Digital Card Central

Let me start off by saying that Super Bowl 50 might have been the best time I have had on Huddle, ever. Thanksgiving was amazing, but this was an EVENT. Topps Digital has been known to do some awesome things when the different sports have their biggest day, and yesterday was no exception. Here are some thoughts on the releases.

Super Bowl Contest Card Prizes

I have mentioned before how much I love the playoff contest sigs. I almost wish this was the sig design for the whole year, as the cards are THAT cool. Seeing that the contest card prizes were special Super Bowl 50 versions of the contest sigs was amazing. Adding in the 3 other cards was just icing on the cake. I am a huge fan of the Super Bowl team card designs, and getting Steve Young, Greg Olsen and Demarcus Ware was a big win for all the people who played along. This was the biggest contest of the year, and the entries reflected it. Because the premium contest entry fee was basically 20 bucks (100k bundle is 19.99), they needed to go big. Luckily for everyone, they did that and then some.

Verdict: Game Winning Touchdown

Huddle Dynasties

When I saw these cards, my jaw literally dropped. I could not believe how cool of an idea this was, and I am enthralled by the way they turned out. Even though they dont have the rights for all the players that probably needed to be on some of the cards, it didnt matter in the slightest. These were some of the most premium cards of the year, and boy are they insane. This is a crazy set to put together, and its clear that the cost to acquire all of the cards is high. It should be that way, though. These cards need to be incredible, to represent all of the legend based cards Huddle has released during the year. Legends are premium players, and I have no issue with the cost being so high. If I was able to own one of the cards, I would want the count as low as possible to maintain the aura. I think that the format of the release accomplished that. Although the 5k packs likely resulted in a few lucky rippers, it wont be enough to matter.

Verdict: 99 yard TD

Super Bowl Game Boosts

Ok, I get why people were upset. Huddle definitely went nuts releasing so many of them, with boosts reaching into the 50x range. Before we get into the sale of these cards, lets start by saying the boosts made very little difference. I was able to finish in the top prize tier and I didnt even rip the 25 and 50x boost packs. I only pulled one 15x and it was defense. The person who won the post season contest did so by a wide points margin, and many of the top boosts finished with a 0 count or a 1 count. They meant nothing in the general outcome of the game as a whole. As for the way they were released, it was clear that Topps wanted to maximize the spending, and take advantage of the urgency to win the coolest contest prizes ever offered in the app. Considering they are a business, this should not surprise anyone. Is it a way to get us to spend more money? Of course it is. Bottom line, half the app will leave for the offseason in a few days, and I dont blame them at all for trying to get people to open their wallets before that happens. They gotta pay the bills. Ill give it to the fans, they have a reason to be upset, but in the grand scheme of things, it meant very little.

Verdict: Turnover

Super Bowl Dual Signature – Manning and Newton

If you have a dual sig in your collection already, you know how tough they were to get. They were only available in the Legend boxes, and even then you had 50/50 shot at getting one at 900k a rip. This one is easily the coolest dual sig of the year, and though it wont be even close to as valuable as the others, the cool factor is enough to make it worth picking up. I wish this wasnt so easy to pull to maintain value, but I dont think a price tag would have mattered. These cards have a reputation, and I know a lot of individuals who went nuts tracking down the variant. This was easily the most popular card of the playoffs in terms of packs being ripped, and that is no joke.

Verdict: Touchdown

Brett Favre and Barry Sanders Legend 1/1

If you arent familiar with how important the 1/1 was to Huddle this year, you must not have been playing the right game. These kind of cards ran ruled the roost, and to see them release the first (and possibly only) Legend 1/1s was a nuclear bomb going off. Its hard to equate the chase to anything, because Favre lasted all of 5 minutes. Someone definitely won the lottery there, and that is no joke. I saw people offering close to $1k for the card in the article, and I would guess it gets a pretty penny. I dont think there is any card in the game right now that could be traded for these.

Verdict: Long Touchdown

Huddle Mixed Chase

This was the yearly halftime release, and it was an interesting choice for a time where many of the points players were finally able to catch a break and maybe rip a few packs. Taking the top designs of the year and retooling them with Panthers and Broncos players was intriguing, but maybe it just fell a little flat because of all the crazy stuff that was flying around the app during Saturday and Sunday. If this was released during the week? Sure, it would have been pretty popular. But when you put rehashed designs up against Dynasties, well, its just not fair.

Verdict: Field Goal

Super Bowl Heroes Mini Chase

I loved this set dropping periodically through weeks since thanksgiving. Not only were many of the players some of the best in the NFL’s long history, but the design was top notch. Obviously, releasing 49 cards among all the other stuff was going to be tough, so compressing the final ones into a mini chase isnt a bad idea. The biggest win was the pack price, as these could be had at 2500 coins, instead of the normal 10k. At almost 75% off what the others were selling for, with a Lynch sig at the end is very nice. Ill take that any day of the week.

Verdict: Touchdown

Kuechly and Miller Inception and Valor

Huddle decided to go back to this well again, and this time as a way to highlight the top defensive players in the game – including the MVP Von Miller. Although I like both the sets, this just felt like the cards were left out of the mixed chase. The cards are cool, but I just didnt see a reason to dive in for 50k knowing that the cards would never be very valuable.

