Now playing: Back to the '90s

[pwootten]

No contest. Mystery Cards hands-down. I cannot count the times I've built a 70's team around Joe Morgan, only to get his one "off" season. This causes you to reconfigure everything. The same goes for hidden gems like Steve Blass and Dave Collins, who return big on the money spent when you hit their peak years. It's the fun of SOM plus the uncertainty you get in the real world when a player has an off-season. Multi-season keeper leagues with the format are even better.

[ROBERTLATORRE]

[quote:5589e40a80="pwootten"]No contest. Mystery Cards hands-down. I cannot count the times I've built a 70's team around Joe Morgan, only to get his one "off" season. This causes you to reconfigure everything. The same goes for hidden gems like Steve Blass and Dave Collins, who return big on the money spent when you hit their peak years. It's the fun of SOM plus the uncertainty you get in the real world when a player has an off-season. Multi-season keeper leagues with the format are even better.[/quote:5589e40a80]

HA! don't you end up reconfiguring ALL of your teams Paul?????

[ROBERTLATORRE]

I am a huge 70's mystery card fan but I have more interest in the single season leagues lately. Can't seem to get my head around ATG though, so much talent available I don't understand the draft strategy.

[voovits]

[quote:9aa8b71b05="latorrer"]I don't understand the draft strategy.[/quote:9aa8b71b05]

There is no strategy. There's enough talent to go around that it's mostly just like a coin flip.

[nels52]

I've always been a single season player usually ATG but I noticed the mystery cards have the same fielding, basestealing etc. ratings for all 5 cards. Does this mean that all 5 cards actually have those ratings?

[visick]

Yes

[Outta Leftfield]

[quote:6a92e98232="voovits"][quote:6a92e98232="latorrer"]I don't understand the draft strategy.[/quote:6a92e98232]

There is no strategy. There's enough talent to go around that it's mostly just like a coin flip.[/quote:6a92e98232]

Actually, it is possible for a good manager to get a fairly consistent edge, even in ATGV, but it's not easy. Most successful managers seem to try for a significant home field advantage by using an unbalanced park, let's say a park favoring LH power and penalizing RH power (or vice versa), or a park favoring or squelching power from both sides of the plate. They build their teams around the characteristics of the park, while still trying to be able to win on the road.

Finally, they adjust the team they've drafted to face the opposing teams in their division and league. The huge pool of players gives you lots of options on how to tackle the particular set of parks and the particular set of players you'll be facing in this particular league. And the info at Diamonddope.com is invaluable.

Ultimately, ATGV is a whole different game from the mystery card formats. I prefer the mystery card format, but it takes skill to win at either one with any consistency--and a hefty dollop of luck helps too. :wink:

[Outta Leftfield]

So far, I can think of HOFers Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, and Dennis Eckersley as players who are in all 3 mystery card sets.

Eck is the only one who is at his best in the final decade--an amazing achievement in itself.

Am I missing anybody?

[Paul_Long71]

good observation. thought Brett and Yount might be in it (went to '94 and '93) but no such luck. Probably a good thing as they would have been just o.k. options at the tail end of their careers (like Winfield in this set).

[Paul_Long71]

Andre Dawson? was he in the 70s game?