In A Half Shell

Some MTG catch up today as I picked up some more packs from earlier this year.

It came to my attention that the Play booster packs went back to multiple pack art designs where sets had moved away from that for a few years. Does mean I need three per release again instead of just one if I want to cover all the artwork.

Add in so the packs for the TMNT / MTG crossover from Universes Beyond, and it became a more expensive 401games order.

The singles from TMNT were more minimal...

Do like the use of the turtle head as the set logo. Also, there of course must be pizza! The couple play boosters though came with a purchase of...

This set is one of the nicest crossovers that I may even have a bit of interest in seeing in hand. Add in a good price, and I have some packs to open later with this one.

Great box artwork though. Going to be hard to ruin it...but alas I will at some point.

What only gets better when opening though, is PWE trades. Before signing off for today, I have one to share from TCDB member Ricky_Bobby which touches on most of the different wants I collect.

We have some base set building help. 2020 Topps flagship set is now about 90% complete, and the Bruins Ultra card - was going to be for local collector Scott, but happens to be a card I need for a set build...so I'll look for a second copy for him at some point.

Jays and Leafs are always a priority. Pearson completes the Prospect Jays insert team set of four cards, while the Marnet Superstar Showcase is the second Leaf for completing that insert set.

Additional copies of Leaf cards from Timmies sets I work to complete, and other TImmies cards are always a welcome addition too. I'll have to go put those into the respective binders....which, one day hopefully will actually get completed.

Not Enough

Before we get to cards from the 2026 Lot, a quick share of some more Magic card pickups from 401games as I scoured through a few more commander sets to pull artifacts for my collection.

We start in 2020 with the Zendikar release and related Commander cards. Sure, some cards we see in many sets like Mind Stone, but the rares are nice (cheaper) pick ups with Bonehoard, Scytheclaw and Seer's Sundial.

My absolute favourite pick ups for the bunch are the Brothers' War commander set cards in the retro brown borders. You will never get me to agree the change to the silver border was a better choice in colour - I am old school and want my artifacts in the retro brown border always.

Colfenor's Urn is an interesting defensive card. If you have creatures which are going to be lost, a good way to bring them back with the use of the card, even if you lose the card after it's used.

No complete sets here, but more artifact cards now than I had before. All in, my Magic card collection is the smaller than baseball or hockey, but just ahead of wrestling - both those are only around 6,000 - 7,000 cards. Actually, speaking of hockey though, we can lead into the Lot...

Just like the Leafs didn't have enough going for them last season to be anywhere near the Stanley Cup, the 2026 Lot didn't provide enough of 2022-23 O Pee Chee Platinum's base set to have me want to fi fishing the build. Doesn't mean we can't enjoy what we did get.

Sweet as these keeper Leafs include new to me Tavares. Of course Tavares really made his career outside of Toronto, but his captaincy in Toronto was important as he was the first permanent captain in about 3 years, and the 25th captain in Team history.

If you like Chrome type cards and the O Pee Chee brand, this set is for you! Personally, I prefer the regular O Pee Chee with the massive set and when it was brown cardboard.

If you like write ups - look elsewhere as the cards are stats - and unfortunately not complete ones if your career is over about 7 years.

Sid The Kid is here!

Unfortunately the picture selection is very consistent through the set - on ice but no action in order to focus on the player without background "noise". A choice, but not my favourite way to go.

Good news for anyone looking for some set help though, just let me know.

Socc It To Me

 Well, here's a different day from the 2026 Lot...

I will say, I have absolutely no interest in club level soccer. I do love a great World Cup and I have loved that level to the point of watching every game as a teen back in 1994.

Heck, it was the sport I played for years as a kid - that and bowling were my hobbies. Bowling was weekly with grandpa, soccer and couple nights a week with my mom (and my sister when she was old enought to play too).

The card design is fine, and the backs are alright too - though I'd always prefer more stats.

Nice - I can appreciate a short prints variant. Guess we can call it a happy card?

Any big soccer card collectors out there?

Oops...missed listing the variant...Will fix for next time!

See More Lights

A quick PWE trade to share before we get to the lights - another with Tdorsay who I have had almost 20 trades with over the last number of years, and who is always a fun trade. A small PWE with just three cards, but solid ones...

I will take any MEM cards for the Leafs, no questions. Funny enough though - the back notes the jersey is absolutely from a Blackhawks game for what it's worth, so at least the white works well for a Leafs card.

