Finally, some Heritage

The final purchases from my weekend trip to the LCS, as I'm probably the last person in blogland to bust some of this year's Heritage. Just two packs worth, though. I might grab some random retail if it does make an appearance on shelves here.

My first Heritage card of 2018 is this Orlando Arcia.

My first cartoon on the back of 2018!

The rest of the first pack. Lorenzen is a short-print in this group. Looking at the list, at least this year it doesn't seem like all the major names are hidden among the 401-500 portion of the set. That's at least one plus for set builders.

Here's the other pack. That Trout looks like an insert, but it is a base card.

And there you have it! Back to the mailbag tomorrow.

Series 2 Box Break

This was my second box picked up over the weekend. Not as hit-based as the other one, but there's a definite variety in this in terms of inserts.

I'll start with the Senators team set of base cards. These are dupes from my team break, but I guess I should show them eventually. This group of 6 does show some of the themes of the set. Similar photos between teammates are a common occurrence, as are pre-game entry photos with video walls and light shows.

But sometimes, they really look great. It almost seems like the Flames logo here is part of the design as opposed to the actual background.

As for similar photos, these are back-to-back in terms of numbering. That makes collation a bit of a challenge, since you have to double-check the numbering.

I guess this will be Jagr's final UD card.

An appearance of Stanley is always a nice way to wrap up the regular base card portion of the post.

This isn't the most spectacular grouping of Young Guns, Owen Tippett is probably the best one in this grouping.

O-Pee-Chee Updates are the most interesting for me in this, as getting them here means I don't have to worry about getting them for the set build. Even though they are ridiculously cheap at COMC once e-packs start offering S2. There's one veteran per box.

4 rookies go alongside them. At least I won't need to get the Nico once I hit up COMC.

I got the expected pair of Retro Rookies, and do like that the Ferguson features him still rocking the Kamloops Blazers mask. Upper Deck picked up the CHL license, so I guess they don't have to photoshop it out.

Shiny!

Portraits inserts continue from Series 1. All the look of early 90s Studio, with none of the interesting factoids on the back.

Canvas inserts also return in this. While the photos are usually more interesting in this, the McKenzie seems pretty bland in comparison to some of the regular base. The hand pass and Vegas Strong cards are definitely canvas-worthy.

Canvas Young Guns fall every other box. Even better for me, the one I landed was of 2/14 baby John Hayden.

Hey! A relic! Like the Canvas YG, these fall every other hobby box.

Perhaps this box should have to Chicago instead. This is the first time I've pulled a High Gloss parallel out of flagship. While a better player would be nice, I'll still take this rarity.

One numbered card deserves another, and another first time pull from Upper Deck. In addition to being a die-cut card, the player and bottom portion of the card is raised slightly off the card. If you've seen a Panini Clear Vision card, it is like that. Mete has spent the season with Canadiens, but will likely miss the rest of the season with an injury.

Pulling an insert I've never pulled before and a parallel I'd never pulled before. That's a pretty great box!

Comfort Food

Along with the free Hockey Card Day pack, I opted to bust a box of one of my favourite boxes of the 10's, - 13-14 Rookie Anthology.

While I generally don't highlight the base cards with this, a gold parallel /100 is always worth showing off - especially a future Senator.

These are also considered to be base cards. This is the second Matteau of I've pulled, but since I traded that one away not long after the pull, I'll gladly welcome a replacement. Stefan's still on this side of the Atlantic, and has seen action in Vegas this season.

I don't need any more Scores to complete the 100 card Update set, but at least the MacKinnon is a good dupe.

A gold parallel as well.

The second hit of the box is also someone who's seen action with the Golden Knights in 17-18. He's actually done quite well, and is on a pace for slightly about a pointper game.

Prizms. D'Amico and Trouba are both new to me. And even Jagr dupes are still nice.

Morrow and Bellemore are new to me among the Select.

