Diamond Dynasty is Changing – BIG Time!

It’s not hyperbolic to say that Diamond Dynasty will never be the same again.

Thursday’s Feature Premiere from San Diego Studios was all things Diamond Dynasty features — the Diamond Dynasty content stream will be March 23, just a few hours before the game goes live for early access.

The goal this year? Fundamentally change squad building. Before we dive into the new features, it’s important to understand why the changes were made. Ramone and Co. have been candid during the Feature Premiere cycle thus far, admitting that last year’s game — and maybe even previous iterations — weren’t perfect. The Diamond Dynasty team wasn’t happy with the pattern the game had fallen into, a pattern where new “god-tier” cards come out only to be replaced a week later by betting cards. The grind literally never stopped.

Grinding is fine if it makes sense. Now, it actually might. High-level 99 cards will be available day one, a huge shift away from the power creep method. How will it work? Keep reading to find out.

Sets and Seasons

The guys on stream said that this is the biggest change to Diamond Dynasty ever. Team building will never be the same with the implementation of Sets, which correspond with Seasons.

Seasons will be 6-8 weeks long, and only cards from the corresponding Set (plus the previous one) will be available to use. “Core” cards — like live series, live series collection rewards and to-be-honest cards — will be usable in every Season.

Once Season 3 begins, Set 1 cards won’t be usable outside of a single “Wild” card that can be designated from any Set.

99’s will be available on DAY 1 of MLB 23!

Players will be in “Sets” during a 6-8 week periods, and you can use them only in those sets when eligible in Ranked Seasons.

It seems Core (I’m guessing LS cards among others) will be usable all year.

What do we think? https://t.co/stOAB8WK3G pic.twitter.com/TYwIvINdLF

— Scann (@TheScann) February 21, 2023

Captains

Another potentially game-changing feature, Captains make team builds somewhat meta. You aren’t forced to use a Captain card on your team, but if your squad (whether coincidentally or otherwise) fits a certain theme, you might as well get the boosts.

There will be two Captain slots on your squad, one hitter and one pitcher. Hitters must stay in your starting lineup for six innings (they can’t even be subbed out if you try). You can remove those players from the game starting in the seventh inning to retain the boosts. Pitchers just need to be in your rotation or bullpen and can be used as little or as much as you’d like.

Your opponent’s Captain boosts will also be viewable in the loading screen for each game.

Along with this comes “The Captain” card series, which was honestly an inevitability with Derek Jeter’s inclusion. Every MLB team will have at least one Captain available at launch, and it’s likely the first 30 cards will be part of this series.

A super cool Captain feature comes in the future theme options that will be available. It won’t just be a team-by-team concept. Milestone Captain cards could be a thing. A Willie Mays Captain card was shown on stream that gives boosts to players from the 1950s and 1960s. Options galore.

Ranked Co-Op

Captains can be used in Ranked Co-Op, which has undergone a variety of changes. The reward path is completely separate from what is now being called “Solo” Ranked, but the reward for making World Series at a 900 rating will be the same across all ranked modes. Inning progress in both Ranked Co-Op and Solo Ranked filters into the same Ranked Program, so that means you could potentially earn World Series rewards three times per Ranked Season.

There were also updates to people quitting during the middle of Co-Op contests. In 3-v-3 Co-Op, one player can quit and it will convert to a 3-v-2. And if you quit, you’re hit with a short cooldown that will stack the more you bail — potentially growing your cooldown to a weeklong ban from the mode. It’s unclear if the cooldown concept will be used across all online modes or just Ranked Co-Op.

Mini Seasons 2.0

SDS was transparent, saying that Mini Seasons simply wasn’t ready last year. The team didn’t have enough time to do everything before launch, so what we got was an incomplete product.

It should be better in MLB The Show 23, with stat tracking and awards after each 28-game season (plus playoffs), custom away stadiums (you’ll play the Cairo Cats in Egypt), and a clean user interface. Plus, you can play customizable themed seasons (all lefties, all righties, switch-hitters, etc.).

Odds and Ends

• SDS reiterated that two-way players will work
• Any card — even a common pitcher, for whatever reason — can be used as a designated hitter. There will also be players who are listed as designated hitters, like David Ortiz and Nelson Cruz.
• Do you finish programs early? You’ll now be able to get unlimited rewards for every 25,000 XP you accrue after you max the program. You’ll get random rewards for every 25K.
• TEAM AFFINITY IS BACK! I’m sure there will be more details to come soon. It was SDS’ version of a Marvel post-credits scene.

Thanks to everyone who read all the way to the end. If you want my opinions on all the new features, you can head here to see my reaction.