There are some reasonable comparisons to be made between MLB The Show 21's Diamond Dynasty and Madden's Madden Ultimate Team modes. Players are challenged to put together a fantasy team of players and climb the ranks in competitive play. Both are frequently referred to as annual money drains that border on the predatory side of transactions.
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Yet, at the end of the year and before the next installment comes out, some players that find themselves in the highest tiers of play attest that they never had to spend a dime to improve their team. How did they do it? Simply, they worked hard, practiced, and listened to the pros who came before them.
10 Buy Late, Sell Early
Like with Madden, MLB The Show 21 will start by having level 99 cards virtually unheard of in Diamond Dynasty mode. Yet by the end of the year, it will be surprising to see anyone playing with a card that isn't a 99.
The lesson here is to save money early on and sell cards, even if these cards would be the best for the player's lineup. For the same price later on, this will be worth multiple 99 ranked players. It takes a lot of patience, but it's the economical choice.
9 Play A Little Road To The Show
There are many opportunities to get experience, stubs, and packs in Moments and Diamond Dynasty, but the lowest hanging fruit is in the Road to the Show mode. Gamers that don't plan on making a career of it should still play.
Typically, after about one to two seasons, gamers will have unlocked a full diamond archetype and a whole lot of experience and stubs along the way. Playing through this first will yield advantages to the other mode and make those challenges easier.
8 Use The Cheapest Cards In Collections
One thing that Madden players hate has been rectified in MLB The Show 21 and it's that completing a collection still means that gamers get to keep the cards that they put into it.
However, cards used in a collection will no longer be available to sell on the market. Because diamond players fetch such a high price, it's best to use lower-ranking cards so that the diamond players can be sold after attaining an upgrade.
7 Make The Marketplace The Last Resort
Many cards cost upwards of six digits in the marketplace, the equivalent of hundreds of real-life dollars. Do not get sucked into this trap, even for a must-have card that is critical to the player's lineup.
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Instead, check the card and click on the Locations tab. This will reveal the ways that the card can be attained. Shockingly, some of the most expensive cards can be gotten by just logging in daily or completing a series of Moments challenges.
6 Prioritize A Few Attributes
- For batters: Get players with high Contact, Arm, and Speed
- For pitchers: Get players with high Velocity and Break
A team full of bronze 70s and beat a team of diamond 95s and not at all due to gamer talent; it has everything to do with investing in players who have high attributes in a few key areas instead of looking at the general OVR.
Many attributes are actually worthless (or close to it) in Diamond Dynasty because the player will be controlling each pitch and at-bat. So areas like Vision, Arm Accuracy, and BB/9 are throwaway metrics.
At first, getting off solid contact will be a rare occurrence, so making every swing a contact swing is encouraged. By taking players that have high Contact attributes, the sweet spot can cover up the entire strike zone, forcing pitchers to try and throw balls outside of the zone.
5 Confuse Opposing Players With Pitching
- Use pitchers who throw from a sidearm or submarine
- Make sure each pitcher has a slider
Remember that many games will be played against real-life opponents controlling a team, so certain characteristics that don't show up on the player card will still be important because they throw players off-balance.
Even pros hate hitting against the slider as it is the one pitch that is fast and moves significantly both horizontally and downward. And veteran players have taken to the forums trying to get submarine and sidearm throwers out of Diamond Dynasty because they're too hard to read. Use this for a cheap but effective leg up against human-controlled teams.
4 Collect Timed Rewards First
Logging in daily takes care of the easiest timed reward of all. There is also a Moments mode that has a daily challenge to tackle every twenty-four hours. But this isn't the end of the temporary goodies.
Some programs, like the Innings, will expire after every few weeks. And within Conquest and Player Programs modes, other sub-challenges are counting down. Even if players don't intend to use the spoils, these will give experience and stubs to put toward better rewards.
3 Peek At Player Quirks
Attributes aren't the end of the categories that bolster or hinder players in Diamond Dynasty. Before spending any stubs, look at the Quirks tab on the player card to see what other benefits come along with the purchase.
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Keep in mind that many of the modes allow players to choose the location and time of the game. Having a card that hits better at home/away or during daytime/nighttime can make a big difference in these challenges that are often decided by a single run.
2 Avoid All Fees
There is already a time investment into the game. With that, there is an emotional investment into the team. And, of course, players will want to invest a few stubs into the right players.
When a mode asks for more stubs just to participate, politely decline unless Hall of Fame difficulty is no problem at all. Players who pay to participate in these programs are generally the best in the world.
Additionally, don't play Extra Innings single player. These teams are crafted for Diamond Dynasty, so they are filled with Hall of Fame players and modern All-Star athletes. And the rewards for winning are not better than playing against the standard teams like the Baltimore Orioles, who are magnitudes easier to defeat.
1 Conclude The Season With Ranked Play
Colloquially, players refer to somebody who spends all of their money to buy the best possible team right away as a "whale." These whales will dominate early on and feast on amateurs who take their starting Diamond Dynasty team and try to climb the ranks.
Knowing this, it's better to wait for ranked gameplay until getting together the best team possible until just before the season expires. The rewards are tempting, but they don't mean a thing when getting clobbered by whales.