Digital Card Central

Wow. Just wow. Time has flown by hasnt it?

I still remember the first days of the app, where we were all still curious how a game with no play element would be able to survive in a digital marketplace built around that experience. Now, its almost like more of the other apps are striving to achieve the same level of collecting that SWCT has brought to the portfolio. Its crazy how that happens, and it all has to do with how many people love the Star Wars universe. It is just a great vehicle to build around, and for the most part, things have gone very well in the app since week 1.

Today marks the start of week 20, the close of the second leg of the Marathon that will run for another 10 weeks after this one. Although there is no true information about what might happen over the next 3 months, its safe to say that there is still a lot to come.

With Vintage being the first of the Marathons to start, today’s release will be one that a lot of people are looking to close out their sets. If Week 10 was any indication, the card shouldnt be extra rare or extra hard to get, just a card that everyone is looking for at the cheapest possible value. Because so many people have invested so much of their resources over the last 10 weeks, there just isnt as much left to go around.

With week 21, all of that will change, as it will be another opportunity for people to jump back on board with the Marathon chase of their choice. We saw Boba Fett Vintage, Funeral Pyre Widevision, and Han/Leia connections have higher value than any other card in the chase for this reason, and it sure doesnt hurt that they end up being some of the rarer cards of their leg.

If you dont have a complete set by now, time to complete is waning. The good thing is, many people will be looking to dump their dupes before the reset, and that means a buyers market is likely to be in play for cards that arent the ones mentioned above. If you have dupes to unload, I mentioned before that weeks 18 and 19 were probably the highest point for the cards, but you should still be able to find some takers who dont have their sets done. Week 20 is definitely going to be a lower point of value though, unless someone is desperate. The dupe market should be strong.

It should go without saying that after seeing the Vintage and Widevision rewards for the first leg, I am beyond intrigued to see what the cards will be this time around. Im predicting counts more than double what they were for the first leg, but that isnt the point. We are fast approaching the reward we all collect to receive, and I could not be more excited.

Good luck this week everyone! If you need a checklist, a reader graciously put this together for us:

Star Wars Card Trader Marathon Checklist

UPDATE: Award card has been confirmed for Badges of War set. Looks like it had to do with Approvals as guessed below. Great to hear that this is figured out.

Right now, there are a lot of upset individuals who have put together the Badges of War set, only to find out there will likely be no award card, only a 10k coin bonus for completing the base set. It has led to a relative losing of everyone’s collective mind, which includes a lot of people trying to dump the set in anger. If this is the way things are going to turn out, they have a legitimate gripe.

Being that this situation has turned one of the more valuable non-insert set into a flaming wreck, is it safe to say that a crappy award can, in fact, damage set value? In this case, it obviously has, but what if we knew ahead of time that this would be the way the set is paid out? Would it have impacted the value as severely?

I think that for a set like this, if we had been notified up front, the situation would not have played out the way it is playing out at the moment. Although the reward of 10k coins is less than 1% of the cost that many spent just to complete it, the cards are freaking awesome looking. It was one of the main reasons why the set was so popular! That being said, everyone and their mother expected this set to have a card attached to it – and if it ends up being that no award card is given out, you can see why people are freaking out. On the other hand, I dont think Badgeghazi Scandal would be Badgeghazi Scandal if things were clear from the beginning. At that point, we only have ourselves to blame.

For a set that doesnt have the cool factor and widespread appeal that Badges of War, a low level award can kill the collectability of a set. Dont get me wrong, cool factor is subjective, and there will always be a handful of people who collect everything. At the same time, this game isnt about marketing for a small group, so the reward becomes a huge factor in value.

Bottom line, the most important thing is clarity. I commented about how much appreciation would be given if things were clear from the get go, and how many revolts could be avoided if things had just been communicated. Im all for sets that are all about the cards on the checklist themselves, and not an award. However, you cant spring that on people without warning – especially if every set previously has had a card. If an expectation is set, and is about to change, you gotta let people know.

Considering that an award card can still be built and delivered, I hope this is just a matter of making that decision. This isnt a time to take a stand and say, “well you shouldnt have expected every set to have an award card!” It will literally do nothing but make people more upset. Instead I would say, “Although not every set moving forward will have a card attached, we will be providing an award for this set after the situation that has come to light. We will be more clear in the future.”

EDIT: After considering some reasons why the set award for Badges is the way it is, Im curious if there was other submissions for the set that were declined by Lucasfilms for some reason. They may have submitted Maul and/or Captain Rex, only to have them rejected. If this was the case, I think a coin reward can be done, but it has to be more than 10k. There still hasnt been a formal response quite yet, so things could change quickly. Im not giving up yet.

