Key Questions Going into Team Diamonds

TD is my favorite program of the year (with last year's TT Remix as a close second).  As a low money spent guy (e.g., season packs), I rely on working the Auction House and card collecting in general to build my team, so the traditional TD event is perfect for me.  I've been planning for TD since August, and it shows in my binder - I'm sitting on 1400+ cards, with very few doubles.  All this said, I think there are five key questions that remain unanswered that'll determine the optimal strategy for attacking the promo (and please add your own!)

1. What is the OVR of the hero for each team (and will there be one for each team - we haven't seen the two per team in a while...)?
2. What is the aggregate TP required for each team's hero?  As is the case every year, some teams are stacked with 85+ cards (Niners), while others aren't (Panthers).
3. What is the highest OVR card required for the set?  Last year, every team required a 88-89 Wild Card, but didn't require specific team-based 88-89s.
4. To what extent will Legends, All Maddens, and AKAs be leveraged in the sets?  Traditionally, sets relied on Core Golds and Core Elites to build, but there are a lot of 78-86 non-hero program cards that might be used in the sets.
5. How low into Core Golds will they go for set pieces?  Last year, it ended at 76s.

I'm hoping we get 92 heroes (cheaper to build than 93s) with a 96-97 champion, with set pieces starting at 78 and topping out at 88.  

Thoughts appreciated!

I'm hoping we get 92 heroes (cheaper to build than 93s) with a 96-97 champion, with set pieces starting at 78 and topping out at 88.  

I agree with this

Awesome info as always JS keep up the wonderful work my brotha.Thanks for doing this

MrAgentSochi said:

I'm hoping we get 92 heroes (cheaper to build than 93s) with a 96-97 champion, with set pieces starting at 78 and topping out at 88.  

I agree with this

There are also two X-factors (no, not those X-factors) that may make things tricky this year.  First, the inability to build midlevel sets (think 83 or 85 UK cards) will make completing certain sets hard.  The second is that the AH experience on old gen systems and PC (where I am) will continue to be an issue.  I've been looking for 78 Core Gold Willie Gay for weeks now.  TD can help (by waking up people to be the benefits of cleaning out binders) or hurt (people will use the cards they have as set pieces).

Slammer4244 said:

Awesome info as always JS keep up the wonderful work my brotha.Thanks for doing this

Always happy to help where I can, Slam!

jsmiller2003 said:

Always happy to help where I can, Slam!

Yes sir my brother always

Probably be 95/96 Champ yeah 

Other than that we dont know until they show us the rest/hit

Good stuff here,

Just speculating but I feel like the sets may use lower ovr cards than they typically do because ovr started lower this year

Breakluna said:

Good stuff here,

Just speculating but I feel like the sets may use lower ovr cards than they typically do because ovr started lower this year

That's my hope too, Breakluna.  The odd thing this year is the program was seemingly released a month or so later than it has in the past.  Because of that, the hero OVR is essentially higher than it was last year (if, as we've believed throughout the year, a 92 last year is roughly a 94 this year).  As a result, it's just going to take more cards/TP to earn the "higher" OVR TD hero for each team.