Case Break: 1 Blaster Case of 2018-19 Status Basketball

 

Sometimes, I buy things for stupid reasons. Well, it makes sense at the time, but then after the fact I realize..what the HELL did I just do?! So Status..this was a low end release last year released in both retail and hobby formats. Hobby boxes got as low as $30 a pop during Black Friday. It was a relatively harmless fun low end rip. This year, Panini scrapped the hobby version and released this is a retail only product. I don't typically do Panini retail outside of Prizm and Optic, I just never feel the value is there, especially on releases that have both Hobby and Retail offerings. Typically the Retail offerings are just so watered down that it's not worth it in the bit. You get basically zero shots at numbered parallels (for the most part) and autographs are tough to come by. Despite that, I took a plunge at this product. Why? Well..I figured since this was a Retail Only release and it did have numerous numbered parallels, it would be not only a possibility to pull numbered rookie cards of players like Luka or Trae Young but easier because there was no Hobby version to account for. Also I got this case at $15 a blaster, that's over $100 lower (when you include tax) what you pay at Target, Walmart etc where you pay $19.99 a pop plus tax. On top of that, I earned 8% Ebay Bucks as that was the promotion at the time. I figured it was worth the gamble. You get a hit per blaster, but I figured like most Panini Retail Blaster cases, the majority of the hits were going to be Mem Cards and you'd get 1 Auto. Still if that one auto was Luka, combined with chances at low numbered parallels, it was worth the gamble. It's a small sample size, but on the numbered parallel front I couldn't be more WRONG. Someone else on Blowout opened a blaster case and got ZERO numbered parallels. Not ONE. Out of 20 boxes. That was super deflating to hear. Either Panini REALLLLLLLY PUMPED THE PRESSES ON THIS STUFF (probably true) or numbered parallels can only be found in the hanger pack format or fat packs (I can't believe that's true because Blasters list numbered cards as a possibility). I just  cannot believe out of 20 blasters, not one numbered card can be pulled. This could end up being a very dry and boring break. So here goes nothing,,time to rip the band-aid off and see if I made a mistake

Notable Base Rookies Luka Doncic RC (6)
Trae Young RC (5)
Marvin Bagley III RC (4)
Jaren Jackson Jr. RC (4)
DeAndre Ayton RC
Kevin Knox RC
Mo Bamba RC (4)
Michael Porter Jr.
Shai Gilgeous Alexander


Green Parallels
Luka Doncic RC (2)
Trae Young RC (2)
Marvin Bagley III RC (3)
DeAndre Ayton RC (3)
Jaren Jackson Jr. RC (3)
Collin Sexton RC (3)
Michael Porter Jr. RC (2)
Kevin Knox RC (2)
Shai Gilgeious-Alexander RC
Mo Bamba RC (2)
Allonzo Trier RC (3)
Johnathan Williams RC (3)
Gary Clark RC (4)
Keita Bates-Diop RC (4)
Chimezie Metu RC
Mitchell Robinson RC
Jevon Carter RC
Kevin Huerter RC
Donte DiVincenzo RC
Devonte Graham RC
Moritz Wagner RC (2)
Jarred Vanderbilt RC (2)
Rodions Kurucs RC
Robert Williams RC (2)
Miles Bridges RC (2)
Dzanan Musa RC (2)
Landry Shamet RC (2)
Josh Okogie RC (2)
Jalen Brunson RC (2)
Gary Trent Jr. RC
Chandler Hutchison RC (2)
Elie Okobo RC
Svi Mykhailuk RC (2)
Hamidou Diallo RC
Aaron Holiday RC (2)
Jerome Robinson RC
Omari Spellman RC
Jacob Evans III RC
De'Anthony Melton RC
Grayson Allen RC
Rodney Hood
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Eric Gordon
Kyle Lowry
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Malik Monk
Jeremy Lin
Joe Ingles
Bruce Brown
Anfernee Simons
Kyle Kuzma
Evan Fournier
Jabari Parker (2)
Kawhi Leonard
James Harden (2)
Jimmy Butler
Chris Paul
Danilo Gallinari
Willie Cauley Stein
Bradley Beal
Tony Parker
Lauri Markkanen
Kevin Durant
Paul George
Eric Bledsoe
Nikola Mirotic
Kyrie Irving
Lebron James
Jrue Holiday
Josh Richardson
Gary Harris (2)
LaMarcus Aldridge (3)
Lonzo Ball (3)
Jarrett Allen (2)
Lou Williams
CJ McCollum
Mike Conley
Harrison Barnes
Draymond Green
Trevor Ariza (2)
Harrison Barnes
Nikola Vucevic
John Wall
Andrew Wiggins
George Hill
Khris Middleton (2)
Taurean Prince (2)
Dwight Howard
Joel Embiid
Victor Oladipo
Klay Thompson
T.J. Warren