Verdict: Punt

Gametime – Manning, Miller, Kuechly, Newton

These cards have been running through the playoffs, and it was cool to see the culmination in the last game of the year. The design remains one of the better playoff designs, and I doubt that anyone complained about a 10x boost that was in a guaranteed pack for 50k. These easily could have been offered at an increased price, and I think we got a break with all the game only boost stuff that was going on. Overall, this set as a whole was a big winner for the last few months, and I hope that it comes back again next year.

Verdict: Touchdown

Now that the season is over, its time to get ready for 2016 Bunt. Before that happens, we will definitely get some champion cards, along with the award winners from NFL Honors. Dont leave quite yet if you want a shot at any of the releases like that. Its going to be quite interesting to see how things play out with Huddle over the offseason, and whether or not things go down similar to Bunt. Either way, I had a lot of fun last offseason with the live cards for the draft, and a lot of the experimental sets they are going to play with.

Overall, this was a great year of Huddle. One to remember. Im sad its over, but I am happy to put a bow on a lot of the great stuff they released during the year. This was a Super Bowl unlike any other, and when you see how much better things are now that its not “The Big Game”, you start to appreciate how great it all is.

I cant believe the NFL season is over tomorrow. It just doesnt seem fair that football season just seems to fly by without any warning. This season has been an absolute blast in Huddle, and its only fitting that some of the coolest cards of the year are hitting the app this week. Here is a breakdown of the different sets.

Super Bowl Chrome (Red and Gold Variants)

I absolutely love the look of this set. Not only do the cards look very interesting in the way the players are framed, but the name plates and borders feature some pretty cool effects. These are so different than the base playoff set that it makes them that much more special. Although I wish they had done Blue Variants for the Broncos and Teal Variants for the Panthers instead of red, the cards still look awesome.

If you are going to get anywhere close to the top 25 tomorrow, you are going to need to chase down as many of the variant cards as you can. The red set will get you an awesome Steve Young sig, but Greg Olsen, Demaryius Thomas, Jonathan Stewart, and Emmanuel Sanders will get you the points. Peyton Manning and Cam Newton will be the highest VALUE collection cards in the set, but they are not going to come even close to getting you the same amount of points in the Premium contest as the receivers and running backs will.

Super Bowl Boxes Contest

This is actually a really fun idea that I havent seen anywhere in any of the apps. Each of the Gold Variants score at 9x, and they also represent a box. If you get Peyton Manning, your Broncos box is 8. If you get Cam Newton, your Panthers box is 1. That means if the score ends in 8 or 1 for those respective teams at the end of the quarter, you get a prize. The prizes arent bad either! Packs of red variants, which are extremely tough pulls, coins or even a sig of the winning team if you hit the right boxes by the end of the game.

This is a Super Bowl tradition for many groups of friends and Super Bowl parties, and I think its really cool to use it in Huddle. The cards are 10 bucks a piece and are not able to be traded, so you will have to buy in to get access to the contest.

Super Bowl Celebrations

There are a number of cards released already that celebrate the championships, but nothing like this. These cards all feature photos from the on field celebrations, which are definitely memorable parts of the winning team’s experience. The cards are easy pulls, and the set is pretty easy to put together. It has legends and active players, and its nice when the cards arent too tough to get a hold of.

Super Bowl Go Boosts – TBD

Right now, the go boosts are still yet to be released, but they are definitely coming. Last year’s big game go boosts still trade very well, mainly because of how difficult they were to get. If the current trends continue, the Go Boosts should end up being the most powerful cards of the year.

They should be a minimum of 10x based on progressions of the previous playoff rounds, and though there will likely not be 40x cards like last year, its not a bad thing. Im still hoping that they will feature a new design, but I would guess they will use the same design as last week.

Super Bowl Game Content – TBD

Last year, Huddle released new cards during the game, and they ended up being some pretty amazing looking programs. They had Ginter parallax sigs, Lightning boosts, dragon boosts, and Future Stars parallax sigs. These cards were crazy popular, and like the rest of the “Big Game” releases, still trade very well.

Im not sure specifically what they have up their sleeve, but I would love to see what they have planned. Hopefully Sunday becomes as big of an event as it has been in previous years, as I think there will be some very nice traffic above the normal crowd.

I hope you guys are ready, as its clear that people are gearing up like nobody has ever geared up. Remember, there are physical prizes on the line, so if you are getting ready, this is the time to dive in.

Last year, during the release of 2015 Topps Series 2, Bunt introduced the first physical cards that could be redeemed for cards in game. They were 5x boosts, and for the people that played in the contests, that was very valuable.

This year, the code cards are back, and the first one listed on eBay is none other than Kris Bryant.

Here is the auction:

2016 Topps Series 1 Kris Bryant Titans Code Card /25

Yes, that price is correct, and shouldnt end much lower than that.

The set is called Titans, and much like last year, they are limited to a tiny run of 25 copies. Considering that there is no way all of them will be pulled or redeemed the count should end up significantly lower than that in game. The redemption cards last year have a run that seems to be capped at around 5.

The set was recently loaded into the app, and all of the cards have a 3x boost. Because they arent listed as 1x, Im curious if that means we will have our first playable cards of 2016 available.

