Starting Traditions

 Before the quick Magic interlude, we were working through 1995-96 Fleer Metal, so we have that finish up with first.

The Nuts & Bolts subset is a way to shove more star cards in the end of the set. We are missing the Jordan and Pippen level cards, so a few more MIA here, but all in, we ended up with about 90 of the 100 series cards.

Next up, a new set and one I haven't seen before...

2004-05 Fleer Tradition does a good job of making a set that looks vintage, and the card stock is nice and heavy as well. The background fade is not something I personally like, but it is consistent with the vintage look and design.

A nice Jalen Rose from his days with the Raps.

I'm guessing we won't be seeing LeBron James in the base set, as he is one name I am assuming, like Jordan, will be pulled out in any way shape and form. Hock, these days, the way prices are, one LeBron card of any type would probably pay for the whole lot!

A Second in the Second Half

 Today we get the second half of the Magic 100 card Presstine pack, so let's do some artifact hunting!

Older cards (relatively speaking), are always cool. The packs do warn there may be dupes in the same 100 card pack, so no problem seeing the same card pop up here are there.

The Lavaball Trap is expensive to play, and really works more to counter play someone bringing in multiple lands.

Although not dupes here, there do seem to be some cards we saw yesterday as well, like the Staunch-Hearted Warrior.

Some more repeat cards from yesterday, like the Raptor and Hammerskull, but the Tormentor is pretty cool.

My fave is SHock though as I remember that from WAY back as a card I'd see played a lot in the mid '90s.

Totally Lost has an interesting look to it...though the ability should be to shuffle the card into the deck so it is in fact "totally lost".

Sabertooth Mauler would be a solid addition to a cat deck. I never made one, but could be tempting now as I think there are a huge number of cat related cards to choose from now.

Sentinel's Eyes reminds me a bit of Ricochet.

Last up...

A bummer there's only one on this half, and that it's a dupe, but if I was going to get another copy of any of the artifacts from yesterday, this would be the one I'd choose.

The artwork is much more realistic compared to the old school revised version, but both have their charm.

Very cool, but back to the lot of cards again tomorrow for a bit.

Something Different

Today, time for a little break from the 20 in 20 Lot of cards. I mentioned a while ago, putting in an order with Presstine. It's something that I first heard about from Doug at Sportscards From The Dollar Store but hadn't tried myself until I noticed the Magic Card backs on sale. Usually the online prices are more expensive than buying in store at Dollarama, so I wouldn't consider it, but with these on sale, they were pennies cheaper, and given all of the lockdown / stay at homeness of the last year or so, I figure it was the safer way to get these, and a few other baseball and hockey related items.

Since I have a good dozen and a half of these to go through whenever I want, and as my son is getting interested in the cards too - I best at least crack one open as I hunt for some artifact cards..

Packaging is only slightly different as these don't have the Dollarama pricing on the top, so I guess they print separately for Dollarama. I wonder if contents then are any different.

Of course, this is only the one half - second half tomorrow, but oldest card is from 1997 and the Tempest set - not bad, though I always hope for maybe something with a white border when I go through these.

As usual, some solid art with the Spearpoint Oread, some big baddiness with the Goliath Spider, and solid flavour text with the Staunch-Hearted Warrior.

The Raptor is solid - simple creature, cute picture and nice quote!

Not a surprise many of the cards are from the last couple years, but I'm happy with a 2014-2020 range for the bulk as I may have artifact cards, but won't likely have 4 of each already as a playing set, so should still have a lot of keepers.

As I say, cool we even get into 2020 cards since the year isn't that far behind us. Oh and artifact cards...

I would have no problem with 4 artifact cards for each half package. All 4 of these are keepers with the Primal Clay being my favourite.  I have the card from different sets (like 1994's Revised set), but cool to get a new card, new artwork and my first artifact from the 25th Anniversary Modern Masters set.

Overall for the half we have one rare, six uncommons and 43 common cards - a solid breakdown. Of course the value is pennies per card and noting too special - The Multiform Wonder I could get at 401games for $0.50, for example.

Second half is up tomorrow!

So...This Has Gone On A While

I think I am going to take a small break. From what? Well, posting about the 20 in 20...don't worry, still going to post daily here. I just have a bunch of sealed materials I haven't gotten to and I figure, after 7 months (wow!) of going through the lot, similar to what I did with the Santa Lot, I will start dropping in little breaks of other stuff to open and share. The majority will still be pulling and posting about the lot, but I like opening new stuffs to and letting it star in the posts here or there, so just a heads up there will be a little more variety.

I had wanted to keep going through the lot because I am putting a fair bit of it aside to get to a certain online baseballcardstore.ca dime box. I figure that is as good a place as any to ensure people who really need the cards can access them quickly and affordably, and Steve has been great to deal with, so happy to support him.

ANYWAY - let's take a look at some more cards from the lot...some more heavy looking Metal basketball cards. 

Just a single card missing in this run - #200 Damon Stoudamire. Well, makes sense as this was a collection in the Toronto area and would have gone by a Raptors fan. Given it was his rookie card as well, guess that's why there isn't a single copy left.

Must not have been a Grizzlies fan though - plenty of those here!

Well, That's Expected

Continuing through the Metal set, I can say, no surprises really in the cards that are missing in action today. 

First card missing today is #161 - Magic Johnson. Yeah, no surprise there as the man is a legend and Hall of Famer.

Next up is $167 - Kevin Garnett. Not on the same level as a Magic Johnson, but the man was a power and this being his rookie card, can see why it is missing in action.

Also missing is card $179, the rookie card for Jerry Stackhouse which can be seen in a similar light.

So for the series, we are at 64 card in and just missing three which isn't too shabby. Probably going to be a few more to be left out, but we will be able to see in the next day or so.

So There's At Least One...

 I am sure there will probably be a few more, but today, we hit the first card that is missing in action for the 1995-96 Metal basketball set...

Next up should be card 143, but...nope. That would be one Antonio McDyess. I am going to assume that one may be MIA due to a player collection from whoever went through these cards first.

Well, that's my assumption anyway as I would have thought maybe Hakeem or Drexler may be missing if we were talking straight star power..but then again, basketball isn't my sport so maybe I'm missing something.

1995-96 Fleer Metal Basketball

 Moving on to the next set we see a bunch of in the 20 in 20 lot, is 1995-96 Fleer Metal basketball. Well, it isn't the whole set, as it was released in 2 series, as were many, with this set being only 100 base cards (numbered 121-220). So, the question I really have going through this will be more of a who is missing than a who is here, but let's take a look (keeping in mind 121 was seen yesterday).

As you can see, multiple of many of the cards, and as is fairly usual, the cards are in order by team, so we start with the Atlanta Hawks. Actually, interesting that the team allocation of cards is quite varied as we see 6 Hawks and then...

Only one Chicago Bull card with Rodman.

At this point - no one missing and we have cards 121 through 136, many in duplicate or..triplicate even.

I don't mind the look of the Metal cards in hand - very much like hockey's Black Diamond sets which look much better in hand than in scans. The Metal cards allow for more colour variation still with the backgrounds, and look a little more rust colour in hand - which goes a bit with the colour of a basketball, so kind of get it.

The names are really hard to read though.