Just One Card

 I don't usually do trades for a single card, but if it's an auto or memorabilia card, I will almost always make an exception. I traded a couple 1972 O Pee Chee base for this auto...

Kevin appeared in 18 games for Toronto in 2021, then spent 2 years in Oakland appearing in about 59 games each season there before going to the Yanks. In about 330 plate appearances, he is batting under .180 - not great.

May be that his biggest accomplishment was being part of the players traded by Oakland to get Matt Chapman from Toronto - for what that is worth.

In Person

 A trade offer came my way from a fellow Canadian but on accepting the offer, I found it was from someone in the same city. TCDB member watbird was kind enough to stop by and make the 10 minute drive to save a stamp and a few days wait for the mail. He had wanted a few A&G baseball cards as he was working on the 2019 set, so I gave him what he was looking for and the other 20 that he needed as well and for my side of the trade, I received...

I really like the Bo Stadium Club insert card, and any Vladdy is a good Vladdy. Had to include some hockey in the trade too...

New to me UD, and the Woll has to be my fave of the bunch.

I like having local trade partners as it's nice to fill needs for someone without the worry of the postage cost - here's to hoping I can do that with watbird.

The Rest Foiled

Well, almost all of the rest of the cards are foil Magic cards, a couple base versions snuck in with the order, but let's take a look.

As can happen over time, some new cards end up being a take off on other cards. For example, Galvanic Juggernaut is very similar to Juggernaut, though a bit more powerful. As for the Cogwork cards, a number have come into the lore of MTG over the years as well.

Sometimes, cards are not so creative - Shard of Glass and Magnifying Glass being prime examples. Cards are fine in ability, just maybe not so fantastic as they could be.

Soul Separator - now there's a more fantastical card that is Magic worthy!

I wasn't a big fan of the vehicles and related mechanics when they came in, but luckily they didn't really last. I get what they were going for, but sometimes more complexity isn't needed.

Though I prefer Bottled Gnomes, Ticking Gnomes aren't too bad an alternative. A solid bunch of additions and at a good price give the sale.

It Still Counts

 Over the holidays - yes, the Christmas holidays, 401games had a sale on foil cards at 15% off, which, coupled with the sales tax holiday in Canada, meant a good deal, so I went a bit overboard on picking up some foil MTG cards. I also happened to get a $5 Paypal voucher, which, given I rarely ever use Paypal, I had to find something to spend it on, so I picked up the first card in this lot for basically nothing.

Sure, it may not be a true Mox, the original of which are all expensive artifacts from the early days, but a nice Jack-in-the-Mox is a fun pick up I've eyed for a while. A rare from the Unglued set, it pokes fun at the original Mox cards and their ability, while bringing in a bit of the D&D type roll for ability flair that came into MTG in some sets, in real force, with the D&D crossover not too long ago.

You may need to take my word for it that these are all foil cards, but they are. I went through my needs from TCDB and matched up for anything under $1, so nothing too expensive as I went for quantity over quality here.

Also yes, there are duplicates in cards as I do collect one from each set, so if it was in 10 sets, I may end up with 10 of them....or more...Meteorite is a good example of a reprinted card I do have a few of.

Pilgrim of the Fires is a solid big guy with good abilities, and though the casting cost is high, for an artifact deck that can spew out mana, that wouldn't be much of an issue.

Regardless of the abilities or down side - I remember back in the early days of Magic, a 10/10 creature would be insane. In my early decks, the Colossus of Sardia was a 9/9 for 9 casting cost and didn't untap unless you paid 9 - and I ran a deck with three of them. They had trample, and were fun to run people over with, but now, a 9/9 seems like standard fair with some of the bigger guys they have come out with.

I guess it is the foiling which makes some of the text look way worse scanned as the cards look perfectly fine in hand. Though - the worn look does do well to feed into the "artifact" aspect of the cards I guess. To think this is only about half the cards I picked up - so more to share tomorrow!

LightzZ It Up!

 Another trade to share from TCDB - this one both baseball and hockey and with TCDB member LightzZ - fellow Canadian, out of Quebec.

A nice dabble of Jays and a single 2021 Topps set build addition dab smack in the middle. I don't mind the camo border look, though for some reason I like it best on Opening Day sets - I mean, opening day....grass is green....camo colours....works for me.

