Moonshot Program Brings Byron Buxton, Big Bats to Diamond Dynasty

Moonshot Program and Collection Breakdown

Teased in game by the emojis of the phases of the moon, the Moonshot Program dropped on Friday with a slew of new cards in a gorgeous design reminiscent of the real-life Topps Cosmic Chrome release -- and a lot of those cards are stars set to shine in lineups. The program's XP reward path contains surprisingly powerful versions of Luis Arraez, Roberto Clemente, and Brian Roberts, other such souped-up contact hitters like Lou Brock and Alan Trammell exist elsewhere, and the program's collection rewards are studly cards for Carlos Delgado, Yasmani Grandal, and Byron Buxton.

An Arraez with 81 and 78 Power against righties and lefties respectively is a rather strong card given his Contact and reliably sweet swing, but this one also has secondary position eligibility at second and third, if you're willing to chance that on his 53 Fielding. Clemente also gets some great pop for early in the cycle against lefties, at 93; a version of the Puerto Rican giant not hamstrung by low Power is a welcome change.

Of course, the Collection rewards are the real bright lights here, with Buxton (all 41 Moonshot players collected) being a crown jewel freighted with the memories of last year's awesome Cornerstone Captain card and a handful of useful Quirks; his weakness is worse-than-usual Speed (just 84) and fielding, which reflect him finally hitting his 30s. Grandal is arguably even better relative to position than Buxton, as his card may well be the best slugging catcher in the game for months to come, with 111/100 Power splits and the switch-hitting to maximize those stats; certainly, he is a strong alternative to April Retro Lightning Carlos Santana, and comes less than two weeks after Santana's arrival. Delgado is a lefty-mashing left-handed first baseman (100 Contact/106 Power) best used as a designated hitter, but he also requires just 16 players to be unlocked.

The Moonshot XP reward path is a 100-Star affair culminating in Roberts, a switch-hitting second baseman with every Contact and Power stat at or above 88 who is by some distance the best XP reward path reward for any program in DD this cycle. A single home run in practically any mode not against a friend grants 10 of those Stars and gets players all of the Common pitchers necessary to tackle the player-specific Parallel XP missions, where 25 Stars are available for the five pitchers and 20 more are tied to the four hitters unlocked on the path. Another 50 Stars are available for the stat missions, all of which require hitting homers with Moonshot series players or players with Speed under 40 or Speed above 80, Fielding below 65 or above 85, and right-, left-, and switch-hitting batters.

It wouldn't be a Moonshot program without the ethos -- prodigious power and Common-level pitchers who serve up the meatballs that become the proverbial moonshots -- being reflected all over, with a returning Moonshot event pitting batters against Common pitchers at high-elevation Laughing Mountain. 45 Stars are available in a series of missions tied to that event, making it very easy to mix and match XP tasks in this program for online players.

But the event isn't all that extends Moonshot beyond its XP path: A new Diamond Quest with 91 OVR Harrison Bader and Prince Fielder as Epic rewards and an emphasis on slugging-related moments is now available, and seems likely to be a fun thing to grind for players who prefer batting moments to pitching ones, while the program also has a neat and unique Parallel XP quintuple bonus for home runs through May 27, and Chase Pack 10 is out, with a 93 OVR Cedric Mullins that might be a half-step down from the collection rewards but should still be a terror against right-handers.

Happy homering, all.

May Spotlight Drop 2 Invaded by Jasson Dominguez

In a cheeky nod to his "Martian" nickname, Yankees center fielder and erstwhile super-prospect Jasson Dominguez is the headliner of May's second Spotlight drop, topping the XP reward path after a three-homer game for the Bronx Bombers last week. 88 OVR Matthew Lugo and Stephen Kolek cards join the 91 OVR Dominguez on that path, while the Drop 2 pack players are 91 OVR Willson Contreras and Danny Coulombe cards and 88 OVRs of Erick Fedde, Cade Horton, and Drake Baldwin.

Dominguez is a really good switch-hitting center fielder, but also a bit duplicative of Bernie Williams in that role for Yankees theme teams. Contreras is a well-rounded catcher whom it might not make sense to shell out for given the existence of Santana and Grandal. And if you can deal with Coulombe being a late-career soft-tosser, his 114 H/9 and 125 Pitching Clutch will do plenty to shrink opponents' PCIs.

This Drop also has one of the wilder Extreme moments we are likely to see all year, as 30 Stars are up for grabs if you can win a nine-inning game by at least the 21-0 count the Padres mustered against the moribund Rockies last weekend ... which requires both the 21 runs and the shutout. It's only on All-Star difficulty, and shouldn't be too hard even if players will need to avoid giving up fluke homers and maximize a Padres offense that has just four Diamond cards in this moment, but, well, Jackson Merrill is supercharged at the time of publication.

MLB Rivalry Weekend Program Is Here, Too, I Guess

The real-life MLB Rivalry Weekend taking place this weekend is in some respects stretching the definition of the word "rivalry," but it does bring a program to Diamond Dynasty that is a nice source of XP, packs, and Stubs. For obtaining its 75 Stars, players get 20,000 Inning XP, five The Show packs, 750 Stubs, and a 90 OVR Hunter Brown and 91 OVR Adolis Garcia tied to the Astros-Rangers series this weekend. And those Stars can be nabbed rather mindlessly, as 25 are in stat missions that can be completed basically accidentally and 50 are available for completing a Conquest map with six Strongholds. (If, on the other hand, you inexplicably hate Conquest: 15 moments awarding five Stars each are also available.)

Brown and Garcia are more fine than fantastic, with Brown's only 100+ stat being a 103 Pitching Clutch and Garcia being most notable for a 99 Arm/Arm Accuracy combo that will be great wherever you deploy him in the outfield despite his card being tied to him tying the Rangers' rookie record with 30 homers.

For a program attached to a promotion that it doesn't feel like MLB put all that much thought into, even underwhelming rewards are better than nothing.

Housekeeping

• Earlier this week, Diamond Dynasty got its first repeatable Conquest map of the year, a Magic Number campaign that allows players to rack up five The Show packs per each completion. Skilled Conquest players can knock that out in an hour or less, and it is a welcome addition to DD's offline grind options.
• Also dropping this week were new 93 OVR Pedro Martinez and George Springer cards as World Series Ranked rewards, 92 OVR Dennis Eckersley and Luis Rengifo cards as Battle Royale Flawless rewards, and the new Multiplayer 3 program with 90 OVR Josh Hader and 91 OVR Rafael Palmeiro cards currently revealed. The Pedro is from his Mets days and a touch underwhelming with no 100+ attributes except Stamina, the Springer similarly lacks 100+ stats besides a 104 Power against righties, Eck is a very good Eck, and Rengifo has spectacular 122 Contact against lefties as a switch-hitter.
• Another round of Flash Sales earlier this week brought a number of discounted packs to the ol' Show Shop, but one in particular stood out: The 20th Anniversary pack that contains many of the preorder bonus 20th Anniversary players, all of which go for about 14-15K Stubs on the market, was available for purchase for 7,500 Stubs. Quick flips worth thousands of Stubs like that are rare and well worth pouncing on.