This also speaks to the value attached to the reward, and how it CAN in fact be a helper or hurt factor to any set. Rewards are the reason many collect, even though there are still people who just like the cards. Badges to me would have been a set worth collecting regardless, but I am naive to say that the reward delivery method has hurt things this time around.

The day is here! There was much rejoicing! If we wore jerseys, we would untuck them and trot around the diamond with a walk off home run trot. Finally, series 2 is here, and with it, many more players for people to chase for their collections and use in contests. Even if you havent gotten very involved in the play portion of bunt this year, having some new faces in packs is never a bad thing.

Because many people have not experienced what Series 2 means for Bunt, I put together a few pieces of advice so that we wont get too caught up in the hype to make sound trading decisions.

Background

Im sure you are wondering why Bunt doesnt release everyone at once. Well, it has to do with the physical cards that is the source material for the digital, and Topps only releases a portion of the players at the beginning of the season. Therefore, Bunt has to wait for the next series (hence the series 2 title) to add more guys to the game. Believe it or not, there is actually a third series (Topps Update) that brings even more cards with it, but it is released too late for Bunt to spend the time to digitize it.

Additionally, Series 2 hasnt been released QUITE yet to everyone in the game. VIPs got early access last night, but had to pay quite a few coins just to have a go at the Red, Green and White cards. You might have seen people advertising series 2 on the fan feed, and this is the reason.

Where to Start?

With every new year, the tendency is to want to get every single card as fast as possible. I would highly advise against this. Instead, I would create a target list of guys that are essential to your collection or your gameplay and find someone who is looking for stuff you have. They will likely add the cards to packs sometime today, but its rare that ONLY Series 2 will be available. So, going and buying a ton of packs is probably not the best strategy, unless you have the coins to burn.

Its also a very bad idea to trade away valuable cards for base. Try to keep your trades 1:1 for same color, but you will have to get some Series 2 before that can happen. Since the majority of the big spenders have so much Series 1, making offers that include 5 to 1 base is like throwing a bucket of water at a tidal wave. You dont need 5 more cards that you already have 500 of.

Here is the exact process I will be following:

• Buy packs until you have gotten 5-10 series 2 cards
• Find team collectors who will give you 2:1 payouts on same color for the team they collect
• Take your other cards and do this same thing until you have 40-50 to trade
• Chase your targets along the way, but quantity is just as important as quality
• Pitchers will be more expensive than hitters, so you will have to overpay
• Wait until you have enough Series 2 to overpay before chasing down the big cards

Things to Consider

When series 2 was released last year, it had Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner, as well as a user base that was much more involved with playing along than they are this year. You can imagine the frenzy.

This year, its different. Base are more important for getting the awards than for play, so its not as much of a chase – much to my dismay.

You will be opening packs from now until October, so you WILL get a lot of these cards EVENTUALLY. Its not like you wont amass a similar collection of what you have now the way you will with series 2. Dont drive yourself crazy.

Do not trade away singles from Series 1 to get Series 2. There is no guarantee they will not be needed for some sort of award. Be advised.

That being said, I loved when Series 2 hit last year because it was more cards to chase down. I love trading, and by the time Series 1 was stale, Series 2 was a breath of fresh air. I dont think it will be that way this year, but its still fun to get more guys from my favorite team, and more availability to play in the 10k challenge.

Its also worth mentioning that TOPPSMIKE has repeatedly said that Contests will come back in a big way, so there is a carrot out there to get some nice cards in your collection. It always has the chance of being a bust, as the feelings of “I am bored with contests” might be toothpaste you cant put back in the tube.

Either way, this should be something fun – just approach it with the correct mindset and you will be fine. If you are looking for a list of the top players, here is a post I did a few weeks ago:

Target List of Players Likely Available in Series 2

We all knew Bunt was going to be nuts last night. We knew that things were going to be built around whipping us into a frenzy over the big game, and I must say it ended up being one of those days you just walk away saying, “wow, that was awesome.” I spent close to 8 hours on Bunt yesterday according to my phone, most of it wheeling and dealing to get all the different sets done. After last night was over, im glad I spent all that effort. It was worth it.

MVP Award Cards

If you havent seen the award cards, I want you to feast your eyes on these beasts.

Seriously though, these are some of the best looking cards of 2015 and Im not even kidding. Being that they used actual photos from the game itself is a treat, and even more impressive that they got the cards completed while everything else was going on.

