Digital Card Central

As I have mentioned, trading with other users is a major part of the game. Its essential to being successful. Its also a ton of fun. That being said, there are a lot of things new users may not understand that makes it difficult for other fans to stomach. Here is how to avoid the common mistakes with good etiquette.

Singles

When trading someone with a collection score above 50, its frowned upon to offer trades for non-insert cards they only have one copy. Because of the award structure that rewards fans for having sets of cards, most people will not want to trade their single cards. Most of the people out there will also want to have a copy of each card just in case the player gets hot. Because most of the base cards have THOUSANDS of copies, dont make the offer until you find someone with dupes.

Large Offers

It is really easy to think that collectors will want to do huge trades to accomplish goals in the game. Its just not the case. Not only is it intimidating to give up a ton of cards at once, the chances you have that one of the cards are important to them is high. You can offer as many of your cards at a time as you want, but I wouldnt request anything more than 3 from a user unless you are SURE they wont mind.

Rarity Levels

This is a huge pitfall for new users, as the game makes it seem like the higher rarity levels mean cards are more valuable than lower. That is only true in certain circumstances – and definitely not true in trading non-inserts. Just because you are offering a silver and a red, the other user will likely not be willing to give up the house. It may mean you can get one extra card or maybe a better player of a lower rarity, but not five extra. With non-inserts, points potential of the card and the amount of the card in the collection is more important than rarity in most cases.

Trading Inserts

When you are trading inserts, its a completely different ball game. I would go so far as saying 90% of the new users have no clue how to approach trading for inserts. They offer 9 base cards for a super rare insert and expect that quantity will make up for lack of quality. It doesnt work that way, unfortunately. When offering against inserts, start with the lower rarity levels and work your way up. You may need to trade 5-6 base cards for even the most common of inserts, and that isnt even guaranteed. If you pull an insert, the newest ones will be worth more, so dont give it up easily. On the flip side, dont expect to trade your fresh uncommon insert for a super rare sig.

Trading for Signatures

Sigs are on a different level – and they are almost untouchable unless you have really nice stuff. I had to do multiple trades of 9 cards with inserts to get my first sig. I still dont own the best ones in the game. That hasnt stopped people from offering 9 base cards for my best card. That’s how you get blocked by experienced users. To trade for any sig, your offer will have to include at least one low availability card.

Trading Messages

As someone who has a lot of nice cards on both Huddle and Bunt, the messages included on trades can be almost as bad as the trades themselves. I have seen people say some of the most damaging things in their trade comments that would make me decline a good trade just out of principle.

DONT – beg for the cards in the trade comments
DONT – ask the collector to counter back in the comments
DONT – ask to borrow the card
DONT – mention anything about your “great” reputation
DONT – explain the trade’s value in the comments
DO – say thank you for a trade you offering
DO – give them time to respond
DO – be friendly at all costs, even if they are not returning the favor

Trading Frequency

Ill make this very simple. If a collector declines your trade, its for a reason. Please take this as a hint to not offer the same trade again and again. Its also not a cue to send more trades for that same card. Just move on, in most cases, lots of people have that card you want. This is one of those things that will get you blocked by people you dont want to be blocked by.

NOTE: This article may make trading seem daunting, but its not, as long as you have patience and persistence. That is also not saying that someone will not accept your unbalanced trade at some point. There are DEALS to be had. In almost every situation, I have been OFFERED the deal instead of me offering. Just be conscious of the fact that this is a collection game, and people will like hanging onto their favorite cards. Dont get upset if someone wont trade theirs to you.

As you may or may not have been aware, Topps Bunt has been around for close to 3 years over 2012, 2013 and now 2014. The confusing part is that 2013 and 2012 cards DO NOT score points in 2014, and only the new cards are going to get you anywhere.

That doesnt mean the cards arent collectable or valuable, and its definitely in your best interest to consider incoming trades for the rarer cards.

The difference between 2014 and the earlier years is that base cards can go from common to super rare and all look the same.  Check the back of the card in the trade to see the rarity. Additionally, the insert vs base card value spectrum still applies, so the signature cards and rare inserts are still the most valuable.

If you have any questions about trades with older cards, you can counter offer with 2014, or just one of the more experienced traders or the Topps team themselves.

Keep in mind – value for 2012 and 2013 has been drastically reduced in 2014, and its always better for newbies to try to build a playable collection before dabbling in the earlier years.

