Digital Card Central

We just got another round of Series 2 base cards released yesterday, and this begs the question of which of the players are worth chasing. There are a few really good players they put out, and here is my take.

Adam Wainwright – Latest Batch MVP

Of the new cards released, it should be no surprise that Waino is the guy everyone is going to chase. He has been a guy that has put up consistent points all year long, minus the short time he was injured. I would love to get some of his gold cards to play soon.

Justin Verlander

I still think there is a chance that Verlander will find his groove and become a playable pitcher again. He has had some REALLY bad outings this year, but we all know his history. I like that eventually he will come around, and he will definitely be valuable in the playoffs.

Billy Hamilton

When he is on base – start this card. Period. He literally steals bases every time he gets on, which pumps up his scoring to crazy levels.

Gregory Polanco

He will cool off – I promise you. That being said, its a cool card for Topps to release at this point. Polanco is at the peak of his popularity, and will likely get you some nice trade bait at the minimum.

George Springer

After a really hot start, Springer has cooled off like Polanco will. However, he is still a card that a lot of people want, so if you pull a gold, get some nice pitcher point cards in return.

We are going to get more guys besides the ones released recently, so keep your coins saved if you are waiting for them to show up.

With all the discussion on trading yesterday, I wanted to do a quick post on how to identify good traders. Lots of people have been complaining about a rash of people who create a negative experience, and here is how I do my best to avoid it as much as possible.

Trader Star Rating (1-5 stars)

The trader rating is only helpful in a few ways, especially in the fact that it only speaks to the trades the person has offered and the ones they have accepted when offered. I rarely look at the rating the person has when making offers, as it doesnt really tell me much. That being said, I understand that there are likely a lot of people that look at it, but it just doesnt give enough to really make a determination. If a person has 3 stars, its likely that they made a bunch of offers on a card that a bunch of people didnt want to give up. It may also mean that their outgoing offers are usually pretty terrible. Neither of which applies to me making them an offer incoming.

Collection Score (0.00 – 100.0)

The higher a collection score is, the more likely I am to trade with that person. Although there are a lot of people who have high scores because of 2013 cards, its still worth using this rating as a guide to determine whether or not they even have good cards to trade in the first place. If you are new, high collection scores also may mean they have an abundance of duplicates that they might give away for little to nothing. Not always though – ask before you start going nuts.

Trade Count (Varies)

Having a high trade count only means the person is a very active trader. The ticker only increases when you make an offer and it is rated by the other trader, or you accept an incoming offer, so we can glean a few things from a high rating. First, they will look at or counter the offer, which is always an issue when making offers with newer traders who may not know how to use the system.  Second, they will likely know what they want and what they dont want – which can also be a challenge. Lastly, they should have some cards that are worth trading for.

Putting the three of these together is how I can usually determine the best people to at least start working with. The best advice I can give is to ask questions and start relationships with the people you discover are good bunters. They can be harder and harder to find as the user base grows, but search “Toppsbunt” on twitter, and you will start to see the people who are most active. All those fans of the week people are also good representatives of the game and should be able to help point you in the right direction.

Last but not least – DONT GIVE UP. Patience is key. Dont let a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.

As I start with every post about trading, I will always say that it is an under appreciated art form. Because there is such a wide variety of people in the community, there are so many ways that you can be successful. Because there are so many new cards, I want to write a bit more in depth about a few things I have noticed as of late. Is my list of trading pet peeves.

Pet Peeve #1 – DONT BEG

If someone sends me a trade, or counters one of my offers with a note, I expect the worst. There is nothing more annoying than someone expecting you to accept a lopsided trade because they say “please bro, u have 4 of these!” If you do this, stop now as it is a complete turn off for just about every experienced bunter out there. Not saying dont write a note with your trade, but dont beg for acceptance.

Pet Peeve #2 – ONE WORD NOTES

Playing off the previous item, I really dont support adding notes for a trade unless there is something you absolutely need to say, or just want to say thank you for considering the offer. Sending a note with “Counter” or “Please” is only going to get you on my ignore list. At that point, just leave the notes blank.

Pet Peeve #3 – ANGER OVER DECLINED TRADES

If I decline your trade, its for a reason. Usually, and I mean this with all sincerity, usually it isnt personal. However, if you send a trade blasting me for declining your trade, that’s not okay. Its the prerogative of each bunter to decide if they want to accept. If they decline, just move on. Dont even bother going further than that. This is a community that is close knit, and you will only hurt your reputation.

