Random Wax: 2017-2018 Prestige Basketball - BOOM!

Wow.  This was just a random 2017-2018 Prestige basketball pack I grabbed since we are almost to the NBA Finals and this auto happened.  This has been an unreal NBA card season for me.  This is my 5th autograph since November and 2nd of Jayson Tatum.  The other three were of Luke Kennard, Mario Hezonja, and Jake Layman.  I've never experienced anything like this and I'm aware of how lucky I am.  I don't really collect autographs so this one is also up on eBay.  The card itself is a great card especially in light of last night's game and the Eastern Conference Finals as a whole that just finished up.  Tatum posterized LeBron in the game last night and that's a great look (or not) on James' face in this card. 

The rest of the pack wasn't bad either but of course it was just a blur once I saw the Tatum auto.

  Parallels included this Bright Green Micro Etch rookie and a couple of rain parallels.  De-Aaron Fox is a rookie I thought might have a little better first year but I still think he can turn into an excellent player long term.

Quite a few inserts as well.  I like the Stars of the NBA and Rookie Class cards.  

And Tatum once again...

BREAKDOWN:

30 - Total Cards

5 - RC

2 - Rain Parallel

1 - Bright Green Parallel

1 - Stars of the NBA

1 - Rookie Class

1 - Hardcourt Heroes

1 - Hightlight Reel

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Trading Cards

Somehow I'd never picked up a pack of the 2017 The Last Jedi trading cards even though they had been staring me in the face forever.  With the Han Solo movie coming out this weekend this is a great time to look at a pack that I picked up last week.  The base cards are OK but it is the Illustrated (left) and Rey Continuity cards that really appeal to me.  The art on the Luke Skywalker card is great.  For these movie sets it really is the inserts that do it for me.  Luckily there are plenty to choose from and I pulled a couple of nice cards. 

     I really like this image with the dark background.  

I'd enjoy more movie scenes on the cards but of course those aren't really an option as Topps doesn't want to spoil anything.  This design is better than some of the past sets and I'm good with it.

You get the normal collection of creatures, characters, droids and ships in this set. Those Praetorian guards are so cool and that card is easily my favorite among the base cards I pulled.  I'll definitely chase some of the different inserts to include the Illustrated and Rey Continuity cards which I like.  I was happy with this pack and while I won't buy more wax the singles will be fun to hunt down.  

BREAKDOWN:

16 – Total Cards

2 – Blue Parallel

1 – Illustrated

1 – Blueprints

1 – Rey Continuity

Cardboard Collections Affordable Break '94 Select Series 1 & 2, and '95 Score Series 2

Cardboard Collections did one of his affordable breaks this month which was a perfect opportunity for me to do my first group break and I really enjoyed it.  I picked Boston as Atlanta was already taken and my random second team was the White Sox.  AND Colbey threw in some Braves cards for me as a huge bonus.  I'll go out of order here because I really like these 1995 Score cards.  

 I had never seen them before and I'm liking the design.  The Tom Glavine and John Smoltz cards are great.  Really nice shots of them pitching.  

I didn't pull a complete Red Sox team set but I'm very happy with my cards.  They look sharp and and I pulled some Red Sox players I really like.  

The White Sox cards included a few nice Frank Thomas cards including a Gold Rush Hitters Inc.  Some other nice players on that team as well but Thomas stands out among the group.  Non-standard base cards included Hitters Inc. and Rookie cards.

I'd seen the 1994 Select before but this is my first time seeing them in hand.  Above are a couple of the Rookie Prospect cards. None of those I pulled really panned out but that is why they are prospects right?  You never know.  These have a landscape design and a unique two picture format on the front.  There are some nice photos here and I also ended up with some duplicates of favorite players.  I pulled a Red Sox team set which was great and will be added to the personal collection.   

This was great fun.  I was able to watch the break live on Facebook and able to interact via the chat with others watching.  Again it was my first experience doing any type of group break and I loved it.  Thanks to Colbey for putting this on.  It was definitely affordable and made for a fun time.   

