Box Breaks: 2 Boxes of 15-16 Court Kings Basketball

 

Hadn't tried these yet and figured after my last high end dud, I'd go back to something way less expensive. I've seen breaks of this online and the cards look really nice and there's a shot at some solid cards as well. Here's how I did!

Box 1


5X7 Boxtopper
Elfrid Payton


Base Cards
Lance Stephenson
Elfrid Payton
Ricky Rubio
Zach Lavine
Mario Hezonja RC
Justice Winslow RC
Pat Connaughton RC Portrait

Expressionists
Giannis Antetokounmpo


Expressionist Memorabilia
Andrew Wiggins (#264/299)

Fresh Paint Autograph
Chris McCullough

Box 2

5X7 Boxtopper
Kyrie Irving

Base Cards
Dwyane Wade
Brandon Jennings
Aaron Gordon
Goran Dragic
Anthony Brown RC
Justin Anderson RC (#21/75)
Frank Kaminsky Portrait RC (#32/100)
Bobby Portis RC


Artistic Endeavors Memorabilia
Noah Vonleh (#242/299)

Vintage Materials
Byron Scott (#47/199)

Sapphire Autographs
Dennis Rodman (#22/25)

Overall Thoughts: I've always been a fan of Donruss' Diamond Kings back in the day...and this Panini's interpretation of it for basketball. The cards are really cool and I like the bonus of a 5X7 Box Toppper too. Hits wise, The Rodman on card autograph numbered to 25 really saved this break from being a complete dud. That and the Wiggins Jersey card were the two best cards of the break. Cool cards and I didn't have to break the bank to buy these! Here are pics of the cards!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the best hit of the box....

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2016
#1- 2016 Topps Tribute Superfractor Autograph Alex Gordon (#1/1)
#2- 2015-16 Panini Prizms Rookie Signatures Silver Prizms Kristaps Porzingis (#25/25)

#3- 2016 Topps Tribute Milestone Relic Game Used Ball Kris Bryant (#5/10)

#4-2016 Donruss Signature Marks Gold Terry Bradshaw (#1/5)

   #5-15-16 Limited Gold Spotlight Dual Signatures Kristaps  Porzingis/Jerian  Grant (#8/10) 

Box Breaks: 15-16 Noir Basketball

 

I'm never going to learn....I keep telling myself to stay away from High End Breaks..but here we are again...with 15-16 Noir. Here's what I got

Base Cards
Nerlens Noel Color (#75/99)
Mario Hezonja Color (#7/99)
Lou Williams B&W (#08/99)
Justise Winslow B&W (#08/99)
Steph Curry B&W (#85/99)

Hits
Auto Noir B&W Giannis Antetokounmpo Redemption (# to 49)
Auto Noir B&W Carmelo Anthony (#23/35)
Auto Noir B&W Bronze Bob Mcadoo (#7/25)
Auto Noir Color Danny Manning (#17/49)
Noir Rookie Patch Kelly Oubre Jr (#6/49)
Noir Patch Jerryd Bayless (#49/49)
Auto Noir B&W Myles Turner (#59/60)

Overall Thoughts: Welp...I can't call it  a total bloodbath....a low numbered Melo on card auto...an on card auto of a nice rookie in Myles Turner and a auto redemption of "The Greek Freak" were nice pulls....but for the price point it still hurts. I guess it could be worse though. The cards are very nice and the base cards are some of the nicest base cards ever made. One day I'll learn.....one day. Here are the hits


Base Cards are really nice 

 
 

Top 5 Pulls of 2016
#1- 2016 Topps Tribute Superfractor Autograph Alex Gordon (#1/1)
#2- 2015-16 Panini Prizms Rookie Signatures Silver Prizms Kristaps Porzingis (#25/25)

#3- 2016 Topps Tribute Milestone Relic Game Used Ball Kris Bryant (#5/10)

#4-2016 Donruss Signature Marks Gold Terry Bradshaw (#1/5)

   #5-15-16 Limited Gold Spotlight Dual Signatures Kristaps  Porzingis/Jerian  Grant (#8/10) 

This Week's Maildays!