Im a big fan of the simplicity of the set, and the checklist features the best players in the game. Correa, Trout, and company should be the most valuable, although scoring changes might lead to other players getting the best price.

If you want to pull one of these cards, head to your local shop and start ripping packs. Good luck, as they are VERY difficult to pull for good reason. I have already set up a search, as physical collectors dont always know about the value of the redemptions themselves.

Tomorrow is a big day for baseball cards. Not only is it one day closer to the start of the 2016 MLB season, but it marks a day that starts 2016 in the card world. Tomorrow, 2016 Topps Series 1 will hit stores, and with it, a lot of interesting connections to Bunt. Here is a guide to the product that may have more impact on Bunt than you would expect.

2016 Base Design

As we have seen since 2013, the base design Topps uses for their physcial set is the one that will be used for Bunt’s base set as well. Although the design will likely be tweaked to fit into Bunt’s structure for the upcoming year, it will be the foundation at a minimum I would guess.

This year’s design is unlike anything we have seen in baseball before, forgoing bordered pictures with a full bleed style that is quite sleek and modern. I really like the base design, and expect that it will fit very well on the digital side of things.

2016 Bunt Cards in Physical Packs

Much like both Series 2 and Update last year, Bunt will have code cards in the product. There should be two Bunt themed programs as previously reported – a free pack redemption and a card set. We dont have confirmation yet on the connection between the player set and the actual app, but they MAY be redemptions like last year.

If you remember back, the code cards last year unlocked 5x boost cards in the game, which were not only very powerful cards, but valuable as well. Something similar is happening this year too, although I have no comment from the team as to whether or not they are just Bunt branded physical cards like Universe, or actual redemptions.

Inserts

As we have seen in previous years, Bunt loves adding inserts into the game from the physical set. So much so that almost every insert used in the physical product had a Bunt counterpart.

If you want some spoilers on insert sets for the upcoming 2016 season, look no further than the cards hitting tomorrow. There is almost a guarantee that the cards will eventually make their way into digital packs.

Checklist

Here is where things get very interesting. Because the Series 2 cards arent ready for consumption at the time of Bunt’s eventual release in March/April, the Series 1 checklist will be a road map to which players will have cards when Bunt starts up.

For the first time last year, Bunt went a bit above and beyond the checklist of Series 2 to get more base cards into packs, so you never know. Typically the Series 1 checklist is the way it will go.

Overall, Bunt 2016 is on the way and I could not be more excited. Stay tuned for more updates as the release of Series 1 approaches.

I will warn you ahead of time that this is going to be a discussion that people are very invested in. The direct purchase of specific cards through the app store is about as polarizing a topic in the apps right now as anything, and the feelings surrounding it are very….umm….. loud. I want to walk through a few of the discussion points and give some suggestions, and also make sure to try to capture some things you might not have thought about. Before getting fired up, really try to read through and think about the way it works. Then, you can comment as you please.

Background – What Are Bundle Cards?

As far back as 2014, the apps have offered Bundle Cards in many different formats. Huddle used this very frequently during the playoffs last year, mainly offering very valuable boost cards with the purchase of certain coin bundles.

If a user bought one of the top bundles, they would be given a card (like a boost or a sig) for free. This card would be delivered at a later date, and for as many bundles as were purchased, that many cards were delivered. It was an added incentive to spend and buy more, and from reading the comments in the articles, it resulted in a lot of bundle purchases that probably wouldnt have happened otherwise.

This year, with Star Wars Card Trader, the first cards were available without coins attached. Basically, instead of buying a bundle and getting a free card, you just bought the card directly. At first, things started small, but rapidly worked their way up to frequent programs with a $100 price tag attached.

As expected, the users who had played the app since the beginning flipped out. Within weeks, it was practically all the community could talk about. The funniest part was that even though the community was in a constant state of revolt, the cards were selling. Some sold faster than others, but they all sold.

Eventually, the bundle card model made its way to Huddle and Bunt, with Bunt even offering a new format of buying a “digital box,” where people purchased access to a special group of packs and cards.

Huddle has used it much like they did last year in the playoffs, offering VERY valuable cards and sets that many users want. They still have relied more heavily on coin based pack buying, something that Star Wars has very much moved away from.

Why Might Bundle Cards Be Used?

Right now, coins are still not all that hard to come by in any of the apps. Its easy to buy coins, easy to farm coins, and as a result, easy to spend coins. Buying coins is one thing, as Topps is a business, and they need us to buy to pay the bills. Very simple. They are not in this market to make friends, they are here to make money. As much as we think ToppsMike’s main job is sitting on Twitter responding to our questions of his manhood, he has a primary goal of setting up Bunt to do one thing only – make money.

Now, money is a byproduct of the freemium model, which if you want to study, is a fascinating phenomenon. Go check it out, there is even a South Park episode about it. Its also a byproduct of fun, which people will increase or decrease spending based on their perception of how much they enjoy the game. Its very clear that fun and spending can go hand in hand, but in other cases, spending happens regardless of how the community feels.

Outside of that, if the app is coin rich, as it frequently can be, purchases go down if the programs all use packs in the normal format. If more people have coins, they dont need to buy more to get enough to spend on new packs. I would guess this means that the revenue generated from the different releases might go down, and for a business that isnt good.

