guys were likely going to be featured. There were also a group of collectors that wanted to collect as many of them as possible. It created a bit of competition for the top cards, which led to some big trades.

Strategy

Overall, this is an exciting change in my opinion, to make this a one day contest instead of a week long leaderboard chase. You can really customize your deck a week ahead of time to get yourself nice cards for the scheduled pitchers.

Look ahead and really stock up. Pile up on the big gun starting pitchers for the day, accumulating as many golds and blues as you can. Sunday night baseball will be a game everyone watches, so make sure you have the firepower on the hitters as well, as you dont want to be left in the dust when everyone plays along.

Pay attention on MLB.com and switch out your guys as scoring plays happen. Try to get 9 boosts of the starting pitchers, as well as some golds and blues for the hitters. If you only have reds and below, that’s okay. You can still get into the top 100 if you structure your deck with the right approach.

Think about the best hitters who dont strike out a lot, but also have a high OPS and high OBP. Guys that can do that as well as steal bases are even more important. Pitchers with low WHIP and high Ks are the best for contests like this. Dont look at ERA as the only layer, as they can give up a lot of hits and not do much in Bunt points.

Most importantly, show us what you got and really put your all into it. Have fun and make the most of it, and at the very least get a cool card in the process.