Pack Attack - 2017 Topps Series 1

Here we have the last pack out of the assorted pack box from this past week end, so let's see if this was a worthwhile purchase overall...



Flagship Topps are a good enough pack to pull, but will there be anything worthwhile...


Decent photos, but I do find sometimes, there are too similar and there isn't enough variety or uniqueness to the shots - unfortunately because I think they save those for the variation short prints. The entire set should be shot like the short print photos.


Speaking of good photos - the Ortiz one is a great one, and this is the standard base card. With David and it being his last season there are about 10 different variation cards I believe and most, if not all, have great photos that are more meorable.


I do have one, and now two, but I will happily accept it for the Jays content in the pack.


We finish off with an insert - the obvious 1987 designed throwback, with a David Dahl rookie card. You know it is a rookie card because of the not so retro RC logo which I wish for this design, they would have just left off, but a minor point. Besides, the glossy finish and lighter wood grain colour would be enough to discern this from the original set before looking at the card number.

Pack Attack - 2017 Honus Bonus Fantasy Baseball

I was interested in opening one of these packs when I broke into the box this past weekend...


2017 Honus Bonus was supposed to be a fantasy card game and set of baseball cards for collecting all wrapped together into one.

The way it worked apparently was to buy the cards in packs, then go online, set up a free account, and then scratch the code on the backs of the cards to get that player available to choose in your fantasy baseball team for the year.

I will give full credit for the unique idea. I don't think it panned out that great, but unique nonetheless.

It is also an interesting set because it isn't parallel and insert heavy as everything else these days. There are silver parallels inserted one per pack - the only difference from the base card being that the card has a silver foil HBP logo instead of a non-foil one. There are some other inserts, but not many at all - a number of one of one type milestones and sketch art cards and dealer specific cards.

None of those here, but let's take a look.



I love the colour accent with the fronts, though the black and white player pose - would have preferred the reverse.

Can't complain too much about the players - like the Votto and Sano.

As for the backs...


Nice to have the one prior year in stats, but that is all you get. For a game about fantasy baseball, I would have though more stats would be useful. Lots of information on pushing to the website, not surprising, but takes over the back.

Pack Attack - 2015 Panini USA Stars & Stripes

The good news on this one is that it is a hobby pack.


It isn't a set I will really ever care about collecting, so this is all about maybe pulling an insert or parallel to keep. My hopes were high initially as the pack felt thick, but on opening it, I got a dummy card and the following...


Isn't the cards - I cut off a bit of the white border in my scan - oops. The design is a decent one, and I wouldn't mind a Topps set, maybe with a team logo instead of the Stars and Stripes logo, slightly smaller.

I did happily get a couple cards for keeping...

A longevity parallel card - easily spotted with the foil background.


No matter the subject, Diamond King inserts or subsets are pretty darn cool and collectible. I am still solidly behind the older designs, and this isn't one of my favourites, but still above average as far as designs are concerned.

So that's the quick pack for today....see you again tomorrow!

Pack Attack - 2014 Panini Prizm

From the box this past weekend, I got three packs, but since I am keeping one for the collection of unopened packs, we have two for opening today.

Why both in one day? Well, with 4 cards in each, I wanted to make sure I had something to write about and 8 cards gives me a better chance at that!

First reaction on opening a pack - what the heck is on these cards!?!?! They are covered in a dusting of white "dust". I shouldn't have to spend 2 minutes wiping the cards off before scanning them - hopefully this isn't how all the packs they made were...

*Looks around the internet*

Interesting - if you want to know what I am talking about, here is a quick write up that addresses it.

Pack #1

You can see some of the corn starch on the cards still - pack fresh indeed! A decent enough design with no licence, and a decent Intuition insert, so not a bad pack overall.

Pack #2

They all may be base cards, but if I were a PC guy- Tony Gwynn would be one of them, and that is a pretty sweet base card. As for the Rookie Cards, I don't mind the slight difference in base care design for them, but wouldn't have minded if they did them for the former players like Gwynn too.

Overall - an okay couple packs, even with the starchy surprise.

Pack Attack - 2013 Triple Pain...er...Play

Why are you here?

Well since you are, the best part of this post will be a quick update on my goal for the year which was to trade away 5,000 cards. Well, I have a box going out on Monday with close to a thousand cards. Along with a number of small PWE trades, the total for the year stands at 3,258, so I am making good headway!

Anyway, back to the question - why are you here?

I am because I always am, good or bad - but you have a choice...save yourself!

If you have not heeded my warning, well, join me as we suffer through 5 packs of 2013 Panini Triple Play baseball "cards" today. Having gone through these packs a few times in similar cases - getting them in assorted pack boxes - I know to expect the disappointment.

Hopefully I haven't oversold this amazing time we are about to have, sarcasm also included in excess.



Pack #1

They can't even use a different graphic between the base card and the sticker insert....wow. At least I got a Jays card out of this one, so I will take that as a good start with Dickey.

Pack #2

A Pre-Toronto David Price card is as close as we get to a Toronto card here. Dud of a pack.

Pack #3

I can live with the soul stealing direct star All Star cards if I had to pick something of interest out of the set. Also, at least the Triple Play card is a card and not a sticker.

Pack #4

Sweet - a second Jays card - so overall, I don't think this can be much better for the extremely low expectations.

Pack #5

Well, at least we end with a "bang". These hits have been beaten on by everyone, so I don't feel I need to add to the fire. This is supposed to be a set for young kids, and Panini assumed young kids won't care where a jersey came from (maybe Walmart in this case....). Still, I can at least put it with the other "hit" from this set I have I guess.....hidden away at the back of somewhere.

