New F2P Player, Looking to Improve in Tournaments and Find League Upgrades

[theauthenticsimpsonian]

Hello, all, I just downloaded this game recently on my phone, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Possibly too much. I just finished all the Live collection missions, giving me all the rewards up to Cy Young, so my team looks great for now in rookie ball, but I expect it will get much more difficult in a week or two when I start facing other players who have done the same thing. With only about 14,000 to my name what should I be focusing on in order to maximize my chances of victory? I can't afford any perfect cards yet, but maybe there are some players that could help me at a discount. With 100s to choose from it is a little overwhelming. Currently, here is what I am running:

1B Nomar
2B Kyren Paris
SS Alan Trammel
3B Terry Pendleton
LF Hack Wilson
CF Lenny Dykstra
RF Enos Slaughter
C Roy Campanella
DH Carlos Gonzales

Bench
Jorge Posada
Tino Martinez
CJ Abrams
Xander Bogarts

Starters
Cy Young
Verlander
Mark Langston
Don Sutton
Logan Gilbert

CL Trevor Hoffman
SU Nathan Eovaldi
SU Danny Neagle
MR Carl Hubbell
MR Liam Hendriks
MR Sean Manaea
LR Joe Muscrove
LR Al Brazle

I also have the following cards of note:
Live Mookie Betts, Harrison Bader, Alex Bregman, Joey Gallo, Max Fried, Javier Baez, Andrew Heaney, James Karinchak.

2B is probably my weakest position, I'm just not sure who to go for.

For tournaments, so far I am playing only Iron since I have most of the cards anyway. My only strategy so far is just to look at who is winning in the tournaments I am playing and copy their lineups. Most of the time I lose, and I'm just trying to figure out if there are some better strategies, especially if I want to play in more competitive events.

[professor ape]

You are off to a good start. Focus on the tournaments for now. The packs you earn there are the life’s blood for F2P players. Pick missions to focus on, sell duplicate cards, and keep working to upgrade your weakest position. Even the best live cards will only be playable for a couple more levels so just focus on historical cards as you go forward.

[ubernoob]

Originally Posted by theauthenticsimpsonian

For tournaments, so far I am playing only Iron since I have most of the cards anyway. My only strategy so far is just to look at who is winning in the tournaments I am playing and copy their lineups. Most of the time I lose, and I'm just trying to figure out if there are some better strategies, especially if I want to play in more competitive events.

Don't *just* copy their lineups. Actually study them and see what player archetypes they are using. Look at all the teams stats before you exit. What's the percentage of innings thrown by a lefty (how important is it for you to have players that can hit one or both sides of the plate). Think about how you can take advantage of what the "meta" seems to be.

Are they using high strikeout, high control pitchers with low movement? Are they using movement heavy pitchers that don't strike anyone out? Are they using control oriented pitchers? Groundballers?

For lineups. How many sluggers are you facing? How many speedsters that don't strike out? There's a lot to think about, if you want to do more than just "These guys were in winning lineups, I'll use them" (which also works, but at that point you are just asking the RNG to favor you if you have the same players as everyone else. Which is a viable strategy in lower tournaments that fill up/run at the pace of lightning.)

[Hertston]

Originally Posted by theauthenticsimpsonian

Most of the time I lose, and I'm just trying to figure out if there are some better strategies, especially if I want to play in more competitive events.

Everybody loses 'most of the time' . The trick is doing it just a little less frequently than most of them.

No need to be too slavish in picking the same players as in other teams. Often it's obvious why a particular one is desirable (and that's usually reflected in their auction price), but if it isn't your guy is probably just as effective. You won't develop good judgment unless you use it. I've seen several cases in silver and gold where everyone was desperate to get hold of apparent uber-cards others were using when in reality, look at the numbers and they weren't that 'uber' after all

[professor ape]

Never underestimate the value of defense, particularly up the middle. For catchers, I tend to look at Catcher Ability more than their overall defensive rating at the position.

[theauthenticsimpsonian]

Thanks to everyone for the help so far! I definitely appreciate it. Right now I am trying to build an extreme groundball team for bronze tournaments with excellent infield defense and more hitting ability in the outfield. So far I haven't done well but I just need to research the available players more.

I do have another question. Which players should I focus my efforts on for the Build a Legend reward? I know Pete Rose is playable for the entire time, so I will focus on him first, but not all the cards are for sale, so if I can pick 1 or two more to buy cards for I can grab them as they are available in the auction house. Which cards do you all use in the Diamond and Perfect leagues?

[professor ape]

Originally Posted by theauthenticsimpsonian

Thanks to everyone for the help so far! I definitely appreciate it. Right now I am trying to build an extreme groundball team for bronze tournaments with excellent infield defense and more hitting ability in the outfield. So far I haven't done well but I just need to research the available players more.