Again, not too heavy, but bigger than last week. Here's what I got in the past week.


2016 Topps Chrome Kenta Maeda Autograph Rookie Card

I pulled the redemption for this in my 2016 Topps Chrome Jumbo Box last month and it came in this week. Pretty fast turnaround all things considered. 2 redemptions down..2 more to go.

2015 Flawless Philip Rivers Autograph Jersey Patch Card (#1/25)

Picked this nice on card auto/jersey patch card of Philip Rivers. Rivers has been a solid QB his entire career and this is the first time I've had his autograph in my collection.

98-99 Hoops Prime Twine Allen Iverson (#125/500)
 
90's inserts are really hard to turn down, so when I saw this on Ebay, I zeroed on it and was determined to win it. These are super tough to find and the design is what you expect from the late 90's. Just plain awesome. Numbered to 500, it's amazing a card like this was available in a low end brand like NBA Hoops. I remember my cousin Drew had the Stephon Marbury of this set and I always loved it. Definitely my favorite pickup of the week!

95-96 Kevin Garnett SP RC PSA 9

Kind of perfect timing here, as yesterday KG announced his retirement and this card came in today. Garnett is definitely one of the best power forward to ever to play the game and with his retirement, you can beat the Hall of Fame Class of 2021 is going to be one of the most stacked ever with Garnett joining Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant in retirement. I've been slowly building back my collection up and I'd love to get a KG Finest rookie card back some day. I'm sure I will, but for now, I'll settle for this one. At under 10 bucks, I think it's a very underrated rookie card of KG.

15-16 Immaculate Sneaker Swatches Anfernee Hardaway (#43/44)

Man is this card THICK. I'm not going to pay 800 bucks for a box of this stuff, but I'll gladly pay $43 for a game used shoe card of my favorite Basketball player of all time!

All in all...not a bad mailweek if I do say so myself!

Mailday Time!

Not so much the past couple weeks, just a couple of things including my first ever redemption card mailday...here's what I got


15-16 Panini Preferred Crown Royale Purple Auto D'Angelo Russell (#6/49)
 
If you remember from my horrid Preferred 3 Box Break, this was the best hit of the break. I always get a little nervous with redemptions (I'm still waiting on Kyrie Auto I pulled a month and a half ago) not being made, so i breathed a sigh of relief when I get an email from Panini saying this has been shipped out. I got in today and it's beauty of a card. On card auto,die cut and numbered to 49, I really like this card. Hopefully Russell has a great season on a super young Lakers team next year.

15-16 Panini Preferred NBA Finals Game Used Jersey Booklet LeBron James (#73/99)
 

These were the cards I was chasing in Preferred and since I didn't pull any of them, I figured I'd just bite the bullet and pick up the Lebron Regular Jersey Version numbered to 99 copies. I really like this because it comes from a LeBron game used jersey from Game 4 of the NBA Finals, makes it feel so much more special. I'd love to get a patch version if I can find one, but I know it'll cost a ton.

Box Breaks: 2 Boxes of 2015 Topps Five Star Baseball

 

So this was the 2nd part of my purchase with the Paypal Funds I had from selling stuff from Ebay. I know the gamble, 2 on card autos a box for $90, but thought it would be worth a shot. Here's what I got.

Box 1
Jon Lester Autograph
Mark Grace Silver Signatures Autograph (#5/25)

Box 2
Mark Grace Autograph
Bernie Williams Autograph (#5/25)

Overall Thoughts: Yeesh...so here's the problem. On its surface, the players don't suck so it doesn't seem that brutal. Unfortunately though for the price point it is. These probably don't even cover the cost of one box much less come close to two. The cards themselves, great looking. Simple, clean and on card. I especially love the Silver Signature autos. My only complaint is..I buy two boxes, you only get two cards a box, and I pull Mark Grace twice. Granted, it's two different cards, but still what a letdown. I'd rank this up there with Luxe and Preferred as poor return on investment, but it wasn't as expensive as those two at least. I need to stick to lower end boxes (which I've already told myself a million times, yet can't stay away) because honestly the bulk of my better pulls have come from those. I wouldn't recommend buying boxes, but the cards are nice and if you have a certain player you're looking for, singles is the way to go. Here's the cards