As is this redemption. Sorta. I have the regular one of these, and now have the /99 parallel. Since the former one was live not long after the pull, I can actually imagine this one coming through.

Just hits the rest of the way home. Starting off with a 2-colour prime piece of a Nicklas Jensen sweater. Nice, but...

here's a far more interesting relic. A nice mask binder addition with a relic of a legend. The bad thing about this is that I picked up this off ebay about a week earlier:

Great timing! At least one is a stick and one's a jersey (although shouldn't Show Me Some Glove be a glove relic?).

And to end it, a card from Dominion. A nice patch to go with an on-card auto, its just a shame he's with the Leafs now. But, with him putting forward a really great season in the net, this is a nice pull to end this with.

Next up, my second box of the weekend, a hobby box of Series 2.

The Best Cards are Free Cards

I hope you had a great National Hockey Card Day!

Here's the contents of my free pack!

I can't complain about a new Karlsson for my PC, especially since he'll remain with the Senators, at least for a few more months.

I also grabbed a box of comfort food of 13-14 Rookie Anthology to go with the free pack, and I'll be showing those goodies off next time.

4 if by Sportlots 2018: Part 2

Envelope #2! #3 has yet to arrive.

In my goal to acquire at least one Jays card of everybody who played in the bigs for Toronto and got at least one card to commemorate their time there, here's Luis Andujar. He spent parts of 3 seasons with the team, but this was his only Jays card. Given his numbers over those seasons, only one card was not a surprise.

Chris Michalak's numbers were better than Andujar's, but he only lasted a part season before he was waived and picked up by Texas. This Update issue and its parallels are his only Toronto card, although he did make an appearance on a prospect card as an Athletic in 1994.

2/14 binder Jim Kelly #79.

2/14 binder Jim Kelly #80.

And there you have it.

4 if by Sportlots 2018: Part 1

This will be the first of several posts in 2018 that cover my Sportlots purchases in lots of 4 cards each. Shipping costs increase greatly for envelopes from the US once I hit the 5 card non-PWE level, so 4 is perfect. And this is my first 4 pack of 2018.

Here's an insert perfect for my Cancon collection. A perfect mix of Canadian MLBers for a 2010 release. Although Joey Votto did get the MVP award later that season, so maybe he'd be a better choice in retrospect for the current lineage.

This was a card that was on my wantlist as soon as it showed up in Stadium Club releases. The pre-roof days at Olympic Stadium get a gorgeous shout-out with the photo.

2/14 content! Having just learned that the current volume leader in the baseball portion won himself a domestic violence suspension last season, I'm trying to knock him out of the top level in that category. It looks like it will be either the late John Marzano, now 3 back, or Takashi Saito, who is 10 back, but with more cards available, will take the spot at some point.

And another 2/14 card ends this 4 pack. This is actually a big one, as this, if zistle can be believed, this completes my collection of Damaso Marte base cards. He's one of a handful of 'perfect matches' in the binder, as he matches up with both date and year. This is his 23rd overall card, and there's always parallels.

And there you go. Another 4 pack tomorrow!

An Arbitrary Envelope

It's mailbag time! First up is a bubbler from Brian at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary. All Mets! All the time!

Is there any better way to start a post than with a Diamond Kings card? Especially a Perez version?

Random Rico!

Random Topps Total!

My favourite thing about some envelopes is getting cards from sets that I never really had a chance to bust packs of. I may have busted one pack of Heritage High numbers during the existence of the product. Henceforth, I don't have a lot of cards from these, and all Mets are welcome.

And it gives me the only chance to acquire a James Loney card where he's a Met.

Not a Heritage card, but not an original. This is a 2005 Rookie Cup reprint.

Parallels! Some shiny! Some not.

A perfect way to wrap this up is a great combination of a nice photo and an on-card autograph.

And there you go. I don't have too much stuff to reload with. It seems most of the content in my trade box is dupes from my breaks of Heritage Minors. So it might take until the Expo in early May for me to return fire.