Digital Card Central

Over the course of last year, cards that were boosted above the top base level ruled the app. Although things have changed significantly in 2016, boost cards have returned as an integral part of being a top points player in the contests. Because value and trading can be so hard to navigate, I think its time to have a longer discussion on boosts and how they can be used in your daily interactions.

Boost Definitions

For reference, standard scoring is available in common white cards. This is 1x for all points, which can be referenced in the point scoring tip sheet located in the article feed (microphone icon on the far left).  Gold cards, which are the top scoring readily available cards in the game, score at 2x. Boosts go in excess of that 2x limitation.

There are three types of boosts.

Permanent Boosts – these are the cards that retain their boost level for the entire season, and are usually represented with the base card design in a different color. So far this year we have purple which score at 2.2x and neon green, which score at 2.4x. These are available at specific times in specific packs in the store.

Game Only Boosts – these are temporarily boosted cards, which are made available every Thursday, Sunday, and Monday. They only retain their boost for the week they are released, and reset to 1x after that. These are only available for a specific time in specific packs. The value is maximized before the game for trading purposes.

Insert Boosts – these are permanently boosted cards, but are part of sets released during the week, or given out as awards for completing sets. The highest permanent boosts available in the game are 2.5x, at the moment. These cards are usually reserved for sets that are highly limited and take a lot to complete.

Although not currently confirmed, higher boosts will likely be made available in packs in the near future. Thanksgiving and Black friday are a good target for the release of these cards, as this was something that took place last year.

Using Boosted Cards

The reason that boosted cards have so much value is because of the points they score in contests, in addition to the limited nature of their release. Even at 2.2x, which is only a boost of 20% of a common card above gold, they can score quite a few more points.

Example (25 yard receiving TD):

Gold 2x –

• 5 points reception
• 25 x 6 points per yard = 150 points
• 200 points per TD

Equals 355 points, multipled by 2 = 710 points.

If you multiple by 2.2, its 781. If you multiply by 2.5 its 888 points. Over the course of a whole game, each boost card played adds up to thousands of points above that of a gold. Playing multiple boost cards at once only compounds this. Many of the top point players in any given contests will have multiple boosts at their disposal. To be a point player that finishes in the money at this point in the season, you will need some but not many.  Eventually, that could change.

Boosted Card Values

Currently, the community values boosts as an extension of the gold cards. I have seen many people willing to trade multiple boosts for multiple golds, and I will advise this is a poor decision. Remember, Gold cards have UNLIMITED card counts for the entire year. There is a high propensity that they will become flooded, especially if Huddle decides to run special packs or promotions. Boosts will RARELY IF EVER be like this.

Boosts occupy two spaces in the game, first as a points tool, and second as a collection piece. Rare count boosts will be sought after by points players and team collectors alike, which means that they will always have more value than just their gold counterparts. If the boosted card is an insert itself, like the Todd Gurley future stars award card (boosted at 2.5x), it becomes one of the more sought after points cards in the game.

When looking at the game only boosts, these cards can be tricky. The better players can be traded for inserts or other nice cards during the time the game is still in play, but as soon as the game is in progress or complete, the value will plummet. Be aware that if you pull a game only boost and dont plan on using it, its in your best interest to trade it BEFORE the game starts to get the best trade value.

Position of the player on the boost card also makes a difference, but this is where you can make some nice trades and prey on people’s lack of understanding around the point systems. The community values QBs as the top position available. This is only the case if you are not going to make any changes to your lineup during the live games, or if you dont have enough cards of receivers to fill out the rest of the lineup.

Here is the secret: On just about every passing play, the player who receives the ball will score more points than the QB.

Example from before (25 yard passing touchdown):

WR (355 points)

• 5 points reception
• 25 x 6 points per yard = 150 points
• 200 points per TD

QB (233 points)

• 3 points attempt
• 5 points completion
• 25 x 3 points per yard = 75 points
• 150 points per TD

As you can see, the point differential is more than 100. Now, QBs complete more plays per game than a WR, which means the TOTAL points scored during the game will usually be higher. However, if you are switching players out on every play, the receiving player is always better.