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2016
#1- 2016 Topps Tribute Superfractor Autograph Alex Gordon (#1/1)
#2- 2015-16 Panini Prizms Rookie Signatures Silver Prizms Kristaps Porzingis (#25/25)

#3- 2016 Topps Tribute Milestone Relic Game Used Ball Kris Bryant (#5/10)

#4-2016 Donruss Signature Marks Gold Terry Bradshaw (#1/5)

   #5-15-16 Limited Gold Spotlight Dual Signatures Kristaps Porzingis/Jerian   Grant (#8/10)  
 

 

Box Breaks: 2015 WWE Topps Heritage Hobby Box

 

Sold some stuff on Ebay last week and had some Paypal to use to buy some boxes. I wanted Free Shipping so added this to my cart. Figured at $35 wouldn't be too bad of a break. Here's the results

NWO Tribute
Miss Elizabeth
Bret Hart
Big Bubba Rogers
Scott Hall

Black Border Parallel
Booker T
Papa Shango
Paige
Doink

Silver Border Parallel
Finn Balor

WWE 2K16
Stone Cold Steve Austin (Cards 1 and 8 though both have the same exact picture)
Daniel Bryan
Wade Barrett
Paige
Paul Heyman


Shirt Relic
Jimmy Uso


Printing Plate
Sheamus Cyan Printing Plate #1/1

Overall Thoughts: Well...I just haven't had good luck with Wrestling products. This is my 3rd box and none of the pulls have been that great. Luckily this was a low price gamble so I'm not too upset. I like the 1985 Topps Baseball design used. There are 3 inserts that you get 1 per pack (wasn't gonna list them all because you get 72 cards of them) the Then & Now set, which has a pic of a WWE Superstar in their early days and current, Rookie Of The Year (I like this insert set) which starting from 1983 picks a standout "rookie" for the WWE that year, and NXT Callups, which just seems like an Alumni set for wrestlers who started in NXT. The only other inserts besides the Parallels are the NWO Tribute set. Again, I wish there were harder to find different inserts, only the parallels can be tough, but I've come to accept that's how WWE Topps Products work. I did pull a Finn Balor Silver Parallel (silvers are 1 per box) so not a bad guy to pull as the first ever WWE Universal Champion. My hits were bla, a Sheamus 1/1 Printing Plate (3rd ever 1/1 pull but two of them have been printing plates) and Jimmy Uso Relic card. Don't like that the Printing Plate counts as a "hit/relic", but oh well. All in all, fun at the very least. Here's pics of some of the cards!

 

Look at the base card design, borrowed from 1985 Topps Baseball 

 

Black Border Parallel 

 

Rookie Of The Year Insert Set

 

NXT Called Up Insert Set

 

Then And Now Insert Set

 

NWO Tribute Set

 

2K16 Insert Set

 

Finn Balor Silver Parallel

 

Jimmy Uso Shirt Relic

 

Front of Sheamus Printing Plate #1/1

 

Back of Printing Plate

Top 5 Pulls of 2016
#1- 2016 Topps Tribute Superfractor Autograph Alex Gordon (#1/1)
#2- 2015-16 Panini Prizms Rookie Signatures Silver Prizms Kristaps Porzingis (#25/25)

#3- 2016 Topps Tribute Milestone Relic Game Used Ball Kris Bryant (#5/10)
#4-2016 Donruss Signature Marks Gold Terry Bradshaw (#1/5)

    #5-15-16 Limited Gold Spotlight Dual Signatures Kristaps Porzingis/Jerian   Grant   (#8/10)

Box Breaks: 2 Boxes of 2016 Donruss Football Hobby

 

So tonight is one of the night's I look forward to the most every year. It's the night of our Fantasy Football Draft. This is the 7th year of the "Wane McGarity Bowl" and I'm looking to regain my championship form from a couple years back. To get even more pumped for Football season to begin, I decided to try a couple boxes of 2016 Donruss. I felt this would be a fun cheap rip ($55 a box) and provide a few hours of entertainment before the big event tonight. Here's the results of my two box break

