Sports Cards and Memories: The Cardfest GRAND FINALE

Happy New Years everyone! Well...we're finally here..today marks the last day of Cardfest. What started as a wacky idea in November turned into a multi week event in December and to top it off..the final 5 products I bought (6 boxes in total). These were higher end boxes, which means two things..bigger chance at a nice hit...but a bigger chance at a bloodbath. I'm hoping at the very least to pull one monster card from these last boxes..something to knock off the Ben Simmons Optic Silver Holo RC as the best hit of Cardfest. So without further ado...let's start the beginning of the end of Cardfest!

12-13 Gold Standard Basketball

I have done HORRIBLE on 12-13 products during this Cardfest run, so here's hoping I saved the best for last. Obviously the draw is on card autograph rookie jersey cards of Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, and Draymond Green. The problem of course is because it's a huge double rookie class there's a TON of dud Rookie Auto Jerseys. Let's get today started on the right foot!

Metal Card Anthony Davis

Base Cards
Pau Gasol (#292/349)
Kosta Koufos (#210/349)
Deron Williams (#15/349)
Darrell Arthur (#334/349)

Hall Of Gold
Bob Cousy (#6/199)

White Gold Threads
Ricky Rubio

Rookie Autograph Jersey
Tobias Harris

Marks Of Gold Autograph
Bradley Beal (#7/49)
Fat Lever (#103/149)
Jordan Crawford Redemption

Gold Rush 14K Gold Piece
Shaquille O'Neal (#05/25)

Overall Thoughts: First of all, I've always been a big fan of Gold Standard. I love the way the cards look. As far as the break goes, well what's been the running theme? Good, but not great? You get one Metal Card a pack and you can't go wrong there with an Anthony Davis Rookie. The Beal is also a solid Rookie Auto Hit and the Shaq card is definitely solid, it actually squeaks in as the 10th best Cardfest pull narrowly edging out the Kyrie Auto from Studio. The Shaq contains a 14K gold piece, so it's definitely a unique card. The $100 price point of this box makes this box a little easier to swallow as I believe the Shaq, Davis, and Beal and Tobias Harris Auto Jersey card could probably net pretty close to $100. I got a little excited with the redemption, but it was just of Jordan Crawford who I don't even think is in the league anymore. Solid but not spectacular start to the day. Pics of the cards.

Onto the next product, which is unannounced box that I got in during Cardfest

2016-17 Preferred Basketball

So I got DESTROYED on this product in 15-16, but that was at $220 a pop. The 2016-17 version has been drastically reduced in price (I paid $114) and thought at the price point it was worth a shot. Fully expecting a bloodbath here, but hopefully I'll be surprised.

Trending Upward Quad Jersey Jaylen Brown/Denzel Valentine/Deyonta Davis/Georgios Papgiannis (#149/149)

Stat Line Memorabilia
Dwyane Wade (#3/149)

Silhouettes
Julius Randle Redemption (# to 35)

Panini's Choice Autograph
Kris Dunn (#10/35)

Overall Thoughts: This was the ultimate TEASE box. Jerseys aren't worth much but I still love the Stat Line Memorabilia cards only because the jersey swatches are tied to specific games. Happy with the Wade and it's a jersey numbered card to boot. I rarely get those. The autographs are where the excitement was for a bit. I saw a redemption and that it was a Silhouette and got a tiny bit excited because Silhouettes are popular in this brand. Unfortunately it was of Julius Randle (ironically it's the 2nd time I've pulled a Randle redemption in Preferred) who's I mean good, but obviously not a big hit. The next hit I got even MORE excited because I felt it was a funny die cut card and the only cards shaped like that are the Panini's Choice autographs. That set is limited to only 20 players and there were 13 players I would've been OK with hitting. SO naturally, I hit one of the 7 that I was lukewarm to. Kris Dunn had high hopes but had a pretty brutal rookie season. He seems to have bounced back in Chicago, but I don't know how that bodes for his hobby future. Kind of bummed. Feel like a broken record when I say this wasn't a great box, but not the blood bath I thought it could be. It's still overall a below average box. Pics of the cards.

So two boxes down and 4 to go and it's been underwhelming so far. No big monsters. Time for the next product on deck

16-17 Spectra Basketball

So we're down to the final 3 products and up next is Spectra. I'm not going to lie, outside of Preferred, Spectra scares me the MOST. I've some terribly awful breaks on here, but the cards look so damn amazing and pulling a nice low numbered one would make it all worthwhile. The price point was right to take a chance on this, I really hope it's worth it.

