Digital Card Central

Let me start this off by saying that we dont know how 2015 scoring is going to work. We also dont know how play structure is going to facilitate how we play the game. All that taken into consideration, there are a few players that should be great pickups regardless of whether or not the scoring or structure changes. Here are some of my targets.

Clayton Kershaw – SP, Dodgers

Even though he had quite the meltdown in the playoffs, he was basically unhittable during the regular season. His ERA, WHIP, and K/IP were all high, leading him to the 2014 NL Cy Young and MVP. You know he is dominant when both awards are in his pocket. That rarely happens. This year, the Dodgers are again going to be in a tough division, but Kershaw is one of those guys you bet on regardless. Expect him to be the top pitcher in the league again this year.

Mike Trout – OF, Angels

I have been a Trout fan since he exploded onto the scene back in 2011, and think he should have 2-3 MVPs on his resume instead of just 1. I guess voters just dont see the stats like most of us do.  Either way, Trout put up a monster season last year, and was one of the only hitters that was worth playing like a pitcher in the game. That is saying a lot. This year, the Angels will be a playoff contender again, and Trout will likely repeat the heroics he had last year. Its a given with him. Expect over 30 HRs, a high average, and over 100 RBIs, to match some SB and some low strikeout numbers.

Felix Hernandez – SP, Mariners

Considering he didnt have a card in Bunt that scored above 1x until later in the year, he still managed to be one of the top scoring pitchers in the game. He slowed down as the year came to a close, but was THIS close to being in the playoffs. He is a big strikeout pitcher who has a miniscule ERA, all things that led to big Bunt points last year. Even if the structure changes, he will be a guy to chase.

Giancarlo Stanton – OF, Marlins

This guy has rare talent, hitting for power, average and everything in between. Now that he has a huge contract tied to him for the next 50 years, the numbers could drop a bit, but it wont matter much. Stanton is a guy you can feel confident about, especially when you see how far he can hit the ball on a regular basis. Im curious to see if Bunt will adjust to be more evenly weighted between hitters and pitchers, but you never know.

Johnny Cueto – SP, Reds

Last year was Cueto’s year, striking out a ton of guys on his way to one of the lowest ERAs in the league. Although the Reds didnt factor into the postseason much, it was clear that he was easily one of the best pitchers in baseball. Im not sure the Reds did much in the offseason to improve, but as long as they have him pitching at his best, they will be a tough team to beat.

Jose Altuve – 2B, Astros

Believe it or not, the ‘Stros have a young team that quietly put up some really good hitting numbers over the year, including Altuve taking home the batting title. He also put up 21 HRs, which is pretty insane for a second baseman that hits for average as much as power. His teammate Chris Carter also put up 37 HRs, but didnt have the solid stats to not make him a Bunt liability (182Ks is hard to stomach). In contrast, Altuve only struck out 53 times which is just ridiculous.

Madison Bumgarner – SP, Giants

I have never seen someone pitch like he did in the World Series last year. You have to go back a very long time to find a comparable series. What people may not have been familiar with is that he put up some really nice numbers during the regular season as well,  with 199Ks and only 43 walks to match his sub 3 ERA. Not bad at all. Through his career, he has been quite the ace for the Giants, pitching close to 200 innings a year. I think he should come into 2015 with a reason to be great again.

Jose Abreu – 1B, White Sox

I am not a White Sox fan at all, being from Minnesota, but even I can appreciate Abreu’s rookie season. He put up some nice totals in all the major categories, coming 3 HR short of the league lead, while still managing to hit .317. For someone who had never played in the major leagues, that is pretty nuts. This year, I think the White Sox added some pitching help, but with the loss of Konerko’s leadership and a few other things, Im not sure how much better they will be.

I think 2015 Bunt is going to be quite a fun experience, just from what the team has said already. Looks like there will be a bunch of new added features, so its going to be interesting how the game reflects what everyone is expecting.

I have been getting a few people reaching out about the way the offseason will transfer into the new build of Bunt for 2015, and I wanted to offer some thoughts. The main focus of the questions are focused on coin usage and carryover, and it is definitely worth discussing the strategy.

Buying Coins

Im going to start with buying coins because it is something that some of the users are unfamiliar with, or at least unfamiliar with the strategy. There is strategy too, as you dont want to spend too much money when you dont have to.

First off, in case you didnt see, Bunt offered the 100k bundle of coins for $9.99 yesterday, which is literally the best deal they offer. If I had to wager, more deals will be offered in a similar capacity leading up to the launch of the 2015 update. Once the season begins, there is no guarantee that they will offer sales until the initial tidal wave slows down.

