Completing Another Set

I am not proactive much when trading at TCDB, but when I am, I get stuff done. Here, I initiated a trade with member codence97 in order to get the last three remaining base cards I needed for the 2021 WWE Topps Heritage set, and threw in a few other cards which move another set closer, just for good measure.

The 90s baseball design for the heritage set looks great, and I am thrilled to have the full base set. As much as I'd like any of the base set variations which are interesting (ie. Randy Orton being a snake - get it - for the viper), I can live without having any of them.

Big thank you for the trade and helping to knock off another set for me!

Cards In Bloom

Finally sharing a MTG pickup from 401games I did shortly after this set released - my usual new set pick up, this one for Bloomburrow.

This set seems to be getting a lot of love from the MTG community, and attention from some outside of it because of the theme and design of the cards - I mean, there are a number of cute woodland creatures depicted on these cards and it's a theme that some resonate with for just loving the artwork - something I've mentioned here on other sets and a reason some jus like the cards as well.

I will say, the foil cards like these actually look worse to me than the base cards that don't have foil, the imagery is just nice, the foil kind of spoils them.

Although it wasn't as "cutesy", the set does remind me a bit of the early sets where the whimsy of the characters depicted was a big draw, and though the artwork has changed significantly, it was still a draw back then.

I did pick up the last card by mistake as it doesn't fit my collection due to having white mana in the casting cost, so not truly an artifact to me, but that's okay, it's still a hilarious card....with a great pic to go with, something I'd almost expect from one of the "Un" sets.

It will be interesting to see how much play the set gets or if it's just a cute collecting type set, but time will tell.

Best For Last

 Let me start by saying, the cube of 250 cards actually held more like 275, so I gather that's just a function of more cards fitting in the box, but does make up for the dupes. Today and the cards for 2010 to current is probably the best day of the bunch as I have a fair number of set helpers and some inserts too.

I have collected about 70 of the gold rush parallels from 2012-13 Score because of how often those packs ended up in repacks in the 2010s and they are one per pack. Both here are new to me.

The two MVP cards are inserts to the flagship set, so amazing to pull a couple of these. THe short print hockey day in Canada card is another great pick up I get to keep. I don't want the McDavid, but it's a solid pull even though the "Leaf" cards at the time were unnecessary and not wanted as they were printed just to be in not so great products to help sell them, I swear.

Here we have a nice, though plain white, memorabilia card. These fall every 12 hobby packs, so will go with those odds for scoring, and the one will be all I see as that's about what is promised on the cube.

Not going to complain about picking up a YoungGun card too - a nice surprise and another base set keeper.

Unfortunately just the single Leaf card today, and one that is a 6-7 copy, but that's okay!

As you can see below - this box didn't score great, which isn't surprising, but was still very fun to go through and share. I have a similar baseball one for another time, but I have a number of other things I'd love to share and go through on the site first.

Into The 2000s

 Continuing with the 250 card cube, we enter into the 2000s for this post, leaving the 2010 and beyond for tomorrow. Hopong that we get to see a few inserts or other cards that may help the base set builds with the cards today, so let's see what we have.

A decent enough start with a new Leaf card for my collection with the Healy Pacific card. Another keeper is the gold parallel from the Pacific Paramount set.

Four great cards in a row here with two cards from the 2001-01 Upper Deck Legends set, which I will collect but only have a handful of cards from, followed by two Leaf additions.

I am slow building the Playmaker set so happy to add the Brodeur to the build, whilst the others are dupes.

Sweet! A Spezza serial numbered card which is actually from a mail in that was done with the 2003-04 Calder set. I have never seen these cards before, so a nice little pick up. I presume the mail in sets meant that you got a set with all the same serial number, but wouldn't be able to say that for sure.

Another nice insert, though most might miss it. The 2005-06 Upper Deck Victory set is only 200 cards, but cards 201-300 were inserts into the flagship set as an update to that listing. These have the grey border, which is what we have dead centre.

A couple more set builder cards here with Scott Gomez and Sergei Zubov and both 2008-09 Upper Deck flagship cards as well.

