And Here They Are

 Well, I guess I shouldn't have said anything about the red die cut cards as we get a couple more of them today, but at least they are new to me.

Happy to get a second Marner base card so I have one for the Leafs collection, but I didn't need the dupe Barrie card. Also doesn't help the Triumphs' insert was a dupe as well.

With so many red die cut cards, as there are 42, surprised I may end up with only 6-7 of them when all are said and done. Not sure why, but don't like them as much in this year's set as I do in the prior couple years.

Doubles

 Four days of Timmies cards left, including today - I'd like to see all new for me cards, but can't even stop dupes from happening within the three packs today.

Between 2 Kopitars and the third Stamkos so far today, not great. At least all the inserts are new for me.

Given the odds, I am a bit surprised I haven't had a couple more red die cast cards pop up as they are supposed to be every four packs, and I haven't been hitting that ratio (yet). I won't complain about being below average on it since it means I am above average on others. Getting a second Spectrum Standout card, I can confirm - I like the pretty wintery background design - excellent!

Leafy Goodness

Always look for days in opening these Timmies packs, where I luck out and get multiple Leaf cards - and today is that lucky day.

Sure, the Cole Montreal card is a dupe, but we get a Marner base, and an InMotion Bunting Leaf card as well, so today is definitely a win.

After some games over a couple years in Arizona, Bunting became a Leaf and being a hometown boy from Scarborough (same as me), glad to see him doing well with the Buds. It's always nice to see athletes given the chance to compete for their hometown team. I would think it's extra motivation to do well for the player, so you end up getting a better overall performance, and I guess more bang for your buck by the team.

A few more days of cards to go through, and hopes to get the binder even more full!

Adding Some Flow

 Three more packs of 2022-23 Timmies hockey cards today, and we get our first Flow of Time insert, which fall every 24 packs, so it may be the only one I pull.

The card marks Benn's 9th season as team captain, which is the most in franchise history. It's a nice look at then and now for a player, so another insert concept I can get behind.

A couple more base dupes again, so looks like I may end up just short of half way on the base set if this keeps up, but just means I will have some work to do getting the rest by way of trade once I am doing going through these.

Worth It

 Well, unfortunately have our first base card dupe (see Tyson Barrie below), but can you spot the big name we did get?

Big thumbs up for pulling in the McDavid base card as that's a nice one to get by way of the pack pull. 

The other nice pull from these packs is the every twelve card pull in the Mercer InMotion Phenoms card. Mercer had a solid first season with New Jersey, and continues to improve this year as well. Will be interesting to see how he grows in the next couple years, and New Jersey with him. This year, New Jersey has already been well ahead of what they did last year.

Now, will the packs tomorrow improve over todays in a same manner? We shall see...

First Leaf

 Three more packs of 2022-23 Timmies to share today from the Christmas gift pile, and we finally get our first Leaf - and our first Crosby.

Not sure which one I am happier to get - Crosby with the black and yellows Pens jersey with the gold shiny foilage looks great, but any Leaf is a great one for me!

No dupes again, and still more solid base card pick ups again with Stamkos, Karlsson and Doughty. The binder is finally starting to look like I am putting some cards into it with 9 packs now opened.

Haven't hit any really more rare inserts yet...maybe tomorrow!

Teaming Up

 I haven't looked at all the Hockey Triumph insert cards, but if they are all like the couple below - I like the team celebration aspect of them.

A lot of the time, you might get a teammate stuck in the card if after a goal celebration for example, but both Triumph cards here, and the one yesterday, show a bunch of the team. I like it!

Funny enough that two of the packs had teammates show up in the base cards in the same pack. Happy yo get Leon, now just need to keep an eye for his teammate, Sid and Ovi to take care of the big non-Leaf names in the set.

So far, so good, no dupes. Even if that holds up, I'll be just over half the base set, so there will be plenty of cards still needed for the binder, one way or another!

Liking The Binder

 So as I start opening the Timmies packs for the 2022-23 set (30 packs to open, 3 a day, so just a single scan of 3 packs of 3 cards), this is the first year I have the set binder I can work to fill.

I only have 2 cards of the base set and no inserts ahead of starting to open these packs, but the binder is perfect for holding all of the base and insert sets - except the most rare of rare items like autos and relics, but doubt that will be an issue. With 120 card base set and about as many insert cards, it's a nice little binder to fill!

No dupes on the first go, which is excellent, and as for the inserts - they are as pretty as ever. I am guessing that I will still enjoy the gold etchings the best, but that Spectrum Kadri is pretty sweet.

