With the Diamond Dynasty content drop today, it’s a nice variety of offline and online content, with the headline probably being the Moonshot Weekend 3 Event. There’s also a new Always Intense Program, Headliners Set 23 All-Star Rich Gossage, new Topps Now players (and a fresh Topps Now collection), and a new Conquest map. Let’s run through some of the content below.
Moonshot Weekend 3 Event
The beast is back, and this time it will be running until June 21.
- Any hitters
- Bronze left-handed pitchers
- Max team overall of 99
- 3-inning games
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Free entries (as always)
Folks who have been slacking a bit with the program will be able to use this to catch up a bit on some outstanding programs (it’s part of the reason these events exist). On top of that, these are two really fun player rewards with Rookie Aristides Aquino and All-Star Giancarlo Stanton.
Rewards
- 1 win – 500 XP, The Show pack
- 3 wins – 500 stubs
- 5 wins – 2,500 XP, Headliners Set 21 pack
- 7 wins – Rewind Events choice pack
- 10 wins – 2,500 XP, Rookie Aristides Aquino
Aquino is not the first player to burst on the scene and them fizzle, but he’s one of the more recent extreme cases of that phenomenon. He came up during his rookie season and basically bashed 20 home runs and had an OPS around .900 in 200 ABs. He has never really touched those sorts of numbers again, but Diamond Dynasty fans remember him being incredibly fun to use during that summer. I’m one of those people who remember his video game dominance, and he’s basically a 6-foot-4 pull machine. The other fun part about Aquino is he has 99 arm strength on top of the elite power. A 94-overall Aquino is absurd to some degree, but he’s the exact sort of flashback I love to see in Diamond Dynasty.
- 13 wins – 2,000 stubs, Headliners Set 22 pack
- 15 wins – 2,500 XP, All-Star Giancarlo Stanton
We have seen this exact card art multiple times, and it’s one that I also have fond memories of seeing. Stanton is the bigger, slightly better Aquino, and he’s also someone I can’t wait to use again. Tall players are not for everyone, but if you can cope with the strike zone, two slugging right handers is not a bad deal considering the pitching meta.
- 18 wins – 2,000 stubs
- 20 wins – 2,500 XP, Rewind Events pack
- 23 wins – The Show pack (x5)
- 25 wins – 2,500 XP, Always Intense Set 1 pack
- 27 wins – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x3)
- 30 wins – 5,000 XP, Always Intense Set 2 pack
Topps Now Collection
If you collect 45 Topps Now players, you can grab a new collection reward with Topps Now Jared Walsh. We have some experience with a highly rated Walsh from last year, so he’s a bit of a known entity by now. It’s hard for me to see this card finding much use for most people, but I’m all for any and all collection rewards.
Always Intense Program
As we’ve seen SDS do with other special packs, after the initial rush is over, they bring out a program so you can get a couple more bites at the apple (and it brings down the prices in the marketplace). You can snag both packs in this program plus some other goodies. Also be aware that collecting the icon at the end of the program will net you some Featured Program XP.
Rewards
- 10 points – 500 stubs
- 20 points – The Show pack
- 30 points – 1,000 stubs
- 40 points – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
- 50 points – The Show pack (x5)
- 55 points – Headliners Set 18 pack
- 60 points – 2,500 stubs, universal profile banner
- 65 points – Headliners Set 19 pack
- 70 points – Always Intense Set 1 pack
- 75 points – 1,000 stubs
- 80 points – Always Intense Set 2 pack
- 85 points – Headliners Set 20 pack
- 90 points – 1,500 stubs, The Show pack
- 95 points – Headliners Set 21 pack
- 97 points – 2,500 stubs, diamond bat skin
- 100 points – 2,500 stubs, universal profile icon
Moments
Each moment is worth 3 points
- Give Brad A Hand
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 1 inning
- Strike out 3 batters
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Do not hit 1 batter
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Pierre Moves At High-Speed
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 total bases
- Al In His Prime
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 5 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- The Always Intense Matt Chapman
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 4 total bases
- Wil Watches It Fly
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 hit
- Tom’s Signature Season
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 1 inning
- Strike out 2 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- Mookie Hits Moonshots Over The Monster
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 XBH
- BCraw Flashes Some Leather
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- America’s First Baseman
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 home run
- Duvy Does It All
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 RBI
- Holt Belts A Triple For Cycle
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 XBH
- Cain You Believe It?
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- Hip, Hip, Jorge
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 XBH
- Nicky Two-Bags
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 double
- Got Two Tickets To The Semien Show
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 home run
- Fear The Beard
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 1 inning
- Strike out 2 batters
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Do not hit 1 batter
- Do not walk 1 batter
PxP Missions
- 250 PxP with Always Intense players (2 points)
- 500 PxP with Always Intense players (3 points)
- 1,000 PxP with Always Intense players (5 points)
- 1,500 PxP with Always Intense players (7 points)
- 2,000 PxP with Always Intense players (10 points)
Always Intense Showdown
- 25 points
Headliners Set 23 All-Star Rich Gossage
With All-Star Rich Gossage, this is another familiar card for many. Gossage can be very meta at times, and I would say this card will be in high demand for a bit. He’s bringing a 99 mph fastball to the equation to go with an 87 mph slurve, 95 mph sinker, and 87 mph changeup. His control will be a little touch and go, but the stuff is so dominant that he can probably be effective while being a little wild. He also has 119 H/9, which is top of the line for this time of the year. All in all, he immediately becomes a top-five reliever, and maybe even a top two reliever with the likes of Brian Wilson or Zack Britton.
The odds on Headliners packs to pull a diamond are 1:10 (as always), albeit that diamond might not be All-Star Rich Gossage. In addition, this year you can buy one pack of the Headliners choice pack, which gives you 1:3 odds of pulling a 90+ overall diamond (and of course costs more stubs).
