Digital Card Central

Yesterday was quite the day on Huddle, as they have aimed to release not only the first of the VIP awards and award coins, but also a number of new cards that are treasure troves of points for the gamers out there. I want to take some time to break down the packs and how each person should be approaching them.

Points Players

Best Packs: Boost Pack
Cost: 5000 coins
Cards: 3
Odds: 40% SR 60% SCR
Best cards to chase: Over 2x Boost Cards (Black and above)

If you are a free to play fan, and you only spend your 13000 coins per week, plus what you earn from the weekly helmets, you should not buy any pack other than the Boost pack that is usually released on Monday or Tuesday. Its not because this pack has the black boosts (which ARE nice, dont get me wrong), but because of the odds that are attached to this pack. At 40% SR and 60% boost, you might as well not buy anything else. Even though you can get 5 cards for 4k coins in the other packs, the SR and SCR odds are so far below what they are for the boost packs, that its not even a contest.

Yesterday was the biggest gamer day I have ever seen on Bunt or Huddle. It was like a celebration of Points, as 5 (yes you heard that right), new Black Boosts were released. I will be doing a breakdown later on of which ones are the best, but it should be pretty clear that Murray and Manning are well worth the price of admission. I dropped some serious coin on these packs yesterday and it paid off in spades. Not only did I walk away with 12 black boosts, but more golds and silvers than I could count.

This pack is the best, and if you are looking for an excuse to spend some real money, dont think twice before spending all of it on the Boost packs. There may not be any weekly inserts in them, but if you are a true gamer, that really doesnt mean much.

Collectors

Best packs: Black Pack
Cost: Varies
Cards: 1
Odds: N/A – 1 insert per pack
Best cards to chase: Signature series / Editor’s Choice

If you are a collector, the Huddle Black Pack is your jam. I was never a fan of it in Bunt because it led so many people to blow up opening that all inserts inside became worthless. In Huddle, the user base of pay to play fans is about 33% of what it is in Bunt, so not as many people will be going nuts and dropping hundreds of thousands of coins on this pack. That means you can pull some nice stuff that will remain valuable.

So far, the top two inserts for collectors to chase are the Sigs, which are obvious, and the Editor’s choice, which are not as obvious. As we have seen, these Editor’s choice cards are close to impossible to pull, and though Watt was very easy, the others have been about as tough as it gets. Same goes for the SR POTW cards, which can be some of the rarest inserts due to how few people open the regular packs over the Boost or Signature packs.

The recent release of other packs like the Plaid pack and the Mystery pack will spur some collecting of these rarer cards, but its not going to be like Bunt. The sigs may have 500 copies, but they trade well regardless. I think that overall, the dynamic of the huddle economy for collectors is still quite the mystery and everyone is trying to figure it out for themselves.

Rookies

Best Packs: Boost Pack
Cost: 5000 coins
Cards: 3
Odds: 40% SR 60% SCR
Best cards to chase: Gold SR

Okay, I am going to pimp the boost pack again, because its still the best even in this situation. The difference here is the cards that the rookies should be chasing. Even though everyone will want to come on board and immediately be able to trade for sigs and blacks, its not going to be like that. First you need to build a collection.

The reason this pack is so important for rookies is that it provides the best shot at getting cards that score a lot of points. Scoring a lot of points means you can get more coins to open packs and get more cards. More cards equals more trade bait, which means more fun.

DO NOT OPEN THE INSERT SET OR SIG PACKS. Even though the Altitude and Vintage cards are pretty cool looking, you will not get the type of nourishment out of those packs than you will out of the boost pack. With a shot at a black boost, which you can trade for some NICE stuff.

Using a strategic approach to pack buying will give you much more satisfaction than you would expect, and it will ensure that you dont end up with a bunch of cards you couldnt care less about. Just open the boost packs until you run out of coins each week. Trust me on this. Build your collection before diving in elsewhere.

Like I did last thursday, I wanted to provide some help in who to trade for coming up for tonight’s game between the Pats and the Chiefs. There is a lot on the line for the game, as many of the points chases are really tight. Here is who I would chase.

Tom Brady

This is an obvious choice, as Tom Terrific rarely disappoints. His stats may be down through the first few games, but there is really no other person that is a better play at this moment for the Pats. To be honest, he is still one of the better pickups for QBs, even though his arsenal isnt what it used to be. The Pats always find a way.