Now, as long as my counting is alright - I can put these in their final resting homes in the Timmies binder right from the start!

Merry Timmies!

 I mentioned before that my mom, like in prior years, bought a bunch of Tim Hortons hockey packs which she gave me for Christmas. As it turned out, there happened to be one other pack....

I of course am putting one of the Tim Hortons' NHL packs away for the unopened pack collection, but had to debate what to do with the Team Canada pack. I won't collect it - it's not an NHL level set, and no "Leafs" to collect as I count them as Team Canada cards throughout (which they are). So, let's just open that pack today and look at the "regular" Timmies cards starting tomorrow.

Wow - a great pack indeed. McDavid would be one of the best base cards to get (maybe Gretzky is slightly better, but that's about it, and the Trios cards are in every 24 packs, and getting this trio, is a solid $20 based on ebay sales.

Excellent and great for trading...almost enough to change my mind on the set as a whole, but we will see what I can get in exchange for these in cards I do need/collect.

The Mean Streets

 We saw the Streets of New Capenna in the deck a couple days ago, now to see if we have any luck with a draft booster pack - another of the gifts from my brother.

I hate the extra packaging on the hangers - such a waste of materials - but I do understand the need as far as selling in box stroes )this one came from Mastermind Toys). Anyway, let's strip off that extra layer...

Much better. Now with these packs, you either hit a money card and it's worthwhile, or you don't. I'm going to lean towards don't being the case here, but let's see...

All new to me common cards, but nothing that blows my socks off, and nothing that falls to the artifact collection.

Well, the good is I get one artifact keeper - though it's really like a quarter card, so not big value. As for the rare Widespread Thieving - it's a quarter card too, so a complete bust on the pack.

Can't win them all unfortunately - though the packs I go through tomorrow should have much more for me to keep!

Just Buy Singles

 Well, Christmas gifts are (for the most part), meant to be opened. Another gift from my brother that is in the "cards" realm is this one...

I don't buy these because, well, there aren't usually any that are artifact focused, but also because, for the price, I am better off just buying the singles that I want instead. Well, as it's a gift, let's open it to see what is inside and what, if anything I will keep. At being twice as expensive as a booster pack, you get more than twice the cards, but a promise of only one rare or mythic, so no more real upside than a pack.

5 collection keepers - all quarter common cards, so not a lot of value to someone caring about artifacts. As I have mentioned, I am building some decks, hopefully some keepers for that purpose in the rest (dupes not scanned where applicable).

Well, I did end up with a mythic which is valued at a few bucks, so could have been worse. The card itself isn't one that will fit in the white deck I built, so maybe I can use it as trade fodder.

Seeing the details of the cards in the pack - I get why these don't impress me. It's not enough to really put a deck together, and not enough to really build around in a single colour, it's just a decent smattering of cards from a set with a loose theme.

I will say, this morning, my daughter asked me if I had any magic cards with cats on them, so she got a good kick out of seeing this pack since there were a few cards in it that fit her criteria. Too bad more didn't hit mine.

I think, as a way of clearing some more Christmas stuff, I'll keep with the Christmas gift theme for a few more days before getting back into the COVID lot of cards that I still have a way to work through.

Rakdos Vampires

 As I have mentioned, I don't play Magic much at all, so I am not one to pick up decks or starter decks, etc. However, having received this as a gift, and having my son want to play more, I figured it was a good opportunity to open, take out any cards that fit my collection - though not expecting much there - and have a deck for play at home with him.

That's the box, and as for contents, you get a 60 card deck, 15 card sideboard, deck box and separator...

That would be the deck box and the separator to keep the deck and sideboard apart. As for the deck, there are multiples of many since you can play with up to 4 of any one card - except for Planeswalkers...

Given the name, the black and red colour isn't a surprise of course, and the vampire theme.

The three Voldaren Estate cards are about all that I will be keep from the set, but since it's mana heavy, I will just pull in a few of the cards from the sideboard, and that will be another deck done. None of the decks I have (one for each colour) are very good, but the purpose of them is moreso to just play, have fun, and teach the game, so all works there.

I don't mind the lands used as the full art lands are nice, and the sideboard cards are decent enough too.

Funny enough, it's the tokens which end up being the other items I keep for my collection out of these cards, so all works out there.

Would I buy this for myself? Nope - but fun to open and have as a gift!

