So as I mentioned last time, after the High Voltage premium release I haven’t been particularly excited by any of the recent content 2K has dropped. Sure, I’d take a diamond LeBron if it magically appeared on my roster, but since I’m trying to avoid spending a bunch of money on packs, I’m looking for a card special enough to inspire an epic grind for MT.

What, then, would get me that excited? Like, Moses Malone excited?

Glad you asked. I’m going to throw out three cards I’d like to ultimately see in MyTeam, and as an added bonus, I’ll mention three cards I currently have that I’ve fallen in love with. Okay, here we go.

Gimme

1. Diamond Cuttino Mobley: The ruby reward Cat we had last year was my go-to assassin, and I’m really really really hoping he gets an upgrade this year. I’ve mentioned this before, but I figure the more times I put the idea out there, the better the chance someone at 2K sees it and makes it happen.
2. Pink Diamond Mo Bamba: Last year 2K dropped a bunch of crazy pink diamond versions of up-and-coming players, like Ben Simmons, Karl Anthony Towns, etc. A pink diamond Bamba with boosted 3-point shooting abilities and athleticism, paired with his insane height and length, would be 110 percent unstoppable.
3. Galaxy Opal Gordon Hayward: Let’s give this guy some love. He’s battling back from an insane injury, so Gordon hasn’t (and probably won’t) be able to earn a good moments card anytime soon, and last year his best card was only an amethyst (which I loved). He’s a do-it-all wing player with size, arguably the most valuable kind of card in 2K, so why not max him out? And most importantly, he loves video games, so I kinda feel like we need to support our own.

Love

1. Emerald J.J. Redick: This moments card is 🔥, and I got him for 500 MT on a whim to do a 76ers Moments Challenge a couple of weeks back. He also got even more insane once I put him in Mike D’Antoni’s Seven Seconds offense (which increased his open 3-point rating by four points, taking it to 99).
2. Ruby Bill Walton: A free (via tokens) center with a gold dimer badge who can rebound and play defense? My kind of card, and the perfect backup center for Moses.
3. Amethyst Shane Battier: My Swiss army knife. He’s versatile enough to guard any position, and is a dead-eye shooter when left open. 3-and-D at its finest.

No Thanks

Here is a double-bonus category with things I don’t want to see any more of:

1. Undersized centers and power forwards: Keep your Ben Wallaces and Dan Issels, I’m good. Thanks. To compete in the modern NBA (2K), I’ll hold out for that Mo Bamba I mentioned earlier.
2. Losing contracts: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried starting a game and for whatever reason NBA 2K crashes while it loads, then when I get back into 2K all the players in that lineup are missing contracts. I get that 2K doesn’t want to “collect” contracts at the end of a game because people would quit if they’re losing to keep the contract. But there has to be a happy medium here.
3. Crappy pack openings: 2K just dropped a bunch of awesome moments cards (LeBron, AD, Kemba, etc.) and I got caught up in the madness, spending 50 bucks (or $44.99 with the holiday discount) to open a moments box. I’m an idiot — but we’ve been over that. The highlights of the box were three sapphire Jaren Jacksons, two ruby Jimmy Butlers…and that’s it. Then to add insult to injury, as I opened packs the game kept crashing, and I’d have to re-open…and re-open…and re-open those crappy cards. I even lost 7K VC at one point trying to open a single pack, then when I re-launched MyTeam after it crashed for the zillionth time, my account was 7K lighter and there was no pack waiting. So I took that as a sign to just stop.

I did use the market crash to (finally) pick up a diamond Mashburn that someone dumped for 85K, which hopefully ends up being a good deal. Mash’s previous owner probably got a diamond LeBron, and in his/her glee decided to cut bait. I’m excited to try Jamal out, but am afraid to play a game in case it crashes again. (See #2 directly above.)

So in addition to auditioning Jamal, over the next week I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for good deals, and try to keep my wallet closed because I wouldn’t be surprised if 2K drops more content this holiday weekend. Have fun and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.