Can I Get An Update?

After 6 days of repacks, here's some stuff that you'll have to wait to see in repack products - 2019 Update.

I grabbed a trio of hobby packs from the LCS. I won't show off all the cards, but will hit the highlights.

Pack 1:

Here's my first update card of the release. At least it wasn't one of those completely unnecessary All-Star game or Home Run Derby cards.

The only Blue Jays card in the packs, but at least it was one more than the Mets content.

While this was easily the most interesting photograph from the packs, the framing might make it one of the best photographs of the year.

Even if it is numbered all the way up to 2019, it still deserves to be highlighted as the only numbered card in the packs.

I'm going back-to-back with Diamondbacks cards in this post, since this one opened up the second of the pack.

You know I liked that Harrison card when this great photo of a throwback jersey barely registers as a contender for the best photo in the packs.

While this isn't a numbered card, this was probably the best pull in the packs, as this is one of the veteran variations. This photo can be obviously traced to the 1985 World Series, and one of the games played in Kansas City. Since that's Willie McGee sliding into third, it has to be from one of the first two games, since he was hitless in the last two. He doubled in both games, but was tagged out in the first trying to stretch it into a triple. So, this is from the 5th inning of that game.

And the reason I was so verbose about the previous card is that the final pack was really dull. Just this 150th Anniv. variation of Edwin Encarnacion stood out.

There you have it!

Just One Pack: 2017 Update Jumbo

I pretty much balked at the flagship set this year, but I should at least bust one pack of each series, right? So, here's the update content.

And here's my first card of Update. It might be a Marlin, but at least it is of a guy named Steckenrider.

The only Mets card. That's one more than all the Blue Jays cards I got in the pack, though. Which isn't a problem, as I did grab them cheaply in a group break, so I'll be able to show these off at a later date.

My favourite photo in the pack. You get a perfect photo for working with the design of the card, combined with the Memorial Day jersey/hat/shoe variations. A great selection.

And speaking of photo selections...

I kinda wish Topps had cut down just a bit on the shots of a player throwing the ball with a left-to-right angle. It can get incredibly repetitive to see the same look when you're going through a single pack. And this is just the first nine I picked from the pack due to the size of the scanner. There were more.

Such as on the insert.

At least the parallel shows the player fielding the ball before making the throw.

This is a photo variation. They're not really SPd too much in Update, as they seemed to fall one per jumbo pack.

Now these, I like. It has a flashy background, but the photos still give a classy look to this insert card.

Hey! A hit! That's a nice way to wrap things up and hope for better things from 2018 flagship.

2016 O-Pee-Chee Blaster Break

Time to end this with a blaster.

Box bottom cards! These actually use different photos than the regular base cards. I'll probably separate them and send the Larkin off to TMM at some point.

Although these aren't SPd, it is nice to knock a pair of the bigger names off the want list (which I should have up next week).

2 Senators in this box.

And a pair of Kitchener Rangers alum.

The base ends with the expected 7 SPs. I don't like that they are SPd, but they did a really nice job this year with the team checklist cards in terms of photography. Although I wouldn't be upset if at least one of them used the traditional "team photo".

The Retros. Kindl makes his second appearance in this blaster. I'm probably the only person happy to get 2 of his cards in the same box.

And these two shiny cards end the week of OPCs.

I've enjoyed the week, and made a major dent in the wantlist. I'm tentatively putting it at about 150 cards, with less than half of those being from the SP portion. Hopefully, I can dent that even more before, and then finish it off as best I can at the Expo in May.

The Champ('s) is Here! - Box Break - Packs 16 through 20

The hits ended with yesterday's post. But, that doesn't mean I'm not going to wrap up the box. After all, I'm still due a couple fish cards.

Pack 16:

No fish cards in the first pack, but there's a nice gold parallel of Chris Neil for my Sens PC. Luongo was the SP in this one. I also love the look on the Williams card, as the horizontal photo isn't as tightly cropped as usual, and it allows more of the ice to be shown in the faded format behind him.

Pack 17:

Bergeron SP and Virtanen gold. That's about all of note here.

Pack 18:

There's my second fish card of the box! The Rinne is one of those high # SPs (which differ from the regular SPs as there are only 4 per box). But I got a fish card!

Pack 19:

So, that's my third Derek Forbort card in this box. So, I've got 50 percent of his Champ's rainbow in one box. And I got both rookie Connors in the same box.