Pet Peeve #4 – SENDING THE SAME TRADE MULTIPLE TIMES

Do not send a trade more than once, especially if the first one was declined or still pending. I cannot stress how likely it is for you to be ignored by that person if you do. If your trade offer wasnt good enough the first time, it wont be good enough the next five times either. Similarly, adding one base card or two base cards isnt going to get me to reconsider most of the time.

Pet Peeve #5 – LEFT FIELD TRADE OFFERS

I always post a specific thing I am trading in the fan feed when I want to trade. Most of the time I will say what I am not trading as well. If someone says “NOT TRADING XXXXXX CARD” – dont make an offer on that card(s). Its only going to get declined, and likely get you on their ignore list. Yesterday I posted a card I was looking for and also posted which cards were not for sale. Guess how many offers I got for those cards I said were off limits? Yup, dont be that guy.

Pet Peeve Bonus Round – BASE CARDS FOR RARE INSERTS

Its one thing to make an offer of a rare insert for base cards, but definitely not the other way around. If you are only offering base cards for a card like a signature series or top insert, 99% of the time you will get declined or ignored. The other 1% will get you a counter offer, but its not worth doing that to your reputation over that small chance. If you are looking for ways to obtain rare inserts, but only have base in your collection, I would look at it from a red paperclip type of mentality. You will have to start at trading for the non-rare inserts and making your way up to the rare ones. Its going to take time and patience, unless you are going to get extremely lucky opening packs, or spend some money. That’s just the way it works.

Let me say, it has been a rough go at it, trying to pry the new boosts away from the people who have pulled top cards of the pitchers and hitters. There is a lot of reasons why that wont continue to be the situation, but for now these golds might as well be sigs.

That being said, its almost better to chase the lower level boosts, because they actually are just as easy to play in game without a thought. I have started making plays for the reds and silver boosts instead of golds, because people tend to be that much more likely to want to give them up. Here is why that isnt a bad thing.

Lets say that you are playing a silver instead of a gold, and a player scores 10 points. With a gold you will get 20 points for that play (2.0x base scoring), meaning an extra 90 points across the lineup if you play 9. If you were playing a silver, you get 17.5 points, or an extra 67.5 points when spread across the lineup. That’s only a difference of 22.5 points per play when 9 cards are in play. Now, considering that the majority of bunt doesnt have 9 golds per player, it should be easy to see that this isnt THAT big a deal.

For someone like me that usually finishes around 60-70 in the overall standings each week, having Silvers is more than enough to compete against the rest of bunt. I have a lot of extras from series one, and I can usually package a pretty good deal to give up cards I dont play for the new silvers I need.

To really show myself how many cards I had to give in these deals, I made a spreadsheet of every pitcher. The ones where I had more than 9 Gold and silver combined, I highlighted to remind myself to give those up in trades. Already I have been that much more successful in getting the new boosts without giving up anything I will play.

For reference, I am not a collector 100%, so its easy for me to give up inserts that I dont really care about. I have enough cards to show my status without unplayable inserts in my card sheet, and they are very handy for trading those people who do want those cards.

This has been a very fun week in Bunt because of the new action, and I hope more cards are coming soon. We still need Wainwright, and a few other top pitchers, so I guess its only a matter of time.

Lots of people are going to be opening a lot of packs these next few days, all with the purpose of obtaining the new base cards. With a hot new sig also on the market, there are just as many people out there hunting for it as well. Here are my methods for tracking down cards you might need.

WRITING A GOOD HOOK

The fan feed is a difficult place to understand unless you have been around a while. The trick to getting people to bite is just as difficult when you are the one posting. To write a good hook, I would do one of the following:

• List one or two VERY specific card(s) you are looking to get rid of
• Tell people what you are looking to trade for
• Tell people you are looking to trade anything
• Use at least some of the emojis to make your post stand out

I would not do:

• Create a giant have/want list
• Just write the word “trades”
• Say you are new
• Say you are going to rate high regardless (invites people looking to boost their ratings despite bad trades)
• Say you always counter
• Say you are accepting all good trades
• Say you only want starting pitchers

Here is a good example of a hook I would use:

***************************
Have Ventura sig – looking to trade
for inserts and other new cards

Simple, yet effective. You will get more bites this way.

MAKING OFFERS ON CARDS YOU WANT

Take note, if you are the one making the offer, you will likely have to overpay regardless of the card you want. Its just the way it works. I always throw in cards that make it look like I am overpaying, when in reality, the cards I am offering contain only the card I am planning to give up combined with 5-6 junk cards that are silver and gold.

