Friday content drops remain undefeated.
Diamond Dynasty introduces the Cityscapes card series, highlighting players who had significant moments or tenures with specific cities. This isn't just a new pack in the Show Shop; it's an onslaught of content across multiple modes in Diamond Dynasty.
Cityscapes Program Breakdown
Featuring outstanding card art as always, the Cityscapes series debuts with a program that features some very good cards.
Five Cityscapes cards are earned by completing the program:
- Ian Happ, LF, CHC (92 OVR)
- Rollie Fingers, CP, MIL (91 OVR)
- Brian Dozier, 2B, MIN (91 OVR)
- J.R. Richard, SP, HOU (90 OVR)
- Willie McGee, CF, STL (90 OVR)
Each of these cards have a Moment worth 5 program stars. The rest of your stars are earned by completing the above missions.
Cityscapes Mini Seasons Breakdown
One of many Cityscapes themed ways you can grind out the program is the new Mini Seasons. Choose between 3 or 9 inning games within a 7 or 28 game season, and complete goals to earn the following players:
- Edgar Martinez, 3B, SEA (91 OVR)
- Jim Edmonds, CF, STL (90 OVR)
- Ian Kinsler, 2B, TEX (90 OVR)
- John Franco, CP, NYM (90 OVR) - #3 CP Meta Overall
Cityscapes John Franco is an absolute gem of a reward. Franco is typically very useful online with his somewhat funky delivery and absolute bag of pitches to fool opposing hitters. With the recent update bringing the ABS strike zone to Diamond Dynasty, finesse pitchers like Franco may be more valuable than ever. If a pitch even grazes the strike zone, it's finally consistently called a strike.
The vicious Sinker/Screwball combo is even deadlier now.
Important note: The rewards earnable in the Cityscapes Mini Seasons CANNOT be sold on the marketplace. As of publication, these cards are required to complete the Cityscapes collection (detailed further below.)
Cityscapes Conquest
A new Conquest map also arrives, featuring eight stronghold games to conquer along with the CPU's territories. Along with the usual hidden rewards, you'll earn two Cityscapes Deluxe Packs as well as 90 OVR Cityscapes Richie Sexson by completing the Cityscapes Conquest map.
Here is a map of the hidden rewards for the Cityscapes Conquest map: https://cdn.showzone.gg/payload-api/HHRI0VsbMAAmWNvformat=jpg&name=large.webp
(credit: JesseD123)
Visit ShowZone's Conquest page for detailed breakdowns of every single Conquest map. See the hidden rewards in addition to a full breakdown, showing you the actual value of each map to help you decide if it's worth grinding.
Cityscapes Diamond Quest Breakdown
A new Diamond Quest map has also arrived, featuring Cityscapes Michael Young and Dave Parker in the Epic Rewards slot. These cards can be bought and sold on the marketplace, meaning you can skip out on completing the map if Diamond Quest isn't your thing.
ShowZone also has a dedicated Diamond Quest page, featuring breakdowns of every Diamond Quest map's respective rewards.
Cityscapes Pack Breakdown
The bulk of the Cityscapes players dropped today are found in the Cityscapes pack.
As a full premium set, we get the trifecta of Deluxe, Premier, and Ultra versions of the pack.
The players featured in the pack fall within three different tiers: 90 OVR (Base), 91 OVR (Mid), 92 OVR (Rare). The featured players are:
- Sammy Sosa, RF, CHC (92 OVR)
- Max Muncy, 3B, LAD (92 OVR)
- Jacob Misiorowski, SP, MIL (92 OVR)
- Felix Bautista, CP, BAL (92 OVR)
- Curtis Granderson, CF, DET (91 OVR)
- Barry Larkin, SS, CIN (91 OVR)
- Don Baylor, LF, LAA (91 OVR)
- Hunter Brown, SP, HOU (91 OVR)
- J.T. Realmuto, C, PHI (91 OVR)
- Chandler Simpson, LF, TB (90 OVR)
- Steven Kwan, LF, CLE (90 OVR)
- Michael Busch, 1B, CHC (90 OVR)
- Johnny Bench, C, CIN (90 OVR)
- Kyle Seager, 3B, SEA (90 OVR)
- Tom Glavine, SP, ATL (90 OVR)
Cityscapes Jacob Misiorowski debuts as the #2 Meta Overall starting pitcher.