I like that they chose to make relic cards for the main award, as it adds something special for the people that chased down all 76 of the base All Star cards. Even though they were one per pack, its still a feat.

Also worth mentioning that the base award had 1500+ recipients, which is insane to me. As mentioned prior, they were one per pack, but to think there were 1500 accounts that decided to take the plunge is insane to me. Hot year for all stars in 2015.

Verdict: Walk Off Home Run

Live All Star Moments Cards

Im not sure if everyone understands how difficult it is to get live cards made and released. Im not sure if everyone understands how much more difficult it is to do live cards with photos that are being taken real time. Back during the NFL draft, Huddle was the first to try to make live cards, but the photos they had were already in existence. This is a similar concept, but its amazing to think that Bunt found a way to make their cards as the events were taking place, and boy were they cool.

The set of 8 cards are easily some of my favorite they made, and its because they commemorate the big moments of the day. Many of them will end up being pretty high in card count, but this is the first live set that Bunt has ever done, and they rocked it.

Verdict: Grand Slam

All Star Black Variant Sets

Say what you want about Variants, but these cards were hotter than hell. You couldnt scroll through a post in the feed without someone mentioning they wanted to get the ones they needed, and to see that the Trout ended up being ONLY 79 copies is pretty impressive. I like the Black Border variants almost a little better than the red, as there were so many sets that used that Border. These are rarer and have a lot more people looking for them.

Even the Derby Black Variants were highly sought after, even though everyone had already moved onto the main event. I had more requests for my dupes of the derby cards than I did for my ASG variants, which was interesting to see.

Verdict: Home Run

All Star Oddities

As we saw last year, Topps Digital Editor in Chief, Chris Vaccaro, is a photographer who loves to capture the essence of the events he attends. We had some cool fan fest type cards last year in Minnesota, and again during the HOF induction ceremony. All of these cards were and are pretty popular.

The oddities this year expanded out to the city itself, which was festively decorated in many ways for the game. At 1:10, these cards were pretty easy pulls, and that was a cool thing to get in packs while people were chasing the All Star Moments Cards.

Verdict: Home Run

1 of 1 Patch Cards

These were a complete surprise. One that I have mixed feelings on. The reason I have mixed feelings is because the cards are so cool, and yet only one person will get to have them each in their collection. These cards would have made quite the set as a limited release, and Im disappointed that wasnt the case.

Verdict: Bunt Single With a Throwing Error That Allows the Runner To Go To Second Base, Scoring 1 Run In the Process

Overall, Bunt did a fantastic job all week so far, and we arent even done yet. The big release of the All Star sig SHOULD be today, and I am curious to see who it might be. Obviously, Trout, Frazier, Harper and some of the other big names have already had cards, could this be Aroldis Chapman’s time to shine? His performance yesterday was AWESOME.

I think right now, the sets we are seeing released are easily some of the best looking in the history of the app. Each new insert is cooler than the next, especially as the Topps design team finds new source material to build cards out of.

The issue is that collectors are becoming increasingly disenfranchised with chasing down cards, as mentioned prior. They are looking for the easiest way to get their fix, many not caring about card count or even the character on the card. Dont get me wrong, they all want the sweet new goods that arrive, but they dont want to have a hard time getting it.

I dont blame them, as the cost  and effort to acquire some of the rarer parallels is getting more and more difficult, especially with the sheer number of available sets floating around. Here are some suggestions I have on how I would like to see things change in the way inserts are built. Be aware that my feedback is without knowledge of app and staff limitations.

Provide More Information

Right now, when an insert set is released, so little information is provided about the chase that we literally have no idea what to expect. Its probably intentional, but it causes more issues than it solves. Im not saying that all the details have to be provided up front, but there are a few main things that should be included with each brief:

• Set Size
• Card Counts
• Award structure
• Set length (in days available and release schedule)

Right now, we only get what is coming with each release, no information about how many cards, or how long the set will take to complete. The mindset is to get people to continue to buy in knowing that this card COULD be last, but I would say more people might jump on board if the sets were revealed much more up front.

Make Set Releases Shorter or More Frequent

Star Wars is an epic space opera. Its sets are rivaled in length, as many of them are extending out well past where they should. With only one card released per day, many of the sets are extending out into weeks and months instead of the short and sweet presentation that might make things a bit more palatable. Either shorten the number of cards in a set, or release more than one per day, as people are losing interest due to the increased timeframe necessary to reap the fruits of one’s labor.