Dungeon Comics

I had mentioned that my son was thoughtful enough to know I collect artifact Magic cards, that he wanted to go get me a few, so went with my wife to Dungeon Comics in Burlington, with little knowledge than that.

Well, to be honest, he was initially looking for a cheap Black Lotus because he knows how special a card it is, though I had told him that it's crazy expensive - but nice of him to initially think of it as a gift.

This isn't just about sharing the few cards he picked up, but also, from my wife's review of their service, to share that the store really impressed. Apparently the staff were great, asked a lot of questions, provided great guidance, and were extremely helpful in taking the time, and caring. Customer service is so important, and even more so with a local comic/card store, so just from their reviews, I'll have to stop by and check it out. It's not far from home, but I only went once years ago and at that time they were so comic focused, cards weren't really a part of their offerings, but that's since changed.

So big thumbs up on the service. Now, were the cards are stars? Well, not from being part of what I really collect, but from what they had to work with, and from the thought my son but in, they were a homerun.

I mean, it's shiny, labelled a legendary artifact, I get why it would be useful and draw attention as something to get. Does it fit my collection? Nope - casting cost includes black mana, so not really in my wheelhouse for collecting. Will I keep it? Yes, as it turns out, I am putting a few decks together as my son is wanting to play a bit more now, and rather than have him learn to build decks right off the bat, I have a handful of decks which I put together (or received - see other posts soon), and will fit this card into one of those decks accordingly. No idea what they paid for these, and I will always compare to 401games on pricing, and there it's $8, for what it's worth.

My wife mentioned they threw in an additional card, and I am guessing this might be it - with the extended art version running 75 cents at 401games, I guess it may have been $1 at the store. Does it fit my collection? Nope. Again though, good enough, I can squeeze it into a red deck.

Here, we have a winner. The foil, borderless Mishra's Factory from Modern Horizons 2 runs a couple bucks in cost, so not too expensive, but fits in with the colourless land collecting I started not too long ago, to go with the artifacts.

Another card that's a couple bucks, definitely a keeper as it's the retro frame Brothers' War card. Definitely a good pick here.

Last up, is another great card - and I can see the "Mishra" theme they were going for, so all good there too, but won't be a keeper. I am not a fan of the tri-colour decks. I know they can work, but for playing for fun, dual colour is as far as I like to spread. So, won't find a home for this one, but four out of five isn't bad, and from what they had to go on, I am impressed.

Especially given recent times and the way of the hobby, it's good to hear about the positives of LCS - have you had good experience with your LCS...assuming yours has survived the last few years?

Maximus Tradicus!

 An easy post today as I am just trying to keep onto of trades which have come in recently, so wanted to share a TCDB trade from Maximus.

I like the 1994 Pacific design and incorporation of the crown in the logo. 1997 Pinnacle baseball is another solid design. Loved the design in hockey, and it works just as well in baseball. I do have the complete hockey base set, but not enough to consider the baseball set something to collect....yet.

Fleer around the late 90s and early 2000s seems to put out as many sets as Topps does now...so there's always plenty there I am still in need of.

I have to say, winner of the trade is the J.A. Happ card as it was the last base care needed to complete my team set. I still want the couple SPs or SSPs, but I don't "need" them to consider the actual base set done.

Big thank you for the trade - always a smile to get trade mail and awesome cards!

Oren Baseball As Promised

 Oh yes, there is baseball from Oren as promised...

We have all seen plenty of 1987 Topps, but wanted to ensure they got their fair due here in numbers at least. Nothing new, but dupes for the dupe collection box. I did however need the Donruss '81 Alfredo which was nice.

Nicely get all 4 Superstars Blue Jay cards - only had two before, so a team set done on that one - yay!

Oren sent plenty of overproduced era cards that I did have already, but we absolutely show them more love by showing here - see 1989 Topps, 1990 Donruss and 1992 Upper Deck below.

The Chris and Vito gold border cards above are from one of my favourite parallels - Topps' gold serial numbered one, SN'd to the year in question. It makes them not overly hard to collect per se, but rare enough that they are great pick ups when you can get them!

Was neat to also get some more recent cards which included a short print variation photo Chapman at the end. I hate the ideal of these variations because it's an easy ploy to create scarcity for a "base" card, but if you are going to do it, I'd love to see some wacky photos used. Bring in sum bubble gum blowing short print variations, or trying other sports, or something showing them way out of their element.