I am someone that definitely likes chasing the awards that are in the game, as many of them can supplement your coin totals for spending on packs. They can get VERY daunting if you don’t know which ones to chase, and I want to make sure everyone gets a bit of instruction on capitalizing on the easiest ones to achieve.

Team Collection Awards

Trophy example: 

Most of the low “hanging fruit” awards right now stem from team collections of common white bordered base cards. If you have seen people say “Singles NFT” on the fan feed, its because these cards are key to earning the team awards. Each team has two awards at the moment, one for a smaller group of base commons, and one for the complete set. The collection size needed varies based on the number of cards available per team, and I would game plan around collecting one team at a time.

The minor team collection award (peanut bag) will net you 250 coins and the major award (popcorn box) will net you 500. If you figure there are 30 teams, that’s a lot of coins to be had.

If you want to discover the easiest ones to chase – pull up the main card sheet and switch the filter to “all cards” and sort by “teams.” It will give you a great visual representation of the size needed for each team, and you can start going.

My suggestion for easiest fulfillment is pick one team at a time and peck away. I would advise against offering a trade for anything above 3 cards at a time, especially for collectors. People get protective of massive trades, but you can always try. Likely wont have much success.

The best way to do it, is offer 1:1 or 1:2 trades for dupes you need against dupes the other person needs. When you pull up the fan feed and offer a trade, you can sort each side of the trade by “rarity”, “2014 cards” and “cards they need.” That way, you know what cards will make the most sense for them. I liked chasing down the gamers in the fan feed and offering them colored border boosts (don’t count for team awards), for 2 or 3 duplicate white base, and they would likely accept.

Once you have the award, you can trade away the cards from that team if you so desire. You wont lose the award coins or trophy if you do.

Pokemon Collection Awards

These type of collections are usually for insert sets, and carry a coin award for getting all the cards in the set (hence the name I gave them). I RARELY chase these awards, because as long as the coin prize is active, the cards are more valuable and tougher to trade for. Once you have a huge collection with a lot of inserts to give up, then be my guest. Until then, I would wait. The amount of money it will take to pull the cards necessary is usually more than the prize is worth, so hold off until you can stomach the damage to your existing cards that you will need to trade for all the different elements of the award.

For reference, some of these awards can be worth up to 10,000 coins or more.

Card Awards

Trophy Example: 

If you are lucky enough to pull one of the non-set based inserts out there (sig cards for example), you can get awards for those as well. These types of awards can also be obtained through trading for the card, which leads to a lot of challenges that are out there to chase. Many of the awards can range from 1000 to 2500 coins, so they are definitely worth the prize.

A word of advice, people will ask to “borrow” a card that has a coin purse attached to it. Borrowing means they want you to trade them the card, and then they trade it back to you once they have the award in hand. I advise against this under MOST circumstances, ESPECIALLY for high value cards. I just don’t trust anyone but myself, unless I am okay with the other guy walking away with my card. Sometimes it’s a base single or a boost, and those are easily replaced. Signature cards, not so much.

Foam Finger Awards

Trophy Example: 

These are the awards I would go after as much as possible, as they can be the easiest to obtain and come with the best prizes. I mentioned earlier this week that there will be actual Limited Edition cards tied to these awards this week, which makes them more valuable than ever. Shoot for the low threshold ones at first, and start moving up through the ranks. Its an easy way to get coins and cards – of which you can trade for inserts and cards with more trading value in the long run.

Hope this helps you in your quest for Bunt Supremacy.

If you did not see the announcement surrounding the warmup timer, its a very big deal that can drastically affect your lineup. Each time you play a card there is now a period of 60 seconds that you will have to wait for the player to be active. Today’s tip is about knowing which cards to play and when to play them.

Pitchers

As it stands right now, most of the top players in the game are playing as many pitchers as possible. The reason, as I have mentioned before is that pitchers are the top scoring cards in the game, and they rarely score negatively unless they get lit up. If you wonder why so many trades are coming in for your pitchers, that’s why.

Its also very easy to prepare for their active time on the field, because you can either start them and forget about it until they are pulled from the game, or you can switch them in when their team is on defense. Both are very easy to get them active, even with the warmup timer.

For reference, I am running about 7-9 pitchers at a time right now, as it is proving to be the best way to get points.