Tying a program to a bundle purchase directly is likely an assurance that money will be spent above and beyond the normal coin economy. I would guess this is why these cards are becoming more and more frequent in usage, as there is no other logical explanation. Whether there are other BETTER ways to achieve the same result, is actually up for debate among the vocal members of the community, but we really cant know for sure. The reason for bundle cards being released is a VERY common discussion on the forums and Reddit. The explanations and guesses change daily, as different people have different perspectives.

In reality, the huge daily bonus in many of the apps is ripe for gaming the system. Because every household in America has 18 different smart devices, its easy to have many accounts and get coins without buying. I remember one user complaining that he was banned for having 11 different accounts on 11 different devices. He went so far as buying used old Apple and Android devices SOLELY to get more coins from the daily bonus. That is why some are upset with the switch to bundle purchases. It all but nerfs this practice.

In the end, it all boils down to money. Many users have a personal connection and investment in the app, and rightfully so. This means that their bias is weighted towards personal satisfaction of the app’s business, rather than any understanding that any business needs money to function. Many times, they have legitimate gripes and complaints, but simply complaining that Topps is out to maximize profit isnt the way I would approach it.

Why Are Bundle Cards Good for the Apps?

I actually dont mind the bundle cards. I have long come to terms with the fact that I wont get every card in the app, and I only buy what I like. It takes away so much of the burden of trying to track down every last card, and my satisfaction and fun level has improved. The Pokemon mentality is one that left physical cards many years ago, but still lingers in digital. People just gotta catch em all!

One of the reasons I like the bundle cards is because it takes the chance of failure out of things. I cant even count the number of times where I have bought and bought and bought and still not hit the card I wanted. When Bunt 2015 launched, I remember spending upwards of 200 dollars trying to pull the Trout sig. If I could have bought that for 100 bucks instead, I would have. For me, taking away the fear is big. When that element is taken away, my experience and perception of investment versus value improves for me personally.

Secondly, it has an element of protection from scams involved. For the users that play the game the way it is meant to be played, they can feel confident that their “investment” isnt being diluted by people who game the system. For me, I love that this is the case. I dont want some guy with 20 ipads to have a better chance just because he has 20 accounts.

Lastly, bundle cards, depending on price are lower in count. Lower in count means higher value, and higher value means more of those competitive eyes upon the people that have them. I have often said that I want my spending to put me on a level completely separate from free users. I dont want them to have the same opportunity I have, because they arent spending what I do. My money should grant me a better presence in the app. With Bundle cards being rarer based on cost, I very much like those results.

For the user, this game is all about vanity and envy in a simple sense. Competition is built in the game around those two things. Users compete to look better on the card sheet than their counterparts, and Topps uses this to sell the programs. I dont blame them, because vanity and envy are powerful emotions.

Why Are Bundle Cards Bad for the Apps?

Bundle cards are bad because of the stigma they represent. People want the app to be low cost, because who wants to spend more money than they have to? They want to have an easy path to the top, and spending money is a roadblock that some refuse to circumvent. Putting a straight cost on a card says to people that their money is more important than their satisfaction, and you can imagine how that makes people feel.

For a free player, its a velvet rope, and much like real velvet ropes, no one likes to feel unimportant. Unfortunately, the bundle cards have become so frequent and so expensive that the velvet rope around the cards is getting tighter and tighter. That doesnt mean there arent other things that people can still afford, but no one likes to see that there are others who have superior access.

Think about it this way. Someone goes to a sporting event and buys nosebleed tickets. They are cheap, they get to experience the game, but they dont get the same perks as the luxury box. As the season progresses, the luxury boxes remain super exclusive, but soon the rest of the stadium is starting to creep into unaffordable territory. They can still buy the nosebleeds, but they dont get to see the game the same way a growing percentage of the crowd gets to see it. After a while many of the premium seats are unfilled, and it is clear that the stadium is now empty where it was full.

Resentment runs rampant, because they dont see the fact that nothing has really changed for their original situation, just that more and more people arent sitting in the seats they once had access to. To them, it becomes, why are those seats empty when I used buy them for cheaper? It just doesnt make sense. The seats do fill up eventually for bigger games, but for the regular days, not so much. It becomes a sore spot where the games used to be fun. For the people in the luxury boxes and those who can afford the premium seats, its not so big an issue. Some of the people in the premium seats arent happy that their once cheaper seats are now premium, but they still want to see the game, so they go.

From this analogy, which is overly simple at best, its easy to see where people’s feelings have shifted. This analogy doesnt take sales on the cards into account either, even though that would fit nicely into the context. When there are people who buy the bundle cards when they are first released, only to see prices slashed, it is taken as a slap in the face. Clearly, Topps is trying to sell as many cards as possible, not necessarily taking into account how the previous buyers might feel about their purchase. Based on the fact that the pissed off users seem to still buy the next time too, its a vicious circle that is rarely able to be broken.

The main pain point for many of the users who oppose the model is the frequency of the releases, and the lack of differentiation between the different cards. They feel it isnt fair to take advantage of the people who will buy just to stay in the stadium, but they cant keep their finger from pressing the button either. Its really a very curious conundrum, as people are shouting with their voices in anger, but the counts still go up day after day after day. This doesnt say that some users just stop and walk away, but its still very much shrouded in mystery if they are replaced by new users just as frequently. We do not know and will not know any of this info, so the goodbyes ring a lot louder than the new users that could be stepping up to replace every person who walks away.

