New Threads 2.0 Program, July Spotlight Ken Griffey Jr. Come to Diamond Dynasty

New Threads 2.0 Program Overview

As noted in this space last week, the MLB trade deadline featured a flurry of moves in reality, but not much of significance for Diamond Dynasty's Live Series cards, with just one Diamond-tier player -- Mason Miller, now of the Padres -- swapping squads.

The New Threads 2.0 program released in Diamond Dynasty this Friday changes that, with more than 20 new 97+ OVR cards in their -- duh -- new post-trade threads coming via an XP reward path, packs, a Showdown against new Mets closer Ryan Helsley, and a collection awarding Miller, new Cubs left fielder Willi Castro, and returning Astro Carlos Correa, now at third base.

The new Miller might be the best reliever in DD, with 125s in all of H/9, K/9, and Pitching Clutch, but most of the other cards feel like 99s out of obligation. Castro's is not that substantial an upgrade on his legendary Chase Pack card from earlier this year, though this one can play every position in the field except first and catcher, and Correa's is just the best Corra will get, with lots of triple-digit attributes but nothing completely maxed out. In the packs, Eugenio Suarez gets his rightful 125/125 Power stats for a year as a bombardier, Jhoan Duran (125 H/9 and Pitching Clutch and Outlier on both his four-seamer and splitter/splinker) might rival Miller among relievers, and Cedric Mullins and Ryan McMahon -- new to New York teams -- gets suspiciously spectacular cards that are both a little low on Vision.

Maybe the most exciting New Threads 2.0 player is actually one who hasn't made his MLB debut as of yet: New Athletics superprospect Leodalis De Vries gets a 99 OVR card that is a five-tool stud at short but can also play second base, filling out an Athletics infield that already had a couple of exciting youngsters. This De Vries is a special insert player, so he might be Chase Pack-level rare, but it's a nice way to juice up a program that mostly consists of players either rising (Miller, Duran) or removed from their peaks (Correa), with Suarez being a rare exception.

Finally, another unexpectedly neat bit of work for this program is that its collection is not distinct from the previous New Threads program, so those lower-Diamond players who were part of the initial New Threads program are now worth many more Stubs than they were days ago. And given that there's a Diamond Quest that churns out four of them, that might be a lucrative weekend grind.

Ken Griffey Jr., Willy Adames Take July Lightning

There was no player hotter in Major League Baseball in July than the Athletics' Nick Kurtz, who had 11 homers, a .395 batting average, and a 1.433 OPS in the month, arraying a number of nice performances around his legendary four-homer, 19-base rampage against the Astros on July 25.

Naturally, it's Willy Adames (?) who takes Lightning honors in the July Spotlight program over Kurtz. Not only do Adames's numbers pale in comparison to Kurtz's for July -- try seven homers, a .337 batting average, and a 1.096 OPS -- but he is, of course, a San Francisco Giant, and thus still technically a rival of the Shouldstillbeinoakland Athletics. Ouch.

The 99 OVR Adames is a fine enough card, with maxed-out Contact and Power against lefties and maxed-out Batting Clutch -- meaning he'll be hitting just about everything at the plate, and doing serious damage to lefties -- but is just a good defender and plays a position that has gotten crowded of late, with several 97+ OVR options arriving since the All-Star break.

And that doesn't even count the 97 OVR version of Adames who previously showed up in the July Spotlight program for Drop 1 after a torrid first week of the month. If the argument against Kurtz as the July Lightning player for an unforgettable month is that, yes, he did already have two cards in the program as it was, and probably became the front-runner for AL Rookie of the Year honors as a result of his hot streak and Jacob Wilson's injury, why is giving a different player who had a good but far less distinguished month a second card any better than making a third for Kurtz or forgoing his Milestones card for a proper Lightning one?

Anyway: That's all the undercard of the final Spotlight drop for July, as Ken Griffey Jr. getting a Retro Lightning card for his 11-homer, 30-RBI July 1996 was clearly the headline of Tuesday's release. This version of The Kid -- the nickname starred out in in-game messaging -- is a truly worthy representation of his peak, with essentially every one of his five superb tools well-represented on a card with 113 Power against lefties as his lowest stat in Contact, Power, and Batting Clutch, an 88 Arm Accuracy his worst defensive attribute, and a 90/80/80 speed triad that will keep him swiping bags despite him recording just 16 stolen bases in 1996.

Realistically, this card has a great argument to be the best Griffey we get this year, but the wonderful thing about it is that Griffey was as good or even marginally better in his AL MVP campaign in 1997 than in 1996, so it is awesome as it is -- but there's still just a tiny bit of room to improve on it with a Finest or Awards Griffey very late in the game cycle. As managing the power creep of players and full releases goes in Diamond Dynasty, this is pretty nifty work.

The rest of July Spotlight Drop 4 will be familiar to players who have now seen four full months of the Spotlight program: It's a super-sized batch of Spotlight cards, there are a bunch of Spotlight packs in the XP reward path, and that path is paved by accruing stats and completing moments with the previous Spotlight releases. An excellent Jarren Duran sits at the end of the XP reward path, and the packs included strong versions of George Springer and Salvador Perez.

To unlock Adames, players will need to add the four freely obtained July Spotlight Drop players from their respective XP reward paths to the July Lightning collection; to nab Griffey, players will need eight of the 11 July Spotlight pack players, with one such player guaranteed in the pack one rung below Duran on the XP reward path for Drop 4.

Other News and Notes

• August's Spotlight program can't really match the wattage of a Drop 4 with its Drop 1, but it is at least trying for some star power with a 99 OVR Anthony Volpe that has 125 Contact against lefties and 125 Power against righties. It's a Yankees shortstop, so it follows in the Derek Jeter tradition of being distinctly bad on defense, but why wouldn't the Yankees deserve two new 99 OVR infield options in one week? The pack players are unusually lower-key, in Warming Bernabel and Aaron Civale, while Eli White gets one of the least predictable Topps Now cards of the year with a 97 OVR version celebrating his Speedway Classic heroics.
• Chase Pack 21's featured player is a Hall of Fame series George Brett that appears just about as good as his collection reward from a Diamond Dynasty past did, holding 125s in both Contact ratings, Vision, and Batting Clutch. He can't bunt, but who cares?
• New missions are here for the Multiplayer 6 program, and new Edgar Martinez and Cool Papa Bell players are the newly-revealed player unlockables on the XP reward path. The Martinez is a premier DH, as he should be, but can also play first; the Bell is a pitcher with significant two-way flexibility.
• Next week's content includes a new Diamond Quest, Conquest, and Event on Tuesday, and an attributes update, new Mini Seasons, and new Signature Series program on Friday.