Yanic is a one and done for the 1991 Classic Draft Picks set. A border line set for including as it is "draft approved" as a Toronto Maple Leaf but not technically an NHL card. Generally, I won't collect minor league cards but if it's documentation of being Toronto drafted - we let those in still.

Mark brings me down to two cards left in the 1992-93 O Pee Chee set - Yzerman and Probert for what it's worth.

As I say, always a great trade with Tdorsay, and always a big thank you!

The 2024 Topps flagship set does standout for the neon light team names on the front, which also goes well with the night-like border black and white combo. Getting a few more base cards knocked off today is a good go from the 2026 Lot.

Team cards are always a good pick up, and in many cases capture more the fun of the game. Speaking of love...

I still miss BoBo. Maybe it isnt quite to the same degree, but Bobo to Vladdy was like Marner to Matthews. I always felt Marner was more of a 1a instead of a number 2 behind Matthew's, and the Leafs lost a couple steps with him gone this past season. BoBo has had an impact too being gone, but not to the same level as Marner's departure.

Hehe he....another Jay...just beforehand.

Dupes for trade a plenty...

Wish I was getting more of series one here, but it is what it is I guess.

Hockey Helpers

The Lot bring hockey, and happily some set helpers...

Yes, the Rasmus Sabres uniform is awful, but we do get four more base cards checked off the 2023-24 Upper Deck offering. Too bad there haven't been any YoungGubs sneaking through.

Close enough, we will include this as a Leaf card. Wouldn't have minded if this 1991-92 subset from Pro Set had been bigger.

The rest here aren't helpers for me but maybe helpers to you...

Of course the Roy is in French...

More old time looking Pro Set and some Topps circa 1981-92 which, in Canada at least, was a lot less seen than the O Pee Chee counterpart 

Nice to see some Timmies cards, though from a base set I do have done.

A great bunch though with some keepers, Jay content and nice variety of cards for trade!

Donruss Basketball

Before the basketball - let's share a TCDB PWE trade with ForrestE who helped to finish off a couple Toronto team sets.

We start with one of the cards driving the trade, the fourth Jays card in the 1986 Donruss All-Star set with Jimmy. Kevin is an error card, with a couple 1991 Bowman cards for the set build including the needed additional Borders pickup.

The 1991 Fleer are actually some dupes and some additional versions of the jumbo or microvariation U.S.A. instead of U.S.A date printings on the back. This was another trade where I only needed a few cards but because more could be sent across to match ForrestE's needs, I just picked up some Toronto duplicate goodness.

The other Jays team base set finish was the 1991 Topps Traded set as the two cards here were the last needed. Also, nice reminder of Studio being a great set in the early 90s, and that Triple Play shouldn't just be remembered for the disastrous sets from the early 2010s.

A single set share from the 2026 Lot today as we get a bunch more 2023-24 Donruss basketball. I don't think we are quite getting to a full base set, but I think we are well over two thirds at this point.

It's a fine enough set, though I think I prefer the football with this design, over the basketball.

You can see some solid names of the games including Raptor Barnes hiding in there.

A biy of wasted white space on the back, but you won't miss the player name!

Anyone looking for a solid started set - let me know.

A Trade And A Half

Sometimes when trading, there are issues with the mail. Here, I ended up only receiving half the trade from TCDB member yrrcwc. Still happy getting half at least and will share it today, but as luck would have it, six weeks after sending yrrcwc received the envelope back with an undeliverable sticker - even though the address was exactly the same as the one I received. So, it has since been popped back in the mail so hopefully I see it in less than six more weeks.

It's almost all wrestling in this trade, so really hope the other part does show, but we get a bunch of Finest and Chronicles cards here.

Hasn't been that long, but Lacey Evans was a quick WWE career, as was Keith Lee - though possible he may be back at some point.

The Chronicles design doesn't lend too badly to wrestling, and some nice pick ups in Big E and Theory.

The backs are decent for the write ups.

I think the Lota card is my favourite for this part of the trade though as the design matches her outfit pretty nicely. At least she isn't floating like Theory and Bianca appear to be!

A solid half trade!

Not to be out done, I did get the entire trade from TCDB member Alfred - though being a single envelope, it would take ripped mail and missing cards for only part of the trade to show up, but thankfully that didn't happen.

With the other cards in the trade keepers, I didn't bother adjusting out the Pro Debut cards since I knew I could pass those along to a certain Mike out the other side of Toronto. As for the rest, always happy adding more Vladdy cards - and with the parallels being nice additions too, a great handful of Jays cards from the last couple years, all of which I didn't have until this trade!