The one thing I am noticing - I think we will be well over the 250 cards in this box. At this point, we have 225 cards accounted for and the remaining pile is more than 25 cards, so that may make up for the fact that there have been a number of duplicates in the box, but let's see with the wind up tomorrow!

Last of the 90s

 So with the cards today, we have the last of the Prestine Cube cards which are pre-2000 years, and those are 162 of the supposed 250 cards in the box. Not too bad I guess considering, but there haven't been a ton of keepers so far for myself, and no inserts or special cards so far, but that's less of a surprise because those became more of a thing into the 2000s.

A shame that we have another card in triplicate, and these are not sets I am collecting, but a nice Lindros Phlly card at least.

Leaf card but offset by more triplicate cards from the 1993-94 Ultra set...boo!

1993-94 Upper Deck is a set I am slowly collecting, so at least I have three keepers from the cards for that set build.

None of the Leaf cards have been new to me so far, but that's okay, happy to get the dupes to keep anyway.

Hoping the next cards, getting into the 2000s provides maybe a new Leaf card or two or maybe some inserts...time will tell.

Early 90s In The Cube

 We continue on in the 250 card Presstine cube to see what we have - basically covering the rest of the early 90s as we go.

There have been enough dupes within the 250 cards, that I do want to point it out and complain. I know the filling process is likely automatic and no one is checking, and the different "chunks" added in may have similar cards, but when we have 10+ cards coming in duplicate, it is an issue.

At least we are getting a bit of Leaf content with 4 more Leaf cards in the bunch today, but just a single base card helper which is a shame (one of the Canadian English 1991-92 Score set base cards).

I will say, with all the base cards, at least there are a bunch of stars in the mix and it isn't just a massive pile of....who?....being played.

Not too successful other than the Leaf adds, but as we move into the mid-90s part of the box tomorrow, likely stuff I haven't seen as much, and maybe stuff that may actually help!

250 Card Hockey PresstiCube

 How long do I hold on to unopened materials for share? Too long. So long, this one, I don't think you can even get anymore and probably with good reason. I don't recall how much I paid for this, but I did a single order once from www.presstinemarketing.com because at the time, the 100 card Magic card packs were cheaper than getting them at the dollar store, and a few other items were on major sale, so it was worth it. Prices have gone up on the website dramatically since then, and I wouldn't touch the packs now with a 10 foot pole. At a dollar store, the price makes it worth the fun rip, but you can see the prices now....nope...I'd rather spend the money at a garage sale or on Kijiji.

This does come in a solid 250 card plastic storage box, so that's a plus. It also came with one damaged card so no point for...

You can see the small rip right above his head.

I've sorted them and will go through in time order as I figure it's good to see what the make up was and how much was "junk" period, or newer cards.

Nothing before 1989-90 - not really a surprise there, but all of these cards are actually needs for me as I slowly build both the O Pee Chee and Topps sets.

These on the other hand...

1990-91 Bowman is long been complete in my collection, though I will take the couple Leaf cards. Same with 1990-91 Score American, and the couple Pro Set cards aren't needed either as that set is also done.

1990-91 Upper Deck isn't done for me yet, but with all the hologram variations, it's not a favourite because of having to try and log the things properly for trading purposes.

A decent enough start with a couple Leaf additions a few Bruins for a friend, and about a dozen base card additions for myself - no inserts or premium cards yet, but no surprise given the timing. Still a bunch of cards to share for the next couple years, tomorrow.

One Card Trade

 I don't usually take a single card back in trades, but with this trade with TCDB member Barbeque Chicken who cooked up a nice trade....see what I did there? In exchange for 5 various sports cards I was sent a single wrestling card...

Lince Dorado was a fine enough hand and lower tier guy in 2020 - the card here being from that year's Road to Wrestlemania set. Numbered to 99, and with a created Andre The Giant Battle Royal Trophy, it's a neat manufactured card. May not be as cool as a shirt relic or kiss card, but I really enjoy them and am happy to add it to my collection.

A great and thick card, and a tiny trade in number, but important one nonetheless!