BREAKDOWN:

TOTAL CARDS = 96

1994 Score Select (Hobby) Series 1 and 2

 20 - Red Sox/20 – White Sox/5 – Braves

  6 – Rookie Prospect

1995 Score Series 2 Jumbo

  19– Red Sox/22 – White Sox/10-Braves

  7 – Rookie

  7 – Hitters Inc. (1 – Gold Rush)

  2 – Base Gold Rush

Team Totals:

White Sox – 42

Red Sox – 39

Braves – 15

  

2018 Bowman Value Pack #2

The second of my two 2018 Bowman value packs was quite a bit more exciting to me.  I grabbed a Shohei Ohtani card and another Ronald Acuna (Top 100 insert). Of course it was a Chrome but with Acuna I'll never complain.  Definitely some veteran star power in this pack as well as a Mike Soroka who is sporting a 3.68 ERA through three starts of his Atlanta Braves rookie campaign.  For me this was definitely the better of the two packs which was a nice surprise after the disappointment of pack one.  Not sure I'll purchase more packs or blasters of the Bowman but it has definitely been fun.  I will also look for those Acuna and Ozzie Albies Bowman base cards.  Sometimes the chase is as fun as the catch.  So Bowman is a set I like (sans Chrome) and look forward to seeing what everyone else pulled. 

BREAKDOWN:

35 – Total Cards

22 –Bowman

  5 – Camo Parallels

  1– 1^st Bowman

  1 – Blue Parallel #/499

13 – Bowman Chrome

  3 – Bowman Scouts’ Top 100

  2 – 1^st Bowman

  2 – ROY Favorites

  1 – Bowman Trending

  1 – Bowman Birthdays

2018 Bowman Value Pack #1

As I said yesterday I was able to grab two value packs of the 2018 Bowman.  This first one really didn't pack much punch though you might argue considering I grabbed an Albert Pujols Blue Parallel #/499.  I like Albert and keep hoping he'll have a good season or two to end his career though that is looking to be a pipe dream.  I was also excited about the Rafael Devers card but that was tempered a bit due to it being a Chrome parallel.  After those two cards there really wasn't anything to write home about especially in the way of veterans.  Of course we have to wait a few years to really figure out if these Bowman cards pan out.  I'm still good but there really wasn't a wow factor here for me.     

BREAKDOWN:

35 – Total Cards

22 –Bowman

  5 – Camo Parallels

  1– 1^st Bowman

  1 – Blue Parallel #/499

13 – Bowman Chrome

  3 – 1^st Bowman

  2 – Bowman Scouts’ Top 100

  2 – ROY Favorites

  1 – Bowman Trending

  1 – Bowman Birthdays

  1 – Talent Pipeline

2018 Bowman Blaster Box

Blaster boxes and value packs showed up on my Wal-Mart's shelves but when I went back the next to grab a blaster the Bowman was completely gone.  So I grabbed a 2018 Bowman blaster box on ebay.  The price was what I considered fair and I was really itching to bust one of these after seeing so much about them online.  I am really chasing the Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna cards here.  I know that applies to almost everyone but as a Braves' fan it's been a while since we've had this much hype over prospects.  Ohtani would be a nice pull too. 

  The fronts have a slick design that I like.  The pictures are good and it hits all the high marks sans the player's position.  Not one Bowman brand insert in the box.  Seemed a bit odd but I'm not complaining.  As is the case with Bowman their main focus is prospects and young players so there were no lack of players you may not have heard of yet.  

Plenty of veteran star power in this box.  I was very happy with that.  The backs aren't bad with stats, player info and write-ups that include Resume`, Skills & Up Close. 

 I scored an Acuna!.  There were three Bowman Chrome parallels per pack which was a big negative for me.  I'm not a fan of chrome/prizm cards.  Of course pulling Acuna game me something positive to take out these cards.  

Plenty of inserts with the Chrome.  I definitely like the Bowman base Card design.  The inserts don't thrill me much and the Chrome cards are a turn off but I still like the 2018 Bowman overall.  I thought this box would scratch my Bowman itch but then my Wal-Mart restocked the value packs (and maybe blasters but they might have been snatched up already).  I couldn't pass up the chance to grab two and I'll show those off over the next two days.

BREAKDOWN:  

80 – Total Cards
59 –Bowman
  12 – RC
  7 – 1st Bowman
21 – Bowman Chrome
  4 – 1st Bowman
  2 – Bowman Scouts’ Top 100
  1 –Bowman Trending
  1 – ROY Favorites
  1 – Bowman Birthdays

2012 Marvel Greatest Heroes Cards

These are from a pack of the 2012 Rittenhouse Marvel Greatest Heroes trading cards.  Five cards came in the pack.  This Loki Villains insert (1:6 packs) is my favorite of the pack.  I really like the art and simplicity of the card.  The art on the base cards is pretty nice as well.  The Ant-Man and Hawkeye cards harken back to some good classic looks.  The backs are simple but ok.  Definitely a set I'd look at getting more cards from.  As always I would have liked to see more than five cards but this is definitely the trend with these cards.