Lets take it a step further:

WR (355 points)

• 1x: 355
• 1.2x: 426
• 1.5x: 532
• 1.7x: 604
• 2x: 710
• 2.2x: 781
• 2.4x: 852

QB (233 points)

• 1x: 233
• 1.2x: 280
• 1.5x: 350
• 1.7x: 396
• 2x: 466
• 2.2x: 513
• 2.4x: 559

As you can see, it is better to play the 1.5x red WR than a 2x QB. Pretty significant in the way the point system works. Additionally, its better to play a Gold WR than any boosted QB currently available.  When you consider how much people will give for a 2.4x boost of a good QB, to see that it isnt even worth what a gold WR will generate, kind of adds a bit of a sting to that trade. That doesnt mean I would go out and unload all my QBs, but I would definitely adjust the way I look for boosted cards.

Here are my positional rankings:

1. WR
2. RB
3. TE
4. QB
5. DEF

Here is where the community usually values positions:

1. QB
2. WR
3. RB
4. TE
5. DEF

Its worth discussing the fact that defensive players, especially linebackers can rack up a ton of points. However, the availability of in game coverage on the Red Zone channel during the 10 game slates on Sunday is unlikely. Its better to just play along with the offense and realize that defense will never get the love it probably deserves.

Maximizing Your Boosts

There is no more polarizing topic in Huddle right now than Boosted cards, which is only exacerbated every time more are released. Some people hate boosts, other people like me, love them. They make the game more interesting and add more strategy to the overall playing experience.

If you want to play along with the live games, Boosts should be your bread and butter. Take advantage of guaranteed boost per pack releases, and save your coins to really spend what you can when the good boosts hit the store. Focus in on where your lineup is weak and go nuts in the contests trying to win. Its a ton of fun and I cannot wait to see what is still to come.

============

New User Tips is a running series on Digital Card Central – If there are any other questions you have about the nuance of the game, please do not hesitate to tweet me @SCUncensored or through a same card trade with a message in the game. 

If you have ideas for future New User Tips – please let me know!

Boosts are becoming more and more plentiful these days, and with that, more and more people are looking to pick them up to stay competitive at the top of the contest leaderboard. Because they are limited in nature, and quite expensive in some cases, there is debate over their value vs high scoring Golds. I want to do a bit of a deep dive into the value here, and talk about some of my feelings about the chase for the boosts as a whole.

Cost of Ownership

First off, the cost to obtain boosts has been quite different from Purple to Green (or Neon). The purple boosts were not guaranteed per pack, but the odds to obtain any given purple boost was 1:35 packs at 7.5k per pack. That means if you strung out the odds completely, it would cost over 200k to get one. Of course, I rarely had to go that far past 100 to get any of the purples, but that is besides the point. The Neons were 1 per 75k, which as a guarantee is pretty nice. You arent sure who you will end up with, so there is argument that the cost to own is higher than the purples.

Value in the Economy

In my personal opinion, there are two sides to the boost. Gameplay value and collection value. From a gameplay value, playing one above a gold on the purple level is only going to get you 20% more points per play. For a WR or RB, that could be a nice little gift on a long TD, but it is barely negligible for a QB. This is why I dont get why people are so enamored with tracking down any QB card, as the WRs and RBs are always better plays based on the point scoring algorithm. Fantasy wise, maybe not, but at the same time, no contest reward cards are offered for those leaderboards.

Now, if you can obtain mulitiple 2.2x or 2.4x boosts, you might be able to get an extra card slot’s points out of them. Playing five 2.2x or three 2.4x boosts in any scoring scenario will equate to one common’s worth of points you would score above playing the same in golds. That is where boosts really make sense, but it can be QUITE expensive to make that happen.

Even though from a gameplay perspective, boosts do not score THAT much more than golds, I believe they are worth considerably more than people think. Trading three and getting 9 golds back doesnt make sense in the slightest for me, as it completely negates two things – the stack nature of point scoring and how valuable those extra points are, and the collecting nature of these limited cards.

