Breakdown: New Threads Program Drops in Diamond Dynasty

New Threads Program Overview

This New Threads program centers around MLB players who have changed teams in 2025, and while it’s missing the single most obvious inclusions – Juan Soto, who does not appear in the program despite his record-breaking deal to join the Mets, and new Dodgers phenom Roki Sasaki, whose inclusion in the Pipeline Series likely ruled out any appearance here – it is led by new high-80s OVR players at the top end and a slew of lower-OVR players to bolster rosters.

The best of those new players is almost certainly the 89 OVR Anthony Santander that is the New Threads Collection reward, and will require collecting 28 New Threads players to be unlocked. But there are 88 OVR versions of Aroldis Chapman and Max Scherzer here, too, leading a crop of nine 88s, and plenty of the lower-OVR cards have interesting stats.

Participating in the New Threads program will work more or less as has been standard for programs in Diamond Dynasty: Players can make progress on a 100-Star reward path for completing Moments, Missions, and a couple of Collections, with Scherzer awaiting at 100 Stars and plenty of rewards on the way.

The exciting new twist for this program is something that doesn’t tie into that reward path directly, though, with the inclusion of a new Diamond Quest with New Threads players as potential rewards likely to be what players gravitate to first.

New Threads Diamond Quest

The popular new Diamond Quest mode – the roguelike single-player experience added to Diamond Dynasty this year – has been a welcome addition for most DD players, with its mix of gameplay and strong rewards making it a compelling way to play. This New Threads Diamond Quest should be well-received as well, with rewards including two 86 and two 88 OVR cards and welcome tweaks to the mode’s formula.

Those players are 88s of new Giant Wilmer Flores and new new Red Sox hurler Walker Buehler and 86s of new Padre Jason Heyward and new Ranger Jake Burger. 

The tweaks have more to do with time spent in the mode, which could be considerably curtailed by a couple of changes. The first – and more important – is to the Mini-Boss Showdowns on the game board, which have tasked players with coming back from down 2-0 with 12 outs to work with in all three previous Diamond Quest boards. While those Showdowns still exist, there are now also ones that ask players simply score a run from a 0-0 game with eight outs. While the latter game state does reduce the effectiveness of some Perks that players can pick up on the game board, being able to win a Showdown on the first pitch is a worthwhile trade.

Coach’s Cart is also upgraded, now offering three Diamond-level Perks instead of one Gold and two Diamonds.

The map itself is also a nice change: It is more constrained, which should make avoiding the moving Sweeper simpler, and you spawn just seven spaces away from a Stadium Challenge, which could make for quick runs to nab the loot on offer, though likely with low odds.

All told, it would seem like Diamond Quest is going to remain a strong use of time in DD.

Five Must-Have New Threads Cards

As with most programs, New Threads will likely be judged on the cards it brings more than the playable content that it makes available. Happily, the top-end cards are great – and the lower-end offerings aren’t bad.

The 89 OVR Santander is clearly the best New Threads has to offer barring some unforeseen pack inclusion, with his switch-hitting and 100+ Power from both sides of the plate instantly making him one of the best sluggers we’re likely to see through April. The cost here will be steep, with collecting 28 of the 33 total New Threads players surely having a six-figure Stub tab, but switch-hitting power is very rare early on in DD, and it’ll play for a while.

Also high on the list of desirable cards is a perhaps less desirable human, as the 88 OVR Aroldis Chapman brings what every top-level Chapman card does: Heat from a lefty. You would be forgiven for forgetting that Chapman is now with the Red Sox, but if you’ve paid even a bit of attention to baseball in the last 15 years, you’ll be familiar with his flamethrowing. Chapman is the reward for collecting 20 New Threads players.

Outside of the Collection rewards, which also include a less-inspiring Alex Bregman, Scherzer and Buehler look like good but not otherworldly starters, and Kenley Jansen – now of the Angels – has his typically effective cutter. But the Kyle Higashioka that brings 98/118 Power to bear as a catcher, the Tyler O’Neill with a fantastic 105/125 Contact/Power split against lefties, and the Ryan Pressley that has 80+ stats everywhere but Stamina are all great Golds, and destined for lists of “budget beasts.”  

How to Complete the New Threads Program

The New Threads program is clearly not meant to be difficult to complete, as the reward path allows for dozens of Stars from Moments (60 total from 17 Moments), Program Missions (40 total tied to New Threads players), and Optional Missions (75 from 15 Missions tied to various players who switched teams, including ones like Soto and Garrett Crochet) and Pack Collections (100 split between two groups of the players in New Threads packs). For players who spend money or Stubs liberally, the Pack Collections are a very simple and clean way of bypassing the entirety of the gameplay requirements for the reward path.

But with 275 Stars available and only 100 needed for the reward path, the clear way most players should tackle New Threads is by stitching together Stars from a few Moments, using the players earned on the way in other game modes, and ignoring the Collections entirely. The inclusion of 15 players outside of the New Threads reward path who can generate Stars through Parallel XP Missions makes this simply one of the most welcoming Programs San Diego Studios has ever put out – and that will make it a breeze to complete for most.