MLB Showdown Cards

#ShotsFriday: Strategy Cards

We had one of the most interesting #ShotsFriday in a while. @BenBoozer623 took the newest member of the 500 home run club Albert Pujols. It is both players first shot of the year. Myself, @Roktikitiki and @TomWyliehart all picked Josh Donaldson. The universe was being pulled at its fabric. I who never pick the correct player and @Tomwyliehart who only picks correct players, something had to give. @TomWyliehart’s powers proved more powerful. That puts himself and @Roktikitik in a tie for first with two and I found my first. The day belonged to @Orioles881 and Jose Abreu who went deep twice. The double shot puts both at 2 homers on the year.  Remember to send your picks in using the hashtag #Shotsfriday or tweet at me @MLBShowdownguru.

Last week I discussed why we are remaking the strategy cards. In short they can feel “card gamey” and not like baseball. One of the most common card types is “+ to swing”. We have a couple rules for how to make strategy cards.

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.

Here are some other cards

Last Chance

                Last Chance is useful roughly 33% of the time (minus double-plays that end innings). This card also has the disadvantage of not scoring runs on outs. So unless the card gets a player on base it did not do its job. It is actually weaker than it appears but  you don’t have to worry about batters, pitchers or runners.

Take What’s Given

                This card is not situational at all. Instead this card has a drawback. This drawback means that you could get a worse result because the card was played. The tradeoff for +2 is that if you hit a homer it gets switched to a single. This obviously is a bummer when it happens but at least the inning is continued. Also it works much better on people who do not homer on their own chart.

Swing for the Fences

                Take What’s Given is the more conservative of the two. Swing for the Fences is the more aggressive card for people looking for big results. You give yourself more chances to do big damage. The tradeoff? If you walk, you don’t get on base at all, you strike out and no one advances. No pain no gain. Oddly this card does better with players who don’t walk and often those are players who don’t often homer that much.

Out of Gas

                Out of Gas has a few drawbacks. The first is that you may never get the chance to use it. That makes any card pretty bad. The second draw back? After you play it your opponent can make you pick it up by changing the pitcher. That has some value by forcing an opponent’s hand. The payoff of this card is a +3. +3 is no small potatoes and worth the hoops you jump through.

              - UPDATE- @RokTikiTiki reminded me that the official rules do not allow substitutions after strategy cards had been played. We had a house rule that you could always make substitutions and if a card became illegal it was just picked up. Under the official rules this card is powerful if you can force IP down. In draw leagues it is nice to sit on or discard in a pinch. In a stud league it is tough holding a card that may never be available. 

Momentum

                For many cards we took the discard effect away. This is our first card we are revealing that we made. We have the discard because this card can be played at any time and can really change an inning. It gives +1 to each swing until and out is recorded with an additional +1 to each swing for each batter that got on base. Could you discard a card and get a Rally Cap that didn’t work? Yes you could. Could you get +1, +2 and then +3 to your batters going through the heart of your order? Also very possible. That could be devastating.

Twitter-Board

2: @BucNforthecard

2: @Orioles881

2: @TomWyliehart – 2012 Champ

2: @Roktikitiki

2: @Youngfarm

1: TherealJohnR

1: @Piatz1019

1: @KyleVanPelt – 2011 Champ

1: @GregLeasure

1: @Benboozer623

1: @Avery25
1: @JMoeller05 

1: @MLBShowdownguru 

Player Board
3: Josh Donaldson

2: Tony Abreu

2: Mark Trumbo

2: Pedro Alvarez

2: Miguel Cabrera
2: Giancarlo Stanton

1: Albert Pujols

1: Josh Hamilton

1: Mike Trout

1: Justin Upton

1: Yeonis Cespedes