For the foreseeable future, Golds are unlimited in print. They are rarer than any other base card, but they are quite attainable if you want to trade for specific ones. Considering that people are clueless as to the real value of a WR and RB most times, you can trade a Gold QB and get 3-4 back in positions that will score much better for you.

There is no reason to give up a set limited card for a card whose count will continue to increase over the entire season. Its fun to trade a card that is easily replaceable to someone for one that really isnt, and as a team collector, I know there are users on the hunt for their team’s boosts every day. That means the collection value of these cards will only increase as time moves on, even if higher scoring boosts become available. If the guaranteed pack format also continues, card counts for the releases will not be as limited as some of the early purples. Those 24 count Petersons, 31 count Julios and other similar may not be the top scoring cards for their player, but they will be the lowest count.

Defensive Player Boosts

I dont like chasing defense in Huddle. The Red Zone Channel only follows the offensive plays, and many defenders scoring a tackle will be outdone on all offensive plays that gain more than 5 yards.

It takes a level of detail to succeed with defense that I just dont want to invest, and I see why they are the lowest valued boosts of the bunch. The community just doesnt care enough about points on defense for a boost to be valuable. This include ones for linebackers who actually score quite a few points on tackles. Some of the bigger name guys still have collection value, but just not enough to overcome the stigma of the position they play. Oddly enough, the same thing happens in physical cards too.

If you find a team collector who will give up any offensive boost for the defense you have, take what you can get, unless you are someone who can invest the time to make the card count for your strategy.

Increasing Levels and Devaluation

Last year, there were 500 boosts per player and they didnt go away until they were sold out. This year, the boosts will be significantly below that, save a few, and it makes it more likely that  A) you can survive without them and B) wont devalue as much with higher levels released. I would be shocked if 2.6x boosts dont come soon, with 3.0x eventually being the top level before the playoffs. You can tell there is a much higher urgency around the release, putting 60 Neons on the market at the same time. This should act as a marker for the fact that higher cards are coming, although they will likely cost more to own.

Because of higher costs, lower print runs, and potential changes to the packout structure, your old cards wont be nerfed the way they were in previous years. There will be some loss off the top because the novelty will shift to the newest color, but it wont be a complete drop off like we saw during the level increases over the 2014 season.

There are also no set rewards currently available for collecting 5 boosts at a time, which made higher level cards last year seem completely off the wall. Aaron Rodgers was offered as a reward for the last 20 purples, but we havent seen that yet with the neons. I think this should help hold value in the ones people do eventually keep.

All in all, people keep trying to find threads between last year’s boost mania and this year’s structure. I see very little in common, other than the fact that boosts are a part of the game. There is more organization, more clarity around availability, and higher costs to own. This means that the game can still be won without spending hundreds on boost packs. Eventually this could change, but there is zero reason to freak out.

Over the last few months, since the creation of the Smuggler’s Den, there have been a few series that have depended on the feature to complete the chase. It adds a level of urgency around the card collecting, and it has had some polarizing reactions from the community. I think its easy to say that the Den has added some curious tendencies to completing a set, but its all in how you look at it.

The Good 

I really like when they keep things fresh with a cool set format or an odd packout structure. Think back to the way Reflections was released, or the way the Force Awakens premiere cards were done. Those were fun because you knew there was an element that was different from the usual way we operate.

With the addition of the Smuggler’s Den to an insert set, like we have had recently with the Gray Imperial Officer’s set, it also adds a need for people to pick up more cards than they normally would need. It adds value to the individual set pieces and forces more trading and swapping for people who need two copies instead of one. Arguably, some could see this as a negative, but I see it as an opportunity. I hate when I pull a set piece and it is automatically worthless by the time the next card is released. Adding this type of a stipulation to the set helps to hold value through the whole process.

This also gives people a lot of great trade bait if they are people who are looking to take advantage of the hype. Back when Force Friday hit, trading was insane, because everyone knew that they would need an extra set just to get both reward cards.

The Bad

Cost of completion on many sets has drastically increased over the last few months, and any time an extra set has to be collected, the cost goes through the roof. Because cost of completion is rarely considered in the value of the award by the community, most times extra cost does nothing but add to a negative experience.