If the one card model continues, and there is enough content to run 10-20 examples – do so in multiple series.

People will cite that there are cards left in packs for days as it is, but that speaks more to lack of interest in chasing the set as it does the quality of the cards. If people get bored, they check out. If people get frustrated, they check out. If ANYTHING NEGATIVE at all happens, they check out. Its just a fickle bunch. Therefore, play to the attention span and get the sets done more quickly.

We also understand content takes a while to create with Star Wars, so we can understand if a ramp up is needed. I know you cant just flip a switch, but the goal should be to get more done more quickly. If Star Wars is the juggernaut it looks to be, more resources may need to be dedicated to make this type of situation happen.

Vary Insert Release Structures

Not every set needs parallels, and not every set needs to be released in a pack that costs 5k with 5 cards. Using creative ways of disseminating the inserts is a really cool way to get people engaged, especially if the method matches the madness.

I was expecting more pack journey types of content, where you had to pull one card to get access to the next, or even just a low cost pack that feeds into a higher cost pack when you pull the tiered insert.

Hell, let the fans choose their own subject in the series by offering pack votes every day. Make a fan’s choice type of set that feeds off of crowdsourced checklist building. Maybe then we can say for sure that Han Solo does not deserve his fourth insert in a row.

Offer a VIP Program

I think its time. Its time to bring VIP to Star Wars.

That doesnt mean it needs to be the exact same thing it is in the other apps, but the people who spend money should get similar benefits in the app that they do in other games. Give master access for longer periods of time to them. Give them special inserts. Make them feel like the special contributors that they are.

A few months ago, I might have said this would be a detriment to the quirky community that SWCT had become, but I think some of that luster has sadly faded away. Although the community is still stronger than many of the other games, its getting to a point where users are starting to fall in line with patterns from the other apps. At that point, its better to embrace the change, and think of fun things to reward people who spend the real money.

Offer Better Awards

I hate saying this as a suggestion, but the award should mirror the effort it takes to complete the set. By offering varied awards, the set will become more of a chase for the people who want to go for it.

Think about this – complete a set and get the award card. At the same time, you are entered for a chance to get one of 10 special award cards that are drawn at random from all users who completed the set. Complete a parallel and get more entries or something like that.

I would also give special awards for people who collect the master set – basically every card in the set in all parallels. Maybe offer preview inserts from other sets as a reward, or even extended access to special parts of the Cantina. Go nuts, because every additional thing may be able to increase value and therefore sell more packs.

Its also not a bad idea to encourage trading within the set, as awards can be structured to incorporate this element as we saw with the Dark Side set. Give the people who trade the set the most a special card. Give more hoarders awards like we saw with Space Paintings. Although I realize every element like this takes more work on the back end, its worth it when you see the reaction of the collectors.

Lastly, coin awards are overrated, unless they are substantial. I mean, 15k or 30k wont even get me part of the way there. If you offer 100k plus, well, that’s different.

Bottom line, I want to see the inserts remain the top chase in any of the four apps. For a long time, you couldnt get anything without a fight because everything was fresh and popular. Now that the app has a few miles on the odometer, I dont want to see things change. Hopefully some of this will work out to everyone’s advantage, including Topps.

I would also encourage you guys to submit your own ideas any way possible. Even though you might not get a direct response, I assure you they listen to all constructive suggestions.

This past weekend was a big deal for both apps, with Bunt launching their coverage of the 2015 All Star Game, and the crew at SWCT attending the ever famous San Diego Comic Con. Both events had corresponding releases in the game, and I want to take a moment to talk about how successful each of the events seemed to be.

Bunt at the 2015 All Star Game

Bunt’s ASG coverage will continue through Thursday, so we are far from over.  So far, the releases have been really cool. They have spread them all over the map, with sets that range from REALLY hard to collect to pretty easy to collect. There is literally something for everyone.

I love the design of the main set this year as stated earlier, and I think it is a big win to have the cards as 1 per pack guaranteed. Everyone can pull for their favorite all star, and because the inserts are readily available, they can usually trade for that person with no issue if they came out with someone else.

With the addition of the Final Vote winners, and the five other scratch replacements, value has been definitely skewed in a major way. Where most of the cards are in the thousands by now for counts, the new cards are only in the hundreds. You have a ton of people who all need them to complete their set, and you know that they are rabid. I had to trade a TON of cards to get them, and it was a relief to get the sets done. That being said, I have never had to try so hard for a card that comes 1 per pack.

