2021 Leaf Draft Football Retail Blaster

 2021 Leaf Draft Football: NFL draft starts today so this retail blaster is perfect for this morning.  These come with a complete 50 card set as well as two autographs.  Where else do you kick this off except with this guy who is the presumptive number one pick tonight.  I hope he does well in the NFL but you just never know.

The fronts are fine design wise and have the Leaf vibe to them.  The lack of logos is of course no fun but for these boxes you're rolling the dice on the autographs. 

We'll see how my two go.  They aren't first round guys but should go somewhere in the draft on Saturday.  This year is definitely the year you' hoping for an auto from a quarterback with so many expected to go in the first round.  The autos came in the top loaders you see here though they weren't in penny sleeves.  The hobby blasters come with three autos but I doubt you can find them for what you pay for these at retail.

The backs have some generic information.  I'd prefer their college stats but it is what it is.  The set comes in a box within the blaster.  Lawrence is the first and last card in the set which can make for some dings which I found on the back of his All-American card.

The All-American cards make up the last 11 cards of the base set and I really like the design.  This box definitely isn't something I'd normally go for but it was there so I said "why not".  There's some fun with these.  I wouldn't grab a second one but it was funning taking a chance.

BREAKDOWN: 
52 – Total Cards
2 - XRC Autographs

2021 Donruss Baseball

 2021 Donruss Baseball:  Was able to grab multiple packs of these at the same time I snared the Prizm basketball I showed off Friday.  I, like many, am not a big fan of the lack of logos so this is always a tough sell for me.  Doesn't mean there aren't cards I like but I sigh a lot thinking how much better it'd be with logos.  I did grab a relic in this pack and it was a star player so big bonus there.  

The design is a little different this year but I don't mind different.  The photos are good and I like the color but it seems to missing something (other than the logo).  Almost too much of the primary color.  Maybe something to break it up.

We have a couple nickname variations here on the first two cards.  The backs are the pretty standard and boring backs we expect from Donruss.  Doesn't seem like the different variations are as hard to pull as you see with Topps.  The list (and photos) of the various variations can be found here.

I do enjoy the inclusion of retired greats on these Retro 1987 inserts.  There are three red parallels per pack.

The Diamond Kings aren't doing it for me.  I'm okay with purple but it doesn't seem to work here in my opinion.  The Dominators are nice inserts.  And of course we have the Rated Rookies to show of the young players.

Just showing off the back of one of the Retro 1987 inserts.  I would have preferred career stats but that is asking a lot.  Even without the team logos this was a fun pack.  I'll show off the others I picked up throughout the year. 

BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
6 – Retro 1987
3 – Rated Rookie
3 – Diamond Kings
3 – Holo Red Parallel
2 – Player Nickname Variation
1 – Dominators
1 – Retro 1987 Materials

2020-21 Prizm Basketball Blaster

 2020-2021 Prizm Basketball: I was really lucky to grab this box.  I was at my local Wal-Mart as the vendor was restocking.  A first for me.  There was already a guy there waiting and he grabbed all the Prizm but did give me a box which made me happy.  He left all the baseball too which was good.  We'll kick it off with the star of the team with the best record in basketball.  Mitchell is having a career year.  He is so good and only 24 years-old.  

Add in these guys and I'm really enjoying my pull.  Steph is on a tear right now shooting and Kawhi is having another great year.  I'm not a shiny card guy but I think this is a good design.  The color in the outline stands out more in hand.

I like that retired greats are part of the set.  We can never get enough of them.  I can take or leave the Dominance inserts though.

You'll find the younger guys here as well.  If there was any complaint about this box it'd be that I didn't see any rookies who are doing anything right now.  But you can say that about any random break I think.

That Vassell is a green parallel.

That backs are good and colorful.  I still don't get why they have total points (when they already have points per game average) and total blocks and steals when you only see those discussed in terms of per game averages.  These blasters come with hits and mine was a Domantas Sabonis relic.  He's a PC guy and one of my favorites in the game today so I'm very happy.  Good box and glad I had a chance at one.

BREAKDOWN:
24 – Total Cards
5 – RC
1 - Duplicate
1 - Emergent
1 - Dominance
1 – Retired Great
1 – Green Parallel
1 – Instant Impact
1 – Sensational Swatches

Marvel 80th Anniversary Stickers

Marvel 80th Anniversary Stickers:  We see these at Wal-Mart and I'm sure Target and I picked some up for the grandsons.  They kind of liked them but I need to pick up the sticker books for them to put them in.  That'll interest them more.  I struggled finding a checklist but it looks like there are around 270 stickers.  This Black Panther was a favorite of those I have.  I've always like Black Panther and I like the art.

