Digital Card Central

I hate to write this post. I hate that the NFL Season is coming to a close already. There are only a few weeks left, but you can get a head start before the majority of the users understand what is going on. If the post season in Bunt is any indication, there is going to be a big party for the playoffs, and this is your two minute warning.

The best thing to do right now is to consider the players that you know will likely be making a playoff push. This situation is especially so in trading for the higher boosts, as its clear that the teams who make it will be that much more valuable. You dont want to be the guy who is on the outside looking for a way in. Around week 16, people will start unloading their guys for teams who arent going to be playing, and if you get going now, you can be ahead.

There are two specific issues to be conscious of, and both are extremely important to consider. First, we can be confident that there will likely be HUGELY boosted cards coming into focus for the playoffs, as there were in Bunt. This doesnt mean your cards will be worthless, but the value will be diminished if it happens. The thing is, we dont know how much the boosts will be in play, so it could be that the 6x pink may still be near the top.

The second issue is that the post season chase will likely be separate from the regular season chase. This means that you might not want to handcuff your performance for weeks 11-17 just because you want to perform in the playoffs.

More consideration should be placed on the fact that more people will be playing along for the playoffs, because there arent as many games. This means that it will be harder to finish among the top players, as more people will be competing. On the other hand, a harder competitive balance only lends itself more to picking up the cards early on.

Here are the teams I would go hard into:

• Cardinals: Ellington, Floyd, Fitzgerald
• Patriots: Brady, Gronkowski, Edelman
• Broncos: Manning, Dem Thomas, Julius Thomas
• Packers: Rodgers, Lacy, Nelson, Cobb
• Colts: Luck, Hilton, Wayne
• Cowboys: Murray, Witten, Bryant

Stay ahead of the game, and you will see how easy it can be to pull things off.

Welcome to another throwdown, and this one should be interesting – more for its blowout potential than for its ramifications on the NFL playoff picture. Pittsburgh, despite the loss to a horrible Jets team, is still very much in the hunt, and Tennessee is not great. Not a good combination for the Titans.

Ben Roethlisberger – PIT 7x (200)

Even though his team didnt perform against the Jets, Roethlisberger has put up a monster season so far. Unlike the Jets, who’s pass rush and defense isnt horrible, Tennessee is definitely not worth much on the other side of the Ball. I would expect Big Ben to have a BIG game.

Huddle is trying something new tonight with varied numbering on the boosts, and that might factor into some of the value we are going to see in these cards. The number in parentheses is representing the card count.

Verdict: Vital Piece

Antonio Brown – PIT 7x (150)

This could get ugly if Brown can get going. He has 5 catches in every game this year it seems, and with the Tennessee defensive backs being nothing to write home about, Brown has serious potential to go off.

Verdict: Vital Piece

Bishop Sankey – TEN 7x (100)

The one thing that Mr. Sankey Leg has going for him is that he has no other cards in the game. However, the Pitt rush defense has very little room for a huge game, which should be concerning. Similarly, the whole offensive situation in Tennessee is concerning on their own, which is a big issue.

Verdict: Low Priority

Zack Mettenberger – TEN 7x (175)

Another rookie signal caller, Mettenberger has looked the part most of the time he has been in. I dont think he is going to have a break tonight, and that’s no joke. You know things are bad when you have to pick Zack Mettenberger as the GO boost for this game. When you think about it, there is literally no one else. Justin Hunter and Nate Washington both are not making it super easy on him.

Verdict: LOW Priority

Honorable Mentions:

Martavis Bryant (PIT) – Even though he was inactive for the first few weeks, he has emerged as one of the brightest deep threat options on a team that already has Brown.

Le’Veon Bell (PIT) – He hasnt had the best games as of late, but will likely do well tonight.

Let me start this off by saying that I am happy the blue boost releases arent as easy as many of the black and purple boosts that were released prior. There has to be a level of chase, or the cards wont remain valuable over time. It should be clear that the boost level will consistently increase with time, but rarity will never go out of style.

Does this make it more difficult to complete sets? Of course! But where is the fun if every set has 500 copies? Then it just becomes a tedious task to open just enough packs to get enough dupes to trade for the ones you dont have. With lower count boosts, there is a chase, and I LOVE THE CHASE. Each new release has to be special, or else there is no real reason to continuing the program. If every card is overly available, we just get frustrated. At least with these cards, we have a mission.

If you were a part of Bunt this season, there was a similar level of chase for the sigs, as many of them were ultimately so valuable that you almost couldnt trade for them. You had to pull them, or spend hours hunting someone down that would give a reasonable trade. I am starting to see the same thing with the 100 level Blue Boosts, even more so for Ben Roethlisberger at 50. These cards are the new sigs, and that is saying something.

Adding rarity to the card pool is going to do a few things, some good some bad. The first thing is it adds a lot of value to the cards for the lucky users who pull them. That is a good thing. If you spend the money to open packs, and hit a monster, you deserve the value that comes with it. On the flip side, a very negative thing is that people can open huge amounts of the packs and walk away with nothing. It adds to the allure of the card, and ensures that users with a ton of coins cant corner the market, but it may frustrate some of the bigger buyers.

We all need to be aware that huddle is a business, and they need to make money to keep the game going. The key is finding the balance between egging on more coin purchases in the name of opening awesome packs, and not making it so easy that value is lost. If there is no value, no one will buy, and that means the game wont make money. It is very difficult to find that gray area, and I dont think many people truly understand how to make it work within the limitations that the staff has to abide by.