Box 1

Peyton Manning The Sherriff Tribute
Cards #1, #11, #13

Peyton's Top Targets
Reggie Wayne
Demaryius Thomas

Fans Of The Game
Megan Fox


League Leaders
Adrian Peterson/Chris Ivory
Drew Brees/Philip Rivers
Stephen Gostkowski/Graham Gano

All Pros
Cam Newton
Gronk
Doug Martin


Legends Of The Fall
Adam Vinatieri
Tom Brady
Drew Brees
Kurt Warner

Inducted
Brett Favre

Production Line
Doug Martin
Darren McFadden
Julio Jones
Todd Gurley
Odell Beckham Jr.
Brandon Marshall
Von Miller
Sean Lee

All Time Gridiron Kings
Steve Young
Charles Haley
Jim Plunkett

Press Proofs Silver
Su'A Cravens RC (#70/100)
Danny Woodhead (#24/100)

Press Proofs Silver Die Cut
Adam Jones (#59/75)


Press Proofs Gold
Tevin Coleman (#19/50)


Press Proofs Gold Die Cut
Josh McCown (#17/25)


Gridiron Kings
Devonta Freeman
J.J. Watt
Travis Benjamin

Gridiron Kings Studio Series

Allen Robinson (#31/250)


1987 Classics
Jim Mcmahon
Marcus Allen
Dan Marino

1987 Classics Holo Foil Parallel
Andre Reed (#42/100)


The Legends Series
Barry Sanders (#781/999)

The Rookies
Laquon Treadwell (#922/999)
Tyler Ervin (#36/999)


The Elite Series
Ezekiel Elliott (#783/999)
DeForest Buckner (#998/999)
Russell Wilson (#957/999)


Dominator
Rob Gronkowski (#142/999)
Sammy Watkins (#22/999)

Jersey Kings
Odell Beckham Jr.

Rookie Phenom Auto/Jersey
DeAndre Washington


Box 2

League Leaders
Brandon Marshall/Doug Baldwin
Jonathan Stewart/C.J. Anderson
Greg Olsen/Emmanuel Sanders

Production Line
Darren McFadden
Von Miller
Ezekiel Ansah
DeAndre Hopkins
Adrian Peterson
Jordan Reed
Allen Robinson

The Sheriff Peyton Manning Tribute
Cards #5, #9, #11


Peyton Manning's Top Targets
Demaryius Thomas
Eric Decker

Inducted
Brett Favre


Fans Of The Game
Darryl McDaniels

Legends Of The Fall
Eli Manning
Russell Wilson
Steve Young
Roger Staubach


Legends Of The Fall Foil Parallel
Joe Nameth (#37/100)

Classic 87
John Elway
Bruce Smith
Ronnie Lott

All Pros
Adrian Peterson
Mike Tolbert
Stephen Gostkowski

Gridiron Kings
Devonta Freeman
J.J. Watt
Jameis Winston
Amari Cooper

Gridiron Kings Studio Series
Andrew Luck (#134/250)


All Time Gridiron Kings
Ed Reed
Tim Brown
Franco Harris

The Rookies
DeForest Buckner (#156/999)
Kenneth Dixon (#313/999)

The Elite Series
Eli Manning (#335/999)
Myles Jack (#615/999)

The Legends Series
Steve Largent (#349/999)

Dominator
J.J. Watt (#263/999)
Tom Brady (#942/999)


Silver Press Proof
Carson Palmer (#25/100)
Kevin White (#64/100)
Alex Collins RC (#61/100)


Silver Press Proof Die Cut
Malcolm Jenkins (#56/75)

Gold Press Proof
Peyton Manning (#30/50)


Gold Press Proof Die Cut
Josh Norman (#22/25)

Changing Stripes Double Jersey
Emmanuel Sanders (Steelers/Broncos)

Signature Marks Gold
Terry Bradshaw (#1/5)