Pack 20:

Why not wrap it up with a final fish card? No mention of the Steelhead's status as the team name for an OHL franchise on the card. Boo.

And that's it for my Champ's break. The standard base set is 180, and I'm about halfway to that. I'll try to do some more damage over the next couple weeks and try to post a wantlist.

Back to the dollar store tomorrow!

The Champ('s) is Here! - Box Break - Packs 1 through 5

I don't think I've been excited for a hockey release in a long time as Champ's makes it return for the first time since 09-10. And this was actually a pretty good box, as I got above the promised odds on several inserts.

Pack 1:

The set is broken up into 4 groups. 1-180 are the standard base. 181-270 are standard SPs (at a rate of 1 in every 1.5 packs), 271-315 are High # SPs (1 in 5) and Rare SPs are the last 5, (1:600 packs). Parise is a High SP in this pack, and Pavel is the standard SP. The first card theory is tested here as a Leafs card was my first one. It is strange to see Dion as a Leaf, when he already had Senators cards in SP Authentic. But at least I landed a real Senators card.

The back of the cards are pretty standard for the return of the set.

Pack 2:

And now we reach the interesting insert portion in the second pack, as I land a card featuring a  Park Reserve on Vancouver Island. The Evander Kane is a gold front parallel, and these supposedly fall at a rate of 1:10 packs, although my box turned out not to be representative of that.

Pack 3:

All vertical cards in this pack. The Connor McDavid is one of the high SP cards. I guess that's the one I should want most from that group. But, as can be expected from someone who was awaiting this set, it is the oddball SP that is my favourite. Skookum Jim Mason is of the people co-credited with making the Discovery Claim, which lead to the Klondike Gold Rush.

Pack 4:

Just hockey in this one. Staal is a short print, and there's my second standard gold parallel. But two Senators in a pack is nice for me.

Pack 5:

And my first of the fish cards to wrap up this portion of the break. The Esposito is one of the High # SPs.

5 more packs tomorrow!

Expo Recap - Post #12 - Opening Day, and Opening a Case Hit.

And to wrap this up, here's the last of the wax I busted via the Expo.

One of the more interesting elements of Opening Day is taking a look at images that will be making an appearance in Series 2. Since Series 1's #1 featured a home run being brought back by Mike Trout, it is appropriate to see more of that coming up in Series 2. Along with a nice Carlos Correa.

A little more variety is visible among the interesting horizontal cards. I really like how Fenway is also as much of a star on the Ortiz as the player himself is.

The Opening Day Edition parallels fall at a rate of 1:7, so 6 per box looks about right.

But this was a pretty good pull for a so-called base card. This is a photo variation of Bogaerts, and these fall at a rate of 1:393 packs. So, while I didn't get an actual hit from the box, I still did land a pretty tough pull. I should probably ebay this, but am more tempted to hold on, hoping some Red Sox fan will come across the Tejada variation and want to swap for it.

Onto the inserts!

Starting with the least interesting of the group. Just a generic slugger-themed insert. I got 7 of these - at least one was Joey Bats.

With Opening Day stars lacking the lenticular action from previous years, these really aren't as nice as before. At least I landed a Met, and didn't land a Ryan Braun, who seemed to follow me around over the past two years. These are 1:24, so I did slightly better than expected.

I thought that Bubble Trouble would be like those bubbles refractors from previous years. It turns out that it is just a player blowing a bubble.

Striking Distance inserts, which cover players approaching milestones, is a neat little set as it gives fans things to look for during the current season.

While alternate reality isn't nearly as cool as the Franchise Flashbacks from last year, the backs of the card point out the difference between the regular and alternate uniforms. But why would you use a photo of Buster Posey in full gear when you want to show off the uniform of the player as opposed to the player himself?

Superstar celebrations return in this year's set. It is nice to see some variations in these, at least with my pulled cards, than just the standard Gatorade dump and shaving cream pie.

But my favourite insert portion this year, as with all previous years, is the mascot portion of the set. While normally, I'd be most excited about acquiring Mrs. Met's likely cardboard debut, my status as dog people has to make Hank my favourite of the mascots.

Because, AWWWWWWW!

Seriously, AWWWWWWW!

And while it seems like this would wrap up the Expo acquisitions, I still have one more thing to get to: