2017 Topps WWE Women’s Division Wrestling Cards Blaster w/Relic

I was so happy with the 2018 WWE Women's Division Women's Wrestling cards that I grabbed this 2017 WWE Women's Division Women's Wrestling blaster with my recent baseball combo pack order from Wal-Mart.  I'm again very happy with my cards which totaled 81 including a shirt relic.  These are basically divided into NXT, WWE, and roster cards.  Each divide those among major events in the series.  There were quite a few Charlotte Flair cards which made me happy but it also had plenty of great photos from all the big lady stars of the WWE.  The design is great as it doesn't take away from the photos which are really good.  The backs are simple with a nice write-up and some basic color.  The information is providing the background to the event/photo on the front of the card.  The roster cards are a bit more plain but still look really nice and have a great mix of Superstar, Announcer, Ring Announcer, and Legend cards (great legends too).  I call this a win.  I'd love to pick up more in the future of both the 2017 and 2018 cards.  I think these are just fun sets and as always very easy on the eyes. 

WWE 

NXT

Roster Cards

BREAKDOWN:

81 – Total Cards
38 – Base Roster
  -- 23 - Superstar
  -- 11 – Legends
  -- 3 – Announcer
  -- 1 – Ring Announcer
  -- 1 - Manager
24 – NXT
18 – WWE
1 – Shirt Relic #/199

2015 Score Football All-Time Franchise Insert Set

This All-Time Franchise insert set is from the 2015 Score hobby box I opened last month.  I really liked the looks, especially of this Walter Payton card, and decided to search out the entire set.  A quick trip to eBay and DONE!  Nice simple design, great photos, all-time greats and I'm happy.

There are only eight cards in the set but they are packed with stars.  We get two 49ers which at first I wondered about but who can argue with either.  

A great quarterback trio including, maybe my all-time favorite gun slinger, John Elway.

Roger Staubach was the only player who starred in the seventies but I'll take a Staubach card any day, especially in those blue unis.  Just a fun little set which cost next to nothing and I'm really glad I picked it up.

Random Wax: 2018-2019 Hoops

Finally had a 2018-2019 Hoops pack that delivered.  Kevin Durant highlighted this pack that had plenty of star power.  Durant is such a great player whose story probably gets a little lost in the fact that one, he played during the LeBron era, and two moved to an established championship team much to the chagrin of many fans and media members.  Still this guy is an elite player who in my opinion, only has one player who is better than him currently in the league.

  Donovan Mitchell is still struggling but to his credit, I think, he is trying to shoot his way out of his malaise.  A nice hall of famer and Maverick rookie Luke Doncic whom Dallas hopes is another Dirk Nowitzki in that he will have a long hall of fame career with the team.  Doncic is doing well so far averaging 18 PPG, 6 RPG and almost 5 APG and should be the league rookie of the year.

A nice blue parallel of KAT and the Trae Young rookie.  Traded for Doncic during the draft, my Hawks are hoping Young can be the franchise moving forward.  I don't doubt his skills but his shooting is another thing.  That HAS to get better for him to succeed in the NBA otherwise I see him as another Ricky Rubio - great ball handling skills but no consistent shot.

A couple of stars of the league and De'Aaron Fox who has stepped it up in his second year in the league.  I really like him.

Nice photo of Jerami Grant and I pulled personal collection guy DeMar DeRozan.  This was a fun pack for sure with great variety and plenty of stars.  I learned something.  The retired legends I've listed prior are actually part of the Hoops Tribute subset making up the final 20 cards of the base set.  I pulled Bill Russell this pack but I've pulled him before and showed him off in that post.  There are some great players in this subset so I'll definitely be on the lookout for those.

BREAKDOWN:

30 - Total Cards

2 - RC

1 - Blue Parallel

1 - The Pulse

1 - Faces of the Future

1 - Lights Camera Action

1 - Hoops Tribute (Retired Legend)

Wal-Mart MLB Baseball's Ultimate Collector's 50 Pack Combo

I ran across this Wal-Mart MLB Baseball's Ultimate Collector's 50 Pack Combo online and was intrigued.  For the price ($19.97) and some of the packs shown I thought this can't be that bad a deal.  With 50 packs I figured there would be a minimum of 250 cards and while I wouldn't be surprised to see junk wax I made the leap.  I went in with my eyes wide open and I am happy with my cards.  The 50 packs I received are detailed out below and totaled 352 cards.  The highlights for me were the five packs of  2015 Topps Archives and the 2006 Topps Series 2 rack pack.  I hadn't seen either of these sets before and my pull from the Archives packs was great in my opinion.  I'll start throwing up posts on the cards I pulled but just wanted to throw this out there for folks to see. It is a relatively inexpensive option to grab some "random" packs which may appeal to others. This is all about the fun as you probably won't find autos or relics here.  I purchased the combo with another item that put me into the free shipping category by the way (orders over $35). 

BREAKDOWN:

352 – Total Cards

1988 Donruss (2 Packs – 30 cards)

1989 Donruss (4 Packs – 60)

1990 Donruss (2 Packs – 32)

1991 Ultra Fleer (1 Pack - 14)

2006 Topps Series 2 Rack Pack (1 Pack - 18 + 3 Vintage – 1 – 87 Topps, 1 – 86 Topps, 1 – 81 Topps)

2015 Topps Series 1 (5 Packs – 25)

2015 Topps Series Update (5 Packs – 25)

2015 Topps Archives (5 Packs – 20)

2016 Topps Series 2 (5 Packs – 25)

2017 Topps Series 1 (5 Packs – 25)

2017 Topps Series 2 (5 Packs – 25)

2017 Topps Update (5 Packs – 25)

2018 Topps Series 1 (5 Packs – 25)  

2018-2019 Contenders Basketball Case Break - Portland Trail Blazers

I see guys purchasing their teams for a box or case break so I was very excited to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers for a case break (12 boxes) of the 2018-2019 Contenders basketball.  While I originally wanted the Atlanta Hawks the prices were well over $100 before those auctions were done.   The Trail Blazers were still over my budget but I got caught up in the frenzy of the last minute bidding and grabbed them for $32.  I pulled both a Rookie Ticket base auto and a Rookie Ticket premium auto of Anfernee Simons.  Simons hasn't really stood out to this point but they are some nice cards.  Premium parallels are shiny versions of the base card.   

I've done enough research on breaks so I know how they work and what terms to watch for.  This one was pretty straight forward and for my money I received all the Trail Blazer cards pulled during the case break.  The checklist for this set came out real late and I hadn't looked at it and it may not have been out when the break took place.  When I watched the break I quickly figured out that there were only three base cards for Portland.  So I was basically betting on grabbing some good parallels, relics or autos. 

 For me it isn't all about the relics and autos in a break but I did do well pulling two autographs.  I do have a ton of the base cards of Nurkic, Lillard and McCollum and also received two premium Nurkic cards as well of a Playing the Numbers Game insert.  This was a fun break and the seller showed the break live via YouTube which is exciting to watch.  Whoever purchased the Los Angeles Lakers was the big winner.  They pulled four Lakers autographs and a 1/1 LeBron James Championship parallel.  Wow.  

BREAKDOWN:

45 – Total Cards

15 – Jusof Nurkic (2 – Premium)

14 – C.J. McCollum

13 – Damian Lillard

2 – Rookie Ticket Autographs (1 – Premium)

1 – Playing the Numbers Game

2018 Playbook Football

This is my first look at the 2018 Playbook football cards.  This is a set that isn't new but I don't remember the past sets to be honest.  In fact I originally thought they were actually some type of small playbooks instead of actual cards until I saw fellow blogger's posts.  There were 25 cards in the pack.  At first they weren't that impressive to me but these are growing on me.  The fronts have two different photos with one being a bit "muted" or more to the background.  This looks really nice and it is hard enough to get a company to put a different photo on the back of the card so getting two different photos on the front is nice.  This Antonio Brown Blitz insert was the highlight for me.  The gold and black colors are cool combined with the design.  

  It has been a while since we've seen football packs highlighted by Cleveland Browns players but maybe a new era is dawning.   Baker Mayfield highlights the X's and O's inserts I pulled and Nick Chubb was the best RC of the bunch.  This is a nice Play Action insert of DeShaun Watson.  

A nice trio of running backs from the league.  McCaffrey is having a great year combined on the ground and receiving.  Derrick Henry had a a monster game.  And Zeke has had a huge year and is currently leading the league in rushing.  That snuck up on me.  Todd Gurley III scores on every other play and gets more headlines, and deservedly so, but Elliott really has had a great season.

The backs are pretty plain but the not the worst we've seen.  I'll probably pick up more of these as I get a chance. The base design has a nice look, I like the inserts I've seen and I had a pretty nice pull.  A great way to start with a new set.

BREAKDOWN:

25 - Total Cards

10 - RC

2 - X's and O's

1 - Play Action

1 - Blitz 

2018-2019 Hoops Holiday Blaster Box

I've been eyeing these 2018-2019 Hoops Holiday cards for some time.  The best way to think of these is a blaster full of nothing but winter parallels and the print run for these must be less than the standard cards.  These blasters also guarantee a hit which for me was a T.J. Leaf Rookie Remembrance Relic which I show at the end of this post.  This Anthony Davis card shows off the snowflakes really well.  You can't see them that well on all the cards but you can on the majority and I like these overall.  They are just different enough from the standard cards to get my attention, snow flakes are cool and they aren't any more expensive than the standard cards.

These are all from the Hoops Tribute subset that is a mix of current stars and retired greats.  You can't really tell but the Kevin Durant is a Winter Purple parallel.  I really like this subset and actually just picked up that Dr. J standard card on COMC.

 A really good pull though I wouldn't call it great.  With 300 cards though your not going to nab a LeBron in every pack.  Nice card of Andre Drummond skying to the rim.  Al Horford will go into my personal collection and you can't go wrong with Ben Simmons right now. 

As you can see the snowflakes are pretty much a non factor on some cards like this Og Anunoby card.  After an inconsistent start Kent Bazemore has been a better scorer for my Hawks most of December.  Tough news for John Wall and the Wizards as he'll be out the rest of the season due to wrist surgery.

Cool Greek Freak Get Out of the Way insert and I really like the Knicks' NYC jersey Kristaps Porzingis is wearing on his Lights Camera Action insert.

I think this is my first Otto Porter Jr. card of the year.  

BREAKDOWN:

88 – Total Cards
14 – RC
6 – Hoops Tribute
4 – Retired Greats
3 – Lights Camera Action
3 – Purple Winter Parallels
2 –Get Out of the Way
1 – The Pulse
1 – Faces of the Future
1 – Class of 2018
1 – Rookie Remembrance Relic