I was really happy to see that the team had taken feedback from the community and started to move on it. Contest feedback on twitter has been less than positive, and my own feedback has been similarly hardened in the way that the team has approached contests this year. As mentioned, it stems from prizes, lack of series 2, competition type and variety – all of which seem have been taken into consideration in new contests announced yesterday.

Breakdown

First, the new contests are broken up into two types of setup. They mirror the original setup of DFS and traditional Bunt, and both have some pretty nice cards attached to them. Both setups will be running for 7 days instead of the traditional 1 day, and it gives people an opportunity to really dial it in for some nice prizes. Some of the contests are going to be very difficult to win, but at the same time, that’s a good thing.

Fantasy – Pick your best 9 cards and 3 mulligans to test your prognosticating abilities against others.

Traditional – Unlimited switch contest similar to the old weekly challenges that we loved so much. This is the grind, so be ready.

Pros of the New Setup

Bottom line, this will bring the fire back to the contests for a lot of the top players who were loving the playoff run last year. Not only is this a great way to use all those boosts that were built up over the course of the year, but there is FINALLY a competition worth fighting for.

Not only are the new contests more competitive, but the contest cards are nice too. I think the color schemes shouldnt be layered over the players, but maybe they can adjust so that the players are still full color against a shaded background. The 1/1s should be very coveted.

The desire to open base packs and collect series 2 is now a bigger deal, especially when needing more cards to be able to be competitive. This should get more people to open packs, and make the boosts a bit more valuable.

Cons of the New Setup

Most importantly, this needs to be step one of many. This cant be the final solution. There is limited time to take advantage of regular season play, and I hope that changes to daily contests are coming too. This means different prizes, more variety in setup, and an overall attention to the way the contests deliver versus how much effort is required to win.

There are no free entries, and that could be an issue for F2P players. Obviously, they arent the target market, but a nice opportunity for them could go a longer way than Topps might think. Maybe the prizes dont include actual contest cards, but some packs for the victors might be a good incentive.

Outside of the above mentioned items, I hope the desire to continue building around the contest system for all the apps will be a big thing, maybe even a position that Topps could create within their team so that someone could ensure this part has merit for the whole season. Right now, contests still seem like an afterthought because they dont bring direct revenue that can be pointed to. I think this is a short sighted approach and really limits the playability for the users and the profitability for Topps. In case you are counting, thats a lose/lose.

Better contests and more variety in delivery means a ton more people get engaged and stay engaged with the app. That means more buys and more fun for us. If executed in the direction we seem to be headed, that is a big win for everyone.