We're finally seeing some Outlier pitchers show up. The Quirk signifies pitchers who consistently top out with velocity, and there's been a clear separation between pitchers with and without it so far this year. The Miz packs double Outlier as he also has the Quirk on his secondary Slider.
Cityscapes Felix Bautista also debuts as the #1 Meta Overall closing pitcher.
Bautista has absolutely absurd attributes for a 92 overall, and also has Outlier on his primary Sinker. I pulled him out of one of my free packs and used him extensively in the new Event (detailed below). He's as nasty as he's ever been, though the poor Control (64) definitely reared its head quite a bit and he got hit pretty hard overall during my 14-game run. Absolutely could have just been my performance as well, but I wasn't nearly as successful with this Bautista as I typically have been in the past.
Chase Pack 8 - 94 OVR CP Cityscapes Aroldis Chapman (Boston Red Sox)
The newest Chase card is also from the Cityscapes series and it's an absolute monster of a card.
Aroldis Chapman continues dominating opposing hitters well into his 17th major league season. As such, he's certainly earned the clout of a Chase card selection. This 94 overall version of Chapman is just about everything you'd want in a Chapman card - except he doesn't have Outlier on his 4-Seam Fastball. He does have the Quirk on his secondary Sinker, however, the 4-Seamer will still hit 100 MPH easily.
Most importantly, Cityscapes Aroldis Chapman's core attributes are insane for an early game card. Expect this card to remain fairly pricey for a while, especially until and unless we see more Cityscapes cards to lower the cost of the collection.
I completed the new Event tonight, which also completed the Multiplayer Program. I pulled this Chapman out of my Chase Pack and sold him very quickly. With next week's roster update, this healthy Stubs infusion can potentially help me pounce on Live Series cards that get downgraded and output maximum value.
Free Cityscapes Robin Yount Exchange
A new exchange has been added, rewarding players with a free Cityscapes Robin Yount for exchanging duplicate cards. If you have enough duplicates saved up, grabbing Yount is worth it - especially if you're planning on grinding the program or event.
Cityscapes Collection
Collect 30 total Cityscapes cards to complete the set collection and unlock 93 OVR Cityscapes Mickey Mantle.
Cityscapes Mickey Mantle is a peculiar card. With a bottom-level value currently sitting around 250,000 Stubs (to complete the collection), this card is sort of underwhelming. Meta Overall practically disowns this Mantle as he doesn't rank anywhere above the #28 spot at any of his eligible positions.
The caveats here are: it's Mickey freakin' Mantle and he has a great swing, and Parallel Mods are literal game changers as you can customize players into your ideal version of them once you reach Parallel 5.
Still, the sight-read stock attributes are unexciting which makes completing this collection a trial of faith. Collections are also easier to complete this year, as new premium packs are added to the random and choice pack rewards spread throughout Diamond Dynasty.
April Showcase Event Breakdown
Finally, today's content is capped off by a brand new Event. Events have had a bit of a renaissance so far this year, with the older format returning and definitely sparking more interest in me.
Events have featured at least one reward card earned by completing missions online within the Event. The April Showcase Event does something new, rewarding one each of the April Spotlight packs for Drops 1-4. This is awesome and will help more people complete the Retro Lightning collection, which has been incredibly expensive and difficult to complete the last few years.
Go beyond and grind out an insane amount of PXP (in addition to the other missions) to unlock a free 92 OVR Spotlight Carlos Cortes.
By no means is this a throwaway card. Cortes features balanced Contact and Clutch attributes against both sides, with 91 POW R making him a worthy DH or platoon bat. He also features defensive eligibility at RF, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, and LF - making him insanely valuable especially since he has Rally Monkey and Pinch Hitter Quirks in tow.
Important note: Spotlight Carlos Cortes will not count towards the Retro Lightning Collection. That collection continues to only include the Spotlight cards featured in packs. Cortes CAN be collected towards Miguel Cabrera in the Legends and Flashbacks collection.
There's your Friday content dump. Will you be working towards the Mickey Mantle collection? What are your thoughts on the Cityscapes series?
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