Another Myrke Trade

 I have had a number of trades with TCDB member myrke, and today we get to share another solid one with plenty of goodness for my collection in what came my way.

Right off the bat we start with a few serial numbered cards with Bowman Draft Picks blue and refractor cards, and even the Chronicles Bautista is serial numbered as well.

The Brett Lawrie mini is a one and done Jays insert card, but it isn't the only such one today...

The first three cards here are also one and done Jays insert sets. The blue rave Nate in the bottom right isn't a one and done team set, but sure is a pretty card!

I also picked up a number of 2021 Topps flagship set cards which help close in on completing that set.

Not my favourite Gypsy Queen design with too much green to the cards, but that's okay, new is always good!

Three more one and done team sets from inserts with the Denied, Rookie Class, and A/I/ cards all fitting into that role, so we have SEVEN one and done team sets here, all in a single PWE trade.

Whether framed plum, or rainbow foil, the names may be a little off the wall at times, but the resulting cards are great to have in hand! Many many thanks for the offer and trade!

More Pro Set Love

 Well, for better or worse, the 2025 Lot seems to want to provide some more 1990-91 Pro Set hockey cards. A shame I don't need more of them, but as I keep the Leaf cards, should hopefully still be some in this bunch, but let's take a look.

Trottier is a nice pick up, but lots of Flyers together here.

Nice - a couple Leaf pick ups are always good, even if not new to me. The Nordiques were a good uniform - maybe one that can come back if they were to ever get a team again, which seems to ebb and flow on whether there is enough demand to make it work. Definitely seemed to turn around and work for Winnipeg.

Couldn't go wrong with the traded banner standing out like it did in the top left corner for the applicable cards. I'm not a Rob Dimaio supper collector, so no need for three copies there either.

Another Leaf works, as does another opportunity to see the subset of head coaches - a nice part of having a large set.

Same as the refs getting some love too, and the final of four Leaf card pick ups today with the head coach card for Tom Watt.

Decked Again

 More hockey from the 2026 Lot today, and all of the Upper Deck variety...

Early 90s Upper Deck sets were so iconic - being the new brand on the block, having a very different look, it was a great time to be a card collector. I see enough of the set to be working on both hologram versions of sets, but these are all from the text version which I have completed, still need some of the hologram that don't have the UPPER DECK text on them, but definitely not a collecting priority.

Peter Zezel is my lone keeper from the cards today, being another copy for my Leaf collection. I have 5-10 copies of each Leaf card from this set given what I have picked up in various lots over the years, and this isn't a complaint, just a comment of where they come from.

Some cards are a little different that you remember them for quite a while - like Kurri here - just seemed so unusual a pose that I remember seeing it the first time back when these cards were new, and each time I come across it even now, I remember back to that first time.

Same can be said for the Rangers beach party card - just different. Then again, that was one of the things about collecting as a kid, cards were unique, different, or of players you liked watching, or of your team, there were many reasons to collect. Still all valid reasons, but with the competition for a kids attention with screens and video  games, cardboard doesn't have the same appeal it once did.

Amazing!

 Well, if you like crossovers and specifically Universe Beyond crossovers from Magic the Gathering, then last September there was an interesting one and I am just getting around to my pick ups from it now...

I am not a huge Marvel guy, but I know enough of the Superheroes and for Spider-Man, the 90s cartoon was my favourite of the IP to come from it. I used the rest of my trade in value to pick up these packs and some of the singles, as well as some other artifact singles I usually wouldn't spend as much on to buy, so we can look at those too...

Some cards for The List, which are reprints of old cards and shown with the planeswalker symbol in the bottom left corner. I need to find a good way to track these as it's hard, understandably, for TCDB to track the releases for these as they depend per set and cross many sets.

The Ticking Gnomes comes from the 1999 reprint of top placing decks from the World Championships this year.

I picked up a number of artifact cards from the core sets for a number of different years, picking some more expensive cards like the Coat of Arms (almost $30 CDN). Really great cards to play with, and great to add to the collection, but just not ones I want to pay out of pocket but being able to "trade" a bunch of common traders to 401games for credit to use on these - amazing.

The Super-Man set had a bunch of artifact cards which I also picked up to start the collection from that set. I like that the set symbol is a little Spider-Man head - thumbs up for that one. I wonder if they would have used webbing if it wasn't so much like Ice Age's snowflake. 

Makes sense that his Suit would be an artifact....actually a lot do make sense, so I give them a thumbs up on that too.

I like that both the scans with wandering cards being scanned are the Living Brain....living indeed!

I don't think the value is going to be there on the Super-Man set the way Final Fantasy has gone, but the cards are still fun and collectible. Like having them from that aspect, and not looking to retire on them!

Happy Valentines Trade

Always nice to share some card love on Valentines' Day, and we do that with a nice trade, this one with TCDB member jamestagli. 

We start with a solid addition for the 1982 Topps set build. A nice reminder that Dennis was not actually a closer when he was early in his career and grew into the role and being one of the most dominant.

We then get heavy into the Jays content, and plenty of Bowman related. Actually get a couple years of Bowman Chrome Prospects insert team sets done for the Jays cards here which is always welcome.

A number of Lane Thomas cards, including the all red Panini being numbered to only 100. Lane never got to play in the majors for the Jays as he was traded to St. Louis before it happened. Lane spent a couple years in St. Louis followed by a few in Washington before making it to Cleveland the last couple years. Lane's best years were 2022 and 2023 with Washington.

Definitely a fun trade to receive, and the coincidence of some red related parallels just suits the day even more.

Getting Smaller

 I don't know if this is going to become more of the norm for me - in some ways I hope not. A small PWE trade which was only a couple cards going each way. I will always try to do for more cards to at least fill then envelope, but if someone has a need, I'll do these small trades to help out. So here, a small trade with TCDB member KrugSwag was done, and these cards came my way...

I don't know how I feel about the Gaming PVP insert set from Upper Deck. It's just - odd. I don't mind the concept of two stars which had big games in the same game, going against each other, but this seems to pander to video game style presentation which I don't think is really needed. Give me a couple shots from the game, each scoring a goal or something, and that would be great.

Second card is another great Marner Leaf card - as much as I am not a big fan of fake autos, it's done fine enough on the Silver Script cards, so I'll take it.

Very nice newer card additions, many thanks, and if this is what I can get in smaller trades - maybe they aren't so bad.

Atleanta Prospects

 Just as it says, the 2026 Lot provides some Atlanta based prospect cards - some insert keepers and dupes for trades, but let's take a look and see how successful they were.....or ideally, continue to be...

Starting with Jonny Venters, he spent a few years in the majors, first with Atlanta, then with the Washington Nationals organization. Most of his career was in the minors, but he did have some appearances in the bigs.

Brandon Hicks had a few years 2010-2014 with some experience in the bigs, Atlanta, Oakland and San Fran, but with a career batting average in the near 300 plate appearances being just over .150 - the infielder didn't last beyond those few years.

Michael Dunn had a longer run in the majors, pitching from 2009 through 2019, with it spread over four different teams, though most with Miami.

Matt Suschak never got to the major leagues, but had a few seasons in the early 2010s sputtering around the minors.

Dave Filak was in the minors for a couple years while Matt Lipka lasted over 10 years in the minors, but neither got to the big leagues.

Jose Peraza had decent success at the highest level a few years with Cincinnati followed by stints in Boston and both NY teams.

A bit of a mixed bag as far as results for prospects go, but I walk away with a few keepers here, and some solid help for a Braves fan!