Suggestions for the Future

Normally, I am full of suggestions on how to improve the way a certain feature or program works, but this was tougher than usual. I understand the business needs to make money, but I also very much identify with people who are up in arms over the shift in purchase preference.

Before I dive in, my only request would be clear communication. Clear communication about expectations, clear communication when problems pop up, and clear communication when we have questions. I understand that Topps Digital is not a company that has a wealth of employees at their disposal, but community communication has long been a lower priority than it should have been. Its not just about customer service, its about controlling the communication in a way that promotes a better community.

Here are my suggestions:

• Avoid unlimited card counts as much as possible – so much of the value in the community is about card count, and its easier for us to gauge value when things arent left to chance.  If we have a top gauge on value, we know what we should spend and shouldnt spend. If done correctly, no revenue impact should be felt from clearly communicating what the counts will be.
• Avoid slashing prices – instead of starting high and working downwards, better planning can easily substitute for sales. When a sale has to occur, it not only gives a perception that no one is buying, but it shows that something was out of whack in the way the program was rolled out.
• Research comparative values – Charging 99.99 for a card with a higher count, or less attractive format than one that hits all the right notes isnt the best way to go about things. All of the producers know what sells in their respective apps, and that means that comparative value should have more footing in designing a program. Setting a high price just because its available is only going to make people question the reason why this card is more/less valuable than the many others that came before it.
• Keep secondary market pricing in mind – Although Topps Digital has refused to publicly acknowledge ebay as a pricing method for their cards, it has to be on their mind at some point. If a card has sold or predictably will sell for very little, adding a huge bundle price to it wont help.
• Reward frequent spenders – It doesnt have to be a VIP program, but some sort of bone should be thrown to those who spend and spend and spend. Huddle recently has made better sales available to people who have purchased prior, and that is a start, but there has to be a frequent consideration to those who are among the top buyers. Casinos comp their whales on a lot of stuff, maybe they have the right idea.
• Reward early spenders – nothing is more frustrating than paying full price for a top card, only to have prices slashed and value scuttled due to a sale. Rewarding the people who buy early at full price should become something worth considering.
• Offer more chance spending – Instead of buying a card at 49.99, make more options available that dont have a guaranteed payout of the top prize. Basically, put the top card in an expensive bundle, but make it available in a chance pack with a lower prize guaranteed at higher odds for the nice prize.
• Keep bundle sets smaller – Im not saying kill a 40 card set to 10 cards, but dont expect people to drop 4 grand to finish a set. Waves of 5-10 with a reward card will entice more people to get involved, in my opinion. The 40 card set can still exist, but this way, its perceived a lot differently.

Keep in mind, many of these suggestions are crafted without consideration for capacity, time or cost, and might be a reason why they cant happen. I understand that 100%. What I dont want to happen is that no discussion had around the way the bundle cards exist. Something should be in play to give users the forum to voice their concerns and get a response from the team. It might be like ripping off a band aid, but it could garner some good will that is needed more than ever.

Bundle cards are here to stay, and we have to accept that. Topps has to accept that they are likely going to have growing resentment if the users continue to speak out to an abyss of no response. Hopefully we can reach some sort of peace accord along the way.

Im not going to get on here and say that the pro bowl game isnt something that we are all super excited about. The season is over for most of the league, and most are looking forward to the biggest game of the year next week. That being said, I have always taken very much interest in All Star teams, as I think it can represent a cherry on top of the proverbial sundae for a player’s season. Huddle has done some fun sets over the last few days, and I want to take some time to talk about them.

Huddle Inception 2 – Active and Legends

This was a surprise for most, and a welcome one at that. The first group of inception cards was one of the most popular sets of the regular season, and it is awesome to get another dose.

Adding in the legend component is just a complete wrecking ball of low count sickness, and I may have spent more money ripping packs of legends than I have in the history of the app. Not only do they have the names that have been in the app all season, but also Emmitt, Barry, Marino, and the rest of the top legends. These cards are going to be crazy valuable, and even harder to build as a set, which means we might have our first 1/1 award card, if that.

The active players come in a guaranteed insert pack, which is quite fun as a set concept. People who have been saving their coins love to be able to rip packs and get a nice looking card every time. Having Russell Wilson as the signature award makes this even more of a big chase, and trading has been furious trying to get the cards done.

If you havent gotten in on this set, its time to get off the couch and start ripping. 40 cards for the Legends is a long grind and expensive at that. However, for me, I want these cards out of reach for most with counts staying quite low to preserve value. If that means no one gets the award, fine with me.

Verdict: Long Touchdown

Pro Bowl Legends

Great looking cards this year for the pro bowl, and I was not expecting them to go this direction for a throwback set. To this point, most of the legends havent been all that affordable, and to see that they went with another cheap pack with guaranteed inserts is a huge win. This is a much easier opportunity to get your favorite legends like Jerry Rice and John Elway, as well as a bunch of active players. I cant remember a legends chase like this that everyone has a great chance at pulling.

The Barry Sanders sig award is easily one of the best award cards released so far this year, and I chased this set just so that I could get a copy. I love sigs, and I love legends, and Barry is one of the best of all time.