I continue to pick up Timmies cards of the Leaf variety through trades - awesome - and a Stand Up Pinnacle Inside card which, coupled with another card that slides into it, makes a stand up card - hence the name. An interesting idea, but as the cards come alone, it takes effort to collect both parts to get the full effect of the card. Now I have to seek out the other such card here, but at least I have half in hand now because of this trade!

Wuzzleteats Comes Through!

 An all hockey offering received today, and though I have some 2024-25 Timmies packs, we get a number of Leafs as they are already on my want list, and some Duos Leafs too...

The O Pee Chee cards, including the retor designs are great, but getting all three Leaf By The Numbers inserts from the DUos set is awesome - love it!

He also wins for getting me my first 2024-25 Timmies base cards in hand - though I should open through all the packs I got soon as that's a great busy season activity as it's max reward with minimum effort. The inserts here include all the Leaf cards (yes, one a piece) for Frozen Hot Shots, In Motion Phenoms, and Pure Gold. I love the Tavares Ture North Future card, and the second Leaf from that one should be on it's way to me as well, so opening the packs, it's getting second copies in working towards the master set.

Big thank yous as trades like these check off so many collecting mini-goal boxes, they feel great, and are a big plus when work is so busy!

A Better Way?

 A small PWE trade to share today from ChicagoPalta. I got a few Heritage release cards for the Jays collection from 2004 and 2006 which raise a really good question...

When serial numbering a card like the Overbay - is any real thought put into how it's done? I mean, in this case, you just slap a nice gold numbering which is easy to read due to the large size, right over the back of the card in a way that covers a bunch of text and is in a different direction to the text. It's not like the text direction changes on these cards, so why isn't it in a better position?

I think many of these have gotten better over the years and manufacturers generally find a way to place it without "ruining" the card otherwise, but I don't know why it was ever an issue like this rather than just being something to consider when making the card design in the first place.

I could sit here and also ask why there would be a Chrome insert or parallel set for a Heritage product, but I think that ship has long ago sailed away since we seem to be willing to make any parallel or insert for any set if it means more chance to sell.

Okay, let's be positive though, the back design of these is otherwise, well done, and the fronts of the 2004 work well....but Overbay, sorry, that Chrome finish - just no.

Last positiove to end on, these are my first Jays cards for 2004 Bowman Heritage and for the 2006 Topps Heritage Chrime parallel sets, so that's cool at least!

Continuing The Prospecting

 A short post today from the BASEball lot as we get a different set, but the same set. The product these were released in was the 2020 Bowman Chrome set, but the Prospects insert set was a continuation of the Bowman Chrome Prospects set which was part of the flagship Bowman release.

I am not a big fan of such cross set inserts as I mentioned, and in my collection, they will just run into each other like a complete set. Just a couple handfuls of keeper inserts and a few dupes, nothing too special, but this did do one thing for me...

I cleaned up the summary listing a tad. I figure I would keep any of the keeper lines showing as well as any significant ones otherwise, but to reduce the long listing, closing together a number of the minimal sets represented. Definitely makes it a bit cleaner and I'll leave it this way until I get all done and show the full summary again.

I love stats, and love backs with all year stats showing, but I'm going to have to cut to this "last 5 years" type model to stop from the exhaustive list for now.

2020 Bo Insert Show

 I'd like to say there's plenty of base cards here, but what is in the BASEball lot is mostly prospect inserts - but wait - that works for me too!

One base error keeper and one Toronto card before a whole bunch of prospects for keeps (dupes to trade but didn't bother scanning those).

I like the design better than most years - maybe because it seems more like a Topps flagship design. Definitely looks like all the cards are here except any with a rookie or future star designation, but that's okay.

I will gripe as always on the minimal Stat line, but on over 2/3 of the insert set, that works for me.

Not just prospect inserts, but some Chrome ones as well. These are inserts on top of the prospect inserts in the actual Bowman Chrone release for 2020, and there are some of those up tomorrow.

Always annoying when insert sets cross multiple releases because I like to keep them by release but when it's a continued run. I know, small problems in the big picture but the semantics that go through my head.

As seen below, plenty of dupes if anyone is interested but a successful lot of inserts overall.

Not My Pick

 Ending with four last packs of the 2023-24 Tim Hortons Duos packs...