Pursuit Die Cut
Johnathan Williams RC
Jaylen Brown
Bojan Bogdanovic



Elite Series
LeBron James
Demar Derozan (2)
Donovan Mitchell
Dirk Nowitzki
James Harden
Kemba Walker
Dwyane Wade
Jimmy Butler
DeMar DeRozan
Zach Lavine


Elite Series Green
Devin Booker
Kemba Walker
Kawhi Leonard
Stephen Curry


Top Status
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
John Wall
Hakeem Olajuwon
Karl Anthony Towns (2)
Patrick Ewing
Allen Iverson


Top Status Green Parallel
LeBron James
Karl Anthony-Towns
DeAndre Ayton (2)
Magic Johnson

Rookie Credentials
Shai Gilgeious-Alexander (3)
Omari Spellman
Jacob Evans (2)
De'Anthony Melton
Jerome Robinson
Dzanan Musa
Troy Brown Jr.
Anfernee Simons (2)
Grayson Allen
Michael Porter Jr.
Kevin Huerter
Moritz Wagner
Mitchell Robinson

Rookie Credentials Green
Mo Bamba
Anfernee Simons
Jalen Brunson
Dzanan Musa
Aaron Holiday
Wendell Carter Jr.
Jevon Carter
Svi Mykhaliuk

Court Vision
Chris Paul
John Wall (2)
Damian Lillard
Kyle Lowry


Court Vision Green
John Wall
Jrue Holiday
DeMar DeRozan

Rookie Essentials Jersey
Luka Doncic
Trae Young
Collin Sexton
Lonnie Walker IV (2)
Jerome Robinson
Landry Shamet
Jalen Brunson
Chandler Hutchison
De'Anthony Melton
Anfernee Simons
Zhaire Smith


Legendary Status Jersey
Karl Malone
Clyde Drexler
Larry Johnson
Glen Rice

Draft Night Signatures
Zhaire Smith (#29/32)
Mikal Bridges (#29/32)

Freshman Signatures
Lonnie Walker IV

New Breed Autographs
Ray Spalding

Overall Thoughts: Well...my fears  came through. No numbered parallels. I truly don't understand it. The lack of numbered parallels totally destroys the values of these blasters. Greens don't hold value because they are easy to pull. I mean I pulled two Luka Greens and they average about $10-$12 sell value. That's the absolute best Green you can get. Pulled plenty of Luka Base as well, 6. Got all the top rookies and green parallels. The cards are nice and so are the inserts but there's no just no value whatsoever really. The only different parallel I pulled was the Pursuit Die Cuts, which are supposed to SP. I pulled 3 in the case, but none notable.The jersey cards are predictably bland, especially the Rookie Jerseys. The swatch is so small and uninspired. At least I pulled Luka and Trae Young on that front. On the autograph front, I beat the odds with Two Draft Night Sigs (both on card and numbered to 32) but of course the names suck. The other two auto were rookie stickers and one was OK as it was Lonnie Walker IV, a rookie for the Spurs, the other is a guy who played 1 whole minute with the Mavs this year lol. My knack for pulling crappy Mavs Rookie Autos continues (Daryl Macon Superfractor anyone?). All in All a mistake and had I know it was literally impossible to pull serial numbered parallels even at the price I got these at, I wouldn't have bothered. Here's pics of the cards

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2019

#1 2018-19 Optic Basketball Signature Series Gold Trae Young (#1/10)

#2 2018-19 Optic Basketball Lebron James Purple Stars FOTL Exclusive Parallel (#5/13)

#3 2018-19 Prizm Basketball Robert Williams III Black Gold Prizm RC (#3/5)

#4 2018 Select Sam Darnold FOTL Neon Orange Pulsar Prizm RC (#2/9)

#5 2018 Contenders Football Nick Chubb FOTL Red Zone Auto Parallel