Fast Break, the nightly lineup game in NBA Top Shot (official site), is back on opening night, Tuesday, October 20. On every NBA game night you pick five players from your Moment collection, and their real performances that night decide whether you win it. Win the most nights and you take the run. A top 50 finish in any run earns a place in the Fast Break Finals, where the top 10 in the Classic Final win a seat in an NBA Finals suite.
This season has two main formats, Classic and Pro, plus a separate mode called Historic Fast Break. All of them can be played every game day.
Classic and Pro
Classic works the way returning players remember. Every Moment in your collection is eligible, so someone who started collecting in 2020 and someone who opened a first pack last week can both set a lineup straight away.
Pro is tied to upcoming Top Shot releases. Each Pro run has a theme based on the next drops, with nights built around the sets in those drops, so Moments picked up this season go straight into play. Pro runs also include nights for the flagship Rare and Legendary sets, such as MGLE and Holo Icon (Top Shot 50, Cosmic and Holo MMXX among them), plus nights for Top Shot Debut Moments and Moments carrying reward badges from Challenges, Leaderboards and Crafting.
A run lasts 11 to 13 game nights. The collector who wins the most nights takes it.
New this season: limited uses per Moment
From Run 1, each Moment can only be played a set number of times per run. You have to decide when to play your best players as well as whether to play them.
A Moment’s number of uses comes from its average sale price or its tier, whichever is higher. A Rare that sells for $9 still gets two uses because its tier counts for more than its price. A Rare that sells for $75 gets three because its price counts for more than its tier.
That change favours collectors with depth over those holding a single star. Ultimates can be played every night. Elsewhere, timing matters: knowing when to bring out a Legendary and when to hold it back could decide a run.
Historic Fast Break: five legends under a cap
Historic Fast Break uses simulated games between NBA legends, built from each player’s career averages. The games play out live on a schedule, with box scores and lineup scores updating in real time like a normal slate. One night could have Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Dirk Nowitzki on the floor together.
You pick five legends from that day’s simulated games, and the highest FastBreak Points total wins the night. Each legend has a Roster Points rating based on career averages, and your five have to fit under a budget of 350. Stacking the five greatest players of all time won’t fit, so the skill is in finding a legend whose night is worth more than his rating.
Historic is free to play, and you don’t need to own a legend’s Moment to use him. Owning one does help, because it lowers that legend’s Roster Points:
- 5% for a Common or Fandom Moment
- 10% for a Rare
- 15% for a Legendary
- 20% for an Ultimate
In the example lineup, Hakeem, Robinson, Dirk, Dominique Wilkins and Tracy McGrady come to 360 Roster Points, ten over budget. Owning a Hakeem Olajuwon Legendary drops him from 94 to 80, and the five fit at 348.
The Fast Break Finals
A top 50 finish in any Classic or Pro run qualifies you for the Fast Break Finals, an invite-only tournament running from Tuesday, March 30 to Sunday, April 11. Finishing in the top 10 of the Classic Final wins a seat in an NBA Finals suite.
Every run is a new chance to qualify, so a slow start doesn’t end anyone’s season. Classic runs lead to the Classic Final and Pro runs lead to the Pro Final, and it’s possible to qualify for both. The Pro Final has cash prizes, with details still to be announced.
Players who miss the Finals can keep going in an open Classic run that runs alongside them. Fast Break starts Tuesday, October 20, the first night of the NBA season.
