3. myTeam (NBA 2K16)

You can find detractors of myTeam this year, but what myTeam does just about as well as any other card collecting mode is provide new "stuff" every week. Whether that's new cards in the form of Diamonds or Throwbacks, or in the form of new types of card packs, myTeam tries to keep you on the hunt for the next shiny thing. But really what helps propel the mode forward this year is the ability to create your own jerseys and arena. The Gauntlet shows promise as an arcade off-shoot, but customizing your squad's look is the best new feature here and a main reason why it's one of the choices by the readers as the card collecting mode of the year.

2. Madden Ultimate Team (Madden NFL 16)

Madden Ultimate Team has become known for its "collecting" as its major appeal. No card collecting mode puts as much of a focus on finishing collections and searching through the stock market for ways to complete those collections to get bonus rewards. And MUT has continued to hone in on that collection element while improving its user interface and adding Draft Champions as an offshoot to MUT proper. However, more than anything, I think refinement and polish is why Madden Ultimate Team has been selected by readers as the runner-up as the best card collecting mode in 2015.

1. Diamond Dynasty (MLB 15 The Show)

The developers working on Diamond Dynasty did a great thing this year by showing some gumption and overhauling their card collecting mode in some really smart ways. While many of the card collecting modes have put a focus on the "collecting" aspect, Diamond Dynasty decided to simply focus on removing the noise and pushing you towards playing the mode as much as possible. Your focus isn't so much on opening packs, but rather on refining your team for the next nine innings or heading to the stock market to spend your cash. The stock market is also simpler than in other games as start and end times don't exist for auctions. Instead, you're simply shown what it would cost to buy or sell your card. Even with some exploits that cropped up later in the year that made prices on the stock market insanely high, Diamond Dynasty provided a unique alternative for those out there looking to try out a more streamlined card collecting mode. This seems to have been the right call by developers as it is the Reader's Choice for Best Card Collecting Mode in 2015.

Staff's Choice

Madden Ultimate Team (Madden NFL 16)

As usual, the staff and readers just had a slightly different order here (though myTeam would not have made our top three), but we felt Madden Ultimate Team deserved to win out this year. It can be easy to forget what a dumpster fire the UI in this game used to be, and while it's still not perfect, it's loads better than it used to be. Searching for that next Elite pull or completing another set of Challenges continues to be a great feeling, and there are just so many different ways to build your team (a strength inherent to the sport of football itself) that it makes team building a never-ending tuning process. For those reasons and more, the Staff's Choice for Card Collecting Mode of the Year is Madden Ultimate Team.