Base Cards Chandler Parsons
Zach Randolph

Base Card Blue Parallel
Jae Crowder (#59/60)

Catalysts Jersey
Jordan Clarkson (#136/149)

Spectacular Swatches
Dirk Nowitzki (#76/149)

Spectacular Swatches Blue
Jabari Parker (#60/99)

Rookie Autograph Jerseys
Tomas Satoransky (#194/300)

Rookie Autograph Jerseys Pink
Jakob Poeltl (#27/49)

Locked In Auto/Jersey
Malcolm Brogdon (#59/199)

Locked In Auto/Jersey Patch Neon Green
Allen Crabbe (#22/25)

Overall Thoughs: Yep..I got Spectra'd. Total absolute garbage. Definitely one of the worst breaks of the entire cardfest. Even the base cards SUCKED. They look nice, but good god, zero value basically in this break. The Brogdon auto/sticker jersey is the best hit, he was Rookie Of The Year last year, but it's because last year's class was so WEAK. Totally disgusted by this break, but I totally saw this coming and should've known better to even open this crap.

Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried that Cardfest is going to end with a giant THUD. That's 3 boxes down and the best card barely cracked the Top 10 and even that card is splitting hairs. Besides a couple of fake outs (that of course didn't pan out) this has been a super disappointing end so far. I have 3 boxes left. A box of Noir and 2 box of Topps Luminaires Baseball left to salvage this break. Please Sports Card Gods..SAVE ME!!!

16-17 Noir Basketball

The final heavy hitter for Basketball. I did do well last year with Noir and that was at $430. This past year's product was discounted to $299. Please please pull something good to help salvage this break!!

Black And White Base Cards Dirk Nowitzki (#71/79)

Color Base Cards
Jimmy Butler (#59/79)

Metal Frame
Yogi Ferrell RC (#6/25)

Jumbo Materials
Kevin McHale (#20/40)
Carmelo Anthony (#57/99)

Color Rookie Materials Patch
Skal Labissiere (#53/99)

Auto Noir Gold Parallel
Nikola Vucevic (#12/25)

Black And White Rookie Materials Patch Parallel
Damian Jones (#2/10)

Rookie Patch Autographs Color
DeJounte Murray Redemption (# to 75)

Black And White Autograph Prime Jersey Patch
Kobe Bryant (#12/40)

Overall Thoughts: And my prayers were ANSWERED! Noir COMPLETELY saves the day with two nice hits!! The Murray should be an awesome patch rookie auto when I get it in and I mean..it's a KOBE BRYANT ON CARD AUTO/PATCH CARD! What more do I need to say about that?!!?! Obviously takes over the Simmons as the #1 card that I pulled for Cardfest! Here's pics of the cards!

Alright...so this is it...the last two boxes of Cardfest. We started with Topps Gallery Baseball and we're ending with Baseball but a little bit more high end.

2017 Topps Luminaries Baseball

It's going to be really tough to beat the Kobe Auto/Patch that I just hit, and I'm hoping this won't be an anticlimactic end to Cardfest, but if there's a product that might be able to take a shot at the throne it's this. I've got two chances at something really good here. Let's end Cardfest with a BANG!!

Tyler Glasnow Masters Of The Mound (#6/10)
Kenta Maeda Masters Of The Mound (#5/15)

Overall Thoughts: HAHAHAHA..wow...just wow..so that's how we end Cardfest..with two of the worst pulls of the entire checklist. Way to just totally crap on my Kobe Moment just 20 minutes ago. I paid 160 a box for this and might get $30 for both of these cards combined. What a horrific JOKE of a break. Cardfest totally ends on a whimper and that break has me beyond angry, which sucks cause I just PULLED A KOBE AUTO/PATCH!! I pulled like 60 cards from retail that were better than this crap. I didn't expect both cards to be huge winners..but Jesus...really Glasnow and Maeda?! Ughhhhh. Well on that shitty note, that wraps up Cardfest. How would I rate it? I'd say because of the sheer number of breaks that were such garbage (including high end like Spectra and Luminaries, along with the subpar Studio case, and the whole Optic Football fiasco) even the great hits (Kobe, MJ Refractor, Simmons) can't bring this up for a total below average grade. It was still fun and the suspense were great but overall use me an example to stick to singles on EBay lol. So the Top 10 Pulls of Cardfest were as follows

#1-Kobe Bryant Noir Auto/Jersey Patch

#2-Ben Simmons Optic Silver Holo RC

#3-97-98 Michael Jordan Topps Finest Bronze Refractor

#4-Dejounte Murray Rookie Patch Autograph Color Redemption

#5-Studio Karl Anthony Towns From Downtown

#6-2015-16 Prizm Red White Blue Kristaps Porzingis RC

#7-Patrick McCaw Optic Gold Autograph RC

#8-Donovan Mitchell Fresh Paint Autograph

#9-Brandon Ingram First Impressions Artist Proof Autograph

#10-Bill Goldberg Topps WWE Legends Championship Belt Autograph (#23/25)