On Friday morning, 2K released its blog for MyTeam on current-generation consoles and PC. The blog is massive, but there are some key points I touched on in a previous article to give you a good idea of the biggest changes ahead in the mode. Take a look at it to see a more complete outlook.
Here, I’d like to hone in on the two best additions to MyTeam for NBA 2K21 current-gen and the two most detrimental omissions. Let’s start with the good.
MyTeam Limited
I’ve been saying for about a year, it’s kind of hard to have MyTeam Unlimited if there is no Limited version that further conveys the shackles-off concept that is supposed to power the former.
This year, on Friday, Saturday and Sundays, 2K will have MyTeam Limited play which will be online head-to-head matches featuring various restrictions. One weekend, you might not be able to use a lineup with players over a certain gem level. Other weeks you might have to use only players who graduated from a certain school (I made that one up, and it may not be a thing), but these are just a few examples.
The point of MyTeam Limited is to add more value to cards across the mode. The prizes for competing and succeeding in Limited is championship rings. The MyTeam life cycle will be divided into Seasons this year, and you’ll be charged with winning the championship rings included in each of the campaigns.
If you can, you’ll be able to unlock bigger rewards.
I love this concept, and it stands to have even more freshness because it will be replenished with new concepts and rewards with every new Season. This is exactly what I was hoping to see as it pertains to themed competitions with some cards that you might not have used otherwise. The implementation of Seasons and championship rings only make the concept better.
Leagues in Unlimited
Unlimited play wasn’t as rewarding as it needed to be in 2K20. The rewards for soldiering your way to a 12-0 record lacked the punch required to align with the time investment.
This year, you’ll play in league tiers that are named after the card gem levels. The object is to progress through all nine levels up to the Galaxy Opal league. The earlier levels will have smaller requirements to pass, and you can make the leap the moment you hit the required win amount.
Each league has a prize for surpassing the standard, with each stage offering a bigger and better reward. The Galaxy Opal league requires you go 12-0 for the maximum reward. This is another strong addition because it adds layers to the MTU experience and should potentially produce better prizes for major success.
No Salary Cap Mode
I stated a few weeks ago that if this year’s version of MyTeam didn’t include a Salary Cap mode, it would be doomed to its annual cycle of early relevance, and late-season fade, at least as it pertains to competitive balance.
I still feel that way, but perhaps not as much as I originally did before I learned about MyTeam Limited. I spoke with executive producer Erick Boenisch, and he completely explained the scope of Limited. While I wound up liking that new feature even more, it didn’t serve to sever my ties to a Salary Cap feature.
Limited will deliver some needed freshness, especially later in the MyTeam life cycle. It will add some value to older and lower-level cards. However, it still doesn’t completely fill what I believe is a void in the mode’s feature set.
While MyTeam Limited offers some nice alternatives and some balance, it’s only being offered on the weekends. That’s fine because of the nature of that feature, but because it’s not static and available every day, it doesn’t lend itself to the consistent presence and standardized concepts that could really fuel competitive play, or a strong eSports vehicle–which I believe is well within MyTeam’s reach.
Because of this, it’s difficult to understand why 2K wouldn’t include a Salary Cap concept.
Madden has it with Salary Cap Ranked in Ultimate Team, and other collector modes have something similar. Why would 2K not include this seemingly pertinent component to MyTeam? I’ve talked to people throughout the community who believe 2K wants to keep this out of MyTeam because there may be some belief that a Salary Cap function wouldn’t be as much of a driver for users to purchase packs.
That’s not a preposterous concept, and with yet another cycle passing without this included, you have to wonder if there is some validity to those suspicions. We still have to wait to see what we get from the next-generation version of MyTeam, which hopefully will include this much-needed layer.
However, I’m less confident of that being the case.
No Draft Mode
Some will argue this is just as big of an omission as the missing Salary Cap mode. Arguably the most enjoyable ways to play Madden, FIFA, NHL, and MLB The Show’s collector modes is through their draft features.
With no sign of a draft feature for current-gen available, 2K will again be the only major sports video game franchise without a draft option. The whole draft concept could potentially be at its best in 2K, but for whatever reason, we still haven’t seen it land with the series.
Again, this feature, like the Salary Cap mode, could be on the way for next-gen. If that’s the case, this issue will be largely remedied for those who plan to upgrade, and for 2K fans in the future.