The Home Run Derby set made its debut yesterday, and like the ASG set is a bit easier to collect this year. Although they were listed at 1:30 packs, I was averaging one every other pack, with 2 packs that had multiple HRD inserts in them. My only complaint is that these cards look practically identical to the ASG cards, which makes them very confusing in some of the trades. Be careful, as I have already seen people pulling some scams.

We also got two flavors of All Star legends, with the 1970 and 1988 sets being released. The first was close to impossible to pull, with the cards coming 1:75 packs, but looked awesome none-the-less. I had to get me a Killebrew, and was lucky enough to pull Johnny Bench to get my trade done. The 1988 set was a bit easier to pull, and I dont think the checklist was as strong. You gotta love that design though, wow.

Lastly, the Fox Sports set was released, and the cards look tremendous, as we saw in the preview I posted last week. I think a few people were rightfully saying they wished this was the main set design, but I actually think main set looks really nice on its own. The cross promotion is VERY beneficial, with Fox Sports tweeting out the cards over the weekend. The more visibility Bunt gets, the better. To have branded cards is a cool idea, especially with how many people follow Fox Sports.

I expect many more cards today, including maybe Fan Fest candid shots, and another limited set if I had to put my money on it. Dont forget to buy the 50k and 20k bundles to get the fan fest cards too.

SWCT at San Diego Comic Con

When it comes to entertainment, there is no bigger event than San Diego Comic Con. What started out as a place for comic nerds like myself to get together and buy, sell and trade comics, has turned into a star studded event. With the advent of superhero blockbuster movies raking in the dough, more and more people have been turned onto the source material. Thus, here we are.

Star Wars has always been a big part of Comic Con, so its no surprise that Topps Digital wanted to get in the door. They definitely did a great job on the floor from what it looks like, offering the first ever available Topps Digital shirts and promo codes.

They also announced a big partnership with Battlefront – including the release of some awesome looking cards to commemorate the announcement. I love the “widevision” style approach of the design, and the scenes are some very dynamic depictions of what Battlefront is all about.

Here is the thing. The Star Wars universe is so vast, that you have to be a BIG fish to do anything that allows for the attention that brings more users. There are so many different players that the small fish get swallowed up quickly. SWCT is becoming a bigger fish by the day, and their ability to network with established brands in the industry is admirable. They are doing things the right way. Hopefully they will find ways to get more out of their license each time a new partnership opportunity presents itself, which will only mean more cool content for the game.

They also found time to release a few variant cards as well as a Classic Comic series that I absolutely LOVE. You obviously cant celebrate a presence at Comic Con without bringing the comics to the game, and to find a way to make it work without infringing on rights is a victory. The cards are a cool nostalgic element that everyone can appreciate. Who doesnt love the overdrawn 80s comic art? Its amazing.

As we saw in Huddle with the NFLPA Rookie Premiere, and now in the other apps this year as well, events are becoming just that – events. Its a rallying point for the games, and I am loving every minute of it. Both the ASG and SDCC have shown the true capabilities of what Topps is committing to the brand, and we should all be excited for what is to come.

As I mentioned in my post earlier this year, the All Star Game is a great time in Bunt. Its one of the truly BIG events that they focus on, with the HOF inductions, and the Post Season being the others.

We got our first taste of the ASG today with the release of the first batch of All Star cards, including the 17 starters that were voted in by the fans. The rest of the cards will come at a later time, but these are definitely some of the better guys people will be chasing. As we saw last year, all players selected will get a card, regardless of whether or not they actually play.

Huge fan of the design, as the skyline is a really nice touch. TOPPSDAN did a great job on this one.

These cards are one per pack, which is a big win over last year – where pulls on the Super Rare All Stars were extremely tough. There are likely going to be hundreds of other cards that are coming, but this is the base set that we definitely want to chase. The coin reward and the MVP reward for collecting all the cards will be worth the trouble of opening all those packs. Trading is going to be a relative breeze with the higher counts, so it shouldnt be too hard to fill those gaps in your set if you need to.

I have confirmation on a few of the sets, like Legends, Home Run Derby, and FanFest like last year, with a lot of other stuff coming that is new for 2015. Topps Digital Editor in Chief Chris Vaccaro, sent over a preview for the readers of DCC, which details some new content. The set will be a cross promotion with Fox Sports that looks REALLY cool. It will feature the top 10 vote getters, with a bonus 11th card as a reward for the set.

Here is an exclusive preview of what the cards look like, which are really nice with a presentation similar to Editors Choice:

Bottom line, get ready for some fireworks, as this is prime time.

