Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is a list of five tips for NBA 2K20 MyTEAM.

It’s been my goal in NBA 2K20 to branch out from spending most of my time with MyCAREER and its connected online modes. I haven’t really sunk my teeth into MyLEAGUE yet, but I have played a decent amount of MyTEAM, on PlayStation 4 and PC. My lineup isn’t quite as impressive as it was in NBA 2K19, when a market crash allowed me to pick up Galaxy Opal cards at some ridiculously low prices, but I’m still liking the way my lineup is coming together. I’ve already got Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on both platforms, which is immensely satisfying.

More to the point, I’ve been enjoying the mode. It’s refreshing to control the whole team after years of player locked gameplay, and there’s a good variety of submodes to keep me hooked on NBA 2K20 MyTEAM. In playing the mode, I’ve employed a few tactics to enjoy it to the fullest without having to spend any money to build my squad. So far it’s a case of mission accomplished, so I thought that I’d share some tips in this week’s Friday Five. It’s by no means a comprehensive guide to fun and success in NBA 2K20 MyTEAM, but as always, these articles are meant to start the discussion, not be the final word. With that being said, here are five things to keep in mind!

1. Don’t Buy NBA 2K20 MyTEAM Packs with MT

This is something that was impressed upon me a few years back, and it still applies in NBA 2K20 MyTEAM. If you’re like me and don’t spend money on the mode, you may not be swimming in VC with which to purchase packs. MyTEAM games don’t allow you to earn VC, but they do earn MT, the mode’s unique currency. MT can be used to buy packs as well, but it isn’t advisable. The MT price tags for packs are even worse than the VC prices, especially given how many games it will take to accrue the necessary amount. If you want to buy packs, you’re better off grinding for VC in other modes (such as MyCAREER), and then using it to purchase them instead.

The reason you should be saving your MT and not spending it on packs is that it’s the only currency that’s used in the Auction House. For the MyTEAM gamer who isn’t spending real money to rip open pack after pack, the Auction House is where you’ll most likely acquire a majority of the cards you covet. The best cards are naturally priced rather high – your fellow gamers generally aren’t about to just give them away – so you’ll need to keep a healthy MT balance, and keep replenishing it as you spend it on cards. You can’t do that if you’re wasting MT on packs with rewards that seldom justify the price tag, so once again, grind for VC if you’re going to purchase packs.

2. Make Use of the Daily Login Bonus & Locker Codes

Given that MyTEAM is clearly a big source of recurrent revenue in NBA 2K20, it’s pleasantly surprising that the mode does give away free content and currency the way it does. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not about to justify the practice of microtransactions and so forth. However, there are opportunities to get some great rewards for free, so it’s wise to take advantage of them. First of all, make an effort to fire up the mode at least once every 24 hours to get the Daily Login Bonus. Even if the day’s reward isn’t great – as is the case when it’s something like 250 MT – it’s worth logging in every day to spin the wheel on Fridays. Its lowest rewards are still useful for building your team.

2K were a bit stingy with Locker Codes for the first couple of months NBA 2K20 was out, but they’ve been dropping more frequently since then. It costs nothing but a few minutes of your time to enter the Locker Codes and drop the ball, and the rewards are usually worth it. I’ll admit that it’s somewhat disappointing to get MT when deluxe reward packs or Tokens are on the board, but again, it’s free, so you’re always coming out ahead. Even if you’re not heavily into MyTEAM in NBA 2K20 right now, if you have any interest in checking out the mode, I’d recommend logging in every day and entering Locker Codes whenever they drop. It’s worth the couple of minutes it takes.

3. Hold onto those Diamond Contracts

There are two schools of thought on this. If you like to wheel and deal in the Auction House, Diamond Contracts – which grant unlimited usage to any player cards they’re applied to – can fetch a hefty amount of MT. It isn’t too expensive to buy contracts for players, so it’s more a matter of convenience as far as keeping your favourite players in your lineup. With that in mind, you may want to sell them rather than hold onto them, or at least, hold onto them with the intent of flipping them later. However, if you do want to actually use a Diamond Contract on a player so that they never run out of games, I strongly suggest that you be judicious about the players you use them on.

I don’t just mean the obvious advice of not wasting a Diamond Contract on a Bronze card that’s unlikely to be in your rotation for very long; that goes without saying. I’m talking about waiting before you apply a valuable consumable to one of your best cards. New cards are released throughout the year, and if you’re a keen MyTEAM gamer, it’s quite likely that you’ll acquire a better version of a player you already have, one way or another. A good rule of thumb here might be to avoid applying a Diamond Contract to any card lower than Diamond level, or an Evolution card that can level up to Diamond or higher. They’re rare and expensive, so don’t squander them.

4. Use Triple Threat for Evolution Cards

Evolution cards were a great addition to NBA 2K20 MyTEAM. I like how they’ve added an incentive to play with cards, and perform certain tasks. Many of them are acquired by completing Challenges or as Collector Level rewards, so you don’t even have to pull them in packs. Of course, hitting the statistical goals to evolve cards can be tough in 5v5 play. That’s why I suggest using Triple Threat to reach the goals on your Evolution cards. With only three players on the court, it’s easier to rack up points and rebounds, dunk more often for players that have that requirement, and generally focus on a few Evolution cards at a time. The games are also over much quicker.

I’ve found it to be a very effective strategy so far, though I should note that it’s not the best approach for all Evolution Cards. Any cards with particularly high requirements are probably best put to use in Domination where the games are longer, or indeed, used in every mode that you play in NBA 2K20 MyTEAM. Additionally, cards that require free throws to be made – such as the DeAndre Jordan New Year’s Resolution card – can’t meet that requirement in Triple Threat. Needless to say, using Evolution Cards anywhere and everywhere will be effective in levelling them up, but I’ve found that Triple Threat is very handy, especially at the Emerald, Sapphire, and Ruby levels.

5. Be Patient about Acquiring Top Cards

Anyone who’s willing to dump a lot of real money into NBA 2K20 MyTEAM likely won’t need to worry about this, but again, my advice is mostly for gamers who want to avoid buying VC in the first place. Whenever great new cards are released, there’s a lot of temptation to add them to your lineup. Much like the special effects when you pull a great card, this is by design. 2K wants you to want those cards and do all that you can to get them, including buying VC to rip open packs. As noted by Jim Sterling in many of his videos, it’s the same technique used in freemium mobile games: take advantage of people’s lack of impulse control and patience to get them to spend.

What’s the solution? Be patient. That’s really what it comes down to. At some point, all of those great cards will be on the Auction House. Eventually, they’ll come down in price once there’s a glut of them. Unlike Ultimate Team in NBA Live 19, NBA 2K20 MyTEAM doesn’t display the actual odds of pulling the best cards, but in my experience, they’re not great. There’s also evidence that there are algorithms in place to encourage spending by juicing pack odds; somewhat of a “the first one’s free” type of situation to get you hooked, only it isn’t actually free. If you’re patient, you can get a lot of great cards without spending a single cent, or even grinding hard for VC.

There are plenty more tips for NBA 2K20 MyTEAM, and they’re worth discussing. To that point, I turn the conversation over to you. Feel free to share tips for getting the most out of the mode in the comments section below, as well as in the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.