<![CDATA[When every card is kinda the same]]>This is always my biggest complaint about The Show every year - what's the point when theres a million identical cards, all juiced to the hilt?

Ive heard a lot of people say they like this time, because they like being able to use anyone. They like having 25 choices at each position of players who are juiced 99s. It probably does increase lineup diversity a bit.

But, it makes forming teams feel trivial. It makes almost any reward that you get feel trivial.

It would be delightful if we were forced to use lots of different cards by the game - forced to build different teams. Forced to use captains and boosts in different ways. Like, it would be easy to give challenges where you have to build and compete with different teams - both online and offline.

Theres never been a real focus on collecting cards and using them all to build teams. That should be the fun part. Not using them to stick in your binder or sell.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/topic/85198/when-every-card-is-kinda-the-sameRSS for NodeMon, 02 Nov 2026 12:11:20 GMTMon, 02 Nov 2026 01:19:05 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to When every card is kinda the same on Mon, 02 Nov 2026 11:48:40 GMT]]>I dont think so many good players would be "tied to the meta" if the game made you play with varied teams - so your opponents cant "meta up" against you.

Maybe a few guys who are good enough to do "foot timing hitting" wouldn't like it (cause they only wanna play with guys they've memorized) - but thats a pretty small portion of players.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/783635https://forums.theshow.com/post/783635Mon, 02 Nov 2026 11:48:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to When every card is kinda the same on Mon, 02 Nov 2026 04:48:38 GMT]]>You will notice that there have been about five or six switch hitters with extreme pull or pull tendency added since Zobrist. That’s about all they have left haha.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/783628https://forums.theshow.com/post/783628Mon, 02 Nov 2026 04:48:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to When every card is kinda the same on Mon, 02 Nov 2026 06:58:38 GMT]]>This is one of those cases where the community is at odds with itself. For every person who hates that every card is too stacked and too similar at this point in the year, there is another person asking SDS why they are still releasing 97 OVR cards a week after the all star game. Or a person who thinks that every card in every new drop should be the new meta.

I understand that if all you play is ranked and weekend classic and your ranking is important to you that you will always use a meta squad. But there is more to the game than ranked.

I use my Cardinals theme team for 95% of my offline play. I still have non-99 cards in my lineup. Why? Not because there are not higher rated options. Lou Brock and Ted Simmons are not coming out of my lineup. Nobody was excited for McGwire but he is, for now, my new DH.

There are plenty of opportunities to mix things up. You could run an all gold team against a conquest map and be successful just like we all were at the beginning of the year. Try your favorite theme team against the stacked lineups in Mini Seasons. There are options and there are people who approach the game in very different ways.

Maybe SDS could be better at incentivizing varied team builds. But, maybe some players also handcuff themselves to their meta teams.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/783622https://forums.theshow.com/post/783622Mon, 02 Nov 2026 06:58:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to When every card is kinda the same on Mon, 02 Nov 2026 02:23:25 GMT]]>Would be nice to have Team Affinity so you would have to use the different cards from each team.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/783621https://forums.theshow.com/post/783621Mon, 02 Nov 2026 02:23:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to When every card is kinda the same on Mon, 02 Nov 2026 01:46:19 GMT]]>I agree with you Ruben, all cards being so stacked is not enjoyable. Would rather be able to build different teams with different stats

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/783619https://forums.theshow.com/post/783619Mon, 02 Nov 2026 01:46:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to When every card is kinda the same on Mon, 02 Nov 2026 01:24:27 GMT]]>I really thought the game was more fun when an 85 was a Gold and Diamonds didn’t start until 94 or 95. My memory is not serving me well so it might have been 95. That’s when Gold cards were relevant and usuable online.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/783617https://forums.theshow.com/post/783617Mon, 02 Nov 2026 01:24:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to When every card is kinda the same on Mon, 02 Nov 2026 01:23:47 GMT]]>This is my least favorite time of year. I like from launch until the All Star break.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/783616https://forums.theshow.com/post/783616Mon, 02 Nov 2026 01:23:47 GMT