If you are like me, the completion of week 10 in the app is an event that you have been waiting for.  Not only is it when the first leg of the marathon ends, but it marks a pretty important milestone for many users. If you havent experienced the marathon in other games, it can have some pretty large impacts that might be felt until the final hurdle in week 30. I wanted to take some time to break it down.

Awards

We all wonder what is coming for the awards. We are all curious to see what the cards look like, what the subjects are, and of course whether or not the value is all that we put into it. Ill save you the trouble on that last part – award cards are never going to repay the effort or investment you put in. If you are looking to get a card that is worth more than Vintage Han, or Widevision Obi-wan, you should stop now. Its not going to happen.

Value of the Award Cards

The award cards, from my experience, are fun. They can be extremely valuable, sure, but they arent meant to be payment for your time and effort. There is a thing that most fail to understand, and it has to do with the experience of the game itself. People like ripping packs, and they love trading. Because award cards dont come from packs, some people dont care as much about them. Similarly, because the big three are the big three, those cards will always have a reputation of being the most valuable cards in the game. Nothing will change that.

Ongoing Marathon

Just because the first leg is over, doesnt mean its time to trade away all your cards in preparation for the next leg. Because there is a 30 week marathon in place, all cards must be kept in your collection until that is over. You can decide to only chase the one leg at a time, which might be the only option for some people, but I would at least try to make it work.

There will be an award for weeks 11-20, but to get the reward for 1-30, you need to have all the cards at once. That 30 week reward is going to be a very low count card, especially with how many people drop out along the way. Again, where is the fun in hanging up the lightsaber 1/3 of the way through?

Value Leading Up to the Award

This is where things can get NUTS. I remember back in Bunt and Huddle, people started scrambling about a week or two before the payout. They were giving quite a bit for the early cards that people missed, which in this case is already a TON. If you are hoarding, and want to make sure that you get your value, week 10 is the time to sell off your stash.

Although weeks 5-10 havent been all that valuable in many of the chases, there are a lot of reasons why they will be valuable leading up to the end of the marathon. Its worth your time to beat the rush and stock up just for that time frame.

Week 11 and Beyond

DO NOT expect that week 11 will be worth as much as week 1.  There were sets of very specific circumstances that led to week 1 being what it is, and that is very unlikely to be repeated. Although card counts may fluctuate, NOTHING will ever replicate what happened when the game first launched.

Instead, plan out which of the marathons you will want to continue. Its going to be 5 times as expensive, as there will not be 5 weeks of opening the 1k packs to keep everyone’s cost down.

Overall, its not about looking at a price guide or trying to figure out where you stand in the grand scheme of things. Just try to have fun, as that is what these marathons are meant to be about.