Secondly, it is ALWAYS better to buy coins in bulk than to buy in for small amounts. The reason I say this is because you not only get more for your money, but it forces you to plan out your spending more appropriately. When you follow the micro purchase model, you literally give them more money for what you get, and trust me, I know what that is like.

During the offseason months, I am going to guess it will be much easier to get into the VIP program than it would be once the season starts. The reason I say that is because with fewer people buying coins right now, the median spend is lower, which MIGHT contribute to a lower threshold on the tiers of VIP. I dont know for sure, but that is my guess. Also, with VIP coin payouts being provided to you leading up to the launch, it puts you in a great position for the next part of my post.

Saving Coins

Right now, its hard to be in save mode because the first scoring cards of 2015 were released. They look cool, and have a nice checklist, but its something that I would be very cautious of dumping your coins into, unless you have a ton to spare.

Bottom line, the base will be released within the next 4 weeks, and you want to be prepped to go full speed. Its going to take a minimum of 200-300k to really build a mildly competitive team regardless of the point structure, unless you are someone that wants to spend a ton of time on the trade boards. You will have to do that anyways, but you dont want to make it more difficult than it has to be.

With a payout of 15k coins per week just from daily bonuses, you can easily rack up about 50-60k just from checking in every day. That’s not bad.  If you have been saving all offseason like I recommended in November, you probably have quite a stash by now.

Spending Coins

Right now, I have a very specific rule with spending coins. Unless it is a card I REALLY like for what it is, im not spending any coins from this point forward. Even though the spring fever cards are tempting, they are 1x cards that could be relatively worthless in gameplay depending on how the structure is revealed. There is also no guarantee they will stay 1x, but for now, we have to take it at face value.

What I would do is check the cards from Spring Fever against the checklist from Topps Baseball Series 1 and see if they will have a base card that will be released in the first wave. Because we know the base cards will have a progressive boost like last year, 1x will likely equate to a common. Now, if that person does not have a base card in series 1, the spring fever card might be a rare playable card for that player until they get a base in Series 2. IF they get a base in Series 2!

Creating that mentality within your spending will help guard against impulse purchases. You want to make sure that you have the proper firepower to really get into things come the beginning of April. You will not be able to do that unless you save.

We know 2015 Bunt play structure is going to be VERY different. With 2014 focused almost entirely on pitchers and how they performed, im guessing the new season will find a way to make hitters more relevant. The question surrounding the launch of the new build is focused on what the new structure will look like and how it is going to work. Here are some of my predictions.

Theory 1 – Fantasy Sports, Expert Edition

I have always said that the easiest way to get hitters more involved is to require a user to play them over a pitcher. The only way to do that is to require a more fantasy style lineup where each position must be played at all times.

Many people would see this as a drastic departure from the previous situation, but I think that there is a way to incorporate Bunt 2014 into this style of play. Basically, let players stack cards on top of each position so that multipliers can be applied. For instance, you have to play AT LEAST one card at each position at all times, but you can switch out as many times as you want, and you can stack X number of cards on top of each position as long as the player name is the same.

This would ensure that hitters remain valuable, and that you can STILL get some big bonuses for playing multiple copies at a time. It would also make defense much more involved in scoring, and it would allow for people who dont have the MLB.COM package to still play along and not fall as far behind.

Theory 2 – Batting Order and Pitching Rotation

Like the above situation, this style of play would be very different from 2014. Basically have two separate lineups where users can play cards. One would be their “Batting Order” where they could play up to 9 cards of hitters only. The second would be the pitching rotation, where they could play 5 cards of starting pitchers and relievers only.

Similar to last year, switches would be a very big part of the game, but it would allow hitters to be much more relevant and valuable. It would also take some major fast fingers to make this happen well, as you would basically be switching double time compared to last year. Could get taxing.

Theory 3 – Set it and Forget It

This would take most of the fun out of Bunt’s hopping gameplay, and that is why I doubt it will happen. Basically, give players a very limited and constrained lineup, but use powerups and other types of cards to make the lineup more interesting. For instance, you can only switch out your guys at the beginning of each day, up until the start of the games, but the power ups can be moved around to help you guard against a melt down.

Theory 4 – League Play

I believe that league play will be a big part of 2015 Bunt, but it will incorporate a new type of gameplay to make it more interesting as well. This theory is more of a catch all to explain that it is going to be more of a community based leaderboard structure, rather than a one leaderboard for all.

