MLB Showdown Cards

#ShotsFriday: Strategy Cards

                We have a tie on top of our twitter board with @Youngfarm getting his second shot with Yeonis Cespedes. He wanted to double down on him but sadly that is not allowed. It was Cepedes first for the year. @Avery25 also was able to enjoy that wonderful creation in centerfield of Marlins Stadium when Giancarlo Stanton went deep. That was both first. @JMoeller05 also had Stanton. That is his first as well and obviously Stanton's second. Continue to send in your picks for who you think will homer using our hashtag #ShotsFriday or tweeting at me @MLBShowdownguru or commenting below. Remember first place gets a free color 2014 set and second place gets a free black and white 2014 set.

                 I have to tip my cap again to @Roktikitiki for his awesome work with these. So often I send him off the wall suggestions with no guidance and he makes it work wonderfully. Also he looked up many of the flavor text. We have been working on making a new batch of playable strategy cards for you guys to use. Many of the old cards were good but some were a bit odd and not “basebally”. What We have found in our endeavor to make the new set is that there is not as much design space as one would like. By that I mean there is a difficulty in creating cards that feel like baseball and still within the rules of the game. The most commonly used cards and maybe the easiest to design are the “+ to the swing” cards.

“+ to the swing” cards are popular because you know there are going to be good chances to use them. Some cards are useful but difficult to guarantee they will be needed every game. “+ to the swing” cards are not like that. We have a couple guidelines for making good cards in this category.

1: All cards get +1 to swing automatically, May give a small advantage.

2: To get +2 to the swing you must have ether a condition or a drawback.

3: To get +3 or more to the swing the condition must be occur less than %5 of at bats or a major drawback.

With that being said here are some cards and what we did with them

Rally Cap

                This card fits right with rule number 1 and exactly like the original. It gives +1 automatically and has about a 35-40% chance of giving the next batter +1 to the swing if used on the best hitter. This is likely the best +1 to swing card we will ever make or endorse. Super flexible with no draw back that works great for an initial stack of a lead-off hitter.

Favorable Matchup/Play the Percentages/Change Sides

                These cards are rule 2 cards and exactly like the originals. The condition here is that the batter has to hit opposite the pitcher. One disadvantage of this card is in late game situations managers can manage around it. This card requires you to ether flip flop lefties and righties or have a decent bit of switch hitters. Change Sides may be used whenever but can only be used on switch hitters which can be difficult unless you have 3-4 in a line-up.

Clutch Hitting/Ducks on the Pond.

                The previous trio of cards are conditional on standing on the correct side of the plate. These two cards are conditional on placement and number of base runners. Both cards are rule 2 cards, except when the bases are loaded then Ducks on the Pond becomes rule 3 but it fits. Both card also original had “Discard a card” conditions. This meant there was a condition and a drawback for only +2 to the swing. For those who say I hate strategy cards and want to only make them weaker here is my counter example. We changed them so that they do not have the discard condition. Clutch Hitting is better with Small Ball line-ups. That want to steal a runner into second and single him in. Moneyball line-ups actually prefer Ducks on the Pond because walks produce more bases loaded situations.

Next week I will continue with the “+ to the swing cards” and how some are made. If you have any suggestions for cards that fit our rules that you would like made but a comment down at the bottom.

Twitter-Board

2: @BucNforthecard

2: @Youngfarm

1: TherealJohnR

1: @Piatz1019

1: @KyleVanPelt – 2011 Champ

1: @TomWyliehart – 2012 Champ

1: @Roktikitiki

1: @GregLeasure

1: @Avery25
1: @JMoeller05 

0: @MLBShowdownguru – Still pitching a shutout

Player Board

2: Mark Trumbo

2: Pedro Alvarez

2: Miguel Cabrera
2: Giancarlo Stanton

1: Josh Hamilton

1: Mike Trout

1: Justin Upton

1: Yeonis Cespedes