I do have another question. Which players should I focus my efforts on for the Build a Legend reward? I know Pete Rose is playable for the entire time, so I will focus on him first, but not all the cards are for sale, so if I can pick 1 or two more to buy cards for I can grab them as they are available in the auction house. Which cards do you all use in the Diamond and Perfect leagues?

Glavine and Wainwright are probably the two best pitchers. I love Tony Fernandez because he gives you a solid utility infielder with good defense at 2B, 3B, and SS. That is rare to be good at all three positions. Raines is strong as well. There are a number of others who are good to have.

[ubernoob]

Originally Posted by theauthenticsimpsonian

Thanks to everyone for the help so far! I definitely appreciate it. Right now I am trying to build an extreme groundball team for bronze tournaments with excellent infield defense and more hitting ability in the outfield. So far I haven't done well but I just need to research the available players more.

I do have another question. Which players should I focus my efforts on for the Build a Legend reward? I know Pete Rose is playable for the entire time, so I will focus on him first, but not all the cards are for sale, so if I can pick 1 or two more to buy cards for I can grab them as they are available in the auction house. Which cards do you all use in the Diamond and Perfect leagues?

BALs that are good to get that will last a while:
Charles Nagy
Tom Glavine
Adam Wainwright
Tim Hudson

Pete Rose
Tony Fernandez (play him at 2B until you get one of the bigger upgrades like Jackie or Ross Barnes if you pull him)



Other collection cards to build your team:


Don Mattingly Franchise Heroes
Wander Franco Future Legend
Mussina BAL
Andy Pettite (I forget which collection he's from, it's a 92 diamond card)
Alek Thomas Gold FL card (not collection card, just a cheap card to save rosters spots if you want it. Decent enough with the bat to justify being a 4th OF that can play all 3 spots very well.)

[ncap99]

Originally Posted by theauthenticsimpsonian

Thanks to everyone for the help so far! I definitely appreciate it. Right now I am trying to build an extreme groundball team for bronze tournaments with excellent infield defense and more hitting ability in the outfield. So far I haven't done well but I just need to research the available players more.

I do have another question. Which players should I focus my efforts on for the Build a Legend reward? I know Pete Rose is playable for the entire time, so I will focus on him first, but not all the cards are for sale, so if I can pick 1 or two more to buy cards for I can grab them as they are available in the auction house. Which cards do you all use in the Diamond and Perfect leagues?

As you can imagine, the best BALs are also the most expensive. Almost all BALs are playable certainly up through gold, and they are also part of the tiered team mission system. I think the best bang for your buck BAL is probably Tony Fernandez - he is playable up to PL and has a lot of position versatility to fill in as you get drops or complete other missions.

If you focus on Rose first that's great if you can find some deals, plus you get a very usable 100 Cueto from the team mission component if you complete that. But know that you could use the same amount of money and likely complete 2-3 other BALs with their own team rewards. If you're taking the "stars and scrubs" approach where every PP you spend goes towards a player that is in the top 2 or so at his position I think that is a valid approach, but until the content updates stop you may end up chasing a player who'll be on your bench in a month or two. If you want to rapidly improve and get to higher levels you're probably better off spreading those resources around a bit.

For pitching guys like Nagy (low STU high MOV/CON) are actually useable up to very high levels but only when backed by a superb defense. If you're getting frustrated because a guy like Maddux or Nagy is getting rocked, it is probably because you're running a mediocre defensive team.

[bailey]

I'd be working on the NL collection after the live missions. Its price has come way down; recently I bought Pop Lloyd for 65K on my alt who I think is better than the very expensive BAL card, Fernandez.

[professor ape]

Don’t just be thinking about the BAL missions as they stand. They are part of the larger Franchise Heroes progression. Rose would be nice, but I have been working to gather the components to be ready for the upcoming FH2 release. I have the three current pieces (Franchise Hero #1, Future Stars, and Historical All-Stars) for 16 of the 30 teams and have only been selling duplicates to set up for the Team Mission #2 which will be the fourth item needed to unlock the FH2 cards. Your guess is as good as mine about which teams will have a top tier card released as their FH2 reward.

[theauthenticsimpsonian]

Originally Posted by bailey

I'd be working on the NL collection after the live missions. Its price has come way down; recently I bought Pop Lloyd for 65K on my alt who I think is better than the very expensive BAL card, Fernandez.

Which series is that a part of? I can't seem to find it in the collection missions.

[bailey]

Originally Posted by theauthenticsimpsonian

Which series is that a part of? I can't seem to find it in the collection missions.

It's the Negro League Stars collection

[theauthenticsimpsonian]

Found him! The card says Pop Lloyd on it, but the title is John Henry Lloyd, making it difficult to find.