In all likelihood, you will be able to create friendly leagues to really compete with your buddies, similar to the friends ranking on last year’s Bunt. I would guess there will be ways to wager and win prizes for best league and stuff like that as well.

Similarly, the throwdown structure is all but guaranteed to return, so get ready to stock up for Sunday Nights likely.

On Twitter and Q&A, both TOPPSIAN and TOPPSMIKE said that play would be very different this year, and I am quite excited to see what they can do. The limits of the app are being pushed, from what I can tell, and that is always a good thing.

I have seen Bunt really start to ramp up on the inserts over the last few weeks, and I am sure it has a lot to do with Spring Training coming into focus over the next month. The baseball season is imminent, and I could not be more happy.

All that being said, with the looming release of 2015 Bunt, is it worth picking up new cards that you know are still categorized technically under 2014? There are reasons to think that it is and it isnt.

The Case For Collecting Now

First and foremost, the cards look tremendous. Each new insert set is cooler than the next, and some of them really are packing a punch in value. Finest cards are trading like sigs in many cases, and the themes of the sets we are seeing are really cool.

When you see how great sets like Nicknames and Grid look, and how there is likely not going to be a huge change in collection strength come 2015, it isnt a bad thing if you feel drawn to spending your coins to pick up these cards. People will want them next year because they are A) rare, B) look awesome and C) have really clever themes.

Those last three things hardly ever change, and it is a big reason why some 2013 inserts are still very valuable. Go try to find a McCutchen Mystery for cheap, it just doesnt exist.

Lastly, there are no year tags applied to the newest cards, which could mean that they eventually get tagged with the new year. That is pretty interesting, as it will add value if they show up when sorted by 2015 after the launch of the new build.

The Case Against Collecting Now

With 2015 likely about a month and a half away, there is a timer before the collectors focus shifts to completing the new sets. With each new year, things change, and people move on. No matter how cool a new card is, it will drop in value when the new cards are released. There are still some major questions to see how MUCH value will be lost, but it might not be worth risking it until we know for sure.

Secondly, there is no guarantee that the insert structure will remain the same. We all know that there will be inserts and there will be sigs, but we dont know how they will function in game. The reason is because we dont know how much the gameplay element will be changing. It might not change at all, but there have been a lot of clues that say it is.

A change in gameplay structure could mean a shift in collection value as well, and we know that 2014 cards will not score, save a few here and there. Because we dont know much about how the app is going to change – trading, playing along, sorting, etc – its hard to make a case that it is worth buying in or acquiring the new inserts until those things are cleared up.

Dont get me wrong, I love the look of the newest inserts enough that I bought coins for the first time in months on Bunt. However, I am overly cautious at the same time with how much I am investing. Balance is the key word.

We are in a very unusual situation with Bunt, especially as we await the release of the new build for 2015. Now that we know a bit more about the way the base cards will look, there are a lot of questions surrounding the collection aspects of the game. Unlike some of the other apps, collecting is of as much importance as gameplay, which breeds the topic of this discussion.

History

When Bunt switched from 2013 to 2014, there were some pretty significant visual changes. Aside from the base cards going to a boosted structure, the white borders were gone. It added a lot of appeal to the new cards over the previous year, as it became clear that Bunt was quickly on its way to becoming its own brand of card.

This created a new age of Bunt inserts as well, ones that used the full arsenal of the design team to create visually appealing inserts that were wholly different in look than any other card in the game. By doing this, especially on the sigs, it created a gap in value between 2013 and 2014 that never went away.

As you can see, there were some major visual markers for 2013 vs 2014. The white border is gone on all the cards, which was present on almost all the 2013 cards.

Impact

Now that 2014 and 2015 will use similar presentation styles in the base cards, albeit with a different design for the new year, will the gap of collectible INSERTS happen again? If it does will it be significant?

The reason I ask, is that there may not be a discernible difference in design between the years of 2014 and 2015 as there was previously. There will be different sets, no doubt, but the cards will still function similarly in look. The only gap will be in gameplay, but if inserts continue to be 1x boost, that wont matter for long.

Safeguards

Just to make sure that you wont get swept up in the tidal wave of people that will be rushing for the new cards upon release, its still wise to hang onto your rarest of cards. Rare inserts are still rare inserts, and when it comes to the sigs, that value will never dissipate completely.

Do not offload your cards to make room for 2015, instead trying alternate ways to ensure that you can have the best of both worlds. I have a feeling that the value dropoff wont be as severe this year, and trading away your best cards will not be the best of ideas.

This could all be a moot point based on gameplay design, but you dont know what you dont know.

Regardless, my excitement for 2015 Bunt grows by the day.