My only complaint is the similarities between the main pro bowl set and this set, which makes it hard to trade without studying every card in the offer to make sure that you arent giving up something you dont want to. Would have been cool to have a different look, but there were so many cards out this week that I can understand the time crunch.

Verdict: Touchdown

Main Pro Bowl Set

For the first time ever, there will be a contest for the pro bowl! Not only will there be a set commemorating every part of the team, but the cards will be the only ones to score in the game. This should be very interesting.

I love the design this year, and the fact that the set is huge, makes the chase that much more fun. 124 players are available, and packs are cheap, which means that you can have a blast wheeling and dealing and not drop a ton of money in the process.

The variants are a bit tougher to chase, and are only available through direct purchase or as tough pulls in the 25k super pack. This has led to them being super rare and hard to come by, only increasing the value even more for the team collectors who want to chase them.

Many of the better teams have so many Pro Bowl players that it is creating a frenzy of people trying to pick up the ones that they need. The variants arent easy pulls even in the super pack, as I only pulled a few in a LOT of tries. I was able to trade a lot of them to get the Vikings variants I needed, but like the Inception Legends, this could end up being a 1/1 award if that.

Speaking of the award, it will be the game’s MVP, which is going to be fun.

Im a big fan of big sets in a guaranteed pack, and this is right up that alley. Cant wait to see what the other content looks like, as its clear that Huddle isnt shying away from releasing a ton.

Verdict: Touchdown

Getting Ready

Ill start by saying the concept of this set is interesting. However, I dont think I would have gone the direction they did with the way it was released or built.

When I read the article, I was expecting more of an entrances type set, where the players would be featured coming out of the tunnel, or out of the teams inflatable monster or with pyro behind them. Instead, its a lot of sideline shots with a few entrances mixed in.

This might be a licensing issue, or a league issue, as there are a lot of reasons why an entrances set might not work for Huddle. However, knowing this was the case, making this a direct purchase release isnt the way I would have gone. This should have been packed out, and from the way it sold, I dont think it was all that successful.

If a card is sold via direct purchase, it has to be among the better inserts in the game. Although I like the full bleed type presentation of this set, I think its better served as a normal packed product.

Verdict: Punt

Nicknames

Since Huddle began releasing inserts, I have been pestering the team to release a Nicknames style insert set. Its literally been 2 years of me asking them to do this, and I am very happy with the results. Not only is it a good looking set, but they had some fun with the cards.

Some people complained about player quality in the set (Marc Sanchez for example), but I love that they didnt keep it to just the big names we get every set. Im sure there were quite a few Eagles fans that thought the Sanchize card

The Gronk sig award looks really cool with the sig running up the side, and should be a pretty nice reward for those that chased this set.

My only complaint is that I wish this was more like Rain or Lightning, where the cards were released as singles with a greater set reward for collecting the whole run. That would have been a sweet setup.

Verdict: Field Goal

This is going to be quite the week coming up, and these cards are a nice start to the festivities. Lets see what Huddle has up their sleeve now that the Super Bowl prep is officially underway!

Im sure if you were alive during the early 1990s, you know about Upper Deck. The Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card is etched in history as one of the most iconic trading cards ever. Since that time, Upper Deck has rode a wave of greatness followed by some enormous despair in losing both their MLB and NFL league licenses for trading cards.

They were able to recently acquire an exclusive license to produce trading cards with the NHL, which is still a major license to own. Today they launched e-pack, which is the sister to their physical products, including a way to sell the physical version of the cards pulled in the digital packs on COMC.com.

I will start by saying this program is not anywhere close to the experience that Topps has built on their apps, and that might not be a bad thing for some of you. Instead of focusing on digital content that is exclusive to the app, they have opted to pair the digital offering with physical content that collectors can actually possess. Being that the app isnt live yet, and everything is done through their site, I cant comment on the full capacity of what the program is about.

I messed around with the site, including purchasing one pack just to see what everything is about. At the moment, from my experience as a physical collector, the program is very interesting. It provides access to real cards without leaving your house. You can buy the pack at any time and theoretically realize the physical version of what you pull.

From the side of the digital collector in me, I cant say Im that interested in its current state. Purchases, at the moment take a lot of info. Maybe that will be different on the app. Similarly, the cost per pack is equivalent to the physical side, which means that money spent per pack is much higher at the base level. Again this could change.

Being able to access the “game” through the computer is nice. Its one thing that I wish Topps could figure out some how. Being that right now, things are bare bones, its hard to judge the full perspective of what is going to be coming. Trading is likely on the way. Selling is fully supported. However, I just dont see why Upper Deck is choosing to operate a digital format, which could exist with very little if any overhead other than license and app costs, and link it to a physical manifestation at its core. For a company that is teetering on oblivion from what people in the industry are saying, this seems like a huge investment with more investment clearly needed.

Other non-sport digital formats have popped up recently, including one that uses kittens as its subject matter. Being that the audience for digital can be enormous, and hockey has a global audience, bringing this set up to the table seems very limiting. That isnt saying they cant cut ties on the physical side eventually, but I would guess catering to a shrinking audience of card collectors who will want to go through the process of acquiring real cards, cant be super attractive.