Verdict: Vital Piece

Stevan Ridley

The Pats have used RB by committee for years, and its clear that their backs either have an INCREDIBLE night or a really poor night. Ridley is the one with a few more cards on the market and he could see some goal line carries if the Pats work it out right. Otherwise its Vereen, who has only the Black boost. I wouldnt play Ridley for any other game except this one or another nationally televised single game.

Verdict: Low Priority

Jamaal Charles

I think this is a risky play because he is coming off an injury, but its Jamaal Charles and you never know. The Pats’ rush defense hasnt been amazing so far, and he could see some nice runs. The issue is that Knile Davis is likely going to get most of the carries, as he has the hot hand. Davis has no cards as of yet, though. Charles should get better as the season goes on.

Verdict: Worth Picking Up

Alex Smith

Even though he has gotten the title of Game Manager, its not a bad thing. He isnt necessarily one of the QBs I would chase, but he rarely turns the ball over, and can be prone to some REALLY nice games. If Davis and Charles get going, it will open up the passing game all over the place. Im marking him as a low priority because I wouldnt play him in normal settings.

Verdict: Low Priority

Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski

Man oh man how I wish Julian Edelman had cards, but he doesnt. Gronk isnt himself, but still gets nice red zone looks. Amendola has been a ghost. If I had to choose, I would definitely chase Gronk, even with the arm situation. He might catch a pass TD or two, and that might make up for the lack of yardage. The Pats will be nationally televised again, so that makes the decision a bit tougher about how hard to go for them.

Verdict: Low Priority

For those of you who didnt play Bunt, you are likely wondering what is up with the VIP program that was announced yesterday. Its something that all us Bunt-transfers have been waiting for, and I am glad it is structured very similarly to the sister program.

What is VIP?

This program is a reward program for the people who spend real money on the app. Think of it as a customer loyalty program like your credit card has. Spend enough real money and get some perks for doing so. Instead of airplane tickets and shopping sprees, they offer coins and special cards.

How Do You Become a VIP?

Well, to put it simply, spend some cash. Not just a 9.99 bundle here and there, but a good amount. Many of the Diamond VIPs (top level) can spend up to $1500 per month on Bunt, and Im not even joking. On huddle, I expect the spending to be down, but I doubt its by much. I can pretty much predict who the Diamond VIPs will be this month, and I would guess 3 or 4 is the number that will eventually qualify.

For Black, you are looking at a few hundred dollars to qualify, and that might even be low if the Bunt standards hold. The Black VIP is realistically the highest level someone can attain without really having an online sales strategy in place.

For gold, the cutoff is usually around a 500k to a million coins purchased, but it fluctuates just like every level does on a monthly basis. These levels are something that you should shoot for on a monthly basis, as the perks help out A TON with the gameplay.

What do you get?

Diamond VIPs get 5M coins delivered over the four weeks in installments. I would guess that is about 25% of their investment. Realize that they are not going to give you back more coins than you purchased, so keep that in mind. They also get a 1/1 card of their choice, access to a special pack with only inserts, and the other cards given to gold and black.

Black VIPs get 1M coins delivered over the four weeks, as well as access to a black VIP pack and the gold all pro card. They also get a black 3x boost that is determined by points for the month. These boosts in Bunt are some of the best cards in the game, and is a main reason why people go for these VIP statuses.

Gold VIPs get 250k coins (again about 25% of the investment to become gold) delivered over the four weeks, as well as access to a gold VIP pack with all golds. They get a gold All Pro card as well.

Lastly, there will be a VIP sig that will be released to the VIP packs, and everyone is rejoicing that this is the case after going most of the season in Bunt without this type of card. There may be other VIP exclusive inserts along the way too, but those have yet to be announced. In Bunt, they were special Bowman diamond cards.

Responding to criticism

I know that there are a lot of people that are likely unhappy that a program of this type exists, but with any pay to play player, they know its definitely a great perk. I mean seriously, do you really not expect them to take care of their best customers, especially with all the trouble that they go through each week? Cmon.

The other part of this stems from the fact that many pay to play players would still spend some of the money without the VIP program, and that this is an incentive to support the game more. It is really freaking expensive to run a game like Bunt, Huddle and Kick, and without the pay to play players, its likely the games would be a small fraction of what they are now.