It can easily price people out of a fun chase, and that isnt a good situation for the user or the app. I think that with a guaranteed insert per pack set, its one thing to add the need to collect more than one set, but with longer odd structures for many of the sets that use the den, its rough.

The issue is that when people have to complete two sets, they have to spend more to complete it, thus grossing more revenue than would normally be generated. I think that the users are pretty clued into this and see a practice of this sort as something ugly. Although I understand the app needs to make money, this is a perception thing too.

Fun Suggestions

If I were building a set with a Den piece in place, I would do my best to mix the good with the bad, because both need to exist for us to get what we want and Topps get what they need.

I would create a set with a guaranteed per pack insert setup, and use that setup to create one of two situations that could both be fun:

• Each pack has an insert, and all are available but one to complete the set. The guaranteed inserts must be shredded to have a shot at the final card, which is offered at in a non-guaranteed situation in the den. This will be good for reducing card counts on a set with guaranteed packs, and also give use for all those doubles that happen.
• Secondly, Topps could also set up a similar setup where each insert is guaranteed, but to get the second tier reward card, you have to pull the golden ticket from the guaranteed pack at higher odds. This ticket is shredded for the last card needed to complete the reward. It would force people to open more packs, and it would also provide a chase for a valuable award card.
• Lastly, Topps could also build a set where access can be granted to the packs only through pulling an insert in the Boba Fett packs. I would also say that you can keep the ticket and keep your access to the packs, or shred it for access to variant packs which have a timer on them, or low count inserts that create urgency to make a decision on the shred.

Bottom line, there are so many options here, that they could really dive deep down the rabbit hole and see where it comes out the other side. If we are going to continue without Marathons in the mix, stuff like this needs to be a big draw, outside of the design of a card.

Because we know that cards are likely produced weeks ahead of time, there is definitely a gap between what is happening on the field and which players end up on checklists. There are a few that have well overstayed their welcome on Huddle checklists and need to be left off in the future.

1. Ndamukong Suh

The Dolphins were a train wreck since the beginning, so much that they fired their coach. Although they have turned things around a bit, Suh has not been himself. Defense is less valuable in Huddle as it is, and Suh is just not playing well.

2. Roddy White

The team has moved on from their old reliable target, who really hasnt shown he can still run with the big boys. Players like Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman should join Matt Ryan as really the only players who should be featured.

3. Andre Johnson

We get it, he used to be one of the best players in the game, but he isnt even close to his old self. On a colts team that is one step from getting their coach fired, Johnson doesnt do enough to deserve any attention. He may get a TD here and there, but as a whole, the slot should be used for other players that are far more popular.

4.  Carlos Hyde

Even though he had a nice game to start the year, Hyde has come back down to earth with the rest of the putrid niners offense. Believe it or not, he currently sits among the top 7 players in terms of number of inserts released. Pass.

5. Demarco Murray

Although Murray had a great year last year on a popular team, he is a shell of himself right now, mainly because of the way the Eagles have used him. He came around a bit last week, but its not the same season he had last year. Even worse is when Ryan Mathews is included. The Eagles running game should just be left out of all inserts. Hell, the Eagles as a whole just havent lived up to expectations.

Honorable Mention: Josh McCown

The Browns have ugly uniforms and McCown just isnt popular enough to generate any real value in his inserts. Popularity is so important to insert value, and he is a DUD.

Honorable Mention: Jeremy Maclin

I really though Maclin would play well under his old coach, and he has only managed spurts of production on a bad team. He remains one of those players that few people really gravitate towards.

Honorable Mention: Justin Forsett

Great year last year, not so great this year. The Ravens are in the cellar of their division and really dont need much more love. If they need cards, I would stick to other players who can generate more of a popularity response.

I think that players on the fringe of popularity do deserve their opportunity at times, but with the NFL having SUCH a huge crop of guys that will generate interest in Huddle, its not necessary to give these guys any more cards. I think a terrible checklist in terms of player popularity can ruin a set, and I hate to see that happen.

Obviously, not every card can be Brady or Rodgers either, but like I said, there are so many guys to choose from that are all playing at a top level.