Hitters

If you dont have enough pitchers to fill out your starting lineup, that’s okay too. There are a lot of ways for hitters to score as well.

The easiest players to run with are infielders, because if you leave them in the whole game, they should get some point from defense. If you are playing offense only, the first and third baseman are usually power hitters with good potential for HR.

Because of the warmup timer, hitters will need to be switched in as soon as you know it is going to be worth it to play them, maybe as soon as you see their turn in the lineup is coming and there are runners on base. Be careful, as you will likely be stuck with the outcome from the at bat, even if it is negative.

As much as I want it to be different, hitters are not the prime focus this year as of right now. That may change as Topps adjusts the gameplay as the season goes on.

There are two elements to trading that are new to 2014, both of which I very much enjoy. In the past, Trading was even more of a “wild west” scenario than ever, and I applaud Bunt for taking steps to correct the issue without damaging the soul of the fan feed. Ill try to break them down for you to understand for your own trading needs.

Rating Count

Description: This number represents the number of ratings that any trader has received since the start of 2014. Read that sentence very carefully, because it is NOT the number of completed trades the person has had. Ratings can be given for both offers and actual trade completions. The higher the count, the higher the amount of offers/trades that person has had.

Usage: This number is wholly representative of the person’s activity, and nothing more, so don’t take it as a representation of trustworthiness. It can be a great indicator of a person who is WILLING to trade, if you need to get a string of offers going. It can also be a good indicator of how new someone is to trading, so they may guard their good cards a bit more. If a person has a low count, and a small collection, player name and notoriety may mean more to them if you are looking to trade commons for commons.

Rating Average

This graphical representation is a measure of the average stars that trader has accumulated over their career. This is more the representation of their quality as a trader, but its not the only thing. You will realize that trustworthiness is a combination of all the numerical indicators and also gut feeling. Here is how I usually break it down:

* = Something is up with this guy or they are new and had a few bad experiences

**= Again, likely new and not aware of the unwritten rules of trading, or someone that is a lowballer

*** = Average score, most traders have a variation of a 3 star rating

**** = With 4 stars, they either haven’t had many offers, or they really have nice cards to overpay

***** = I have yet to see an experienced 5 star trader

If a collector’s post says “I rate high on every trade” it doesn’t mean they are held to that standard. Some traders use it as a hook to field offers, because the rating is only given when YOU offer someone, not on the other side of it.

If a trader only fields offers and never makes them, they can really be in control of their rating. Once a trade is accepted, both parties get to rate each other. Be careful of taking advantage of this generosity, because it is far from guaranteed. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make offers, because that isn’t logical as a part of the game. You need to make offers to be successful, just be conscious of how you do it. A lot can be gleaned from the post on the feed.

Collection Score

This is my favorite indicator on the board because it measures the QUALITY and QUANTITY of someone’s collection. I currently have a mid 60s score because I only have about 700 BUNT cards (I have been a Huddle User much longer). However, I am at the point of trying to acquire some of the rarer inserts, so Im not going to chase people with mid 30s scores. I know they likely wont have the cards I need.

Here is my breakdown of scores:

• Less than 30 – Brand new
• 30-40 – Green and new, likely not many cards, but worth looking at for dupes
• 40-60 – Tenured collector, will likely have some inserts to trade for
• 60-80 – More tenured, will likely have some higher end inserts and lots of dupes
• More than 80 – Top collector, will likely have lots of high end inserts and tons of cards

I usually reserve my trading for people in the 40-80 range, as I have found that people with high collection scores are a bit more stingy with their nicer stuff. They have most of what they need from either offering out on their own, or buying packs, and don’t really need my minimal amount of cards unless its something desirable and/or brand new. Don’t offer a bunch of your unwanted dupes, because in all likelihood, you wont get what you want. Remember, I am only outlining a profile based on my experience, but you may find that there are exceptions to everything.

How to Use This Information

Carefully. That’s about it. With any program that has intrinsic value as a part of the gameplay, there will be people looking to take advantage of that. These scores arent perfect and there is no way to prevent manipulation of the indicators. I have been in Sports Cards for a very long time, and there is saying we go by. “If its too good to be true, it probably is.” The only thing you can do to prevent a negative experience is to watch out and be careful with giving your trust to people. I hate to say it, but its just a part of life.

Hope this helps you navigate the fan feed trading boards.