Overall Thoughts: Donruss definitely delivered on entertainment in spades! There are TONS (and I mean TONS) of insert sets, you typically get 2 per pack, not to mention a nice smattering of numbered inserts as well. I really the base set design, a throwback to the 90's baseball set and the inserts for the most part of really cool. I love the Elite series, Rookies, Dominators, Gridiron Kings, Die Cut Press Proofs, hell basically every insert set besides the League Leaders, All Pros, Production Line (to me, these should be relegated to more of a subset than an insert but that's being nitpicky) and of course I'm totally not a fan of Fans of The Game (an excuse to put some celebrities in a football set. I don't need Megan Fox or Run DMC cards in my football collection). I hit a Deandre Washington rookie Auto/Jersey card and thanks to Fantasy Football, I actually do know who that is. He's Latavious Murray's backup and it's a card I'll hold on to just to see what ends up happening to that backfield throughout the season. Jersey cards are filler, but I can't get too much better than Odell Beckham and I like the Changing Stripes Dual Jersey of Emmanuel Sanders featuring pieces of Steelers and Broncos jersey. On the rookie front, you get 1 per pack and it seems to be divided like this....shittier rookies are numbers #301-350 in the set and the better rookies "Rated Rookies" are #351-400. Carson Wentz was the best base rookie I pulled. Seems you get 12 rookies and 12 Rated Rookies per box, so it's kinda tough to pull all of Wentz, Goff, Dak, and Zeke in the same couple boxes. My only tiny small nit pick is getting duplicates of the inserts. Yes I know, these cards are mainly .10-.25 cards but still, there are soooo many different ones, it's kinda inexcusable to me to get 7 insert doubles (including the Inducted insert which you only get one per box and I got Brett Favre in both boxes) in only two boxes. Of course the big hit was yet another awesome hit in a series of them recently. A Terry Bradshaw auto numbered #1 out of 5! Definitely cool and it's the first Bradshaw auto I've ever had in my collection! I know I lot of people crap on Panini but with Donruss it really seems like they got it right. It's a low end product so you don't expect anything jaw dropping, but with all the insert hits and still a solid chance at something good in the form of autos and memorabilia, it's definitely worth a crack at a box or two! Here's a sampling of the inserts!

 

Just a look at the base set design. Very clean and a shout out to 90 Donruss Baseball

 

The Rated Rookies set, here's the Wentz

 

Dominator Insert of Tom Brady

 

Fans of the Game but I'm not a "fan of the set"

 

Peyton Manning Tribute Insert Set

 

Press Proof Silver Numbered to 100

 

The Legends Series Barry Sanders. Very cool looking insert set

 

Silver Press Proof Die Cut. Die Cut Silver Proofs are numbered to 75

 

Legends Of The Fall Insert

 

The Foil Parallel Of Legends Of The Fall Numbered to 100

 

The Rookies Insert

 

All Time Gridiron Kings

 

Gridiron Kings

 

Gridiron Kings Studio Series Parallel numbered to 250

 

Inducted Insert of Brett Favre

 

Peyton Manning's Top Targets Insert Highlights Manning's favorite receivers

 

Production Line

 

All-Pros

 

League Leaders

 

The Classics 87 Insert set which uses the 87 Donruss Baseball design

 

The Foil Parallel Version of Donruss 87 Classics Numbered to 100

 

The Elite Series Insert of Zeke. My favorite Insert set of the Donruss

 

Press Proof Gold Numbered to 50

 

Press Proof Gold Die Cuts are numbered to 25

Jersey Kings Jersey Card of Odell Beckham Jr

 

Emmanuel Sanders Changing Stripes Dual Jersey

 

DeAndre Washington Rookie Auto/Jersey

 

And the big hit of the break! Terry Bradshaw auto numbered #1/5!!

Top 5 Pulls of 2016
#1- 2016 Topps Tribute Superfractor Autograph Alex Gordon (#1/1)
#2- 2015-16 Panini Prizms Rookie Signatures Silver Prizms Kristaps Porzingis (#25/25)

#3- 2016 Topps Tribute Milestone Relic Game Used Ball Kris Bryant (#5/10)
#4-2016 Donruss Signature Marks Gold Terry Bradshaw (#1/5)

#5-15-16 Limited Gold Spotlight Dual Signatures Kristaps Porzingis/Jerian Grant (#8/10)