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Go hard and get rewarded in the new June Countdown Program.
June Countdown Program Brings Time-Limited Experience to Diamond Dynasty
Kudos are due to San Diego Studio: The June Countdown Program is a big swing at something new and rewarding in Diamond Dynasty. And it was worth the suspense surrounding it for most of the last week.
This Program has enormous rewards — 75,000 Stubs at its top tier, but oodles of Inning XP and a slew of Packs, too — but has a bunch of other novelties: A time-limited structure, expiring at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on June 30th; Missions that are grouped into Easy, Medium, and Hard buckets that each must be completed before the next tier is unlocked; and, maybe most importantly, sellable rewards, meaning that the Zach Britton and Ronald Acuña Jr. cards that highlight the Program will still be available after it expires.
And it doesn't matter much that both Britton and (especially) Acuña are not world-beaters on paper, as both are highly coveted DD cards and this Acuña has the ability to play center field, a rather useful secondary position specifically for his fit in an always-crowded Braves outfield. (Consider that the Braves could have excellent outfielder cards for all of Acuña, Hank Aaron, Michael Harris II, Andruw Jones, and Chipper Jones — and that you only get one designated hitter.)
The draw here is that this is a grind that demands your time as a player now but also provides rewards commensurate to the investment. For a Diamond Dynasty cycle that has been light on that and heavy on mindless grinding, that's a substantial shakeup — and probably something that should be brought out time and again.
Joe Mauer, Difficulty-Based Rewards Lurk in Gauntlet Mini Season
And if the difficulty-based stuff in the June Countdown Program wasn't enough for you, good news: The Gauntlet Mini Season is here to provide more challenge and better rewards ... including the Joe Mauer many thought was coming in previous content releases.
Mauer's a little underwhelming as a card, no matter if "disgusting" is the adjective of choice on an SDS live stream: He's a Contact-first catcher who is a left-handed bat at a position where many, many switch-hitting options are available, and he has merely good defensive attributes and below-average speed. As the "premier" reward in the Gauntlet Mini Seasons, that's especially disappointing.
But Mauer is also the key that unlocks grinding on higher difficulties within this Gauntlet: Using him to tally 40 total bases on Hall of Fame or harder will award one of the ultra-rare Ultra Packs that go for 50,000 Stubs in the Store and will guarantee Red Diamond-level cards for most Programs. Completing other tasks on Hall of Fame or harder will also yield other strong rewards, including another Ultra Pack for hitting 30 homers, and that makes this Gauntlet a good place to grind for offline players.
One lemon of a Mission, though? Scoring 30 runs with Silver or lower players on Hall of Fame will award a Jumbo Pack, which should help with the supply of lower-tier cards ... but isn't particularly valuable, in terms of expected Stubs, and also requires rostering those Silver or worse players (or, if you're willing to do the more tedious work, subbing them in for better players once they're on the basepaths).
Nasim Nuñez Steals the Show in June Spotlight Drop 3
June's Spotlight Drop 3 is by far the least of the major releases in DD this Friday. What else is new?
Dustin May and Colt Keith are the big names this go-round, and show up in the Spotlight Pack available in the store, but Washington Nationals contact specialist Nasim Nuñez might be the best of this content round. Very much reminiscent of the Cole Carrigg in the last release, Nuñez comes with excellent stats everywhere but Power — though Carrigg has more, to be sure — and a bunch of secondary positions, making him easy to use anywhere on the field.
A Topps Now Dalton Rushing — with secondary eligibility at first and both corner outfield spots — is probably the best of those lesser inclusions.
Other News and Notes
- The latest Chase Pack featured player is Bryce Harper, being celebrated for his cycle last week. It is not a particularly good card, especially for its 98 OVR, but it should rake against lefties, and that's basically what Bryce Harper does in 2026, so: Fitting? Fair?
- The Moonshot Event and Event Program are back in the form of Moonshot II, with the homer-friendly Shield Woods serving as the all-time stadium. A 96 OVR Awards Series Nick Castellanos is the ultimate reward, with triple-digit Power against both lefties and righties just two short Parallel levels away and better Contact than is typical for Casty cards.