From the beginning of the app, Star Wars Card Trader has been set up differently than any of the other apps that Topps has in its portfolio. Its not sports, it has no gameplay, but it is easily one of the most popular of the four. People love collecting, and they love Star Wars – a lot.

To make collecting a bit more interesting and to make more money on the packs, SWCT has developed a system of insert parallels for some of the non-marathon sets. Usually, there is one level of insert that is relatively easy in comparison to pull, all the way down to one that is super impossible.

For as long as I have observed, the parallels of the inserts are usually worth SLIGHTLY more than the base version, especially if the count is drastically different. Gold is worth more than silver, silver is worth more than black, and black is worth more than base. Gold is also drastically different in value than base, and silver is too, so on and so on.

As we have moved on to the latest group of inserts, it seems like there is a growing contingent of users who DO NOT want the parallels for a number of reasons. This group is getting large enough that the base version of sets like Badges of War are worth significantly more than the blue parallels. I have even see people trade the silvers straight up for the base. Pretty insane, as this is one of the more popular non-Nightbrothers sets since Posters.

What is causing this shift, you might ask? Im not sure if its so clear. One is definitely the cost of completing a set in a parallel fashion, as that has started to shy people away from the chase. Second is the cool factor, as the base inserts tend to be designed with normal colors, where the parallels look a bit off with shifts in color presentation. I think the base white Intergalactic is the best looking of all the colors. I dont think the other parallels look as cool. Lastly, because no one is notified of set length prior to the launch of a pack, people have been turned off out of fear of a long chase. At some interval, its just easier to collect the base.

Im curious if this trend continues with new sets that are going to be released in the coming days and weeks, especially as Series 2 eventually hits the sheet. Maybe this is just an anomaly and things will shift back. You never know.

Get ready to rock, because the best week of the Bunt regular season is coming shortly.

All Star Week is a big event for MLB each year, and it should come as no surprise that Bunt is also going to celebrate with some pretty big releases. Although the game is likely not going to count for points in the app, there will be cards and packs aplenty to pass the time until the festivities are over.

Last year was the first time the week was a true “event” in the game, even though there have been commemorative cards for a few years. I would guess that this will be the biggest celebration in the app’s history, and Im sure we are in for a lot of surprises. Here are some thoughts on what to expect.

ALL STAR SET

This one is guaranteed, as it has been a part of the game for the last few years. TOPPSMIKE even said there might be two different sets this year, which only adds to the chase of getting all the different players that will eventually be named to the team. I would guess these will show up soon, with the ASG Final Vote going on now.

These cards could end up being pretty available, so dont go insane trying to collect the entire set day one. Pace yourself and pick out the limited cards with capped card counts first, and then go after the ones that are a bit more accessible later.

ALL STAR SIGS

Last year, the game’s top vote getter in Jose Bautista got a commemorative All Star sig, that remains one of the cooler ones in the game from 2014. I would venture a guess that All Star themed inserts of this type could be coming as early as Wednesday, but you never know. I would say next Wednesday will be prime territory for an All Star Themed Sig.

HOME RUN DERBY

Last year, we got special cards for all the participants in the Home Run Derby, including winner cards for the champion, Yoenis Cespedes. What was cool was that these cards ended up being easier pulls, but very limited, so there were a lot of people chasing the set. Definitely expecting some fireworks on derby day.

ALL STAR FAN FEST

I loved the addition of fan fest cards last year, as it highlighted a lot of the Minnesota Twins history, and scenes from the show floor. They also did sets of the giveaway cards that Topps put together, and this year’s cards are definitely going to be just as fun. Cincy has a long history in the game, and Fan Fest is a place where a lot of that history is going to be on display. Being that TOPPSCHRIS is quite the photographer, I would guess there will be tons of content from all the events, including this one.

ALL STAR HISTORY

This is where sets like Archives and From the Vault can shine, although I have not been made aware of whether or not they have plans to incorporate the midsummer classic into the existing weekly inserts. Being that this is such a big deal, I would love to see any tie ins really get special treatment, and the history of the game is an awesome way to do that. These two sets are prime candidates to see a parallel created.

As mentioned above, this week is where Diamond VIPs are made. With an added focus on collecting over gameplay this year due to the gaps in the contest format, I would see a huge amount of stuff hitting packs. The strategy is to determine your targets ahead of time, unless you have extra funds you have been saving up. I would expect an app update shortly, including a new banner and themes for the game. TOPPSDAN has shown his chops lately with creating some really nice looking cards, cannot WAIT to see what they come up with.