People are wowed sometimes by quantity if the cards are silver and gold, even more so if they are inserts. A lot of junk inserts exist, and they can make your trade look more attractive despite not having any real value. Keep an eye out for deals you can pick up these cheap cards, because they will come in handy.

As everyone is familiar, hitters are relatively worthless this season, but big names can be nice added value when throwing cards in a trade to make it look better. Similarly, if you need one bit of advice its this:

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE DOESNT HAVE A CARD, DOESNT MEAN THEY WANT THAT CARD TO ADD TO THEIR COLLECTION.

Dont take the fact that someone doesnt have a card as an invitation that they will overpay to get it. Just saying, as it happens all the time to me. As more gamer than collector, I dont need a complete set – just cards I play. Im not going to trade cards I play for cards I need, especially if they are non-playable.

There will be a number of new base cards coming today and tomorrow, and I sincerely hope that it is as big of an event as I am expecting it to be. Among the new cards are some great players that  you will NEED to chase to be competitive, and I could not be more excited that we are making more progress into series 2. Here are my must haves from the names released in the article.

Felix Hernandez

Easily one of the best pitchers in the game, and also the top point scorer of all players in bunt so far this year. Because he hasnt had any cards that score above the base level, the points havent been as available, but we should be seeing a mad dash to pick up his gold and silvers. Low ERA and high strikeouts are the key to bunt success, and King Felix is the best in both worlds.

David Price

Another top strikeout pitcher is on the way, and though he has a higher ERA, his points from Ks neutralize it. When Price has a good start, look out, because it could be a 10K with 2 run affair. That’s beastly.

John Lackey

Although the Red Sox arent exactly the cream of the crop this year, Lackey hasnt been as bad as some of the other pitchers on the staff. He isnt Lester, but he does have some redeeming factors in his great pitching performances when they happen. Just look out for those starts when he isnt pitching on target.

Yovani Gallardo

When the Brewers started this season, I doubt anyone really thought they would be as good as they are. Not only is Lohse pitching well, but Gallardo has been great, and Lucroy is raking like no one’s business.

Sonny Gray

I like that we are finally getting some cards for Sonny other than his Editor’s Choice and his signature series card. There is a lot he has to offer on one of the ALs best teams during the first half. Another surprise, the As have been tremendous, staying far ahead of the Angels and Rangers in the AL West. Gray is a big reason why.

This is really the first week where Topps has stuck to their guns about making lineups as close to set it and forget it as possible. This week’s reload time is 15 mins per play, and with 75 seconds needed to add a player to the lineup, you are going to basically have very little wiggle room with your lineup. 25 plays helps with making sure you have an escape plan if a pitcher gets rocked, but this is going to be an interesting week for a lot of people.

Setting Up

I cant even put into words how important it is to set your first 9 starters of the day as early as possible. That way, you will have the full 25 reloaded by the time the games start. It basically gives you a free 9 plays, as long as you get it done with enough time to spare. It can take 6 hours for your lineup to fully refresh from zero, so plays are a luxury you will not have later on in the day.

Picking Your Starters

The longer the reload and warmup time, the greater it will favor boosted pitcher cards. Even when they give up 3 runs, they can score more points than a hitter with a HR on the board. Pick the players with the lowest ERA and the highest K/9 innings. You can look it up on MLB.com or on BaseballReference.com. If more than one pitcher is going, start with putting in all your golds, then your silvers and so on and so forth. Dont start a white base card of one guy if you have a gold of a similar level of player.

Managing Your Lineup

I would save your 25 plays until the end of the night, just to be safe, otherwise you will be stuck with your lineup and no points. Change out your starters with each phase of the day, so that with each game being played, you have 9 starters in action. DO NOT leave your lineup the same all day. You will have no problem refreshing enough plays over the day to get 27 changes in for afternoon, evening and late night games.

Staying On Top of Your Players

Make sure you dont let a guy’s bad inning scare you. As long as he doesnt give up 3 HR, that is fine. Each pitcher will give up a run at some point, but with such a long reload time, dont give up easily. You will waste your plays switching out guys. If you get scared, just diversify and dont run 9 of the same guy. Yesterday I ran 5 Ryu golds until I was comfortable he was going to be okay. I then added 2 more silvers to further capitalize.

This is the week where many more players will have a chance to win the big awards. Because you dont need to watch every minute of every game, you can easily crack the top players for your team without too much effort. Its going to take a good collection and some luck, but this is the week for a good go at it. Good luck everyone!