MLB Champions is a fantasy baseball game that uses Ethereum-backed digital collectible figures. Players can buy figures in packs, place them on the field within game cards, and earn points when the represented baseball players score or win games in real life.
Not sure if you want to play MLB Champions?
This article will explain exactly how the game is played, so you can decide for yourself whether it sounds like it would be fun.
We’ll go over registering for the game, buying figures, game cards, how the scoring system works, and more.
Most importantly, we’ll consider the question of what kind of players are most likely to enjoy MLB Champions and what kind of players probably won’t.
If you’ve heard of MLB Champions and want to know whether it is worth checking out, read on to find out.
Registering with MLB Champions
To get started with MLB Champions, players need to first register with the game and set up an account. This can be done by navigating to the official MLB Champions website and clicking sign up.
Enter an email address, password, and username. Then click register account. You’ll get a confirmation email within a minute or two.
Click the link in this email to verify your address. Then refresh your browser so that the “verify” button disappears.
Once you’ve verified your address, the final step in registration is to link your Metamask wallet to the game.
From within the MLB Champions main menu, click +ETH Wallet. The game will send a connection request to your wallet.
Click connect and then sign to connect your wallet to the game.
The registration process is simple and straightforward. Most players shouldn’t have any trouble with it.
Buying figures
Players who want to get started with MLB Champions will need to invest in at least one figure.
There are two ways to buy a figure: either buy one from another player or else pull a random one from a pack.
Buying from another player
To buy a specific figure from another player, click on the marketplace tab at the top of the page, and scroll down past clubhouse and recently sold until you get to the marketplace section.
Click on the specific figure you want. This will bring up the figure’s info page. In our testing, we found that the page often didn’t load images correctly.
But luckily, the text made it clear that we were on the right page.
Scroll down and click the green button that says buy now and lists an ETH price. You’ll get a Metamask popup window that asks you to confirm the transaction. Prices range from 0.03 to 0.08 ETH (approx. $9-$25).
Get a figure from a pack
If you don’t want to pay another player for a figure, the only other way to get one is to pull it from a pack.
The figure you get will be random. So if you want a specific baseball player for your collection, this probably isn’t the best method of obtaining it.
But buying a pack will give you a chance at pulling a rare for much less than it would cost on the marketplace.
Still, pulling a rare is unlikely. So you’ll have to weigh this benefit against the guarantee of getting a specific figure from the marketplace.
Buying diamonds
To buy a pack, you’ll first have to purchase diamonds. Click the marketplace tab at the top of the main page.
Then click buy diamonds.
The cost for diamonds is around a penny per diamond, with a minimum order of $9.99 for 1000. If you buy 4000 at a time, you can get an extra 250 of them as a bonus.
By default, the store is set up to accept USD for diamonds.
So if you want to use ETH, click the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner to change the payment method.
Buying packs
Once you’ve got diamonds, click the draft tab. A single pack with one figure costs 750 diamonds (around $7.50).
You can also buy a pack with 3 figures for 2,200 diamonds.
If you really want to go all in on collecting MLB Champion figures, you can even get a pack with 45 figures by plunking down 32,000 diamonds (approx. $320).
Once you’ve bought the pack, it will begin to open.
And your figure will be revealed.
We found buying figures to be a relatively painless process. Aside from a few minor glitches with the images, everything worked smoothly.
And MLB Champions has really cool pack-opening animation. So kudos to the developer for that.
Creating game cards
Once a player has at least one figure, he can create a game card and start playing.
To create your first card, click the play tab at the top of the page. This loads the game UI in a window within the page. All of the MLB team logos will be shown.
Click the team that your figure plays for. This will open your info page for that team.
This info page will keep track of your rewards for this team, current game cards, the number of figures you have for the team, and more.
Once you’re done looking at the info, click create game card. A blank card will display.
As in real baseball, there are 9 positions. You can also place figures in 7 slots within the bullpen and 6 slots within the bench.
Click on the position you want to place your figure in. A window will display with your figure’s information, and you’ll be asked to confirm the placement.
Click select player to confirm your selection. You’ll now see your player on the field.
Choosing an event and finishing the card
While you are placing your figure, you can also choose an event. Push one of the plus (+) signs at the bottom of the card and choose an event.
An event may be something like a home run or a 100 mph pitch. If the event you choose happens during the game, you’ll get bonus points.