Now, this is coming from the perspective of someone who spends, but doesnt spend so much that I need to get every card. I know there are people out there seething that they cant have a 100 score collection. I think we are past that point – its not possible in real life and its slowly getting out of reach in Huddle. That is okay. Silence the alarm.

This is a game of collecting and gameplay, and it will continue to evolve as the user base allows. That is okay too. So much we get caught up in the Huddle and Bunt of last year, where you could have 100 accounts and not spend a dime to maintain a place among the best. In 2014, that is not the case, and money will be required to exist the same way. I love opening packs, I love playing for points, but as I said before, I like the challenge. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I would get bored VERY easily if there wasnt some sort of limited element. Now that there is a dwindling supply of Blues, I am quickly making a home for myself on the trade boards for the first time in weeks.

I am excited to see how this continues to go, as I believe that we are in for some really competitive final months of the season. Oh, and if you have a few of the 100 level boosts, shoot me a trade. I am ALWAYS in the market for nice cards.

Another Thursday is upon us, which means its time for another round of Throwdown! This time, we have a pretty even game between the Bills and the Dolphins, and its clear that both teams desperately need to win this game to keep their playoff hopes in tact.

Sammy Watkins – Buffalo 7x

FINALLY, we get a new Sammy card, and boy are people going to be excited after he has lit it up these last few weeks. Watkins is easily a top candidate for ROY so far, and to think his only cards in the game right now are Golds and a few 1x inserts is insane! At 100 copies, this might be one of the more highly coveted game boosts that exist.

Verdict: Vital Piece

Kyle Orton – Buffalo 7x

No bigger surprise in the NFL right now than how well Orton has played, which is only more intriguing by his mock-retirment early in the year. Orton is another Buffalo player with no cards in the game, and this might be one of those cards that people will chase. He doesnt go nuts like Rodgers or Manning in points, but he could do well tonight.

Verdict: Worth Picking Up

Ryan Tannehill – Miami 7x

He has looked good this year, really good. His TD to Interception ratio is miles ahead of where it was at this point last year, and his Dolphins have already beaten some of the top teams. Considering that he has some talent around him, he may end up being the surprise of the 2012 class.

Verdict: Vital Piece

Lamar Miller – Miami 7x

Miller was a bit banged up, but has come around and should get the bulk of the carries tonight. Although he was thrust into the role with Moreno going down, he has performed well averaging 4.4 YPC and 8 TDs. Pretty solid stuff. He could have a big game against Buffalo if Tannehill plays well in front of him.

Verdict: Vital Piece

Honorable Mentions:

Mike Wallace – he isnt what he was in Pitt, but he is playing well enough this year to make an impact.

Robert Woods – Since Watkins’ arrival, Woods has taken a back seat, but his production is still up there.

Inserts are an important part of any Topps digital app. The users have been conditioned to base most of their playing experience around the collectability and rarity of many of the cards (rightfully so), and thus, inserts are the manifestation of that perspective.

We saw in Bunt most of the year, that set cards can be some of the most coveted cards in the game. The rarer the set cards, the more they were chased by the collectors. With official licensing and a bevvy of photos to use in each of the inserts, the sets were fresh and rarely seemed under-appreciated. No doubt there were some duds, but when these cards only scored 1x common, and were still traded for some of the better cards available, you knew there was more than just play power involved in their allure.

In Huddle, I dont envy the job of the set card designers, because for lack of a better term, they are expected to put lipstick on a pig each week. The player head shots are rarely interesting, and to have to use them OVER AND OVER again is brutal. They have done a really good job making the most of some of the cards, as I love Allen and Ginter, Chrome and the new Aces set. However, there are also quite a few sets that I could do without. Again, this isnt on them necessarily, as there isnt much you can do with one photo redone a ton of times.

Naturally, Huddle has focused on improving gameplay elements, which has kept the app fresh in my opinion. The throw-down format has been tweaked enough that makes it something to look forward to even in a blowout, and the boosts have definitely generated the buzz we saw in the insert cards in Bunt. Think about how many people are going nuts trying to collect each set in a similar fashion to what we saw during the baseball season! I think we dont give them enough credit, even though its clear that not everyone is happy with the format.

Does that mean that all set cards should be ditched in favor of a fifth level of boost? Not even close. I do think that to make the set cards worth the chase, they have to be tweaked a bit. Most importantly, the reward card has to have the 5x boost attached, minimum. Sure, coins are a motivator, but nothing like an ultra playable card plus coins. More than that, when a good set comes into play, like we saw with Chrome and the rarity is more due to the fact that people chose to open boosts instead? Im not a fan of that. I think the two elements can be married and generate a very collectible set.

Lastly, I think the checklist element of many of these sets needs to be addressed. Its HARD to build a checklist that appeals to the masses. There are only so many Peyton Manning cards you can make. However, there are also 50+ players who deserve more representation and have yet to receive it. Players like Sammy Watkins are close to the league lead in TDs and Yardage, and he only has 6 cards in the game. None of those cards is boosted over 2x. Although he will likely get a blue boost come Thursday, it is a clear representation that there are guys out there who need cards.

Lets face facts here, Topps has a tough situation to deal with. However, I think that among all the different programs, the set cards are the ones that could use the most attention. When I cant give the cards away, its representative that the community isnt responding the way they probably need to.