Another corey42080 Trade

 I have traded with TCDB user Corey in the past and we put together another trade recently which saw me get rid of some hockey in exchange for some Blue Jays.

To be honest, I don't get too into the weeds when an offer is made to me - if it's fair, I pretty much accept as is instead of nitpicking through matches, though I should probably do more of that to dwindle down specific wants, but I mean, I am just happy to get things I actually want for stuff I don't that I don't worry about the details.

I didn't have to worry really here though as these cards helped finish off FOUR different Blue Jay "team" sets. I was able to finish the 6 base card set for 2022 Topps Opening Day, The Bomb Squad single card insert set from the same set, the 7 card base (and short print) team set for 2022 Topps Update, and the one card Stars of MLB insert from that same set.

This also included the first Triple Play insert card which is really three different mini cards which could be torn apart on the cuts which are perforated, but I won't be separating them.

A great trade of new Jays for my collection - much appreciated as always!

So This Grinds Me....

WTF is this?

 Let me explain. I know this is a newer MTG set released just last month or end of July maybe, and I know it is a really cute set that focuses on the critters of the forest, in simple terms (no not just forest, but fantasy and critters cross paths here). The set itself is cute and my daughter loves the look of many of the cards, but that's not the reason for my reaction.

"VALUE PACK"

I picked this up at Walmart because my local card store - 401games - is smart enough not to touch these things.

Here is some history....

For the longest time, there was only one type of booster pack - 15 cards which would include basically 1 rare, 2 or three uncommons and the rest commons. These then started having foils, other insets, etc, but Wizards of the Coast then did a couple things...but for these packs, they were roughly (and I will use 401games pricing) 3 packs for $10, then basically $4 each.

They created Collector boosters which are much pricier and all foiled. These run around $30 a pack give or take depending on the set - I get the market for these, and they are not my today issue.

The original boosters were taken away and replaced by SET and DRAFT boosters which were 12 and 15 cards respectively with the supposed thinking SET were for those really collecting sets and would have more "special" or rare cards while DRAFT was more for play. When this was done, roughly, the DRAFT were sold for about $4.50 - $5 a pack and the SET for $8.

Not long ago, Wizards said, it was confusing, let's go back to one pack - PLAY boosters which have 14 cards and would sell for about $6.

So these pack changes took place and essentially we went from 15 card boosters for $4 to 14 card booster for $6. I get inflation, but still that is a bunch of a hike in a short period of time.

So where the VALUE booster comes in is with half the cards - 7 - and you get essentially half a pack and lower odds for getting "special" cards by the quick look at it. As these are sold more so at your Wal-marts and not LCS, the price for this was $5!

Am I stupid to buy it? YUP! Do I feel that I need to for my pack collection? YUP! Am I going to buy them, but hope this doesn't last and they go away quickly? YUP! Is it the first time they have done this? NOPE!

I have a few packs from the early 2010s when they had 6 cards in a booster pack for about $2 each which had a basic land, 3 commons, 1 uncommon, and one card that could be a rare or mythic in every 3 packs. I don't know what sets these were around for, and don't have many of them (I think packs from three different sets), but they just seem like a way to exploit young kids, impulse buying or those without LCS options.

On the other hand - they are still going to get me, whether I like it or not...

More Bella

 Whether you liked the Bella Twins or not, they were all over WWE for a while, and here, a bit blue...

Nikki (and Brie) Bella were fine for WWE wrestling during the Diva era. Wrestling was not the priority, and whether you appreciate them or not, the Bellas did well to use the platform of WWE to make success in WWE and from WWE with the Total Divas and related shows as well as setting up their brands and ventures for post WWE days. I wasn't a big fan, but they were passable in the ring and came along at the right time.

If it had been 5 years earlier, I don't think they would have worked, and 5 years later, they didn't have the skill to really hang with the level of women's wrestler that were then in WWE. I guess not to mention that both found love (one more permanent than the other) within WWE itself.

With this pack wrapping up the blaster, I did pretty well overall as far as not many dupes, and getting what one would expect from the blaster, so a middling score overall, but I am not displeased from this one.