Having seen most of the insert sets now, I think the Rink Rivals is my favourite for design and purpose. Picked up a few in these packs, and I like the look, feel, design and content - very nice overall. Backlund is the first duplicate base card, so small boo to that.

Last two packs...

Never going to complain about a SUper Mario card - very cool to see him on one side and Jagr on the other....

Um....no disrespect to Paul Coffey, who is an amazing Hall of Famer, but when you are doing a duo themed set, and Mario is on one side, and you need another Penguin on the other - there is only one choice. Why this isn't Jagr, I have no idea, but the card just feels wrong. Maybe I'm wrong...anyone else have a different thought/opinion on that one?

More Leaf content in this bunch, but the better "hit" came from the birthday packs I opened earlier which had a Captain Connections insert which had longer odds, so I get the overall closeness of the two bunches of packs.

More T.O. Inserts

 Three more packs of the Duos Timmies for share today, and here's a spoiler - Leaf inserts!

Can't complain about the Leaf content today - not only do we get two, but both inserts that are new to me. I'll never be upset about getting another Sundin card - even if it's a shared card, and the number 13 is so iconic with him, it's all the better.

Again, a full day of new to my collection cards which puts the base set at 30% complete on the 100 cards, not too shabby. I don't think it will be high priority for me as it isn't a fave Timmies set at all, but maybe we can cut it down a few more cards with tomorrows last packs.

Back To Duos

 I figure it may be best to go through the rest of the Timmies Duo cards I got from my mom last year. THese are the packs that I got at Christmas time along with a bunch of "regular" Timmies set packs, but those will be for another time. Will this bunch of packs be as good or better than the first bunch from my birthday? Only time will tell, but let's start with three for today.

Let's take a look at both sides of the cards today, with the fronts up first...

Well, the Matthews/McDavid Rink Rivals card is the clear winner today. Not only a Leaf card, but getting McDavid in as well is a great fit. As much as I am not an Ovi fan, have to give him credit - I thought the last year or two, he was fading fast, but this last season has been a whirlwind for him, and in a good way.

The backs for the base cards look much like the front. As for the inserts, decent enough designs and write ups. At least the Rink Rivalry noted for McDavid and Matthews is one of just awards - can't say they ever seem to be at odds in a real rivalry, other than being top stars of their respective teams. I'm fine with that route, just not a real rivalry where the two players go out and really compete against each other.

A solid day of all new additions marks for a great start.

Wrestling From Quebec

 TCDB member martinchabot is the person, according to the site, that I have done the most trades with over the time I have spent on the site. Of course it only counts those trades done through the site, but I think it's likely true at 17 logged trades including the one I am sharing today. A trade was offered where most of the 100+ cards were wrestling, so I wasn't going to hesitate in accepting it!

There were a few Leaf cards which almost seems required for a trade between to Canadians. I like the retro designed' Matthews card, though I hate the fact that the retro design refers to something that isn't from the 80s or earlier.

As for the wrestling cards...

The last card I needed for The Rock Rocks Wrestlemania insert set from 2015 Topps Road To Wrestlemania - there's a mouthful. The rest here are base additions for 2021 Topps WWE flagship set. Definitely a while to go on that 200 card set, but nice to knock off a few of the cards here. Also nice, I guess to get part of the 2021 Panini Chronicles massive 500 card base set as well with these...

All the cards above are base cards from the 500 card set. Just on these cards we have 14 different designs. Yup - nothing to say on that except - that's Panini! I think the last may be best with the Liv Morgan design, but I can see the appeal for a couple of them.

The other big set represented in the trade is the 2022 NXT 2.0 Topps set. I have another blaster box of this to open, so will have to see if the trade helps or not overall. The base set is 125 cards, and I am up to 87, so at least within range to actually finish the set with the blaster if all works out right for me. Or I just made a bunch of those cards dupes with this trade...time will tell.

The inserts and green parallels likely are good pick ups regardless of having the box still to open.

The Sarray memorabilia card is fantastic too - and Mandy Rose - she had a great return run in NXT - too bad it didn't work out longer term for her, but I gather she is making more now than she would have in WWE.

Some 2022 Panini, 2023 Donruss, Elite, and a single 2023 Panini Prizm finish off the trade.

Definitely would do trades like this all day long as postage is only about $5-$6 for each of us - definitely a lot cheaper keeping it in Canada!