Additionally, there are a ton of unanswered questions. Do they pre-print the physical cards or are they printing on demand? If pre-printing is in the process, they will need to store, ship and process the orders. That seems pretty limiting and expensive. If they print on demand, it could be a sour note for people whose pack pulled real cards were rare and become less valuable with each new printing. Also, that seems overly expensive and not practical considering what goes into printing cards. Im also very curious how you tell a collector base that a part of the print run is being held back for digital in a pre-printed format?

As a hockey fan but not a hockey collector, I doubt this is up my alley long term. However, this is the second company to try to build a format to compete with Topps, and so far the only reasonably successful one is the kittens. Try that one on for size, haha.

You can access what is available at www.upperdeckepack.com

Here is the official release: http://upperdeck.com/Corporate/News-And-Events/2016-01-28.aspx

Right now, everyone is still in the whole feeling out phase for Series 3. Variants havent been online in a major way yet, and the counts of the white cards are just now creeping above 100k. Being that hoarding has taken hold as the main way to pass the time in SWCT, who are people choosing and what are the issues with that.

Top Target 1 – Rey and Slave Leia

If you have been on the feed any time since the launch of Series 3, you know that Rey and Slave Leia are the top targets for the year to date. In fact, I would say its not even close. Although I completely understand the app’s obsession with Rey, Slave Leia just isnt something I feel good about using in this format. Leia wasnt hugely hoarded during series one as a whole, despite having a few different versions.

On top of that, the team had a very anti-slave stance on everything Leia, and I was more than fine with that. Now to see Series 3 launch with her as a base card, only to be the second most popular hoard target isnt rubbing me the right way. Alas, it is what it is, and if the male dominated community wants the Bikini, they are going to have to fight through hoards of people looking to build their own hoards.

Top Target 2 – Female Characters

Again, this is in a similar vein as the above statement, but I would guess much less sexually charged. Female characters like Ahsoka and Padme have been popular since the beginning, and now Sabine and others have joined the ranks. Being that powerful female characters have been a part of the universe for decades, Im not surprised that they are popular in the app.

Top Target 3 – Kylo Ren

This makes sense to me. He is a villain, quite possibly the equivalent to the new Vader, and SW fans love guys like that. Kylo is popular enough to trade at a high level, and it should be no surprise that he is a top guy considering his role in the new movie.

Top Target 4 – Cool Looking Characters

Whether its Maul or Captain Ithano, characters with a cool appearance always draw a crowd. As more people figure out hoarding priorities, these characters have been getting more and more of a following. Maul is already a popular character as the only interesting part of Episode I, but the cool looking base card helps even more. Others like Grummgar and Bobbajo are part of this group too.

Low Target – Supporting Characters

This is really interesting, as I feel supporting characters are being abandoned as hoard targets more than they were in Series 1. Maybe abandoned is the wrong word. Overlooked? Yeah, that’s better. I think that the supporting characters will eventually get people on board as more hoards take shape, but I have so many dupes of these guys that I would love to trade for my hoard, and im just waiting for the one person who needs them.

Marathon or Sprint?

At the moment, anyone who is hoarding knows that this is a marathon and maybe an Iron Man Race. With so few users collections having hundreds to thousands of dupes, trades are onesie twosie right now. That is slow going, and still no word on the monuments existence or count needed.

If the counts increase on monument qualification, or if they dont exist at all, im curious to think what might happen. Although I dont think we would see the end of hoarding, but we might see some attrition towards other parts of the game. I have often said that more systemic recognition of hoarding is needed, and if I were Topps, monetization as well.

One of the main draws of SWCT is the user’s connection to their collection, and in some cases, their connection to a certain character within their collection. Since practically the beginning of the app, base variants have been a way that users can get rare versions of the base cards, some as low as 1 count.

Now that series 3 has launched, we have already started to see both ends of the base variant spectrum. First being the direct purchase low count variants, which are pretty expensive in their cost to own. The second are much lower cost, with new pinks being available at .99 cents. Pink is also the first variant to be available in packs, although they are very much more expensive at 7500 coins than the 500 coin green and spectrum packs from before.

The question on most people’s mind is how to value the different parallels, especially if you believe like most that they are the first of MANY different versions. Its pretty clear that the lower cost versions of popular characters will lead to exceptionally high count and therefore less overall value as a single card. However, this is much to the benefit of the people that hoard the different characters, as they can acquire more copies of the card at a much lower cost.

As for the high cost variants, especially the ones that could be as expensive as $100 per card, they are a bigger wild card than people think. The Silver variants are the first to hit the high end of the spectrum, and even though they were put on sale at 25% off and 50% off, the cost to own is still pretty high given comparative cards. Even though these are the lowest variants released to date, Im curious to see how low the counts will get as we move on in 2016. I think its a safe bet that we will see an approach very similar to Series 1 and 2.

For hoarders, these cards can represent white whales, and that is exactly what they are supposed to be like. If there are users out there who MUST have the complete rainbow of base variants, the urgency to spend increases. The issue over the last few months is that cost to own is almost too high, as the cards havent sold as fast in the higher parallels. Same thing happened with Teal, Purple, and Silver, where even a 9.99 price tag is too rich for some to try their luck.