These are some cool stickers too.  I like the art.  Some classic some more modern.  It looks like the main set is numbered 1-190 which are what I pulled and the rest are inserts I assume.  I can't find anything that tells me one way or another.

Comic covers are fun for the memories and most seem to be classic or first covers for characters and teams.  

Some like this one seem to be part of a larger photo though this one, from the Civil War series, seems to stand on its own.

They seem to do a good job touching on characters from across the Marvel universe.

These are fun.  Probably more for me than my grandsons.  They probably know the majority of the characters but not what's behind the art or most of the classic moments.  I'll pick up the sticker book.  I'm sure that adds to the experience.

BREAKDOWN:
45 - Total Stickers (9 Packs)
11 – Comic Covers
7 – Red Foil

Random Wax: 2020 Contenders Draft Picks Football

2020 Contenders Football Draft Picks:  This post has been sitting around for some time.  Probably picked these up the middle of 2020.  This pack was probably not the most exciting pack ever but some solid guys here highlighted by Baker Mayfield.  I do love his Progressive commercials.  

Tee Higgins had a really good rookie season for the Bengals with 67 receptions, 908 yards and six touchdowns.  Shenault Jr. had a really good year for Jacksonville as well while Reagor had a solid rookie season for Philly.

Devin Singletary has played well for the Bills (4.8 yards per carry over two years) and Alexander Mattison has been almost as good for the Vikings.  The Mattison card is a green parallel.  I like Contenders and this design is fine but it seems like the bottom could have been compressed a bit.  Fun seeing these guys in their college unis.

BREAKDOWN:

18 – Total Cards

1 – Legacy

1 – Game Day Ticket

1 – Collegiate Collections

1 – 2020 Draft Class

1 – Green Foil Parallel

Ronald Acuna Jr. 2021 Topps Tin

2021 Topps Baseball:  Found this at the same time I found Heritage last weekend.  I was hoping for an Acuna and Trout tin this year but the Trout was already gone.  An Acuna tin is a good consolation prize.  This had plenty of current great players as well as retired greats on retro designs.  I'll kick it off with Yadi on this slick looking '86 card.  Really good photo and a nice add to my Yadi PC.  

We'll keep the retro theme going with more cool inserts.  Ryno is on a 70 Years of Topps insert.  That Arenado is a Chrome 1952 Redux.  Ozzie graces a Chrome 70 Years of Topps insert which is exclusive to retail tins.  Arenado and Ozzie are PC guys so two great adds and I really like these inserts.

The Twins are doing their best step back jumpers on this rainbow foil parallel.

While I like this year's design it feels pedestrian after those cool retro designs.

I've pulled most of these guys before in 2021 but nothing wrong with showing them off again.  Seems appropriate that I'd pull Acuna in his tin.

Plenty of good photos and cards found in this tin.

This is what the tin looks like.

The Cardinals have nice anchors at both corners of the infield after trading for Nolan Arenado.

League leaders.  'Nuff said.  Glad I was able to pick this up.  It ran $14.99 but I like the tins.   Fun find.

BREAKDOWN:
75 – Cards
6 – RC
5 – 1952 Redux
4 – Team
4 – League Leaders
2 – Future Stars
1 – Chrome
1 – World Series
1 – Rainbow Foil
1 – 70 Years of Topps
1 – Chrome 1952 Redux
1 – Chrome 70 Years of Topps
1 - 1986 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary

  

2020 Fortnite Series 2 (4 Packs)

2020 Fortnite Series 2:  These have been in Wal-Mart for a while and one brand that didn't just fly off the shelf.  I grabbed these four packs for the grandson who is a fan.  He enjoyed them but cards aren't his thing yet.  This guy is an Optichrome parallel.  Thanks to fortnitecards.com for helping figure that out because I had no clue.  These parallels can pay for a pack or much more depending on the character.

The fronts are pretty straightforward with waist up views of the characters.  Some of the characters are pretty cool looking so it's fun to look through them even if I know nothing about the game.

As you can see on the back of the Polar Patroller the backs show an expanded view of the character.  I like the backs better than the fronts.

These harvesting tools are inserts.  

The characters really run the gamut.  There are four subsets in the set including Uncommon (50 cards), Rare (60 cards), Epic (60 cards) and Legendary (30 cards) outfits.  

This is one of the maps inserts. If you can actually use these in the game that's cool.

And the ugly Christmas sweater contest winner is...

Who knew you could use these as harvesting tools?  So there's some fun with these packs even for someone like me who isn't familiar with the game.  I'm sure many have passed these up on the shelves and now ya know what you're missing.

 

BREAKDOWN:

80 – Total Cards (4 Packs)

10 - Epic Harvesting Tool

2 – Maps

2 – Holofoil

1 - Optichrome