Well, a little better than I expected, which is like giving a rating of 2 out of 10 when you expect a 1 out of 10.

Tomorrow can't be much worse though...so hey, silver lining!

A Championship unboxing

Today an unboxing of one of my favourite types of products, the repack box!



A newer product at Walmart, I figured I would pick one up in hopes of adding a few packs to my unopened pack collection. For $30, my selling point was the 10 packs. I get the Ohtani card (another fad that is starting to settle out....for most....I think. Don't get me wrong, good player, and unique, but the market was crazy after just a few starts this season.

I wonder if I could have got the box for $20 if there was no Ohtani card though....

I will also give them credit for advertising the 5 Triple Play packs. At least it is right there on the box, no surprises. I would have been irritated if it was sold as 15 unopened packs and nothing more said, then got 5 of them.

So let's break this down to see what we get....

First, the Ohtani....

Definitely has a Leaf card feel to me, and as you can see, I didn't get the short print or serial numbered version - shocking.


The promised 5 packs of 2013 Triple Play - nothing interesting will be coming out of those I presume.


The first add to the unopened pack collection - 2015 Panini Elite of which I have no cards either.


Another new one - I will keep one and open one at a later time. I have seen a couple of these opened, and they are interesting enough for a 2017 product.


I have picked up these before in similar unopened pack boxes so don't need it - we will open you later.


Though I have some 2016 cards, this is the first pack for my unopened pack collection.


One of these will be kept - not my favourite line of cards, but we can see what they look like in the other couple packs.


Lastly, another case of keeping one, and opening the other. Interesting that one of the two packs, I can feel the security tag which is in the pack. My question - are those completely random, or are they done in better packs, with hits or such? I think it is just random, but let me know if anyone else knows any better.

So, there we go - 5 new packs for the collection of unopened packs to move to...
Baseball - 202
Hockey - 226
Magic - 85
Wrestling - 5
Obviously not a massive collection, but much easier keeping a pack of each instead of a box or whole set of each.

I think I'll get into a pack or two, or 5, tomorrow, and maybe over the course of this week, but was this a Championship unboxing? Well, 5 new packs is good, but it'll come down to whether there is anything great in the packs that are to be opened....only time will tell.

Getting a bit better...

Highlight:

Well, better than yesterday, at least there are a couple cards that will be kept. This being the best of the...couple....

Matt hung around the league for part of 7 seasons. His most solid stint was in St. Louis, He had 46 points in 82 games with the Blues in 2010-11.

The rest
Keepers:

This is Milan Kraft because the scan is so hard to read.

Traders:




When I saw the three diamond Paul Kariya from 2005-06 Upper Deck Black Diamond, I didn't think I had it, but this is a second one, but still a decent enough trader.

As for the 1990-91 QMJHL 7th Inning cards, I have already moved a lot of these away to others. I would say trade, but I usually threw them in as extra because I am not interested in the minor league cards. So, not sure how close I would have come to completing the set out of the Santa Lot, but I can live without knowing that.

There has been an abundance of basketball the last couple weeks - at least that is what my piles say. I don't put away what I share here right away - I sort them into piles of where each needs to go, and there has been a pretty even split of hockey and basketball the last month, and a nice lack of football overall - not a bad trend, though still quite low on baseball.

Through 11900 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 4) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	191	26
Inserts / Var Kept	376	63
Error	19	3
Keep	2329	353
Doubles/Sell	2124	276	2003	3200	312	44
Doubles Inserts / Var	159	4	201	217

Phone home

Highlight:

On a day there is nothing for me to keep in my collection, it is a matter of taking the best of what is there - and this one card makes that choice a bit easier.

I didn't see E.T. when it first came out, but as a kid a few years later. I don't remember the movie as much as I remember having an E.T. figure for a while (though it is long gone). It wasn't a hard action figure, but wasn't a plush toy either, I remember it having a bit of weight to it. This card, with E.T. among the toys, looks about right for what I remember.

Lowlight:

A shame that this card has almost been split in two...but maybe that's just Manny being Manny....

The rest
Traders:



Well, even though nothing here to keep, there are a couple items of interest between some additional Upper Deck Classics baseball cards circa 2005, and a Jason Smith 2007-08 Topps 1957-58 insert.

Not the greatest day with pulling 20 from the Lot, but could be worse....or better maybe...like tomorrow...

Through 11880 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 4) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	191	26
Inserts / Var Kept	376	63
Error	19	3
Keep	2327	353
Doubles/Sell	2109	276	2000	3200	312	44
Doubles Inserts / Var	159	4	201	217

Par for the course

I hate golf. Playing at least, I can watch it on TV no problem, but to play - it interrupts a good walk. I enjoy the beauty of a nice golf course, similar to the beauty of a ballpark, but the game itself - I suck, I know it, and I don't enjoy it, and don't care to get better at it.

That - has absolutely nothing to do with the cards I am discussing today, but was what came to mind when going through today's cards and thinking it was par for the course. A fine saying, tied to a sport that I have no interest in getting better at.

Highlight:

I have no problem taking a Leaf from a set we have seen a lot of...we can call this the birdie of the day...

Lowlight:

Definite bogey here...simple as that...

The rest
Keepers:

Then the keepers and

Traders:


All from sets we have seen, just keeping it otherwise...par for the course.

Through 11860 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 4) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	191	26
Inserts / Var Kept	376	63
Error	19	3
Keep	2327	353
Doubles/Sell	2104	270	1993	3200	312	43
Doubles Inserts / Var	159	4	200	217