An amazing surprise and grateful gift of cards from Oren - thank you. I will be getting something back to Oren, though may need to scrounge around on what best to send. :)

Hockey From Oren

Only fair that since I went over one bunch of Christmas cards from someone out there reading, I follow it with another such package. This one comes from across the border as Oren living down in the states...to be vague enough...sent across an amazing bubble mailer of hockey and baseball cards he had been nice enough to put aside for me. So, let's take a look at the hockey today, and the baseball tomorrow since there's a decent amount of each.

As you all know - I collect all dupes for my Leafs and Jays, which at least makes it easier for those putting cards aside for me, I mean, whether I have it or not, I love to trade for it!

It may surprise though, many of these cards were needed anyway, like the 2010-11 Donruss, and the Boyle retro is a great one too. Not too many cards of him with the Leafs though given he was only here for a partial season. According to TCDB, there are only 6 such cards - Boyle as a Leaf. Now I have....one.

2019-20 Upper Deck flagship set, still have needs and these covered a few. I also appreciate the dupes, especially of cards I really like such as the alternate uniform Nylander.

Same can be said with the 2020-21 base card Leafs too. Love having the multiples, and especially love more Marner cards.

Continuing with the newer cards, and a number of which, I need, we get plenty of 2021-22 O Pee Chee. The blue border is a personal favourite of course. I mean, it's just so complimentary for the Leafs.

We end with proof that Auston was obviously a cop in the 70s with that mustache. Kidding aside....not a fan of his facial hair, but whatever floats your boat I guess. I am a fan of the newest MVP set design. I think I prefer 2021-22 slightly more - which is why I bought a retail box on boxing day sales over the break....but I digress. Still, even a light blue with Leaf blue is pretty cool for design.

A great bunch of cards, and very much appreciated Oren, thank you! Tomorrow, let's peek at the baseball!

Sleeved Goodness

 Today, we reach the last of the package of cards Jeff provided to me before the Christmas break. I know, I just can't get through things as quick as I may want to, but the anticipation is just as good, I swear! The cards today were all sleeved, and generally, that means serial numbering!

I am a sucked for a serial numbered card, even if to 2600. Heck, if I collected football, I'd be a sucked for those Collector Edge sets from the early 90s where base cards were serial numbered to 100,000.

The 1999-2000 Pacific Emerald Green parallels numbered to 199 are really nice - not just because of the serial number, but I really like the green foil in hand. Like most of these, they don't scan as nicely as they look in hand.

Wow - 2 base cards from The Cup. I will never buy anything from The Cup as it is so high end, it's crazy the prices on these things. Now, I like the design, the serial numbering, all of it, but the cards are so thick, it's like 5 cards together thick (I checked). I mean, it's nice and sturdy, but I didn't understand it for a base card. I guess, if you want to make each card a "dummy" for the hits...okay....but still.

I am not overly allured by the Allure set....

Another big thanks to Jeff for the trade of sorts. I always feel like I get way more than I am able to give to Jeff, so very much appreciate what he gives with not so much in return. Another pile does start for him though...I'll see what I can get together for next time!

Additional Awesome Hockey

 We have more cards from Jeff - today and tomorrow to go (tomorrow is the "sleeved" portion).

Two base set keepers. It's about the only time I keep a Patrick Roy card...I do try to limit his appearances in my collection where possible. Then we get some 2017 Centennial Toronto Maple Leaf cards. I have the pure base card set of 100 completed, and have half of the second hundred cards which are all short prints. Unfortunately, the one short print here is Clark, an I had that one, but I still will keep it. The cut Clancy was new to me though, and that's another so I think I have about 45 of the 100 cut cards - really love the set, for many obvious reasons.

We seem to have a number of inserts/parallels from Jeff which I can't help but enjoy seeing and collecting them.

That first card is a rounded corner 1977-78 O Pee Chee insert card. Apparently there is a "regular" corner version as well - but I hadn't seen or heard about the inserts before since I don't have much pre-1980s cards and don't specifically collect vintage. It's very cool though.

A bunch of mid-90s Upper Deck inserts of the SP variety which are new to me.

It's amazing how many insert and parallel sets there were through the 90s - with all of the different manufacturers and sets, it's almost as bad as it has been in recent years with just Topps!

Of the bunch, I am not a fan of the "Artist's Proof" score cards where it's just a stamp on the front in foil...I mean, why bother? I do however like the Lindros which is a promo card!

Nice to get my first single Tim Horton's cards for 2022-23. A slightly different design from most recent years, but very solid still.

As for the rest of the cards which are up for trade...

Just reach out if you need anything - always up for a trade. Well, at least for another month or two before I will need to pause for busy season again.