As of now, the Silvers are trading very high, as expected. Although only 6 have been released, its going to be a mad rush for the packs when big characters like Rey and Slave Leia eventually hit packs.

Im not a huge fan of putting the cards on sale, as it shows that the cards arent selling, and im sure Topps might be able to hear the collective groan from us in New York. I wish they would add coins to the bundle instead of dropping the price, as coins are a universal way to make the card much more attractive. In Bunt and Huddle, the cards offered with any bundle usually come with the normal amount of coins normally associated with the cost. If they charge $99.99 for a card, they usually include the 900k coins that come with it too. It adds an incentive to buy the bundle that the SWCT team can play with to make it more attractive for purchase.

Similarly, if the users know sales are coming, and the card isnt selling quickly, then there is no point to buy in at the highest price. In the same vein, I really like what they are doing with the pink cards this time, as the timer ENSURES that the card will sell out in a set time. If they offered a variant at 99.99, with a timed card, I would be VERY interested to see if the users treat it with the urgency that the timer suggests. It could sell out at 10, it could sell out at 100, who knows? That is half the appeal. Low count cards are insanely valuable, and the question mark that the timer brings into play should get people to buy.

I would also like to see them put a hoard reward together for a specific variant, basically incentivising people to acquire more than one copy of a lower tier variant. I would say that putting a number out there that people have to reach in a certain time frame would be awesome. For instance, getting 10 copies would get you another variant award of that same card. Something like that. As long as cost to acquire is low, this will be a huge hit.

Right now, the variants are just starting to get ramped up, and they really have a lot to work with. The Force Awakens cards combined with the Series 3 cards offer a lot of top notch hoard targets that werent necessarily available in Series 1 and 2, and hopefully some creative ideas to make the cards cool.

Wow. I cant believe that we are 1 game away from the end of the NFL season. This is a season that started with more craziness than I can remember in past years, and its great to see the way things are shaking out.

Not surprisingly, the Panthers blew out the Cardinals to cap one of the best seasons in NFL history. On the AFC side, the Broncos EEEEKED out a victory against a Patriots team that was a 2 point conversion from tying the game with seconds to go. As much as I would have loved to see Goodell hand the trophy to Brady this year, its not going to happen now. Im pretty excited for the game, and I cant wait to see what Huddle has in store.

During the Super Bowl last year, Huddle was an absolute blast. People complained that boost levels got out of control, and so on and so forth, but I had more fun than any other time during the year. This year, I would expect similar fireworks, even though the boost levels wont get anywhere close to 50X. With a growing roster of legends, this Super Bowl will be as much about the history in Huddle as it is about the actual game.

Super Bowl Player Cards

I would fully expect Huddle to release a set of cards for both the Broncos and the Panthers. Being that playoff golds were 6x, I wouldnt be shocked if they were 7x or 8x a piece. Being that most of the impact position players will have game boosts at 10x if trends continue, these will be cards that people want as much for the collection value as they do for the boost level. For the first time in a long time, every game boost sold out yesterday, so these could be a hot ticket as well.

Here are Last Year’s:

Pro Bowl Cards

Due to licensing limitations last year, Huddle wasnt allowed to use the term “Pro Bowl” in their sets. The die cuts were still pretty awesome looking, and I would guess they will do a full set commemorating the Pro Bowl being played next week.

Award Winners

Similar to the Pro Bowl cards, I would guess that every award winner will get a card, similar to what we see in Bunt. Although the award winners may not be released for some time after the NFL Honors broadcast, they will be coming. I wouldnt be surprised if other award type situations also get commemorated, especially now that Huddle has access to all the licensed names that are associated. Similarly, the Super Bowl MVP should get some sort of card too, be on the lookout.

Here is what they looked like last year:

League Leaders

As we saw last night, the league leaders were released in a blockbuster set called “Phenomenal Five.” These low count inserts commemorated the top players in every statistical category that people follow, and was pretty much sold out by the time the morning rolled around.

Super Bowl History

Being that this is Super Bowl 50, I would expect the game to mirror the celebration of the big anniversary by the NFL. So far, Huddle has released a TON of Super Bowl Moment cards, and I would expect that to continue. I would also guess that more legend content is on the way, with a focus on top performances and memories from past super bowls. It would be really cool to see sigs and other awesome stuff centered around both active Super Bowl winners and legends.

Super Bowl Champions

Whichever team walks out of the game with the Lombardi trophy will obviously get the Champion’s treatment. Being that they can finally use photos from the game and / or celebration, expect this to be as cool as it has ever been. Last year’s set was one of the better looking sets all year:

Chase Content

It wouldnt be a Topps event without some sick chase content. Although a stand alone Super Bowl sig set might not be in the cards, cards with signatures will be involved if I had to bet. I would love to see some Super Bowl 1/1s, either legend based or current participants, as those cards would set off a feeding frenzy.

Live Content

During the MLB All Star game, we saw that live content was a huge part of the success of the night. Although the NFL might be tougher to play ball with, it would be really cool to see live content developed around the Super Bowl. Things like big TDs or huge plays would be amazing.

Bottom line, expect that Huddle is going to go crazy these next two weeks. So crazy that it is going to make last year look like it was celebrating some DIII college championship. This is the show, and they are going to take it to the next level. The game itself is fun on its own, but this is going to make it that much better.