The veterans amongst us Diamond Dynasty players typically have a routine we employ for each Early Access launch. A refined approach to get us into the game early, begin the grind to improve our team, and hopefully rack up a bunch of free packs to crack along the way.
This guide is more intended for new players to Diamond Dynasty. A quick itinerary on what I'll be doing first to help you get your feet wet and start earning rewards and building your squad in MLB The Show 25!
Crack Packs!
Nothing says Early Access launch night like ripping a bunch of packs. If you're playing Early Access, that means you'll have access to a fair number of packs to begin your 2025 gaming. Between pre-order packs and Twitch drops, I'll have plenty of packs to get me going and start building my squad's foundation.
I typically reserve my major Stub purchases for this very occasion as well. I enjoy the slow improvement and building throughout the year, but I also love ripping a couple bundles to begin the year. The excitement from chasing Diamonds when packs are the most valuable is a blast.
My personal strategy will be to finish the Atlanta Braves live series collection before I finish anything else. That means I'll probably be selling off any non-Braves Diamond pulls to fund that collection. Then again, if I pull Ohtani or Judge I'm almost certainly keeping them. That's part of the fun of the early going! The big live series cards will probably stay in my binder, but everyone else will be flipped to complete my Bravos.
Starter Program
Typically, a quick tutorial starts us off that we have to complete before moving on to exercise our free will.
The Starter Program showed off on the Live Content stream certainly still feels worth doing immediately. Not only do you start filling your binder with cards that can improve your squad and pad your collections, but the 83 overall Roger Clemens you get is a usable version of a new legend. For many of us, this will be the only Clemens we can use for a while as we slow roll our way through the live series collection.
Rack up the rewards and see how you feel about the different modes! I personally prefer Conquest for the 3-inning games and will spend quite a bit of time with the new mode - Diamond Quest. Once you have a feel for what you enjoy, then you can really start honing in on your own path.
Spring Breakout/Pipeline Programs
Personally, I'm going to start ripping through the Spring Breakout and Pipeline Programs to keep building up my squad. If my pack opening runs dry, this will be a huge boon for my squad and almost a necessity. If I hit some big live series cards, I might end up pivoting but I still think this program is too fun to pass up early on.
Remember, padding your binder for the collections will save you time in the long run too!
Conquest
My yearly tradition usually saw me jumping into the lengthy USA Conquest map once my team was to my liking. The games are meaningful with all the rewards waiting to be earned on the map and for progressing through the map.
This year, the map is split into three parts and I absolutely love this. You could complete the USA map with the exact same strategy every year and it felt like nothing more than a time sink. Even though it's basically the same exact thing, hitting that completion much earlier than normal will be enough of a boost to keep going.
Plus, with the My Legacy program always working in the background to earn you progress - playing modes like this will help you progress that program much faster as well.
Conquest usually pays out a healthy number of packs and Stubs as well, which will only help the cause of building Stubs and going after specific cards you want.
Explore!
This was meant as a general guide for new players. There's a lot to do in Diamond Dynasty this year, and the Multiplayer Program frees us up to actually play what we want and manage our time accordingly. If you're brand new and not quite confident to play online yet, get those Conquest and Diamond Quest games in to start sharpening you skills. Playing in Play vs CPU games is also a great way to get a feel for game mechanics and build that confidence.
Once you're feeling ready for online play, or if you're ready from the jump, playing online will open up a whole new avenue of killer rewards. The more you play, the more comfortable you'll get.
Before you know it, you'll be a Diamond Dynasty old-head like the rest of us.
What are you planning on doing first in Diamond Dynasty?
Cory Wayne Dell
Cory has been writing about all things baseball and gaming since 2022 and has been featured at Operation Sports as well as cited by Forbes. Cory is also a multi-instrumentalist and founder of the band Cargocastle. Cargocastle's latest single, "Truth and Reconciliation," is available on Spotify and all major streaming platforms. Cory is also the author of Shadow of a Monster, a personal memoir currently seeking publication.