The events available to you depend upon which figures you have placed on the field.
The more figures you’ve placed, the greater the number of events to choose from. You can choose up to 5 events total from the ones you have available.
Click save changes to complete your game card. The figures you’ve placed will now earn you points the next time this team plays a game in real life.
So make sure you keep up with the game when it’s happening.
In our testing, we found that the MLB Champions game screen took a minute or two to load.
And we often had to zoom out our browser to see all of the display. But other than this, the process of creating a game card seemed to work just fine.
MLB Champions scoring system
When we first encountered MLB Champions, we had a difficult time finding information about the scoring system.
It wasn’t obvious how a figure actually earns its owner points. Do we get points for runs, tagging other players out, catching balls, or what?
After talking to a few players in the official MLB Champions Discord though, we were able to get a pretty clear answer to this question.
So here is how the scoring system works in MLB Champions.
Automatic points
No matter what your team does, you will get a few points automatically. These are called “baseline points.” The more figures you have on the card, the more baseline points you will get.
You will get 10 baseline points for each figure that is in a position on the field. Each figure in a bench or bullpen position will give you 5 points.
You will get additional baseline points based on the rarity of the figures.
A common figure will give you 1 extra point, uncommon 3 extra points, rare 6 extra points, ultra rare 12 extra points, and epic 24 extra points.
Overall, this means that a card with a single common figure will award 11 points automatically per game.
And a full card made up of nothing but commons will award 242 points automatically per game.
Points for winning or playing a game
You will get an additional 10 points for each game that your team plays. If your team wins the game, you will get 50 points instead.
Event points
If your team achieves one of the events selected, you will receive points based on this chart.
A rare event such as a perfect game or 15 strikeout game will award the most points, while a more common event such as a home run will award much less.
Player performance points
The developer claims that you will also receive points based on your figure’s “player performance.”
Any figure you have placed in a field position will receive these points based on that player’s individual accomplishments within the ball game.
The developer has not released a chart or other explanation as to how these points are calculated. However, from conversations on Discord, it appears that these points are marginal.
Most of the points are either automatic, come from winning, or come from events. The “player performance points” don’t seem to matter much.
Caps and rewards
At the end of each game, players receive a currency called caps based on the number of points they received.
For example, if you scored 100 points in the game, you receive 100 caps when the game is over.
Caps can be spent on special team reward packs within the game. These packs cost 3500 caps.
They only contain players from a particular team, and the figures within them have a chance to contain rare attributes.
There are also additional rewards for players that achieve unusually rare feats, such as reaching a certain point threshold while simultaneously choosing the correct event with the correct player performing the event.
MLB Champions Review
We bought a pack and got the Tampa Bay Rays’ Second Baseman, Brandon Lowe, as our figure. We placed him at second base (because, duh, why would we put him anywhere else?)
We found ourselves anxiously awaiting the chance to watch the games – or at least to check the scores after they were finished.
And we ended up earning 213 caps from games over the next few days.
MLB Champions is fun. Or at least it is if you like baseball.
And it’s cheap. Most fantasy baseball leagues cost between $30-$180 to get started playing. But you can start playing MLB Champions with around $10.
If you do decide to invest more money in it, you can sell your collectibles when you stop playing. That’s a lot better than putting in money and never getting it back.
Of course, some traditional fantasy baseball leagues do offer cash prizes. And MLB Champions offers only collectibles as a reward.
So if you’re really good at this kind of thing and want to compete for big cash prizes, you might be better off with a traditional league.
But if you just want to have fun collecting digital baseball figures and trying to guess which teams will win, MLB Champions may be just what you are looking for.
Aside from players who are looking for cash prizes, this game will also not be fun for players that are looking for a standalone baseball game.
There is no way to play MLB Champions without watching real baseball games, or at least without checking their scores on the Internet.
So if you’re interested in a blockchain PC baseball game instead of a blockchain fantasy baseball game, you are probably going to be disappointed in MLB Champions.
In conclusion: MLB Champions is a great game for players who like digital collectibles and fantasy baseball. If you don’t like either of these things, it’s not the game for you.
We hope you’ve found this review of MLB Champions to be helpful. If you have any questions or comments about the game, please leave it below.
And for more reviews of blockchain games, check back to this website on a regular basis. We are always adding new titles to our selection of game reviews.
