MLB Showdown Cards

#ShotsFriday: Icons

         We had a light showing last week on the Fourth. I will shoulder some of that for my spastic use of the internet this month. I also think that everyone's routine may also have been a bit off. Since there was less work I assume there were less work appropriate beverages. Hopefully everyone still enjoyed baseball. The only person who enjoyed a shot last week by my count was @BucNfortheCard with his 6th with the Abrue kid's like 50th homer or something. Make sure to send your twitter picks in today. I know we had a couple games postponed last week so if you picked a player in a game that wasn't played make sure to make an additional pick. For those who are new. If you tweet @MLBShowdownguru or use #ShotsFriday to tweet a player you think will homer today you get a point. If you are right you get an additional the next week. The player with the most points at the end of the year gets a free 2014 color set. Second place gets a free 2014 black and white set. 3rd place gets 5 holo David Cones and 5 holo Greg Maddux.

Also for the Home Run Derby Tweet @MLBShowdownguru or #ShotsMonday who you think wins the derby. It is worth 1 point and a free pick.

                I have been using the Friday blog post to give you guys a bit of an insight into how we think around here in term of how we make the cards. We had a few posts on why we believe people choose to play MLB Showdown. Check out those previous posts labeled “Psychographics”. Today I am going to talk about something I get asked about a lot. That question is “Why don’t you put Icons on the cards?”

                For starters let me explain that none of the 2000/2001 cards had Icons. Icons showed up in 2003 as best I can determine. Icons had various rules associated with them that acted as additional strategy cards. I never played this way and have not taken the time to intelligently research the specifics so I will save you the plagiarism.

                As a set designer the idea of putting extra information on the card is intriguing. It allows for more complicated game play. It allows more “knobs” to twist when trying to make interesting cards. I am not in love with the idea of icons that give “free” strategy cards. Again, I never played this way so it could be fun and I am just unaware. The intriguing thing for me was the idea to make amazingly better strategy cards.

                I admit my dream would have been to put a handful of actual player stats from their year on the card. Then have scalable strategy cards. The idea of changing “Swing for the Fences” to read:

Add +1 to the swing, If the result would be a walk change the result to a Out(so)

If the batter had 30 or more homers last season add an additional +1 to the swing.

If the batter had 150 or more strikeouts last year add an additional +1 to the swing.

                Imagine the fun that card would have. It would benefit great players who hit 30 homers but also players with difficulties who struck out over 150 times in a year. The players with the most benefit? Adam Dunn and Mark Trumbo type players who could reach both marks and get an extra bonus. Also the bonus I based off actual statistics, which I would have enjoyed.

                So the question becomes “why don’t we do that?”. The first answer is a bad one…We have never done it before. No one likes that as an answer but it is an important one. We know many of you found our game after years off from the game. We would like you to come back to something recognizable when you return. @Roktikitiki and I had a discussion this week about changing the template. I won’t spoil those just yet but the point is we are very scared of “pushing too hard”.

                The second reason we don’t put icons or even stats on the cards is that once something is on the card it is hard to ignore. We know most players prefer exact speeds (8-23) over the pure A,B and C system, but not everyone does. Some people prefer A being 20, B being 15 and C being 10 always. Our current way is a nice compromise that allows for the numbers to be ignored if need be. The problem is they are still there. Once we put icons on we have to start costing players for them. That starts messing with our draft strategies.

                We are hoping to find a decent compromise to this at some point in the future. Till then we are going to err on the side of caution as to continue to make a product you all are comfortable with. 

10: @TomWyliehart – 2012 Champ

6: @BucNforthecard (Abrue 1)

5: @Roktikitiki5

5: @Orioles881 

4: Kris_Barnes7 

4: @Avery25

3: @MLBShowdownguru 

3: @Youngfarm

3: @Benboozer623 

3: @JMoeller05 

2: @TherealJohnR 

2: TweeterLeGrand

1: @Piatz1019

1: @KyleVanPelt – 2011 Champ

1: @GregLeasure

1: MLBShowdown247 

Playerboard

14: Jose Abreu (1)

7: Giancarlo Stanton 

4: Pedro Alvarez

3: Josh Donaldson

2: Mark Trumbo

2: Miguel Cabrera

2: Chris Davis

2: Nelson Cruz

2: Edwin Encarnacion

1: Albert Pujols

1: Josh Hamilton

1: Mike Trout

1: Justin Upton

1: Yeonis Cespedes

1: Starling Marte

1: Joey Votto

1: Troy Tulowitzki

1: Yasiel Puig

1: Scott Van Syke

1: Brandon Moss

1: Adam Dunn

1: Jose Bautista

1: Khris Davis 

1: Adrian Beltre

1: Corey Dickerson