Making money off the app allows for more players, more inserts, better design and more support. Although people complain about the many card releases and the customer service, imagine what it would be like  with no money flowing into the app. Not only would the service team be non-existent, but the game would have no flair. The VIP program repays the favor SLIGHTLY, and is a good way to generate more revenue.

You may be thinking, man who the hell is spending 1500 per month on this game? Well, there are people who have made this into a business and can make back a good portion of that money. Others have enough disposable income to make it work, and more power to them. I have mentioned previously that you can still have fun without spending money on the game, but it gets a lot better when you do. Its the same way with the actual cards you can buy in a store. This is a collecting based game, and whenever significant value is involved, spending money to be at the top is going to be a requirement. It is not mutually exclusive with playing along, and you can talk to users who have reached the top of the leaderboard through other means. It does require a ton of time, and many people dont want to deal with that.

Additionally, when VIP coins are sent, the people all tend to use them immediately. This means that for those couple of hours, the pack pulls are usually much more impressive. It should be easier to pull the rarer cards with more people opening, especially those gold cards that everyone has been chasing.

VIP Tips

Here are a few tips on making the most of your money:

• Plan out your spending
• Keep track!
• Buy bigger bundles and get more for your money
• Look for sales on Apple Gift Cards (target, eBay, etc)
• Trade for the cards if you dont want to buy in
• Buy the packs with the best odds
• Target a specific month for VIP if you dont want to go all out for every month

Again, this is a program you can make work for you if you want it to, but it is not essential. It just helps out a ton when you get your VIP coins and there are really good packs in the store.

If there is one thing we all know, its that the action shot cards are going to be rare. Same goes for some of the inserts where the release came the day of or the day before the trouble that was two Mondays ago. The question is whether or not the card counts are correct, or if there is a pending update that will make the count an accurate portrayal.

Here is my theory:

There is either a deliberate lack of update to these card counts because of the issues facing the app, or there is just a longer list of priorities that are preventing the counts from updating. Considering that some of the cards were only in packs for a few days, it is definitely within the realm of possibility that the counts are correct. However, considering how many packs were likely opened on that Sunday with the huge insert releases, Im not buying it 100%.

Secondly, people are claiming that the lack of available users on the trade screen shows that there are little to no copies of the green, red and silver action shot cards, but I am not necessarily buying that 100% either. You never know until Huddle says something.

Value of the Rare Base Cards:

Bascially, these cards are needed to complete at least 4 to 5 award sets each, and that makes them worth about 5-7k coins a piece. Outside of that, many of them have very little value as a card by themselves. Because so many users will want to complete sets, they will trade like rare inserts, but I am not a person that is willing to make that trade. I would much rather keep my sigs and inserts than trade for a card that will get me those coins. Coins are easily replaced, where some of these inserts that people are asking for are not.

Value of the Rare Inserts:

This is where things can get dicey. Jordy Nelson Black Boost is currently sitting at 7 cards, but like mentioned above, im not 100% buying that number. If you are looking to pick one up for points, I would instead chase the golds, which were all over the rookie packs. Having the 3x vs the 2x gold isnt THAT huge a difference to give up a ton to get one of the “7” that are currently available. Doubly so for Jake Locker who is currently pretty banged up.

The Men in Trenches and other cards are on this list as well, as some of the cards ended up being below 10 in the count. I dont think that is unreasonable to believe, but at the same time, Im not a huge fan of these cards. With no real game value outside of rarity, im passing on chasing these too.

As for the Editor’s choice Manning and McCoy, things are a bit different. By collecting these cards, plus Watt, Sherman and next week’s card, you will get a reward, and with so few of the McCoy, it might be awfully tough to get them all unless you are going to give up the moon.

Lastly, when it comes to the Sigs, be very aware of what they represent. The rest of the sig cards are going to look like Gronk. That is not a good thing. The Rodgers and Lynch are great looking cards on their own, but now stand differently because of the action shot. Dont give them up without a fight if you have them. There will not be others like it.

Overall:

I get that people want to protect themselves, but I am not sure how that is going to work out. Im still waiting on a response back from Huddle on the card counts, but I understand that people arent going to budge unless they find out for sure. Its almost better to wait until that happens before you go chasing the rare base or the rare inserts.